OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi everyone, I'd like to foray into my first custom racket, but need some advice.

I play recreationally at clubs but the vast majority of my games are in my smaller basement where there is about 6ft of space behind either end of the table. Although this is not ideal, my playing circumstances aren't going to change so I'd like to just embrace it and develop my style into one focused on early attacks with topspin, from close to the table, that end the rally quickly while the opponent is also pinned close to the table. I would also need to block consistently from up close.

I am currently using a premade Stiga Evolution racket, and some things I notice are:
Forehand loops from low and close to the table go into the net often, and I'd like some help with maybe a higher throw angle, more dwell and more spin to help me get my wide forehand loops on the table.
Similar to the above, I like to attack backspin serves to my BH with loops and flicks, and I'd like a more forgiving trajectory as I attack some of the lower serves.
In general, since a well-placed drive/loop with some speed is hard to block consistently from so close to the table, I don't think it's totally necessary to have ridiculous speed.
I think a lighter blade would also help me position my racket more quickly close to the table.


Can someone suggest a good blade to start with? And maybe a suggestion for rubbers as well?

Appreciate it!!

Hi there,

It's hard to know what level you're at, when you say you're a recreational player. In London we have some recreational players who don't play any serious tournaments, any local or national league, and don't do any coaching or training, but are strong and capable, if a little unorthodox.

You mention backhand loops and flicks - these are pretty advanced shots. If you're able to perform backhand loops and flicks with a stiga premade, you must have very good technique, and lots of experience already.

It's pretty hard to loop from low and close to the table, but again, I'm not sure what the quality is of the balls you're trying to loop. If you're playing someone who gets a massive amount of spin, and digs the ball really deep, I'm not surprised if the ball goes in the net. It's boring but true - getting a backspin ball to spin up and over the net and land, with sufficient spin to trouble the opponent is a purely technical task - it requires movement, anticipation, timing, and well-synchronised mechanics. You can learn all of these with any sensible kind of rubber/blade combo. I'd say it'd be harder with a premade, and harder with the very latest very fastest rubbers and blades used by international players, but basically anything else broadly sensible will be fine.

In terms of rubbers - it's a double-edged sword. A stiga premade is probably not very grippy/spinny, which means it isn't as reactive to the incoming spin, but on the other hand it's harder to generate enough spin to overcome that which is incoming. Personally, I'd be tempted to ignore notions of 'throw angle', 'dwell', 'spin', and 'speed' at this stage. I'd suggest some kind of inexpensive, probably Chinese blade and rubber combo, and give it a few months. You'll probably find *anything* is a big difference compared to a premade, and you'll have to adapt and adjust your game. We use these sorts of bats for people transitioning to a real setup: https://www.topspintt.com/products/bats ... s-bat-bats -- but there are many equivalents, and people better informed than me about what us the current best value setup. You might then decide you want to invest in something more 'premium' in say six months, or you might decide that actually in terms of return on investment, a decent chinese allround thing like this is all you'll ever need.

Good luck, and have fun.

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Sanwei M8 with 2 sheets of KTL Pro XP. Controllable setup with spinny high throw rubber. Slow by modern competitive equipment standards, but should still be an upgrade over your premade. Cheap as well!

Be ready for very high spin though. As Mr. Lord said, spin is a double edged sword.

Beat me to it with the M8... The LKT rubbers are pretty good, though a mite slow (but maybe this is what you want/need).

Bare M8 blade:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SANWEI- ... 01460.html

With the Pro XT rubbers (these seem to be an updated "2015" version):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pro-Tab ... 92665.html

You might be able to talk them into providing Pro XP rubber instead (Pro XT is tacky which XP is non-tacky, I think...). Or you might get a better price buying blade and rubbers separately (but then you'd also need some rubber cement and some varnish..).

Iskandar

In my experience, there is not much difference. Both XT and XP are medium tacky out of the box, and both keep the tackiness for some time even after breaking in. XT keeps the tack maybe twice as long. Both are very light and quite durable. For me, very much useable also after the tackiness wears off.

Wow! Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm just amazed how low the prices are for these chinese blades and rubbers.
Someone on another forum suggested a Palio Energy 03 plus soft version of Palio ak 47, which is also cheap.

What I'm gathering right now is a lot of suggestions for 5 ply blades and chinese rubbers.
I actually bought a Nexy Tamar V (5ply all-hinoki) with DHS Hurricane 3, but I may try buy one of these chinese setups as well just because they're so cheap.

Do you think the chinese stuff from Sanwei, Palio, etc. on Aliexpress are of good build and finish quality? China's table tennis market is probably more competitive so I would suppose they still produce good gear at that price.