そんなヒノキ系のラケットを豪快パワフルに扱うアルナ選手が、ラバーに使用するのが今回レビューするGEWOのNEXXUS EL PRO53（ネクサスELプロ53）になります！自分も基本的にWRMさんが発信してくれた情報程度にしか理解しておりません。「GEWO」をググりますと、WRMのサイトと、英語のサイトがヒットするのではないでしょうか。GEWOの用具について簡単に確認していきたいと思います。
性能表になります。表からわかることは、どのラバーを使っても高いスピン性能が得られる、悪くいうとどのラバーも大差がない、といったところでしょうか。実際、同時期に試打した、Nexxus XT Pro 50 Hard（ネクサスXTプロ50ハード）と比較しても打球感に大きな差を感じませんでした。情報を拝見して、確かにELは回転に、XTはスピードに特徴があると感じはしましたが、なかなか大きな違いをすぐに感じることが難しいと感じました。こういったラバーの比較をするときは前情報がかなり重要であると再認識した次第です。
一番いいと感じたのは、台へのおさまりです。相手の回転がわからなくても、ある程度打感と弾みのイメージで打つことで、相手のコートへコントロールしやすいと感じました。台上ドライブやチキータ、3球目ドライブやカウンターなど結構決まって気持ちよかったです！元WRMの下川さんがNexxus EL Pro 48（ネクサスELプロ48）へ変更したという情報もあったと思いますが、相手の台に意識しなくても容易に入れることができる感じをかなり感じました。ラリータイプの選手はこういったラバーがハマるのではないかと思います！
The Evolution series is a rubber series for top players of German table tennis equipment manufacturer TIBHAR. There are 6 types of Evolution series, 3 types of sponge hardness and 2 types of sheet type, and 3 types of sponge hardness x 2 types of sheet. Flexible (Flexible, FX) with the softest sponge hardness, Elastic (Elastic, EL) with medium altitude, Maximum (Maximum, MX) with hard sponge, Power type sheet (P) and Spin type hard sheet (S) is not it. The Evolution MX-S reviewed this time will be the rubber used by Belarus’s living legend Vladimir Samsonov. Speaking of Belarusian Samsonov, he is a 44-year-old European “giant” who is still active. In his 40s, he is still active and features a very stable backhand and a tall and strong forehand drive, and his play style is centered on blocks and counters. He has been ranked number one in the world rankings many times in the past, and still has the ability to win top prizes in European competitions. TIBHAR is a German manufacturer, and although it is a little less well known in Japan, it can be said that it has a solid presence in Europe to support athletes. Recently, it seems that Tazoe Hibiki, who belongs to Okayama Rivets, is using the Evolution MX-S in the foreground. The sheet is harder than MX-P, and it looks like a rubber with high spin performance from the name, so I reviewed it with great expectation!
Published performance value
I am sorry that it is very difficult to understand. Since the speed and spin performance of Evolution MX-P (Evolution MX-P) and Evolution MX-S (Evolution MX-S) are the same, they are plotted in the same place.
Some sites use expressions like “10+”, but we have adopted the ones that are evaluated by three-digit numbers. It seems that the actual spin performance is higher for soft rubber. Around this time, I would like to actually try it out and check it.
MX-S sticking and weight
Evolution MX-S
Spin type tension OFF+
・Sponge Thickness: 1.7/1.9/2.1 mm
・Speed: 125
・Spin: 120
・Control: 80
・Sponge Stiffness: 45.7-47.7°
・6,000 yen + tax
・74 g (before cut) → 50 g (after cut)
I didn’t feel that heavy, but it seems to be heavy. The performance value is the same as MX-P.
Three features of Evolution MX-S
The shot feeling is like Dignics!
I felt this rubber at the time of hitting the curtain, but I felt it was quite similar to Butterfly’s Dignics! I felt that this was a big discovery. From the conclusion, Dignics 80, which is easier to use, is the best! Compared to Dignics 05, it is overwhelmingly easy to handle, and it looks like Dignics 80, but Dignics 80 has the impression that it is a little easier to blow off. The MX-S was a rubber that had a very good impression on push and felt a cohesiveness without any graduation. The sheet is hard, but the sponge is like the same type of sponge as MX-P, so I felt the sponge bite well. I also felt that the goodness of the bite was like Tenergy.
Easy to push!
As I mentioned in the first one, push was a very good impression. The trajectory is very low and it is easy to make a push that does not let the opponent hit! I think it’s worth trying just for this reason! I felt it with MX-P, but it is easy to rotate, but I also felt that the rotation performance was inferior. I felt that this was the part I wanted. I think there was a review from World Rubber Market (WRM) that MX-S was recommended for chopper, but I was impressed with the ease of push.
The sheet is hard and easy to block and counter!
I expected it because the seat was hard, but after all the blocks and counters were quite easy to do. I think you can counter and block both the front team and the middle team. From the second and third features, it was a rubber that could be said to support Samsonov’s backhand push and block! I felt that it is also a rubber that can be easily sewn into the block thanks to the rubber that bites well for the hardness of the sheet.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit I didn’t feel any discomfort. At this stage, I didn’t really feel like Dignics.
Drive on long balls and rallies To be honest, I felt that the attack power was insufficient. The ball tends to be shallow, the amount of rotation seems to be a little weak, and the counter is also about. It was good that it was very easy to handle compared to Dignics 05. If anything, I think it will be good when you keep up with the other party’s drive!
Drive with open face This was good. I felt that it would be easier to hit if the racket was not Zhang Jike ZLC but a racket with a slightly thicker plate such as Timo Boll ALC. This area was more like MX-P or Tenergy.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin It’s not bad, but I felt it wasn’t good. The amount of rotation may be a little weak. Maybe I’m not good at it and I should let it bite into the whole rubber more firmly. It’s easy to catch on a sheet, but I felt that the sponge was a little soft and I needed some tips to convey the rotation firmly.
Speed drive against back spin This was also good. It felt like I was hitting it with a feeling of playing rather than flying it by rotation. I feel that it is a way of hitting that will never enter in Dignix 05. Dignix is an image that goes straight to the net unless it is spun and flew. Sweat.
Block This was relatively easy to do. Blocking against speed drives was pretty easy!
Counter drive It was easy to do.
Stop As it grips, it was very easy to stop. nice one!
Push It was good because it also grips. However, it seemed to be lighter if I took it easy.
Serve It was good to be able to cut it firmly. It was a good feeling!
Backhand
Light hit The dignics-ness became apparent when used in the back. I think it’s because the sheet is hard.
Drive on long balls and rallies It was easy to do! It was a very good impression because it was easy to meet and drive. The grip is a little weak, so I felt that it required a lot of practice. I think it’s a very good rubber for backhand! If I wanted to use a hard rubber such as Dignics in the future, I thought it would be okay to use the current professional rubber.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin I felt the speed of leaving the ball a little. Probably because the sheet is hard. It’s not impossible.
Speed drive against back spin It was good in the fore, but I felt it was difficult in the back. I think it’s an arm problem.
Block It was very easy to do. I felt the hardness to withstand the rotation.
Counter drive I felt it was easy to do. I feel that the seat is strong.
Stop This was also good! It will stop!
Push You can cut it! Is good! Since it grips firmly, it didn’t float and I liked the shot feeling! Right now, I want to take advantage of the difference in ease of handling and the amount of rotation, so I have Rakza X as my main job, but the problem with Rakza X is push, so it is difficult to become a high quality push, so I will actively do it from here. I felt the need to rotate it. I’m glad that the MX-S has a slightly high quality push in the auto!
Chiquita It’s easy to do! It was great!
