How to Use Japan's Top 10 Best-Selling Rubbers Well? Part 1
The main thing is to correct your concepts, changing long-held views. Times change, and scoring means change too. Next, mind the blade pairing. This article’s 10 rubbers are last month’s best-sellers in Japan.
No. 1: Dignics 09c
Last night I watched an old match, Kong Linghui vs Ma Lin. Many points settled within three shots. Back then, the concept of quick-exchange was not so deep. Anyway, when you cannot get on the offensive, mainly short touch, occasionally chop long, then with any chance fire and kill — both played about the same. Relatively, Kong Linghui’s backhand had the punch, push and rip, not violent but very reasonable, with rhythm variation. Forehands were mostly one-shot kills, or striving for one. Here, solid domestic tacky rubber fits this style well. So, if you still play this way, forehand either rip in one shot, or first loop a high hang, then fire to score, seeking absolute single-ball quality. Clearly, Hurricane suits better than D09c. If you switch the forehand to D09c, one difference first: it is faster than Hurricane 3. Then you do not necessarily score by spin and power — you can score by looping faster. The sense of speed is innate to a tensor like D09c, relative to domestic tacky rubber. If your idea is still to first scrape up a spinny high hang, then fire and rip, high-tack national rubber like Hurricane suits better than D09c.
Then, on blade pairing, because the retail D09c’s support is less than high-hardness domestic tacky rubber, it pairs better with outer-type blades. Outer fiber has better rebound and more obvious direct support. For example, gluing D09c on structures like the Super Zhang Jike, Viscaria, Heima-tuned PLC, you do not feel the rubber is weak. But glued on a soft blade, like the Innerforce Layer ZLC, you feel the rubber is a bit meaty. Of course, a relatively hard inner blade is fine too, like the Ovtcharov ALC, Tomokazu Harimoto SZLC.
No. 2: Rozena
This rubber’s sponge is fairly lively and soft, but the surface bite is indeed average. Just because the sponge is soft and the wrapping is okay, the overall ball-holding is enough. But why such high sales all along? Ultimately, the sales-policy adjustment. At first, the list price was 390 yuan; by market rate, then about 25 percent off, so the actual price was about 290 yuan. Later Butterfly dropped it to 190 yuan. Anyway, it is Butterfly rubber, touted as using the same sponge as the T series, so at this price, it keeps selling well. If you rely heavily on surface bite to brush, then the XIOM Red V, Yasaka Rakza 7, Stiga DNA Platinum all work better. But no help — it is Butterfly. And many Japanese players’ style really does not care about so-called spin richness — just land it first, then rally, playing placement and quick-exchange. Can the Rozena land balls? Not hard. For flicking it is decent too, barely both loop and hit. Pairing this rubber with a blade, generally do not go too hard, or its surface friction seems very weak.