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Just used double inverted today.

back hurt a little less than last time.

Shaun is still killing me. I only got one game off him out of who knows? 6? Just realised he swapped to using H8 and H3 on his bat. suits him because he can be spinnier now. He is just so consistant than last year.

PRW was a bit closer than I expected but he got the better of me about 4:3 in games.

Mr Wong was closish at first but didn't get game off me.

Surprised I beat Eric about 3:0 mostly to his inconsistency.

Pretty sure Michael didn't get a game off me.

Overall I felt some improvement but man my forhand was pretty average.

I actually swapped around playing the h3 on bh and the rozena on fh a bit. Kind of suited me especially if I got a chance to smash on fh.

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I look forward to playing next week already. Was good session with a variety of players.

Still my fh is way off most the time I think I can loop on the table I miss by a couple of feet.

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Felt like some improvement today. Felt I was getting closer to Shaun in game totals. I had to just be relentlessly attacking over and over again till they went on... still making way too many overshooting fh shots in particular. feel like I want more tack on the chinese rubber. mine is not that tacky these days.

I am not liking the Rozena on bh much anymore. Just feel it's not giving me much love in looping compared to the grip of h3 there.. Found the rozena better for just forehand speed slapping. fh hmmm I did loop with it okish in careful loops and fish from a distance. Easier to keep a lower trajectory.

I do like having one rubber better at flat hitting (even though in seems counter intuitive to the style I envisage I want to play.... its the game I end up playing more often) Sometimes wonder if I should just have one sh*tty inverted rubber really thin on one side just for flat hitting as its strength. Something that is effortless to smash through spin with out it being shortpips.

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Then in the last 30 minutes only used LP / h3 versal bat. I think I beat him 4:1.

IT's not so much that the Lp, but more so that I end up defending a lot more and just focussed on getting the ball on the table.. He said otherwise, he said it was the lp that was bugging him. I must admit I find it easy to fish with my lp set up. = sometimes I chop sometimes just kind of flat under arm plonk it back ....

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main thing is I am getting better. Wish I could play more than 3 hours a week. I might up this if I see my body recovering quicker.

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had a brief hit with shauns bat. not sure why I liked it - seemed easy to use... hurricane both sides.but it was the weird pong sound of the blade that felt kind of centred.

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Replaced Rozena with my newest looking sheet of hurricane... Hurricane 2. Dam it was hard to use on bh in particular. So easy to keep low though. Often the ball would just fall off the rubber when doing softer stuff.

wont settle on this at all. I also got a good practise with Rakza Z. Thanks to Vinnie. The Z really has a high bouncy throw angle. So unlike any hurricane. Found it weird and very different. Not sure I was sold on it. Felt it bottomed out a bit in counter looping.

Had a session only with Shadi.

Hard to remember exact type of game difference. He won most toward the start and then I won most toward the end. So about 50 50.

I remember saying often that generally who attacks tends to lose more points. Although that didn't stop either of us most of the time just going for it.

We play games but try to improve our weaknesses and not avoid them.

My fh sucks still.

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woohooo

Vinnie glued on a new sheet of max red rakza Z onto my yasaka blade. (old H3 on the other side)

I love the rubber. $65 at the club.

As everyone says its super high throw. My red was super tacky out of the packet. After a few hours of twiddling it for sure suits my fh. The lengths that land on counter looping were perfect. Must be active with it. Spinny as hell.

I found that Hurricane 3 on my bh had much more control for everything. The Z is just a bit more zippy and spinny and if you don't complete a full stroke you are missing a lot more than with the h3. Something about the fh loop that lands better than h3 when committed to the shot it just goes where you want it.

Service with Z is much spinnier...

I am tempted to have it on both sides and just have to go through getting used to it. Or just stick with h3 one side because it really has so much more control on my bh.

pushing with Z can sometimes be too much bounce in there. But I really think Z is the best rubber I have tried (wish I tried this before I touched the esn rubber series.)

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BEat Radi and Chris (from Brunei) and Juta easily in games.

Pretty sure I got most games off Eric who was more on his game today.

I barely won with a comeback in a Close 5 setter (as usual) with Vinnie at the end.

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I was so keen to play this morning. But I just felt upset much of the time playing.

Expectations up here somewhere on a level above.

Reality of playing far from good form.

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I beat Eric 3 or 4 nill. So that was my consolation.

I was about 60 40 losing to Shaun though. I was winning at the start and at the end of session.

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I was basically unco on both wings. Really missing so much I just felt this bad feeling building of frustration bordering on feeling angry (not at anyone but my own inability to 60% of my attack shots.

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I must remember that I finally found the right grip for the bat. I was trying everything to try get my form back but it was all bad until I settled on the flat part handle sitting flat under my palm. The other thing that worked was holding a heavy FH grip for most service receive and just taking the ball early with counter sidespin.