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
The Evolution series is a rubber series for top players of German table tennis equipment manufacturer TIBHAR. There are 6 types of Evolution series, 3 types of sponge hardness and 2 types of sheet type, and 3 types of sponge hardness x 2 types of sheet. Flexible (Flexible, FX) with the softest sponge hardness, Elastic (Elastic, EL) with medium altitude, Maximum (Maximum, MX) with hard, Power type sheet (P) and Spin type slightly adhesive sheet (S) is not it. The Evolution MX-P 50 ° (Evolution Maximum Power 50 °) reviewed this time is a rubber like Tiber’s flagship rubber, which is also used by many top players.
Evolution MX-P is a rubber used by many top players who contract with Tiber, and is used by the following players.
Speaking of Belarusian Samsonov, he is a 44-year-old European “giant” who is still active. In his 40s, he is still active and features a very stable backhand and a tall and strong forehand drive, and his play style is centered on blocks and counters. He has been ranked number one in the world rankings many times in the past, and still has the ability to win top prizes in European competitions. Also, Drinkhall is England’s No. 2 young player, and is characterized by forehand drive and counter drive from Recibuchikita and the middle team. The Japanese team is suffering from England’s Drinkhall player in world groups. In this way, the top European players have signed a contract with TIBHAR and are active on the front lines. TIBHAR is a German manufacturer, and although it is a little less well known in Japan, it can be said that it has a solid presence in Europe to support athletes.
Published performance value
I am sorry that it is very difficult to understand. Since the speed and spin performance of Evolution MX-P (Evolution MX-P) and Evolution MX-S (Evolution MX-S) are the same, they are plotted in the same place.
You can see that the Evolution MX-P 50 ° is the fastest speed performance of any TIBHAR rubber. Also, the high rotation performance remains the same. For katsuo000, I feel that hard rubber takes more rotation, and hard rubber is more difficult to speed up. According to the German manufacturer’s published performance value, it is a soft rubber, so it is easy to rotate, so it is sometimes seen that the spin performance is high. I haven’t tried the Evolution EL-S, but since the MX-P 50 ° has a hard sponge, I think you can expect the rotation performance to exceed the published performance value. In fact, I felt that the rotation performance was high!
MX-P 50 ° sticking and weight
It has reached 200 g for the first time in a while. It’s pretty heavy.
Evolution MX-P 50°
Spin type tension OFF+
・Sponge Thickness: 2.1 mm
・Speed: 128
・Spin: 120
・Control: 75
・Sponge stiffness: 50°
・6,000 yen + tax
・78 g (before cut) → 54 g (after cut)
As for the impression of the attached racket, I felt it was so light that I could not feel it as 200 g. I’m not sure why this is because Zhang Jike ZLC has a center of gravity on the grip side, or MX-P 50 ° dares to make the grip side part with the name of the rubber heavier. It was a very strange impression as I had.
Three features of Evolution MX-P 50 °
Ball holding & shot feeling is very similar to Tenergy 05!
As I mentioned in the review on Evolution MX-P, it is very similar to the shot feeling of Tenergy 05. Perhaps this Evolution series was developed with reference to the Tenergy series. The Rasanter series, XIOM high-end rubber, and Omega series, which have high rotational performance, had a unique shot feeling even with German rubber, but these Evolution MX-P and Evolution MX-P 50 ° Is really similar to Tenergy 05. If you are looking for a rubber with a shot feeling similar to Tenergy, you can try it once.
High-quality rotation with a mad shot feeling
Since the sponge of Evolution MX-P 50 ° is hard, the amount of rotation during loop drive and service was very satisfactory. I think the MX-P 50 ° was more rotated than the MX-P. I think it’s an ant to choose 50 ° to get this amount of rotation.
With a 50 ° sponge, you won’t lose to your opponent’s ball!
I felt that the Evolution MX-P 50 ° will show its true value when it is a technology that strongly bites into the sponge, such as a counter for the opponent’s drive and a speed drive, while inheriting the MX-P’s uniqueness as it is. Even if the MX-P 50 ° is strongly bitten into the sponge, it does not easily give the shot feeling that it reaches the racket, and I felt that it was easy to drive while strongly biting into it. katsuo000 is linked to the feeling of losing or not losing to the ball, whether or not it reaches the board even if it bites into it. If you use a soft racket or rubber, it may bite too much and it may be difficult to make an arch line, but I felt that such a thing was less with MX-P 50 °. I think that the difference will come out when you bite hard with Tenergy 05 Hard, but I think that the same can be said for MX-P 50 °.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit I didn’t feel much hardness. In the first place, MX-P is also a reasonably hard rubber, so honestly I didn’t feel that MX-P 50 ° was difficult.
Drive on long balls and rallies You won’t lose. With the MX-P, when I tried to hit the speed drive, I felt that it was easy to reach the racket and the amount of rotation dropped, but with the MX-P 50 ° it was easier to achieve both rotation and speed.
Drive with open face If you open the surface, it will be easier to bite into the rubber, so I think that the MX-P 50 ° was more responsive to the drive than the MX-P.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin Since it is a rubber that makes it very easy to feel the ball holding, it was easy to do a loop drive with a low and high rotation amount.
Speed drive against back spin This was also easy to do. Since it is easy to make an arc, I felt that even speed drive can be stabilized if there is an impact.
Curve / shoot drive Since it is a very straightforward rubber, I was able to straighten the curve drive and shoot drive, and it was not painful or good. Compared to MX-P, MX-P 50 ° had more ball rotation when it was driven into a curve.
Block I felt it was easier to do than I expected. However, since it is a sheet / grain shape that is easily affected by rotation, I also felt that it was affected by rotation. Compared to Tenergy 05, it was less affected and easier to do.
Counter drive It was very easy to do, but it was not easy to ignore the amount of rotation to some extent like Dignics 05 or V> 15 Extra, but the feeling of hitting the ball back and forth was very good. It was very good to go back half a step and overwrite the counter drive near the apex.
Stop It was easier to do than MX-P. The sponge is so hard that it doesn’t bounce.
Push This also settled low.
Fore flick Since it is hard, the ball separates quickly, so I felt that it would be easier to put it firmly on.
Backhand
Light hit I didn’t feel the hardness of 50 ° so much.
Drive on long balls and rallies When it came to driving, it was easy to feel the speed of leaving the ball.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin It was a good shot feeling with a ball that can be handled even with a backhand.
Speed drive against back spin I felt that speed driving was difficult due to the lack of impact.
Block The influence of rotation was small and it was easy to do. It was my favorite shot feeling.
Counter Drive Because I had a ball, it was a little difficult to make adjustments, such as an over-miss when trying to spin, and a net mistake when trying to counter-drive with a slight meet.
Stop This was easy to do. I felt that the rotation was not so much.
Push It was easy to do, but the amount of rotation was small.
Chiquita It was very easy to do. The arch line was also just right.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Max spin amount Tenergy 05 Hard ＞ Evolution MX-P 50° ≧ Tenergy 05
XIOM’s high-end rubber series, Omega VII series, first Omega VII Pro, Omega VII Euro, Omega VII Asia, Omega VII Tour ( 4 types of Omega 7 Tour) were sold. Although it is a little heavy, the impression of the Omega 7 series is that it is easy to get a straight and speedy ball, but I felt that it was stable due to rotation. In addition, it is easy to imagine the features because it is named in the same way as the naming of the Vega series targeting beginners and intermediates. Europe, which uses a slightly soft sponge, which is common in the Vega series, professionals who use a sponge hardness of their choice for the top layer, Asia, which uses a slightly harder sponge, and the world’s highest peak world tour are inferior. The Omega 7 also follows the standing position of the rubber that I want to clearly convey that it is a tour that uses a hard sponge with a performance that does not. This Omega VII Hyper is the first rubber named Hyper in such an Exion rubber. This Omega 7 Hyper is touted as a rubber that is overwhelmingly easy to handle while having hardness and ball power like Chinese adhesive rubber. A rubber developed with reference to the Chinese rubber that is sweeping the world. The point is that it is a spin-type tension rubber like an adhesive rubber. Actually, when I opened it, the sheet was a normal spin tension sheet, but the sponge was extremely hard and the bubbles were quite small, so it was a sponge rubber that seems to be used for adhesive rubber.
