Explanation
The rubber reviewed on this page is from the French table tennis maker Cornilleau, and will be the latest rubber in the Target Pro series to be sold in the fall of 2020. In Japan, juic is the distributor. Although it is not a manufacturer with a strong presence in Japan, Cornilleau’s racket rubber is not bad at all. Cornilleau is a historic manufacturer founded in 1946 and began developing competitive rubber and rackets in 2009 under former world champion Jean-Philippe Gatien (France). Currently, they have contracts with different manufacturers, but the world’s top fantasista Simon Gauzy (France) and the fastest two-handed Hugo Calderano (Brazil) have used Cornilleau equipment in the past. It seems that it was. For example, Cornilleau’s 9-plywood Gatien Conquest (Gatien Conquest, thickness 6.0 mm, 97 ± 5 g) and Target Pro series rubber to be reviewed this time are said to be mentioned. Also, I remember seeing an article in the World Table Tennis Kingdom that a business team belonging to the Japan League got a good impression of Cornilleau’s racket and rubber in the past. Even in table tennis navigation, there are some reviews that it has exceeded the monster rubber Tenergy, and I think that it is a rubber with very high expectations.
In addition, this Target Pro series is said to be manufactured by the technology of Michelin, a tire maker famous for restaurant ratings.
For the Target Pro series, we have reviewed the Target Pro GT-X51 (Target Pro GT-X51) and Target Pro GT-H47 (Target Pro GT-H47) in the past. These two pieces have a very good shot feeling, and the hardness is hard to break, making it a rubber that feels good and easy to handle. However, the amount of rotation was a little insufficient, and I felt that the target pro GT-H47 was inferior to the Tenergy 05, and the target pro GT-X51 had a high rotation amount but was difficult to handle. It was a fun rubber to touch because the color of the sponge differs depending on the hardness, and the ease of handling and the good shot feeling are outstandingly good.
Target Pro GT-X51：
Target Pro GT-H47：
After all, the post-Tenergy rubber in the early days was designed to obtain the amount of rotation by making the seat thicker than the Tenergy in order to increase the amount of rotation, or conversely to give up the amount of rotation and pursue the shot feeling. I think it has become. The evolutionary post-Tenergy rubber in recent years seems to be a high-performance rubber without impairing the amount of rotation and shot feeling by combining the technology that can make the seat thinner (probably a new sponge with good bite)! On the contrary, I think that the number of quirky balls (the amount of rotation of the balls is difficult to match) seen in German rubber is decreasing.
I think that this Target Pro XD-52.5 is also a rubber that is categorized as a post-tenergy tension rubber or an evolved Tenergy tension rubber that has appeared in recent years. It seems that the technology has advanced so that thin sheets can be adopted for Rasanter R53 and Rasanter R48, which are classified into the same post-Tenergy tension or evolutionary Tenergy tension in katsuo000. As for the new rubber in recent years, I think that rubber with thin sheets is appearing one after another!
Published performance value
It is clear that Target Pro XD-52.5 is a spin-type tension rubber with the highest spin performance and speed performance among Cornilleau rubbers. In addition, the hardness comparison by a hardness tester, which shows a certain degree of correlation with performance and ease of use, is shown below.
Again, Target Pro XD-52.5 is a little heavy, but the difference between the seat side value and the sponge side value of shore a is as large as Tenergy 05. High quality European rubber in recent years is heavy, but the difference in shore a is clearly larger than in the early post-Tenergy rubbers! Compared to Butterfly’s rubber, the lightness of Butterfly’s rubber stands out, but it can be said that the advantage of being heavy can be said to be the high quality European rubber in recent years. After all, it can be said that it is a rubber that is closer to Tenergy than Dignics.
Target Pro XD-52.5 Weight and Paste
It was the same cream-colored sponge as Target Pro GT-X51.
Target Pro XD-52.5 weighed 54 g. The total weight of the rubber is 73 g, so I thought it was heavy, but it’s still heavy, isn’t it? This time too, I put it on Virtuoso AC. The blade area is 158 x 150 mm, which is a little wider than the regular size of the butterfly (157 x 150 mm), so I think it can actually be as high as 53 g.