Eric and Shaun serve a lot to my FH because my big swing fh miss so much.


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And much of the time to win I have to not avoid the basics. Moving close and hold the table with boring soft drive rallies. As soon as I want to get some cool shots using my fancy spinny rubbers I would miss so....

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I was twiddling a lot which was not helping with finding my feeling but I have to twiddle to get to know if rakza z should be on both sides or which side....

I started playing better when I used H3 on my fh! Mostly because I had more control in service return.

I landed probably more with the H3 on either side of my bat than the rakza Z. This is another frustrating thing. I still like some quality about Rakza Z. I just need to settle to where it is better.

After today I feel against stronger players the Rakza Z didn't help much apart from service spin.

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H3 is easier lower throw angle. Less bouncy in service return.

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The other thing is I just need to give Rakza Z time. I can't expect to feel at home with it like H3 which I have used now for ages.

H3 feels good on this wood blade.

Rakza Z feels like it is a bit too high throw and the dwelly wood blade is probably making it worse. I kind of want to feel it on a hard carbon blade that lowers the dwell time and trajectory.

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Played at least 5 hours yesterday.

2 hours with Shadi = we were about 50 50 I think.
3 hours with various players.

Didn't get a game off Dan. Most were close though.
Won about 5,1 against Anthony.

Last time Ken beat me 100%, this time I beat him 100%.
I also lost the last time about 8 months ago to (forgot his name from Moldova?) Sergei? But this time only lost about a game out almost 10... He uses short pip and anti spin.

So pretty good results.

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Most important thing is I glued up my primorac carbon with H3 and rozena.

I played 50% of the time with this.

It didn't feel too heavy. Of course I had less control most notably in service return short touchy pushy stuff and some blocking going right off the table. I lost most points here.

I actually like the primorac carbon for my fh. I could still do super spinny graze loops but also kick in the speed when needed. Best thing was blocking from a distance. Could easily punish someones attack with a punch to the other side of the table (no time for them to recover). Mostly though I was not confident with the big bounce of rozena on carbon.

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I will be carrying both blades for a while. Although I enjoyed power shots, the loss of control doesn't help.

I was enjoying Rakza Z on BH more due to its catapult. It can be slow but it can kick into gear with confidence building there. Wish I could afford to try rakza z on the carbon blade but for now I dont want to uproot rubbers that are new... might damage them.

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I am still wondering about going down in thickness of sponge because I don't think I am digging into the sponge 70% of the time which means I am carrying dead weight much of the time. I am thinking like about 1.8mm thickness might do real well when the blade is dwelly.

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Shadi was killing me using the primorac carbon again although the speed of the rallies was insane. and fun!

After I swapped to my wood bat I regained control and then made up for it. We were about 50 50 in games by the end of 2 hours.

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Then I played Jutta and lost the first game but won the next 2.

Then played some amazing coach... I took the first game off him but lost the following 3 closely. Nice guy complimented me about my style.

Then played top of table and won. Beating Jullian from France in 2 games. Jullian is twiddling comby player reminding me of my LP style. He is a better chopper by far though.

I beat Saive 2:1 in games at the end and went home "early" 10.30-4pm -ish

So my body is LF*&cko.

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I am still confused with Rakza Z, I swapped fh bh and found both ways are as I have said before.

I do like when it kicks in with a catapult.

I really want to try to Rakza Z on the primorac because rozena isnt doing it for me there.

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Overall I feel like I am starting to get some form back.

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Just used my primorac for 3 hour session today.

Shadi probably beat me about 5:4 in games. When I was attacking more I was doing well.
I beat ken about 5:1.
Played some other guy didn't lose a game but I think he was a bit lower level or it seemed it because of inconsistency when given the opportunities.

So here's the most important thing. My body hurts a lot less all over. I am wondering if it is because I am having to put in so much effort to get the ball going past people with the wood blade.

The best thing about the primorac is being able to smash through spin that otherwise is so dam difficult with my all wood blade.

I played 99% of the time with the rozena on bh. It does feel a bit too soft when moving back from the table. The bit of time I tested it on the fh I felt it was way too soft when I stepped back over a metre. The hurricane 3 felt great on the bh as well as the fh. Sure I notice it is slower than the rozena but man H3 gives me so much confidence in all my counter looping. The throw angle is perfect. Really weird this H3 provincial blue sponge wasn't that tacky when I first got it, but today I did the pick up the ball test a few times and man the ball stuck upside down for 5 seconds sometimes.

So I think it is time to see if the Rakza Z will come off my yasaka blade easily enough. I got to try it on the primorac.

Overall today I felt I had more control with the primorac than in the past. Sure I felt I had to be more in position to go for a power fh because if you dig in to the blade it rockets off target much more easily. But man I did a lot of lazier fishing forehands today that made up for it and that's probably why my arm is not as dead as when using the wood blade.