Comparison of Omega VII Hyper and Tour, rubberized and weight
Omega VII Hyper
Omega VII Tour
I think it is easier to understand if you compare it with the image. You can see that the Omega 7 Hyper is a fairly dense and clogged sponge, although the bubbles are finer and not as good as the Hurricane. I’m sorry I couldn’t prepare the photos again, but the Omega 7 Hyper was thicker and shorter than the Omega 7 Tour. I think that the grain shape of this sheet is also the shape that can be seen with adhesive rubber.
The rubber weight of Omega 7 Hyper and MAX was 54g on Zhang Jike ZLC (Zhang Jike ZLC)! By the way, the rubber weight of Omega 7 Tour, MAX was 52 g. It’s pretty heavy!
Omega VII Hyper
DYNAMIC FRICTION
CYCLOID
CARBO SPONGE
・Speed: 13.0
・Spin: 14.0
・Sponge stiffness: 55
・7,000 yen + tax
・79 g (before cut) → 54 g (after cut)
Three features of Omega VII Hyper
The tabletop is outstandingly easy to do! Especially the fit of Chiquita is good!
Of course, the stop is short and easy to put down, but Chiquita was easier to do than that! I didn’t over-miss at all even if I tried to make a big turn. Since it can be rotated quickly, it also has a feeling of adding a sense of stability to Chiquita, which was a very good feeling. If Chiquita makes an over mistake, I think it’s an ant to try. There is a feeling that you can hit with adhesive rubber instead of Omega 7 Hyper, but with adhesive rubber, if you do not make the impact quite strong, you will often fall or just send a chance ball. Omega 7 Hyper was outstandingly easy to do as a rubber that can obtain stability and fit while maintaining a constant speed with spin type tension.
Although it is hard, it has a good bite and is easy to handle!
This may be true for the entire Omega 7 Series. To hit a ball with a tremendous amount of rotation that the opponent makes a mistake, it is necessary to have a certain impact, swing speed and how to use the body, but even if you hit it with a force of about 50% to 60%, it is easy to rotate, and any technology You can put it on the opponent’s court very stably! Any technology is made of rubber that is very easy to do. Even if the impact was weak in the back, the middle team back drive was easy to hit and there was a sense of stability. Also, the sponge is hard, so it was easy to meet. To put it badly, it may be a half-baked rubber, but personally, I want to drive and flick, I want to do blocks, I want to meet, I want to do counters, I want to do this and that too! I think that it is a very well-balanced rubber for those who say.
While maintaining speed comparable to the Omega 7 tour, further rotation and a sense of stability!
Compared to the Omega 7 Tour, it is not an adhesive rubber, so the speed was as fast as it was. Nevertheless, the Omega 7 Hyper had a sense of stability and the amount of rotation. Certainly, the speed drive was hard to bite, so it felt more difficult than the Omega 7 tour, but the speed of the drive in the rally was satisfactory. Still, there was a sense of stability, so it was a rubber that made it easy to feel a sense of security. The Omega 7 Tour seems to be a little quicker to get off the ball like the Tenergy 80, but the Omega 7 Hyper was a rubber closer to the Tenergy 05 Hard.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit I don’t really bounce. It’s a sticky shot feeling.
Drive on long balls and rallies The ball does not stretch, but it is easy to hit a ball that has been rotated. The amount of rotation is not as high as that of adhesive rubber, so halfway may be halfway. If you want stickiness and speed, you can say that.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin It’s very easy to do. The sponge was hard, and it was easy to hit a low and shallow loop drive near the net. I don’t think the amount of rotation is low, but I felt that a little power was needed.
Counter drive It was easy to do.
Backhand
Counter drive It was pretty easy to get rid of and I was very impressed.
Stop The ball also stopped and it was easy to do.
Push Push was also easy to do. The ball grips, but I felt that skill was needed to cut it firmly.
Chiquita It was easy to do. There was a feeling that it settled down firmly when I took the plunge.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Max spin amunt Tenergy 05 > Omega VII Hyper > Omega VII Tour
Speed Omega VII Tour ≧ Omega VII Hyper > Tenergy 05 > Tenergy 05 Hard
MIZUNO, a major sports equipment brand, is a latecomer in the table tennis world, but in order to differentiate it from other table tennis manufacturers, we have taken on the challenge of co-developing rubber with Sumitomo Riko in the table tennis world. The jointly developed rubber is the Q series. Shortly after the launch of the Q3, the Q4 was launched. It is a series of rubber that has been a hot topic since Q3, and the background is the fact that Mizuno jointly developed with Sumitomo Riko from scratch to develop a rubber for top players. It would have been very challenging and inspiring to the table tennis world! Although katsuo000 is not familiar with table tennis rubber manufacturing, basically each table tennis manufacturer does not have a manufacturing factory, and specify the sheet material, sheet grain shape, sponge material, sponge hardness, etc. Most of them are outsourced to factories and manufacturers that can manufacture rubber. Therefore, it is not created from scratch, but the sheet material, grain shape, sponge material, and sponge hardness selected from the options. There will be many combinations, but the combinations required for trendy rubber will definitely be similar. Sumitomo Riko is a manufacturer that has not manufactured rubber until now, so it is clearly different from rubber made at other rubber factories. The rubber that seems to have been used as a reference in the joint development with Sumitomo Riko is probably the Monster Rubber, Tenergy series. Currently, there are three types of Q series sold, Q3, Q4, and Q5, but the Q4 that is being reviewed on this page is the rubber with the highest rotational performance. It’s a rubber that corresponds to Tenergy 05 in the Tenergy series.
Various information is posted on Mizuno’s homepage, so I quoted it.
Q4 has a grain thickness of 1.7 mm, which is the same thickness as the grain thickness of Tenergy. The distance between the grains is 0.58 mm, which is the narrowest in the Q series, and the shape is dense. Tenergy 05 is a rubber with a grain thickness of 1.7 mm, the distance between grains is the narrowest, and it is characterized by ball holding and high rotation amount, and Q4 is a grain very similar to Tenergy 05. It can be said that it is a shape. Also, probably, the Tenergy series does not change the seat thickness / grain height, while the Q series changes the seat thickness / grain height for each Q rubber. As a result, I think that the images of the Tenergy series and the Q series are quite different when compared in the series. In a nutshell, while the Tenergy series feels a difference in published performance values, I feel that none of the rubbers are too sharp, but in the Q series, each rubber has a strong individuality and is the same series, I felt that Q3, Q4, and Q5 each had a strong presence. Regarding Q4, in Q4, the sheet is 0.8 mm thicker and the grain is 0.95 mm lower than other Q rubbers. I think that this sheet is hot because the sheet that is popular in German rubber has a sheet thickness and grain thickness that goes against the thin shape. If anything, the grain shape with thick sheets and thick grains is the shape found in adhesive rubber. I would like you to see the contents of the trial hit to see what kind of characteristics this grain shape gives to Q4.
