Soft Tacky Backhand Rubbers — Do They Really Work?
In fact, I personally am not very bullish. The advantages of soft tacky rubber: relatively lighter, suited to the backhand, especially penhold reverse-backhand; easier to drive through, better control, less strenuous. But the drawbacks: speed is a bit slow; being a bit meaty, the power is average too. And compared with a tensor, it more easily catches spin. Slow speed is easy to understand. A tacky surface inherently means “stagnation,” slower ball release. With a softer sponge, the ball sinks deeper. Then it is hard to produce speed, unless you oil-boost the base to add spring.
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Right, I mean you — 37° soft NEO Hurricane 3. This depends on your wallet — NEO regular Hurricane, provincial, or national. But without oiling, the effect is bland. Now national-team, provincial and municipal players, plus some local amateur experts, use 37-soft and oil it. That ramps up speed. Plus Hurricane’s surface friction is strong to begin with, so oil-boosted, it really is about the most flawless backhand tacky rubber.
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The best choice is the most expensive, if you are willing to oil. The star national rubber on Chen Meng’s backhand: Hurricane 8 with 20# sponge. The 20# sponge is the original Hurricane 3 sponge — boosting is surely the better choice.
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If you do not boost, choose make-do. Hurricane 8-80, or the Hurricane 9 dazzle-purple and fruit-green. Besides the surface dye, the performance is roughly the same. Playing it, loop and hit are both fine. But this high-spring sponge is not really high-spring; the speed is still a bit slow. But paired with a springier blade, like the Hurricane Long 5 or W968, I think it is fine.
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Glayzer 09c. The byword for a jack-of-all-trades, which also means nothing is outstanding. The arc is okay, friction is so-so, speed not too slow. Playable, but not stunning. I feel the forehand effect is better than the backhand — on the backhand it is more mediocre. On the forehand, paired with a harder, springier blade, the effect is decent. On the backhand, I did not feel its small-power ball-grip outstanding versus a tensor. And since the elasticity is less than the Glayzer and Tenergy lines, you find its support for the forehand is fairly average. How to understand this? I mean: if you glue a T80 or T05 on the backhand, the support for the forehand is better, and you feel the forehand becomes punchier too. If you glue a G09c on the backhand, the forehand effect is not as good.
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V>15 Sticky Soft. On the backhand, the V>15 Sticky is actually quite nice. But this article discusses soft tensors, so the V>15 Sticky, like D09c, is on the harder side, and we will not discuss it. Now overseas there is a soft version of the V>15 Sticky, the V>15 Sticky Soft, hardness 47.5°, the same hardness as the original V>15 Extra, but the surface became slightly-tacky. How is it? We shall see.
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Tibhar Red K1. This one came out fairly early among backhand tacky rubbers. Well, very easy to pick up. But the ball-quality threat is small. If it were me, gluing a Guobiao 3 medium-soft, or even a 37° Gaobo Power, the effect is about the same, and cheaper. By comparison, the Guobiao 3 medium-soft’s surface friction is more settled, and the 37-degree Gaobo Power is a bit like the Tianji 3-60’s light-quick style. If you want speed on the backhand, consider the Gaobo Power and Tianji 3-60; if you loop slower and want more spin, choose the Guobiao 3 medium-soft or 37° soft Hurricane.
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Red V Double-Drive, Silver V Double-Drive. The Red V Double-Drive is 50°, the Silver V Double-Drive 47.5°. The former can already play forehand. For some players, the backhand is decent too, a bit muffled. Average players, on the backhand, should still choose the Silver V Double-Drive. Not that fast, but controllability is very nice.
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Hybrid DNA m. Well, honestly, I cannot quite hit out its difference from the Silver V Double-Drive. About the same mold. But for the m-hardness Hybrid DNA I played, it has one advantage: close to 46g. That is light among slightly-tacky tensors. The Silver V Double-Drive is a bit heavier. From this angle, for a soft slightly-tacky tensor on the backhand, I really do prefer this Hybrid DNA.