Ten Petals: Do Different Venues Suit Different Blades?
1
Using different blades in different venues is a choice of a small minority of stars. For example, Falck switches between the Falck all-wood and carbon; Koki Niwa says small venue uses his all-wood, big venue the Koki Niwa ZC, to make up the speed shortfall. Of course, some switch blades by opponent and their own feel. For example, Simon Gauzy once, in one event, used all-wood (ebony seven-ply) in some matches and a carbon blade in others.
2
In a big hall, the speed feels slower, so outer carbon blades have more advantage. Because inner fiber blades always seem sluggish, and the opponent defends easily. Outer blades (kiri core) excel in first speed; inner blades (ayous core) excel in spin, second bounce and absolute bottom power. But in a big hall it is hard to show that advantage. Of course, if you make a blade with high-explosive deformation and energy, like the W968, that high explosiveness can also convert to speed.
3
But the more you rely on blade deformation and the wood’s raw power to create threat, the relatively shorter the lifespan. Asking a provincial-team friend I know well, he said a Viscaria can play a year-plus, while the 968 lasts about half a year before elasticity clearly drops. Saying a blade’s lifespan is done does not necessarily mean fully unplayable — understand it as: one point is your tolerance of the blade’s reduced elasticity.
4
How to understand the lifespan of ayous core versus kiri core? I think it is not simply which lasts longer, but: the ayous core’s advantage is overall deformation and jet feel, while the kiri core just needs transparency and enough support. From this angle, the ayous core, over time, drops in elasticity, affecting the jet feel. So it does not last as long as a kiri core.
5
The Yaonie’s green-aramid-carbon side is tough-springy and punchy; the blue-aramid-carbon side grips the ball more and is stable, suiting people whose backhand technique is weak and who need solidity. I think this idea alone surpasses the cookie-cutter outer aramid-carbon blades on the market.
6
Some blades have threat the moment you fire, but under medium power, they cannot keep enough spin-adding or speed-adding ability, so the threat drops. This struggles to meet our needs. As for which specific blade, it varies by person, because of each person’s power level.
7
To add: blade and rubber must be combined and viewed as one whole. As said above, if a blade’s spin-adding or speed-adding under medium power is insufficient, you can also strengthen it via rubber. For example, the Viscaria’s forehand best pairs with tacky rubber; the decent-first-speed Vis needs strengthened ball-holding and spin. For the inner Innerforce Layer ALC, if you feel speed and power are insufficient, pair fiercer rubber. Miyu Nagasaki and Sakura Mori chose T05 Hard.
8
That blade and rubber must be viewed together also shows in this: just measuring the blade’s balance point is not enough — the rubber’s weight clearly affects the bat’s balance point too. I feel whether T05H or C55.0, one imperfect point for me is they are on the heavy side, so the whole bat’s balance point leans more toward the head than before.
9
The ability to cap and flatten the arc has always been the forte of outer aramid-carbon blades (kiri core) led by the Viscaria. For mid-level amateurs, it is not very important. But for pros, especially important. Watching Boll and Ovtcharov’s D09c review videos, they repeatedly mention stable counter-looping as a demand — this is also a trait where D09c beats springy rubbers like T05.
10
Sometimes you play well, sometimes poorly, with a fluctuating state — this happened to Ma Long and Boll these two years, and happens to us middle-aged too, because we are getting older.