Published performance value
Published performance values exist in the GF series, but in the Q series, only figures and matrices exist. I quoted it from Mizuno’s homepage.
You can see that the Q series has higher speed and rotation performance than the GF series.
You can see that Q4 has a high arc line like Tenergy 05 and it is difficult to get a long distance.
The above figure is a fairly scientific figure, which is interesting for me personally, but difficult to understand. The rubber material used for rubber has viscoelasticity, so it is a diagram that quantifies how it responds to external forces. This figure seems to be the efficiency of the force that tries to return when the force is applied to the rubber. It seems that if it is hard, the energy loss will increase. Imagine that you probably make a graph like this for each rubber composition. I think we are deriving a rubber that is reasonably hard and properly energy efficient.
It’s easy to understand. It can be said that Q4 is a rubber that corresponds to 05 in Tenergy and Dignix. However, you can also see that they are not exactly the same. Probably, the Q series seems to have been developed in combination with Mizuno’s signature racket, Fortius FT or Fortius FT ver. D (Fortius FT ver. D), and it seems to be a rubber that goes well with wood-based rackets. The wood racket has a good ball holding and is easy to rotate, but the speed is a little slow and the arch line is high and it is easy to come out. I think that it is a rubber specification that compensates for the slow speed and high arc line.
Q4 pasting and weight
Continuing from Q3, Q4 also has a great amount of rubber warping. I think it’s under tension. It’s really amazing that it’s warped so far before it’s pasted. Like Q3, Q4 also has a unique rubber odor. Sweat.
Q4
Tension type (XL52/3)
Thick grain shape, narrowest between grains
・Sponge Thickness: middle (1.7 mm), thick (1.9 mm), extra thick (2.1 mm)
・Sponge stiffness: 47
・6,300 yen + tax
・66 (before cut) → 49 g (after cut)
It’s less than 50 g. I felt it was lighter than I expected.
Three features of Q4
Don’t fly! The drive is shallow and easy to enter!
Q4 has a shallow drive! For this reason, Q4 may feel like a very straight trajectory for some people. Compared to Q3, Q4 felt rather soft, and the adhesive rubber-likeness was a little understated. It is easy to lift the ball against the swing and I do not feel the height of the arc line, but I felt that the speed was rather fast because the flight distance did not come out any more and I entered shallowly and the anti-aircraft time was short. I’ve tried many rubbers so far, but it’s the first time that I have a unique feature like other rubbers! Katsuo000 doesn’t know the rubber that feels the speed because the ball is shallow and straight even though the arc line goes up like Q4. It was a very unique rubber!
Push, stop stops and counter drive is easy!
As with the Q3, the Q4 also had a perfect stop and the overwriting counter drive was a good impression. I felt it in Q5, so it can be said that it is a feature of the Q series. I think the Q series is an ant just because of the features of this Tsuttsuki / Stop and counter drive!
Easy to handle even though it has a strong amount of rotation!
Compared to Q3, Q4 is obviously softer and easier to use, yet I was able to apply a strong rotation! However, when used in the fore, the hardness is a little unsatisfactory for me personally, and there may be a back rather. I think it is a rubber that can produce a ball like a soft adhesive tension / hard spin type tension.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit I didn’t feel any discomfort. It smelled a little.
Drive on long balls and rallies Like Q3, Q4 was about to lose its drive. If you try to play a thick ball, it will bite so well that you will feel it hit the board immediately, and the stiffness of the entire rubber may be a little weak. Some people may feel that the rubber loses this. When I drive it by biting it, I feel that it hits the board immediately, so it is easy to get a long distance with Zhang Jike ZLC, but I felt that it is easy to make a speed drive with a weak rotation amount. This is why I felt that Q4 was not suitable for the foreground.
Drive with open face Although it is a hard rubber, I felt that it hit the racket board immediately. Like Q3, if you let Q4 bite too much, it will not rotate and it will be easy to make a mistake.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin Q3 was also a high quality loop drive, but Q4 was also a high quality loop drive as expected. However, I also felt that a harder sponge would result in a stronger loop drive.
Speed drive against back spin As with the Q3, this also requires attention, and the speed drive at about half the speed and half the rotation became stable. However, Q4 is easy to rotate and soft, so I think it is relatively easy to do.
Curve / shoot drive Like Q3, I didn’t hit it very carefully, but it felt pretty good. It was better to get involved a little and drive a little like a curve drive, because the rotation is stronger and the ball is stable because of the lateral rotation.
Block This was as easy to do as Q3. I think this is because it is hard and not easily affected by the rotation of the other party.
Counter drive I’m glad that the overwrite counter drive was easy to do as well as Q3. Also, I felt that the counter drive was easier to get speed than I expected and I didn’t intend to put it out, so it would be a drive that I could aim for no touch.
Stop I’m glad it was easy to stop the ball. I think it is easier to stop than the hardness of the sponge.
Push It was good that this was also low. I think that it will take rotation if you stick it well.
Serve It was good to be able to cut it firmly. It took more rotation than Q3 and it felt very good.
Backhand
Light hit I didn’t feel that hard.
Drive on long balls and rallies It was surprisingly easy to do. I felt it was soft. I think that Q3 makes the sponge harder because the grains are easy to fall down, and Q4 makes the sponge softer because the grains are hard to fall down. There was a sense of stability, I drew an arch line and felt the speed, which was a very good impression.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin It was very stable because I could hold the ball firmly and rotate it. It’s soft, so it’s good that the impact is less likely to occur.
Speed drive against back spin I think it will be easier to hit than Q3 if you practice.
Block It was easy to do because it was hard and not affected by rotation very much.
Stop It was easy to do. There was a net mistake because it stopped a little too much.
Push It was good that this was also low. I think it will expire in Q4.
Chiquita It’s really easy to do. You can go for a full turn.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Max spin amount Dignics 05 ＞ Q5 ≧ Tenergy 05 Hard ＞ Q4 ≧Tenergy 05 ＞ Q3 ≧ Tenergy 80
MIZUNO, a major sports equipment brand, is a latecomer in the table tennis world, but in order to differentiate it from other table tennis manufacturers, we have taken on the challenge of co-developing rubber with Sumitomo Riko in the table tennis world. The jointly developed rubber is the Q series. The Q3 was released in 2017, and since its inception, it has been a hot topic as a challenging rubber jointly developed with Sumitomo Riko. Behind this is the fact that German-made rubber has emerged in the table tennis world in recent years, and the number of Japanese-made rubber is decreasing except for the Tenergy series and Dignics series of Butterfly. However, Mizuno searched for a manufacturer that could be jointly developed and developed rubber for top players from scratch. I think it was very challenging and had a stimulating effect on the table tennis world!
Speaking of Mizuno’s rubber before the Q series rubber, I think that the hit product of tension type front soft rubber, Booster series, tension type back soft rubber made in Germany, GF series can be mentioned. The booster series had a strong presence centered on female players, but the GF series did not penetrate much, to say the least. The price range was set to target the intermediate class rather than the top specifications. On the other hand, regarding the racket, Fortius FT, a 7-plywood racket supervised by former Japan national team player Ai Fujinuma, showed a certain presence due to its ease of handling and the power of the 7-plywood. However, once you buy a racket, it is not something that you will buy anew within a year, so it will be difficult to generate profits. Therefore, I think that the development of high-end tension-type back soft rubber that even top players can use has begun.
