Are Harder Rubber and Springier Blades the Main Trends Now?
Years ago, national-team-level coaches already believed soft blade plus hard rubber became the main trend of the new era. Of course, I have doubts about this. The hard rubber is confirmed; the soft blade not entirely. Outer-type blades are becoming more ball-holding — indeed many are tuned softer. But at the same time, inner-type blades are becoming firmer too, strengthening support. Still, whether soft or hard blade, there is a general trend of becoming springier, especially at the professional level. Today, let us discuss two aspects.
The Era’s Development: Rubber “Hardening”
In 1967, Butterfly released the high-elasticity rubber Sriver, at 38 degrees (Butterfly standard). Then, in 1969, the soft-sponge Sriver FX (33 degrees) was born. The same year, another monster rubber — extremely tenacious, still used by many in Japan now — Yasaka’s Mark V, was born. Sriver and Mark V deserve to be called the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber of rubbers back then. Later, Yasaka released the soft-sponge Mark V AD. Over 30 years later, the two great penhold geniuses’ backhands faced off with these: Wang Hao’s backhand had custom-sponge Sriver, while Ma Lin had custom Mark V AD.
The background then was that organic glue was allowed, so soft sponge also had high speed. Soft sponge was very popular. But later, the era’s turning points changed, mainly for two reasons: organic glue was banned starting 2008; and in 2014 the move from celluloid into the plastic ball era. Before, soft rubber was very popular. But in the plastic ball era, players generally chose harder rubber. Then it influenced amateurs top-down. You could say: for celluloid balls, soft rubber is comfortable; but for ABS plastic balls, rubber has to be harder to work well.
If you discriminate carefully, the seamed ball’s heaviness exceeds the seamless ball’s. Soft rubber on seamless balls is, in my view, still quite good. But on seamed balls it is more strenuous. On one hand it is friction stability; on the other, the rubber is too soft to give the seamed ball enough deformation. In the plastic ball era, the ball’s material thickness increased, not easily denting. Compared with soft rubber, harder rubber more easily deforms it. Before the plastic ball era, Nittaku G-1 and Hurricane were basically only used on the forehand; now many use them on the backhand too. As rubber hardened, its weight increased too. But gradually, people got used to this hardness and weight.
The Era’s Development: Blades Getting “Springier”
In the plastic ball era, ball speed dropped, so to increase rebound speed, blades had to be made springier. There are many ways. First, excellent adhesives and bonding craft. Players who have used Butterfly customs find that the clear feel from that bonding craft, and the higher rebound from different adhesives, do differ from retail. Relying on different wood treatment and bonding craft, with the same structure, Yinhe can also make dozens of different feels. Second, denser and thicker fiber. Butterfly started with Super ZLC and Super ALC, raising the blade’s rebound and sweet spot. Joola, from the green-aramid-carbon Bingfeng HRD to the super-green-aramid-carbon (S-ALC) Zhou Qihao 90, is also seeking this kind of change. Third, thickening the blade. We can see how thickened blades like the Ovtcharov ALC and Tomokazu Harimoto SZLC have been favored these years.
Ovtcharov ALC representatives: Ovtcharov, Yuta Tanaka, and Mizuki Oikawa (former use). Harimoto SZLC representatives: Satsuki Odo, Sakura Yokoi, and Kuai Man (former use). These blades raised stiffness, support and rebound. In this era where multi-ball topspin rallying dominates, making blades more effortless and easier to rebound is a major focus. Besides, by adjusting the power ply and core thickness to shorten energy-storage time and raise rebound speed, blades like the S968 and Pro-01x Max are made further springier. And the Heima-tuned KLC also thickens the power ply to add spring.