Even if Shadi is still hard to beat I think I am improving quickly. He's just playing a lot more and on his game these days as a result.

TT rocks. Loving it.

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Shaun beat me 5:4 in games today.
Over that time we also played with Nick (lower level but still good to mix it up)
At the end Simon turned up. I beat him 11:3 in the 5th.
I think Simon mostly beat Shaun...

Simon struggled with my serves. He also struggled with my weird return of his and my ability to shut down his opening loops with blocking the ball. I also fished back his massive attacks better than most people he is used to.

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Today I played Rakza Z and H3 provincial on the primorac carbon the whole time.

Rakza Z is spinnier and H3 is more direct trajectories. The only place Rakza let me down was it was bit too soft for counter looping from the distance. H3 is easier to do controlled simple drive stuff still. The softer feeling the Z felt better for smashing into the carbon bounce.

I believe the Primorac Carbon did bring down the trajectory of the Rakza Z down as hoped. I still have to come over the ball a bit more than the H3.

I did a lot of side spin block shots that came in at my elbow with the Rakza Z to keep the trajectory down and this is a strength of this rubber similar to 05.

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I am not 100% sure about the primorac, but as I said it kind feels like it opens up a dimension of being to smash through spin and also get the ball to the table more easily when I have moved back from the table to save a point where I am on the back foot. It's kind of a part of game that is very important because I run back often when I have made a mistake returning a ball to high for example.

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3 hrs of play today with rakza Z H3 and primorac carbon.

Didn't get to play Bandu as much as we were meant to coz he turned up very late. I took most games off him, lost 2 or 3 at the end.
Before that played a guy don't know his name (lower level) no problems there.
Also beat Wayne in many games except one game. (lower level too).
One game against a Div 1 player who I almost beat. Hope to get to play him more next time.

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So I am going to say it: I think Rakza Z is a great rubber at the table on the backhand. I counter loop all day taking the opponents shot early knowing it will catch the ball and land.But it is gutless in the counter looping from metre+ . It just bottoms out and I have to resort to trying to punch the ball into the blade to get it back. Not cool.

It is similar to maybe Hurricane 3 37 degrees. The topsheets of Hurricane 3 seem a bit harder.

The question now is if Rakza Z Extra Hard as the next EJ attempt. Kind of sick of EJing $$$$.

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Probably the most notable changes is how I often I do really great side spin chop blocks especially on my FH. Rakza Z is great at this.

All up I was kind of frustrated with the mushiness of the Rakza today. I just wanted to drive forward a bit more.

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3 hours today.

Finally I am up on the tally against Shaun. Can't remember exactly but I reckon about I won 70%.
Oddly for much of the time I just tried to use my FH and that made a big difference. But man it is power draining.
Hurricane 3 is better than Rakza for me on FH because it drives/smashes and graze loops with a very very similar swing of the arm. I was driving a lot more than I ever do. And I think the primorac is what is allowing me to do this too. Not to mention H3 exudes control.

Rakza z was good looping slower balls dropping low when back from the table. You can like big rainbow trajectories on the bh. They aren't killer shots just dam good spin. One thing really missing on my bh is the ability to punch a ball or drive it, Rakza Z is so inconsistant here. It's hard to just put your arm out and get shot back when there isn't time for a loop swing. Rakza Z is good if you can always do something fancy with it. BUt sucks at some fundamentals. Lower trajectory rubbers are so much better at blocking attacks because you have a more open face of the blade that can have more chances of getting on the rubber instead of the edge or my fingers!

Rakza Z is dam good at controlled looping and knowing the loops will land... not go long so I don't know which I prefer for bh. Consistancy is key.

I also beat Dennis clearly because both my wings were consistant fast + spinny making it impossible for him to block.

I felt great improvement in my game today.

A small part of me wants to try pulling of the rakza and putting on my old mxp just for a short test to see if I can get loops happening there and be able to open face drive/ punch on the back hand more often. I reckon my loops will go long probably.... dunno.... around around the ej monkey world I go.

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most important today was that I did a lot of high speed FH driving with H3.

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Got in 3 hours tonight after work (so legs were a bit tireder than usual and now I can barely walk.)

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Yeeha! Good mate Vinnie, the now groovy manager at BTTA has lent/given (TBA) me the Rakza Z Extra Hard to try. And even glued down tonight...

OK so in such a short period I can't say where I sit with this RZEH.

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I played SAive, Hero (or Hiro, not sure), a Christian ( a new I think Phillilpino with some of the spinniest serves I have seen for a long time.), Mat and Victa.

I don't usually get to play Friday nights so yeah a lot of new opponents to figure out is awesome!!!