The rubber that seems to have been used as a reference in the joint development with Sumitomo Riko is probably the Monster Rubber, Tenergy series. Currently, there are three types of Q series sold, Q3, Q4, and Q5, but the Q3, which is reviewed on this page, is the rubber that is said to have the highest speed performance. It’s a rubber that corresponds to Tenergy 64 in the Tenergy series. The focus of this rubber is, after all, the sponges and sheets that are never used by rubber from other manufacturers. Although katsuo000 is not familiar with table tennis rubber manufacturing, basically each table tennis maker does not have a manufacturing factory, and specify the sheet material, sheet grain shape, sponge material, sponge hardness, etc. It seems that they are often outsourced. Therefore, there may be many combinations of sheet material, grain shape, sponge material, and sponge hardness, but the sheet material, grain shape, sponge material, and sponge hardness required for fashionable rubber are inevitably similar, so the same rubber. It will happen that the rubber manufactured in the manufacturing factory will inevitably look similar. However, the Q series is manufactured by Sumitomo Riko, and it seems that Sumitomo Riko does not manufacture other rubbers, so it is different from other table tennis equipment manufacturers. The manufacturer that does the same thing is Butterfly. You have your own factory, and you are trying to make a strong difference that rubber such as Tenergy and Dignix can only be made at the butterfly factory.
Various information is posted on Mizuno’s homepage, so I quoted it.
Q3 has a slightly thinner grain thickness of 1.65 mm and is adjusted to 0.63 mm between grains. The main axes of the Tenergy series, Tenergy 05, Tenergy 80, and Tenergy 64, have a grain thickness of 1.7 mm and the shortest distance between grains is Tenergy 05. , The middle is Tenergy 80, and the farthest is Tenergy 64. Q3 is a 1.65 mm grain that is thinner than 1.7 mm, and seems to be a rubber that is easy to fall down and speed up. In addition, the thickness of the sheet is 0.78 mm and the grain height is 0.99 mm, which is higher than other Q4 and Q5 grains, so you can imagine that it is a rubber that tends to show the characteristics of fine grains.
Published performance value
Published performance values exist in the GF series, but in the Q series, only figures and matrices exist. I quoted it from Mizuno’s homepage.
You can see that the Q series has higher speed and rotation performance than the GF series.
You can see that Q3 has a long flight distance. You can also see that the trajectory is the lowest.
The above figure is a fairly scientific figure, which is interesting for me personally, but difficult to understand. The rubber material used for rubber has viscoelasticity, so it is a diagram that quantifies how it responds to external forces. This figure seems to be the efficiency of the force that tries to return when the force is applied to the rubber. It seems that if it is hard, the energy loss will increase. Imagine that you probably make a graph like this for each rubber composition. I think we are deriving a rubber that is reasonably hard and properly energy efficient.
It’s easy to understand. It can be said that Q3 has a grain shape equivalent to 64 in tenergy and dignics. However, you can also see that they are not exactly the same. Probably, the Q series seems to have been developed in combination with Mizuno’s signature racket, Fortius FT or Fortius FT ver. D (Fortius FT ver. D), and it seems to be a rubber that goes well with wood-based rackets. The wood racket has a good ball holding and is easy to rotate, but the speed is a little slow and the arch line is high and it is easy to come out. I think that it is a rubber specification that compensates for the slow speed and high arc line.
Q3 pasting and weight
The warp of the rubber is amazing. I think it’s under tension. It is clearly warped compared to other manufacturers. By the way, sweat has a peculiar rubber odor.
Q3
Tension type XL52/3
Fine grain shape, narrow space between grains
・Sponge Thickness: middle (1.7 mm), thicke (1.9 mm), extra thick (2.1 mm)
・Sponge stiffness: 47
・6,300 yen + tax
・69 g (before cut) → 47 g (after cut)
I felt it was light. Grain shape close to 64.
Three features of Q3
Hitting feeling like adhesive rubber!
Q3 was a spin-type tension rubber with a very matte shot feeling and just like an adhesive rubber! It feels like a sticky rubber, but the speed is more than enough for a spin-type tension rubber, and I felt that the amount of rotation and weight were at a minimum. Aside from the shot feeling, I felt that the ball I could hit was as good as the previous reputation. As an image, I felt that the sponge grain is a speed-type grain-shaped sheet that easily collapses, but the sponge is a fairly hard and hard rubber.
Push and stop were easy to short!
What surprised me was the Q3’s push and Stop, and it just stopped. The same was true for the other Q series, and it was difficult to float the push and Stop. I think it’s a great feature! It’s not easy to cut, but I was very impressed with how push and the stop stopped. When it became so easy to stop, I felt that I could use it as a normal job!
Easy to do counter drive!
In addition to push and Stop, the counter drive in Q3 was a very good feeling. Anyway, the overwriting type counter drive was a good impression, and there was a sense of versatility that you can usually enter by attracting and overwriting with the drive. I felt this was a very reliable rubber.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit I feel the hardness. It was a feeling of hitting the ball because of its hardness.
Drive on long balls and rallies It feels like the drive is about to fall due to its hardness. It is difficult to drive with a weak touch, and if you hit the drive, it will fall if you do not hit it. As I felt when I hit the drive, I felt that it would be better to combine it with a wood racket that makes it easy to draw a large arch line. It is exactly Fortius FT or Fortius FT ver. D. However, both are heavy rackets and have a large rubber area, so I think that it will be quite heavy if you attach the Q series. The speed of the drive was quite good, and the arch line was drawn well. Compared to Rasanter R48, which has the same sponge hardness, it was clearly harder, mad and heavier.
Drive with open face I expected it because it is a hard rubber, but I felt that it hit the board sooner than I expected. It may be because of Q3. I would like to expect from Q4 or Q5. There is a feeling of hitting the board, so if you let it bite too much, it will not rotate and it will be easy to make mistakes.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin Even in Q3, I got a fairly high quality loop drive. I felt that the amount of rotation would drop if I was a little lazy, but it was a loop drive that felt quite good even though it was a speed-type grain-shaped rubber. I would like to expect from Q4 and Q5.
Speed drive against back spin This should be noted, and the speed drive was stable at about half the speed and half the rotation. It is unstable if it bites too much. I think it’s because it’s easy to hit the board.
Curve / shoot drive I didn’t hit it very carefully, but it felt pretty good. It was better to get involved a little and drive a little like a curve drive, because the rotation is stronger and the ball is stable because of the lateral rotation.
Block It was easy to do. I think this is because it is hard and not easily affected by the rotation of the other party.
Counter drive I’m glad that the overwrite counter drive was easy to do. Also, I felt that the counter drive was easier to get speed than I expected and I didn’t intend to put it out, so it would be a drive that I could aim for no touch.
Stop I’m glad it was easy to stop the ball. I think it is easier to stop than the hardness of the sponge.
Push It was good that this was also low. However, it is not cut so much, so I think that good people can type it.
Serve It was good to be able to cut it firmly. I felt that the minimum rotation was applied.
Backhand
Light hit I didn’t feel that hard.
Drive on long balls and rallies It was surprisingly easy to do, but when I was relaxed, I was late and flowed to the middle and fore. I think it’s a rubber that’s easy to drive.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin It was harder than I expected. The ball is released quickly, and if you try to hit it with just your hand, it will fall. I think that if you hit it firmly with your body, it will be stable enough.
Block It was easy to do because it was hard and not affected by rotation very much. I think it’s difficult to take smashes.
Stop It was easy to do. There was a net mistake because it stopped a little too much.
Push It was good that this was also low. But it’s not cut.
Chiquita It was easy to do. It goes up firmly.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Max spin amount Dignics 05 ＞ Q5 ≧ Tenergy 05 Hard ＞ Q4 ≧Tenergy 05 ＞ Q3 ≧ Tenergy 80
Rakza 7 is one of YASAKA’s high-end rubber series, Rakza series.
