London Worlds: The Hottest Outer Blades
1
Fan Zhendong ALC. Representatives: Shunsuke Togami (custom), Sora Matsushima (custom), Kawakami Ryusei (custom and gold label), Wang Manyu. Kawakami Ryusei used the Fan Zhendong SALC at the World Juniors (Butterfly labeled it outer SALC custom then); recently he picked up the Fan Zhendong ALC custom (gold end-tag). On SALC and ALC, my view is still two points: one, SALC creates spin more easily and also catches spin more easily than ALC. Two, SALC is relatively springier and more effortless, but as a player’s own power rises, he may abandon SALC for ALC. Just “may.” The Fan A’s sales are absurd, in Japan too. Simply put, it is a sugar-water blade — very easy to play, very ball-holding, deformation easily produced, no obvious weakness. Its bottom power just is not prominent, which is why I can tout the Heima-tuned ALC as a Fan A with better forehand bottom power. The custom version, compared with retail, generally improves elasticity and energy-storage feel, affecting bottom power. For retail, picking a heavier one gives better bottom power — after all, a blade is at least 85 percent wood.
2
Viscaria. Representatives: Lin Shidong (custom), Qiu Dang (custom), Yuan Jianan (gold-label Vis), Kuai Man (gold-label Vis). A phenomenon I wonder if you noticed: players using the retail Vis are decreasing. Two sides. On one hand, the Vis is still a faithful, linear style; I think going forward, pips players using the Vis will remain. This blade can loop and withstand, with little sudden amplification, so it is easy to keep stable. On the other hand, in the plastic ball era, blades face higher ball-holding demands. If a blade can show softer-springier wrapping and easier spin-adding, why not choose them over the Vis? So you see many Super Vis, and the more ball-holding gold-label Vis, Fan A, Lin A (used by Doo Hoi Kem). The retail Vis’s backhand still has quite nice explosiveness, but its forehand is only middle-of-the-road, giving no help for easier spin-adding or added spring.
3
Boll ALC. Representatives: Hiroto Shinozuka (custom), Kallberg, Kanak Jha. Whether the latter two are customs is unclear. Sometimes it is like this: though Butterfly mostly makes customs for signed players, sometimes they do not know how long you will use it. Then, when out of stock, you make do with retail. Like Lin Yun-Ju now — his custom Super Vis is not made yet, so he uses a self-picked retail one. The Boll A’s traits we have discussed a lot. Crisp outside, soft inside. The surface seems hard, with fast off-the-bat speed, but the interior is quite soft. What problem does this cause? When you pair hard rubber, like high-hardness Hurricane, you feel the blade is a bit too hard, hard to drive through, ball release too fast. When you pair soft tensors, like Tenergy, the power passes through the sponge to the blade’s interior at once, and you feel: oh, this blade grips the ball well. Right — Kallberg and Jha think exactly this. You can glimpse it from past interviews.
4
Korean-made outer green-aramid carbon. Representatives: Zhou Qihao (Double Fish Project Z), Alexis (Tibhar Alexis), Oh Junsung (Tibhar Oh Junsung). These days I will write the Luma review. About the Double Fish Zhou Qihao, one netizen comment was vivid: a damp Vis. It fully describes that soft wrapping feel. The Tibhar Alexis’s ball-holding is decent too, but relatively crisper, with faster first speed. It seems one of the faster outer green-aramid carbons I have played. The Inspiration hybrid carbon is also on the fast side.
5
Super Viscaria. Representatives: Lin Yun-Ju, Cheng I-Ching. Read it together with point 1. Anyway, it is softer-springier ball-holding under medium power. If you cannot drive through it, that relates to the fiber weave. In that case, tune the rubber a bit softer.