Some Gear Questions Only You Can Answer
1
To boost or not. I recall when I played the Guangdong University Games, I did not even glue-boost. Though the school team had a former national player in Group B who boosted heavily, we few in Group A did not have a deep concept of boosting. But looking back, it was enough then. Maybe being young, with strong power, and that blade was a five-ply all-wood with ample deformation, so unboosted Hurricane felt no big problem. Now, oiling is the fashion. So whether to oil sometimes depends on yourself. Generally, oiling has several effects. One is adding spring, similar to glue-boosting. After oiling, the rubber’s elasticity increases, and the ball-release speed is faster too. If your blade’s elasticity is ample, you need not brush many coats — sometimes one is enough, just to soften the rubber. Oiling’s second effect is softening the rubber. Simply put, after oiling, you more easily drive through. This involves another question: should you oil a tensor? You could say “no, many have built-in energy from the factory.” But for example T05 Hard, some players oil it too. They may oil to add spring and threat, or to soften the rubber. Even if a tensor has built-in energy, but you really cannot drive through it, no help — you can oil to soften it. Some players ask me whether to oil the Hurricane ZGR, Donic J1 — that depends on whether you can drive through. So whether the rubber’s elasticity is enough, and whether you can drive through, decides whether you oil, and how many coats. National players glue D09c on the backhand, and their power really seems fierce, but quite a few simply brush one coat of oil, just to soften the sponge. Of course, the effect is good but costs money. We need not blindly follow — maybe gluing a DNA Hybrid m or V15 Sticky suits you better. Besides, oiling’s other function is, when the rubber shrinks, to expand it for gluing the full face.
2
This blade, what rubber suits best? Every day, I get at least dozens, even over a hundred, such questions. So much that I dare not even open the Bilibili back-office messages. This question is extremely hard. To truly answer well, I must fully understand your style, best having watched you play. Besides, another important issue: your habit. Many blades pair fine with most rubbers. Based on your technical ability, style and habit, it is hard to say which suits better. You tell me your Kaiqiuwang rating, but I do not know your strokes or power level. Ultimately, what rubber to pair depends on your own feel. Make Ovtcharov play the 968 with dual Hurricane and he would suffer too. Back then, he won the World Cup singles with a freak 968 glued with T05 Hard. So I generally advise: glue your old familiar rubber onto the new blade. Play one or two weeks, find problems, then adjust. This is more targeted — say, you find you cannot hold this combo, or the spin does not meet your demands, and so on. For a blade, our views differ wildly often because of different rubber pairings and different technical abilities. I saw some netizens say the Lin Gaoyuan ALC does not grip the ball, hard to loop underspin. I guess either he is used to a softer all-wood or inner blade, or the rubber he paired he cannot drive through. Maybe switching to a soft, transparent rubber would instantly change his view of the blade.