Weekly Equipment Watch 246: What? The Lebrun Brothers Are Switching Rubbers
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Right — the two below: Infinity MX-P (hardness 50°) and Infinity MX-S (hardness 52.5°). This time it should not be another no-show. Word says it may launch around May 11. As for where? Good question. Anyway, not domestically. By convention, like Tibhar’s blades, most likely Japan launches first, because Tibhar’s Japan branch has unusual power. Currently in Japan, test-play of Infinity has begun. The Lebrun brothers considering trying Infinity on the forehand may be for speed — maybe because of the Butterfly ZYRE-03’s huge success. This Infinity MX-P rubber, Darko has used for years. It was said to be coming soon long ago, and now clearly arrives late.
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Fan Zhendong, in his Saarbrücken farewell, used D09c on both sides. By the changes in tables and balls, flipping the bat or even D09c on both sides has become Fan Zhendong’s norm. This month’s WTT Taiyuan, Satsuki Odo won women’s singles. Her original setup was the Tomokazu Harimoto SZLC, forehand ZYRE-03, backhand D09c. But the semifinal against Honoka Hashimoto and the final against Hitomi Sato were both choppers. So Satsuki Odo chose to flip the bat, forehand D09c backhand Z03. I guess because D09c has better bite, more stable, easing her on-the-fly adjustment and more controllable spin variation. Maybe, in the future, flipping the bat becomes players’ norm. Likewise, for us amateurs, do not limit yourself.
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Speaking of choppers, Li Tianyang, who reached the Taiyuan men’s singles semifinal, was also noticed. This setup is the DHS 08X custom, forehand NEO blue national Hurricane, backhand 802-40 short pips (Liu Guoliang once used it). In 2024, his backhand rubber was Victas Spinpips D3. Its predecessor was the TSP SuperSpinpips Chop Sponge 2. “Chop” means chopping — so this is a chopping pips rubber. Fairly low hardness, 37.5 plus or minus 3; officially it uses an anti-loop sponge. My understanding is a relatively soft, weak-elasticity sponge. “Suppressing elasticity” is one of many choppers’ considerations. Han Ying used the Spectol S3 short pips for chopping before — small pips, strong variation, but also a high-rebound sponge. But at least since late last year, probably to strengthen stability, she went back to the Spectol S1, the classic. Of course, suppressing elasticity also appears in inverted rubber. For example, a few years ago the Victas VS>401 and VS>402 were favored in the chopping circle. The horizontally arranged pips are steady when unloading pace defending powerful loops. This is one way of suppressing elasticity. Another inverted rubber once popular among national choppers is the Tianji 3, used by Wu Yang.
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Speaking of suppressing elasticity, the latest intel shows: Moregard: gold-label Cybershape 6, HELIX Platinum XH on both sides. Wen Ruibo: Luma hybrid carbon, NEO blue national Hurricane, DNA Hybrid XH. Both switched from 55° to XH. Of course, from my one go with the Luma, this blade has quite some explosiveness — no need to pair too-hard rubber. Suppressing elasticity, besides horizontal pip arrangement and lowering hardness, has another method: choosing a tacky surface. So I first used tensors on both sides of the Luma. Now I feel slightly-tacky may pair better; I will switch rubber this week to try. If, after playing the Heima-tuned Max ZFC, you find it too springy, then choosing a lower-hardness or tackier rubber is a feasible adjustment.