A Look at a Few Lesser-Known Stars' Equipment Setups
The images are from overseas sites, with sources shown.
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Chan Ho-wa: gold-label Viscaria, blue national Hurricane, D09c. Hong Kong team. This setup is very mainstream, nothing new. The gold-label Vis, though a special custom the China branch applied to headquarters for, sold only in the mainland, has decent repute. Our views on gear change, on one hand because product batches differ, adjusted actively or passively; on the other, maybe we found a better way to use it. For example, when the gold-label Vis first launched, the general view was soft, with ball-holding clearly higher than the retail Vis. But many reported it too soft, even soft enough to lack punch. Later this view was revised. One, realizing soft blades, many add hardness via the rubber. Two, later batches of gold-label Vis had strengthened toughness, with improved support. D09c is a similar example. At first, putting it on the forehand, people felt the bottom power really was less than Hurricane 3, even a not-small gap. Later, people learned how to use it — closer to the table, scoring more by the spin-speed combination than by bottom power. And if gluing it on the forehand, choose a harder, springier blade. In this process is also our strokes being assimilated by the gear. How to understand this? For example, I am used to inner fiber blades, always relying on ball-grip to loop very spinny high hangs; switching to the Viscaria, at first I could not loop that spinny, but after adapting a while, my strokes naturally adjusted, and I could loop high spin too.
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Wang Yang: outer ALC custom, Z03, SPINPIPS D1 short pips. I mentioned this before. Though the handle is the Harimoto ALC inlay, actually beneath this inlay is an outer ALC custom, Vis-like. How the blade came about, I will not say. Today the main point: as a dashing chop-attack player, Wang Yang used T05 Hard on the forehand before, fairly powerful. Now, following the trend, he switched to Z03. Next time he has a match, let us observe whether the ball quality changes. Compared with T05H’s mighty heaviness, the Z03 should play more effortlessly, but with less sense of power. But just as we said above, people get assimilated by gear too. Maybe, playing on, he shifts to scoring more by speed-based penetration than by power. As for the short pips on his backhand chop, Victas pips have always been stable for chopping and fairly easy to make spin variation. Miyu Nagasaki, following the recent trend, also switched her backhand from D05 to Z03. Why do I add her info here? Purely because this side profile is good-looking.
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Wilhelm Bardh: Inspiration hybrid carbon, DNA Hybrid on both sides. Christina Källberg: Inspiration hybrid carbon, DNA Golden Dragon, DNA Platinum. Looking back now, Stiga’s DNA rubbers really achieved huge success. Performance is one side; the other is relying on ESN OEM to achieve such results, solving their old pain point. Bardh beat Liang Jingkun 3-2 at last year’s US Smash — also DNA on both sides then, but the blade was the Fan Zhendong ALC. How to put it — these outer blades, as long as they have a certain level, once adapted, basically do not affect your striking level. Whether the Fan A, Inspiration hybrid carbon, or Heima-tuned ALC, the more I play, the more I feel: a comfortable handle grip is enough; for outer blades, as long as the ball-holding and clarity meet your demands; as for power, you can fire it yourself. I quite liked the Inspiration hybrid carbon then — the surface is a bit dry, but the ball-holding is still nice, with notable ball quality. But I gave it up because the handle, for me, is a bit thin, so forehand-backhand transitions lacked settledness. If your hands are small, it fits well. Now the Luma hybrid carbon uses a Vis-like handle, same as the Heima-tuned series, so I find it quite comfortable to grip. Though 93.5g, it does not feel heavy.