Target Pro XD-52.5
Spin Tension
・Sponge thickness: thick (2.0 mm)、Extra thick (Max)
・Spin: 17.5
・Speed: 17.0
・Sponge stiffness: H (52.5)
・8,100 yen + tax
・73 g (before cut) → 54 g (after cut)Three features of Target Pro XD-52.5
This time is also inner carbon. I felt it was easy to handle. Please note that the image may be different if it is attached to the outer carbon.
Outstanding speed performance and spin performance!
To be honest, I didn’t expect that much, but although it was heavy, it had outstanding speed and spin performance. I think that it may be attached to the inner carbon racket, but I was impressed with the speed and stability of the drive with the backhand, which is slightly inferior in technology. In terms of hitting the ball, the ball is not so long-lasting and pops out quickly, so I thought it would be like 80 as a seat shape. I think it’s a seat that can give speed more than the strength of holding a ball. At the first hit, I used it thinking “It’s easy to handle, but I’m a little dissatisfied with the amount of rotation and power?” He said, “It’s easy to handle, but it takes a lot of rotation!” And I was able to enjoy the very high performance!
DNA Platinum XH (STIGA): like Tenergy 05
Rasanter R53 (andro): like Tenergy 80
Evolution MX-D (TIBHAR): like Tenergy 64
Taerget Pro XD-52.5 (cornilleau): like Tenergy 80 New
I thought the R53 was like 80, but in terms of ease of handling, it outperformed the Target Pro XD52.5. On the contrary, I think that R53 is higher in the trolls and the pressure felt by the other party.
As an aside, it may be difficult to differentiate if it is a rubber that requires intermediate hardness, ease of handling and performance, but since it is the latest high-end rubber and it is a flagship rubber of each company, it is firmly differentiated even with a short trial hit. I felt like I was there. When looking for individuality, I felt that R53 and MX-D were DNA Plastic XH or Target Pro XD-52.5 if they wanted ease of handling and high rotational performance.
Easy to handle without feeling sponge stiffness: 52.5!
At first, I felt that it was a little heavy and difficult to operate, but I felt that it was easier to handle than I had imagined. In the past, I pasted Tenergy 80 FX on the outer carbon Lin Goyuan ALC and hit it repeatedly with the back, but although I could get speed and rotation amount, it was not very stable. On the other hand, it is easy to handle with inner carbon, but when I hit it with Target Pro XD-52.5 this time, I was surprised that it was extremely stable. The speed and rotation were very flexible and I felt comfortable. The speed performance was high, and at first I was worried that it would be over, but I felt that it was sinking by drawing an arch line more firmly than I felt. For example, if it is a Tenergy rubber, it will rotate, but it will be difficult to speed up due to its hardness, or if you play it, it will speed up but it will not rotate and it will not be stable. I felt it was symmetrical to what I felt at that time. I felt that it would be a new option as a back rubber!
In the block, I thought that it would be easily affected by the rotation of the opponent because of the good bite, but that was not the case. Probably because of the weight. It was very stable because it was heavy for biting. I felt that it would be a better option than Tenergy if I didn’t care about the weight!
Heavy and high rotation performance Tenergy 80
To summarize briefly, I felt that the Tenergy 80, which is heavy and has high rotational performance, is just the case. If you find the Dignics 80’s hardness to be difficult to use, the Target Pro XD-52.5 may be the better choice. Since it is heavy, it is suitable for the foreground, but by devising the rubber area, it is a rubber that can be used for the back as well!
Each technics review
Fore hand
Back hand
Comparison with other rubbers (personal impressions)
Comparison within evolutionary tenergy tension
Spin amount
Dignics 05 ≧ Q5 ≧ DNA Platinum XH ≧ Rasanter R53 ＞ Rasanter R48 ≧ Evolution MX-D
Speed
Dignics 05 ≧ Evolution MX-D ＞ Rasanter R53 ≧ Q5 ≧ Rasanter R48 ＞ DNA Platinum XH