ambition_tt wrote:
Alright thank you for all the help guys.
So, I will keep practicing with the custom racket. Honestly I do keep getting better with it and although I still think I play maybe 70% as good as with the Tibhar racket and seriously I also think even my spin is better with it, I will simply ignore it and play matches with it anyways. I should care more about improving with modern rubber than with the old one and winning for now, if I get better with this I should in the end get better results, and this is more important than winning in the short term.
I should follow on the better spin of the old racket however because this is really true, and maybe in the old racket this is simply the one thing it does better. It is much slower than the new one however and one of the best characteristic of the new one is sensitivity to the incoming spin but also speed. It makes return the push and blocking much easier (the balls bounce off faster and thus deeper), and strangely while I feel the spin capability is weaker 'lifting' a returning spin ball from for example a strong push or chop, or return spin service much easier with a top spin attack. With the Tibhar racket I can do it as well but not as good, which is why I will usually just push back or 'block' with the racket open.
I checked some reviews for this Gewo rubber, it looks good and while it would be hard for me to get it or quite expensive to order online, my club mates have said Gewo is a good maker of 'strange' rubbers. A guy uses a hard sponge (maybe a tension type) Gewo rubber on BH side with offensive 1 wood blade, I think abachi, and it's really powerful.
I think you made the right decision to push forward with your new equipment. Regardless of whether you had decided to go ahead with the new setup you already have or with another new setup, both would have been the way forward. And you are right that in time this will let you do many things that the old setup could not.
Rubbers that are new and alive and grippy do tend to pick up the ball better as you said. And as you progress and then shift to 1.9mm rubber some time in the future you will see your spins, your loops and your ability to lift the ball improve even more. Just don't rush it.
Good luck.
_________________
1-ply Hinoki Club
Violin/Acoustic Clan
Recreational/Club Player
Local Press Club (Journalists) Champion
The speed of a Rhino and the power of a Gazelle!!!!
http://xtrariter.blogspot.com