Speaking of contract players with YASAKA, Takuya Kami, who won the All Japan Championship second place in 2014, Mattias Falck (Sweden), who won the 2019 World Championship second place, won the World Cup four times as an advisor, and won the Athens Olympics. Ma Lin (Marin, China) is famous. There are also many contract players from Waseda University, including Fumiya Igarashi, who won the Kanto Student Championship, Asuka Sasao, who won the Junior Division of the All Japan Championship, and Yuko Kato, who won the second place in the Kanto Student Championship. Also, there are many sharp contract players with Aida Satoshi who is active in TT Saitama with a different back and forth cut man. Including when he was a student, Kami will be a player who has played an active role using both Rakza 7 and Rakza X of Non Slip Sheet reviewed on this page. Not only top players but also amateur players use Lakza 7 and Lakza X, and I think it is a very famous rubber.
The Rakza series is a very proven series, and in the olden days, the god player mentioned earlier used Rakza 7 when he won the All Japan Student Championship and Rakza X when he won the All Japan Championship runner-up. Also, in recent years, it seems that Kouma Tezuka of Meitoku Gijuku High School, who is a heterogeneous player who makes heavy use of smash, used Rakuza X when he won the championship, and Ryoichi Yoshiyama of Aikodaimeiden used Rakuza 7 when he won the All Japan Junior Championship. It is not a minor rubber, but a rubber series that even top players can get enough results!
Rakza series
The Rakza series is YASAKA’s signature tension rubber series. All Rakuza rubbers are Hybrid Energy type rubbers, which are “combined with the high grip and spin performance of high elasticity and high friction rubber, the high repulsion of tension rubber and the refreshing shot feeling”. Similar to Butterfly’s Tenergy and Dignics series, the image of the hitting trajectory is posted on the YASAKA homepage and pamphlets. The rubber with the highest arc is the Rakza Z, which was sold in the spring of 2020. This is followed by Rakza X, Rakza 7 and Rakza 9. I think you can think of it as follows when it is compatible with the Dignix series. Rakza Z ⇄ Dignics 09C Rakza X ⇄ Dignics 05 Rakza 7 ⇄ Dignics 80 Rakza 9 ⇄ Dignics 64 The Rakuza Z, which will be released in the spring of 2020, is an adhesive rubber, and it is in the same classification as the Dignix 09C. Is this a coincidence, isn’t it?
If you explain the Rakuza series in detail, there are four types of Rakuza rubber, each of which is different in detail. There are two types of Rakza Z, Rakza Z and Rakza Z Extra Hard. The Rakuza X uses Non Slip Sheet (NSS) technology and is said to have a high grip that sets it apart from other Rakuza. In terms of performance values, the amount of rotation is higher for Rakuza 7 next to Rakuza Z. And the fastest in the series is Rakuza 9. Soft sponge is sold in two types, Rakuza X and Rakuza 7. The rubber series, which is very popular even though it has different parts in such small parts, is the Rakuza series. The Rakuza 7 reviewed this time is an 80 series rubber among the butterfly rubbers, so I would like to confirm the balance and balance between rotation and speed.
Published performance values of Rakza 7
YASAKA’s signboard rubber, Mark V (Mark Five) series is also posted. I think Mark V is basically a highly elastic rubber. You can see that many tension rubbers have better rotational performance than speed, compared to high elasticity rubbers. Surprisingly, you can see that Rakuza 7 is the rubber with the highest spin performance next to the adhesive rubber among the rubbers of YASAKA. I would like to have a deep review of this area.
Rakza 7 sticking and weight
Rakza 7
Top used rubber that stably creates intense spin
Hybrid Energy
・Speed: 11
・Spin: 14
・Sponge Thickness: middle thick, thick, extra thick
・Sponge stiffness: 45 - 50°
・5,000 yen + tax
・68 g (before cut) → 49 g (after cut)
I pasted it using YASAKA’s Norisuke, but I think it was considerably heavier than expected due to the weight of the rubber before cutting. Rakuza 7 may be easy to absorb the adhesive.
Three features of Rakza 7
Easy to handle!
It has the same characteristics as Super Ventus, but it was easy to handle as expected! However, I felt that it was similar and different from the ease of handling of Super Ventus and Rasanter R48. Super Ventus and R48 are easy-to-use rubbers that can easily hit high-quality balls and are easy to handle in the sense that the quality of the balls is high on average, while Lakza 7 is easy to put in anyway! It was a rubber that entered the opponent’s coat as much as this one word! I was able to use it so naturally that I didn’t have to explore the habits of Rakuza 7. I felt that I could drive and meet by catching the ball as I expected without such a strange habit and letting the whole rubber get stuck. However, it was hard to feel that the quality of the ball was so high. In order to improve the quality of the ball, I felt the need to firmly insert each ball into the entire rubber and then fly it while rotating it firmly. Also, even if I intended to rotate it, I felt that the drop of the arc line during driving was a little weaker than that of Dignix 05 and Fastarc G-1. This area may be close to Tenrgy 80. With outstanding ease of handling, there was no problem with the fore, of course, and I felt that it could be used well in the back! In particular, I felt that Rakuza 7 is the hardness that I feel is quite suitable for me in the sense that I can master the rubber as the hardness of the rubber for the back and that it is moderately hard. Although it is a rubber that is easy to handle, I felt that it is not a rubber that is easy to handle but can hit a high quality ball, but a rubber that can hit a high quality ball according to the corresponding hitting method. Even if the amount of practice drops, you can apply a certain amount of rotation with the feeling of hitting the ball that you have cultivated so far, and the ball will be very stable. Therefore, at least, rather than the rubber amplifying the quality of the ball, I felt that it is a rubber that can easily express the user’s shot feeling, table tennis history and experience as it is. In other words, for a player like myself who cannot secure the amount of practice, a rubber that requires a sense of stability that will surely put in a ball of a certain quality without the delicate angle and touch cultivated by the amount of practice. I felt it was a piece. I think it’s a very good rubber! The impression of Rakuza 7 is that the rubber that does not graduate from what I can do, ensures that I can be stable, and responds to some extent even if I swing for more power.
Less susceptible to rotation!
As it is a rubber made in Germany, I felt that it was not easily affected by rotation! I think he is not sensitive to the influence of the opponent’s rotation like the Tenergy series, but rather insensitive. Therefore, it was very easy to do all the techniques (almost all hits) that needed to cancel the opponent’s rotation by overwriting. Chiquita and backhand drive were also very easy to do. I felt that the sponge bite well and it was easy to feel the ball holding, and it was easy to overwrite from the receive with Chiquita or backhand drive. I didn’t feel that the level of rotation and bending of the ball was so high, but I felt that the sense of stability was the most important weapon. It was also easy to block! No matter what angle the ball was hit, it was easy to feel and feel how much it would repel, and it was easy to adjust immediately. It was easy to fish and lob.
Easy to hit speed drive!
The bite is good, so it was so easy to hit the speed drive that I could aim for the speed drive if I floated a little! Even if I let it bite in, I didn’t feel any weakness that would reach the shot feeling of the racket board, so I was able to bite in with confidence. I was able to feel the goodness of such a high-end rubber.
Each technics review
Forehand
Light hit It wasn’t hard to hit. I felt it was easy to bite in and very easy to hit.
Drive on long balls and rallies It was very good that both the method of rubbing with the sheet and the method of hitting it were stable! However, I think the quality is low. There is a sense of speed and stability of the ball, so I felt that I could put more pressure on the opponent.
