729 Bensheng 3 Purple Lightning: Liu Weishan Star Rubber Review

Originally published 2026-01-30 · Translated & republished with permission

This installment’s rubber: 729 Bensheng 3 Purple Lightning, Liu Weishan Star Rubber, 40.5 degrees

Test setup: Zhang Jike ALC blade, Bensheng 3 Purple Lightning 40.5 degrees, tacky on the forehand

Quick Take

1. In 2025, 729 signed Liu Weishan and Yu Heyi and released corresponding star rubbers for each of them. This rubber has been in the spotlight lately, and a lot of players have been privately asking me how it is, so let’s talk about it briefly this time.

2. The Bensheng 3 Purple Lightning star rubber 40.5 degrees uses a dual-pore-size inner-energy sponge, 2.1mm thick, with a bare weight of about 68g and roughly 50g after cutting.

3. The surface is slightly tacky and the topsheet has a glossy sheen. The sponge has fairly heavy internal curl, which doesn’t make it look like an inner-energy rubber.

4. Logically, since this rubber hasn’t been out long, the curl shouldn’t be from sitting in storage too long. It’s hard to spread glue on when mounting, which is a bit of a pain.

Playing Impressions

1. Forehand drives: The feel is slightly clear and crisp and fairly stable, but the sponge hardness is high, so the arc drops a bit.

2. Forehand soft touches: The topsheet performs well here, gripping nicely and consistently.

3. Forehand loops (with added brushing): When you reduce the proportion of direct contact to loop a steady topspin ball, it’s uncomfortable, because the sponge is fairly hard and firm with little deformation, so you can’t borrow energy from it. Relying only on topsheet friction with the sponge not engaging, the ball drops a lot. It’s best to boost it before use.

4. Forehand loops (combining drive and brush): When you increase the proportion of direct contact and loop a powered topspin ball, it’s more comfortable. If you can penetrate the rubber, the sponge is crisp and solid with plenty of support. But if you fail to combine the forces and don’t penetrate it, the sponge still doesn’t grip and you lose feedback in your hand, or the ball drops. In other words, because the sponge is too hard, there’s a gap in the feel, and neutral balls are hard to handle. If even 40.5 degrees is like this, then Yu Heyi’s 41.5 degrees is even more out of the question, definitely not something we amateurs can play.

5. Forehand control: Serves, pushes, and short pushes are all quite good. It controls well and tracks reliably with your hand.

6. Forehand opening up against backspin: Thanks to the excellent topsheet, the arc and stability of the opening shot are both very good, but to drive the ball with real quality, you still need a certain level of skill.

7. Final verdict: The feel reminds me a lot of the old Bensheng 2 Blue Sponge national rubber I played before. For amateur players, I’d suggest going with the 39-degree version, which should be the most suitable hardness. Anything above 40 degrees probably needs to be boosted to use, which departs from the original “inner-energy, no-boost-needed” intent. Overall I’d rate this Purple Lightning 6 to 7.5. High hardness gets 6 to 6.5, low hardness gets 7 to 7.5.