Hero was the last guy I played 10pm! (never met before) and I loved just not knowing anything about someones game and just play games (like the rest of them) but Hero has a Xu XInish style but only at the table. And dam he was consistant if I pushed something back He would kill it.. So I only beat him mildly in games by looping everything with my backhand mostly the RZEH.

I tried to use the RZEH as much as possible twiddling if possible.

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RZEH is clearly more forward trajectory. I found it excelled at that speed. IF it has as much spin as the original Rakza Z it is masked under that extra speed. It is clearly more bouncy for me, not only in service returns but even just bouncing it on my bat in my hand.

Oh I want to dispell some dumb myth about the extra hard not being as tacky as the original. It holds the ball in an upside down test just as long as any Chinese rubber, or the original. And the EH is not brand new.

Sadly my oponents in games tended to not give me the types of scenarios I was hoping for mostly tonight. But in the few long distance counter loops I did, I can say Rakza Z Extra Hard is perfect from a distance. RZEH feels like a big boy's rubber. It's definitely harder to land on the table than the original. And it takes extra hard work to get it do its high powered potential.

I haven't given it enough time, but I can say that the original RZ was really easy for me to just pick up and loop at the table on backhand without thinking.

So.

Extra Hard for me feels like I will probably have to get rarer points on the boards from it, since playing from a distance is not a strategy at my level. It rarely happens compared counter looping at the table.

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RZEH could be either FH or BH for me. (similar to H3)
But H3 suits my FH more than both versions of RZ. H3 is a bit slow for my BH though....

RZ can only be BH, and I prefer it there over H3 just for the sheer dynamics and service.

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Not sure.

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Hurricane 3 is nowhere near ( in any of the version I have tried, boosted or not....) as bouncy as any version of rakza.

Hurricane 3 is pure control. There just are no surprises with catapult. Service receive is almost half the game set up for me. H3 is unbeatable for the controlled stuff before an open.

Hurricane 3 has way more gears. (even though these hybrids have more than other not tacky tensors.) Especially on the fastest blade you can find.

The gears are most extreme on a high powered carbon hinoki blade like the primorac. When I hit balls I can slow it way down with the deadness of the sponge and tack but the blade gives the ability for the highest speed if needed.

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H3 seems to be better at graze looping lower balls over the table and still landing on the table (for FH)

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As it stands now, if I had to play tournament with one set up, it would be:

Primorac Carbon
Hurricane 3 FH
Rakza Z original. (but I want to test this more and see if I can get used to rocket potential of EH)

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So really I doubt I will get rid of HUrricane 3.
I just need to decide if want to excell at spin at the table with rakza Z original or power with the extra hard further from the table.

EJ land rant over.

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Wow!

Today had the best results I have had in a year or more.

Clean beat:

Shadi 3:0 in best of 5 match.
Shaun and Bandu was similar in more games.
I finally got to play Neil and I got him in best of 5.
Only the combi player Spanish Julio, got me in best of 5 but if you counted all the games that we continued on with I won more overall.

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And I was using 99% of the time:
Rakza Z Extra Hard FH
Rakza Z BH
on Primorac.

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I felt like I was playing more like I remember 15+ years ago.... With all the extra speed I could defend more dangerously from anywhere on the court.

Dam spanner in the works to figure out if I should retrial hurricane. But I am thinking as I age that this faster set up is actually going make it easier on me.

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I only played 1 game at the end against Bandu with the extra hard on backhand and also clean beat him in it. And I tried to do everything with bh and it was just that bit faster....

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My thoughts on using EH are that I am producing balls more like modern attack style. To me it didn't seem as spinny but my opponents were all bamboozled with my performance today.

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I should add that I was not attacking constantly, but playing my more defensive style a bit of just making sure I get the ball back on the table. I felt I had the tools to get it there with this equipment.

Hmmmmmm. I will stick with this equipment for a while now.... I only felt when back from the court that I wanted more easy power on my bh. Since the rz original failed for me from 2 metres+ being too soft.

dam.... I might even buy a RZEH to trial it on both sides.

I don't feel rzeh is the fastest or spinniest rubber in the world but it has a great combination of speed spin and control. The tackiness kind of seems a little redundant when I felt like I was playing with something like a tenergy hard or something....

yeeha!

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Was that with a regular Primorac blade, or the carbon one?

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carbon.

I have been dabbling with going back to my roots for a while. I am glad I constantly experiment because the primorac carbon even though heavier than I like just gives me that extra distance without so much effort. If I were younger, I would avoid it, odd right? But my arm has been doing better with faster equipment.

Agility and placement. Faster rebounds without effort.

The all wood blade is probably 30% spinnier, but I just can't constantly swing insanely to get it to go finish a point.

I remember even Timo Boll gave it a spin for while a year ago in some tournament when he bowed with with abdominal injury.

Speed is something you cannot negate. Spin is.

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I'd never buy these blades these days but I have a few left over blades from 15 years ago in my cupboard.

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