Drive with open face This is something I’ve always felt, but it was a very good impression! That is to say, when I used it lightly by a friend, I felt the strength of the core that I could not lose even if I took the plunge into the Rakuza 7 and the Rakuza X that I plan to try out later. The strength of this core is the image of the strength that can be taken to the drive no matter how hard it is bitten. I found it easy to drive with a very open face. It’s easy to do, so even if you drive a lot, it’s unlikely that it will be a drive beyond your imagination.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin This was also good! I strongly felt the grip. I think that the grain shape is easy to grip, the grain is thick and the grain spacing is narrow. However, I felt it was a little repulsive. Still, I felt that it was within the range that could be easily dealt with.
Speed drive against back spin I wrote in the item of drive with open side, but it was very good. However, I think it’s better to let it bite in considerably, so energy is necessary.
Curve / shoot drive Since it is not a rubber that can easily generate a large amount of rotation, I did not have the impression that it would bend significantly on curves or shoots.
Block It was easy to do. It is inconsistent with the previous one, but I thought that it is easy to block because the sponge is hard and hard to deform when blocking, so it is not easily affected by rotation.
Counter drive I think it’s a rubber that is easy to counter.
Stop It didn’t spin as much as Dignics 05, but it was very easy to do. It was a pity that the amount of rotation was small, but it was easy to do because I was able to capture it firmly with the sheet.
Push Like the stop, the amount of rotation was small, but it was not difficult to do.
Serve It was a good impression that I was able to rotate it firmly. You can cut it! It’s a little easy to bounce, so I was worried about that, but once I got used to it, I felt that I could produce a well-cut serve.
Backhand
Light hit There was no particular strange feeling.
Drive on long balls and rallies Even if it was a mess, I was impressed with the drive. It’s easy to rotate. I felt that the impact would be a little insufficient, but even so, it was a rubber that I felt was quite easy to use among rubbers of the same hardness!
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin This was also very easy to do. I will grip it! Like the Tenergy 80, it felt like it popped out before it was fully gripped, but it still gripped well!
Speed drive against back spin This was also easy to do. I just felt a little hardness and straightness that did not draw an arc. This time I used it by pasting it on Zhang Jike ZLC, but it may not have been there. As an impression, I felt that there was a racket from YASAKA’s popular series Ma Lin series. The outer ZLC racket was a little too straight. I think that a wood-based or inner carbon-based racket that is easy to draw an arc will draw a better arc.
Curve / shoot drive Even if you curve it, it won’t bend that much. I think the amount of rotation is weak. I think that a pretty good ball will go if you rotate it by pushing it with your wrist.
Block It was easy to do. I think it’s because it has a good bite but a good ball holding.
Stop Similar to the fore stop, the amount of rotation was small, but it was easy to do.
Push Same as stop.
Chiquita I think the amount of rotation is small, but I thought it was quite easy to do. I think stability is a weapon.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Nittaku（ニッタク）からも販売が開始されたラケット、Hurricane Long V（キョウヒョウ龍5）をレビューさせていただきます。katsuo000が持っているキョウヒョウ龍5はDHS製になりますので、ご注意ください。用具好きの方には釈迦に説法になるかもしれません。「大満貫」＝「オリンピック、世界選手権、ワールドカップ、の3大会全てで優勝」を、2回、あともう少しで3回達成もありえた最強王者、馬龍選手使用のラケットになります。
ロングボールやラリーでのドライブ Omega VII China Ying（オメガVIIチャイナ影）を貼っていることもあって、弾くと安定感が皆無でした。しっかりぶつけてもいいんですが、ドライブをかけるように打つことで、このラケットの真価が得られるように感じました。キョウヒョウを貼る場合も同じだと思います。つまり、ラリーでも馬龍選手のようにバックスイングを後ろではなく、下からとるようにして上方向へ打つようにして、ドライブ回転をかけるように打つことで、回転量と、ボールに対してぶつけて直線的なボールを打っても、しっかりと弧線を描いて相手のコートに沈んでくれるボールが打てると思います。逆にスピン系テンションラバーの打ち方でボールの頂点を捉えて後ろから前へ振ってしまうと味が出せないかもしれません。どちらかというとわざとボールの打球点を落としてもいいので、弧線を描くように描くように打ってあげることで安定感とボールの変化、回転量が得られて相手が嫌がるかと思います。
As a high-end manufacturer of TSP, VICTAS is a manufacturer with a strong presence in Japan, next to Butterfly with its stylish apparel and unified rubber and racket design! It will be a trial hit of V> 15 Extra of the flagship rubber of VICTAS. As of 2020, I have briefly listed the top players who have contracted with VICTAS and are using V> 15 Extra.
In the April 2020 world ranking, you can see that it is used by the world’s top players, including Koki Niwa, who is ranked second in the Japanese. VICTAS contract players basically use V> 15 Extra or completely different rubber (for example, Korean Jang Woo Jin player has a lot of Chinese table tennis elements, Double Happiness Shanghai on the racket and fore side, We use Hurricane Long V (Inner Arylate Carbon (Inner ALC)) and Hurricane NEO III (blue sponge) made by DHS. In other words, it is no exaggeration to say that the rubber that top players want to use in VICTAS products is almost V> 15 Extra! I think it’s easy to understand that there aren’t many types of Tenergy alone like Butterfly.
Published performance value of V> 15 Extra
V> 15 Extra is said to be “a gear that emphasizes the power to produce a decisive hit, a gear that overwrites the opponent’s ball with intense rotation and speed and returns it. A gear that emphasizes the power to punch out the opponent”. VICTAS’s rubber performance table is easy to see, but on the other hand, there is no performance value called spin, and it is items such as arc line height, drive accuracy, seat strength, repulsion. Let’s take a closer look.
Arc line height: Angle change of incoming reflection with respect to the rotated ball Speed: Speed change rate before and after collision with the rotated ball Drive accuracy: Operability when driving the drive by yourself Control: Accuracy of returning the ball to the specified location for the rotated ball Seat strength: Difficult to slip against rotated balls Repulsion: The height at which the ball bounces when dropped from a certain height (Sprinkle potato starch on the rubber surface to eliminate the effect of adhesive)
You should find such an explanation when you look for VICTAS information. I found it difficult to imagine even after reading the above, but I think it is very easy to imagine the repulsion. It’s a little disappointing that there is no information that leads to rotation even if you look at these performance values, but this seems to be the strategy that VICTAS chose. In addition, TSP has posted spin and speed performance like a butterfly.
Depending on the way of thinking, the items that can be considered to be connected to rotation are the numerical values of the height of the arc line and the strength of the seat. Certainly, V> 15 Extra has a fairly high arc height and seat strength. I think that the item of sheet strength is a little worrisome, but I think that the slip resistance is evaluated, but the spin tension is V> 15 rather than the adhesive rubber VJC> 07 Sticky Extra and VS> 402 Double Extra. Extra is more expensive, isn’t it? If it is not slippery, I feel that the adhesive rubber is overwhelmingly less slippery, but I feel that it reflects the strength of the sheet tension and the thickness of the sheet.
When I read the explanation of other VICTAS rubber, I was worried about the V> 01 series, but I felt that the rotation performance may be low in terms of performance value (I do not understand because I have not tried it). Even considering various situations, I imagine that you can get a complete picture of VICTAS rubber by trying out V> 15 Extra, the rubber used most by contract players.
V> 15 Extra rubberized and weight
As usual, I pasted V> 15 Extra on Zhang Jike ZLC made by Butterfly.
