zoowology wrote:
Hi guys. I'm a lower-intermediate player who wanted to change my racket setup. I currently use a Chinese setup but also wanted to try a new one because I feel my current setup is a bit off for me.
Calling all the experts here, do you know if my planned setup is ok?
Blade: Tibhar SPW
FH: Nittaku Fastarc G1
BH: Donic Barracuda
I want a better-controlled offensive play so that I can improve all my basic offensive strokes and I hope that this setup will get me there.
For context, my FH is not that much developed yet, I've trained my FH loop/smash but can't execute with power and high consistency. My BH is much more developed, I like to flick/topspin but my BH smash sucks.
I'll add my 5c from a perspective of another lower intermediate player (I've returned to tt this summer after several decades hiatus, played a bit as a student, but then stopped completely). I'm using G-1 on BH/FH and tried 3 of my son's cheap pre-made Chinese bats. They all feel more or less the same to me, i.e dead. I don't know your blade so can't comment on this.
This is all highly personal of course. So take it with a pinch of salt.
Usually when you go for a quality setup you should expect a much nicer, rewarding tactile feeling and some useful feedback, the bat will feel "alive" compared to a cheap Chinese one. To me this is priceless at our stage as it gives you a lot of fun and incentive to play more and find any excuse to go and hit the ball. I guess many amateurs lost any interest and gave up because they played with a dull boring dead bat. That's my cheap argument for spending loads of cash on unnecessary things.
Now to the technical side. How does G-1 feel for a lower intermediate player.
G-1 is a pretty fast and rather heavy rubber with a hard-elastic, solid feel which comes onto it's own at mid and longer distances. Here it is very controllable even at our level, producing a reliable low-medium arc and a good kick, what I call FFF - a flat fast forward rebound which is a nightmare for an intermediate opponent. The ball doesn't jump up like a scary rabbit ready to be killed, which happens with some slower soft rubbers and silly hight arcs. The spin with G-1 is very deceptive: you think it's not that much, but it rebounds and, oops, hits your opponents bat's edge.
I wouldn't worry about control with G-1. To me control and placement are better than with "comfortable" soft rubbers, often recommended for beginners, mainly because G-1 is very linear and honest - a weak shot is slow, if you hit harder it's predictably faster and if you are able to execute a good full FH swing topspin - it's a monster. If you want to develop your attacking FH, G-1 is a good rubber in my view.
You've guessed by now that I simply don't have time for soft rubbers. ))
Close to the table play though could be quite difficult with G-1 as you need to play actively all the time, passive blocks of a weak shot, gentle brushing etc just won't work, the ball will slip on passive/thin contact. You will always need to push it a bit and properly engage the sponge. Short topsheet flicks, banana flicks on a dead ball go awry if I try to just brush it. For the same reason receiving short spinny servers could be very difficult, but here your skill and spin reading is a major factor. You may be better than me and then it will work just nice.
And it's not really for slow looping either, Nittaku says it's a drive-spin rubber, and it really is. Blocking powerful shots at mid-to longer distances is great and easy, you just use your opponent's speed, the ball sinks into the sponge and it becomes spin-insensitive.
So if you are developing as an attacking player who tries to move away from short balls at first opportunity, then yes, this is a great rubber and a powerful, controlled weapon. If you play close and prefer an intricate exchange and close counter, then I would say no, there should be better rubbers at your stage.
I based the above on my 3-months experience with Nittaku Violin/G-1 2.0 mm. Your mileage may vary depending on how you play. I don't know how Violin compares to SPW as I never tried it. It was recommended to me by people I trust when I was looking for a blade, so should be a good one. Never tried a Barracuda. Violin I can recommend highly, although it's not cheap.
Re the weight of the bat - if you want it lighter, you may just specifically ask for a lighter SPW. Many sellers wouldn't mind to weigh their blades. I realised recently that the weight may differ quite a lot. I've got a 79g Acoustic even though Nittaku clam +/-88. My Violin is 89g and with G-1 on both sides it's 186g but feels a bit head-heavy.
And finally - when developing my shots, I personally would not go for different rubbers for BH and FH. It just feels a bit confusing to me. I would prefer consistent feeling on both wings for a year or two and then adjust if necessary.
Hope it helps.