V＞15Extra
High Energy Tension
・Sponge thickness: 2.0 mm, MAX
・Arc height: 6.7
・Speed: 8.4
・Drive accuracy: 7.1
・Seat strength: 9.2
・Repulsion: 8.8
・Sponge stiffness：47.5±3°
・6,000 yen + tax
・71 g (before cut) → 50 g (after cut)
I was surprised that it was heavier than I imagined. You may have applied a little too much solvent. But it is also one of the features that it is heavy.
Three features of V> 15 Extra
The counter performance is amazing!
The first thing I felt when using this rubber was the high counter performance due to the strength and hardness of the seat! Since the seat is very hard and strong, I felt that it was a rubber that was not easily affected by the rotation of the opponent’s ball and was very easy to counter. It may be no exaggeration to say that it is the rubber that supports the counter drive of Koki Niwa, who is called the rising counter! The counter was easy to do, whether you were aiming for a drive or a bit of a meet. I think it is ants to change to this rubber for counter performance!
The drive when you let it bite in is amazing!
The hardness of the sponge is 47.5 ± 3 °, but it is a rubber that is as hard and heavy as 50 °. Therefore, the amount of rotation of the drive when it bites into the entire rubber firmly, and above all, the drive that accelerates like a spring had a stronger impact than it looks! When I tried to rotate this rubber with the sheet, it did not rotate so much, I felt that it would be difficult to rotate unless I firmly bite into the entire rubber once and then rotate it by the friction of the sheet from there. However, as I got used to it, it was such a characteristic rubber that I became addicted to a ball with a strong rotation that I could not hit unless V> 15 Extra. I don’t think it is suitable for loop drive because it is difficult to rotate unless it bites into it. Even if you drop the hitting point, you need to catch it as if it hits the ball and let it bite into the rubber before applying rotation. Therefore, I think it takes a lot of practice and getting used to hitting a low, short, shallow loop drive that catches the ball with just the seat. Rather, I think that it is better to think of it as hitting a place with a high hitting point, and then add rotation from there and bring it to speed drive or power drive. It’s a very quirky rubber, but I think it’s also an interesting rubber.
Chiquita is easy to do!
As with all German rubber, Chiquita was pretty easy to do. It bounces quite a bit, and this V> 15 Extra has a part that is quite insensitive to the rotation of the opponent, so I felt like I could enter even if I went to flick it. Maybe you can use it for Chiquita! It was a rubber that surprised me because Chiquita was so easy to do. I think this is because the seat is strong and not easily affected by rotation.
Each technics review
Fore hand
Light hit Although it was heavy, it digged in quite a bit. The hardness of the sponge is 47.5 °, so it is natural, but the bite is quite good. If it’s the fore, I personally like the sponge even if it’s a little harder.
Drive on long balls and rallies I could only use it twice in practice, so I could hardly hit a good drive. I think I could say that I didn’t know how to hit the drive that was in this rubber. The impression I felt was that the trajectory was shallower than usual and the ball was not stretched. I guess I haven’t been able to bite into it.
Drive with open face The drive that bites in is quite good. It’s a rubber that you can’t easily understand unless you get used to this feeling. However, I didn’t have enough skill and often played it, so I didn’t feel stable.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin This was pretty difficult. It lifts up, but when I try to hit it with just the sheet, it’s quite easy to become a baseball ball. I felt that it was difficult to touch because it was better to hit it firmly even with a loop drive.
Speed drive against back spin It is easy to do speed drive of the system that makes you bite. There were times when I ended up hitting a little meat. I don’t have enough technical skills.
Curve / shoot drive It seemed like I could make a curve, but shooting is difficult unless I get used to it.
Block The block that just hits is softer than I expected, so I felt it was affected by the rotation. But it was pretty easy to smash. The seat is strong and won’t lose, so it’s better to take a little rotation by taking it firmly on the ball for a more stable impression.
Counter drive I think it is the true value of this rubber. It’s pretty easy to do. I felt that the counter performance was higher than Tenergy. Actually, those who use V> 15 Extra have the impression that the counter is good, but I felt that this rubber also played a role.
Stop It was a rubber with a good bite, so it was easy to fly. If you hit it with a sheet, it will stop.
Push It’s hard to cut. If you let it bite in, you will be over because you are the outer ZLC. It may be better to push it slightly without being conscious of rotation.
Fore flick Since the seat is hard, it was easy to do because it was not easily affected by rotation.
Serve At first, it didn’t take a turn, so I wondered what to do. Even if you serve, it will not rotate at all unless you bite it firmly. I think that it is easier to rotate if you let it bite in like a bump.
Back hand
Light hit There is momentum, so it was quite easy to put in.
Drive on long balls and rallies I could only hit it closer to meat than to drive. There was no sense of stability.
Loop (top spin) drive against back spin I have a habit of driving while pushing, so I was able to hit a good drive several times. Rather than a loop drive, it felt like a drive with a large amount of rotation that dropped the hitting point, but I felt that I was able to hit a drive with sharp growth and a feeling of intimidation.
Speed drive against back spin Speed drive was difficult. It has become a meat hit. It would be nice if we could speed up while rubbing it up like a loop drive, but this is also lacking in technical skills.
Block It was a pretty good feeling. It was especially easy to take a German rubber drive or speed drive. I’m glad that it repels firmly, or that there is a part that is not easily affected by rotation.
Counter drive It was easy to do even in the back. Rather, the faster ball bites into the rubber, so I felt that it was easier to spin by taking advantage of the bite into the sponge. I think it’s a good idea to hit it with a bit of meat and counter it with the image of spinning from there. I felt like I could enter even if I became a meat, and it was a very good feeling.
Stop Since the sponge is soft, I had the impression that it would float when the sponge bites into it.
Push Like the stop, I felt that the ball was floating.
Chiquita It was very easy to do. It was easy to flick, but it wasn’t easily affected by the rotation, so it was easy to drop it where I wanted. However, it wasn’t very powerful.
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
そんなDONICのラバーの中でも異色を放つラバーとして発売されたのが本ページでレビューするBlue Grip C1（ブルーグリップC1）になります。このブルーグリップC1はXIOM（エクシオン）のOmega VII China Ying（オメガVIIチャイナ影）と同時期に販売されたラバーでスポンジ硬度は60度の超ハードラバーになります。先に発売されたオメガVIIチャイナ影のコンセプトが「中国ラバーキョウヒョウを超えるラバー」であったため、このブルーグリップC1も同様に超ハードなドイツ製粘着テンションラバーとしてのイメージが強いラバーだと思います。実際ドイツ基準の硬度で比較した際にここまで硬いラバーは他にはオメガVIIチャイナ影しか存在せず、意欲的なラバーの1枚だと思います。既にレビューされているものを拝見すると、オメガVIIチャイナ影と比較すると使いにくさが丸くなって、スピードと扱いやすさの上がったラバーというものが多い印象でした。実際のところどうなのでしょうか。
強粘着というフレコミですが、昨今のドイツ製粘着テンションらしく、粘着感は低くほぼ微粘着系のラバーだと思いました。キョウヒョウ龍5がブレード面積の広いラケットということで、かなり重たくなったのも特徴的かと思います。重量は57 gで、オメガVIIチャイナ影と比較すると若干軽いかな～くらいで、明らかな超ヘビー級です。Nittaku（ニッタク）さんのHurricane Pro III Turbo Blue（キョウヒョウプロ3ターボブルー）の65 gと比べると、あそこまではいかないものの、というラバーだと思います。
Blue Grip C1（ブルーグリップC1）
粘着テンション
Made in Germany
・Sponge Thickness： 2.0 mm、Max
・Speed：11
・Spin：11++
・Sponge硬度：60
・オープンプライス (4,363円)
・82 g（切断前） → 57 g（キョウヒョウ龍5、158 × 150 mmに貼って）
