Ressel wrote: ↑April 27th, 2025, 3:17 pm
R0land wrote: ↑April 27th, 2025, 3:14 pm
I was curious as to wat are the best rackest designs for older players in general & specific playing styles
For strictly exercise players, it really does not matter much as to what you use for your racket or blade or rubber etc
But
for competitive players ONLY , who play in tournaments (or even leagues) , this can be answered in four words
István Jónyer
Stellan Bengtsson
Both Jonyer & Bengtsson were two of the most decorated World Champions.
Bengtsson won the Men’s singles, Men’s Doubles & Men’s team event for Sweden(beating the unbeatable China).
Bengtsson won the Men’s singles, Men’s Doubles & Men’s team event for Hungary beating the unbeatable China).
Both were double inverted players when they won these titles.
Jonyer also kind of invented (or improved upon) the backhand loop & also perfected the forehand side spin loops along with his teammates Gergely & Klampar
Yet, towards the end of their careers Bengtsson switched to wide pips on his backhand & Jonyer switched to Antispin rubber on his backhand .
What this means is that (click on link)
dumb rackets are definitely not suitable for older players or para players.
Yet many coaches in TableTennis blindly keep starting older players & para players in the sport with (click on link)
dumb rackets . especially
super dumb rackets with spinny inverted rubbers both sides.
Though fact remains that older players would have great difficulty learning to loop (heavy top spin) even on their forehands. The problem is much worse on the backhand mostly because TableTennis more forehand dominant than almost all other racket sports.
Therefore, without going into full details here, the best racket design for older & para players would be
1. Forehand with medium thick spinny inverted rubber and backhand with actual long pips (strictly OX type ONLY) or slim pips (with thin sponge ONLY and NOT OX type) rubber
or
2. for some cases, forehand with medium thick wide pips rubber and backhand with actual long pips (strictly OX type ONLY) or slim pips (with thin sponge ONLY and NOT OX type) rubber
or
3. for few cases, forehand with anti-spin rubber and backhand with actual long pips (strictly OX type ONLY) or slim pips (with thin sponge ONLY and NOT OX type) rubber
In other words, your forehand rubber can be anything but slim or long pips
and
your backhand can ONLY be with actual long pips (strictly OX type ONLY) or slim pips (with thin sponge ONLY and NOT OX type) rubber.
There may be very few exceptions but very very few
For few penhold grip players, a racket with spinny inverted rubber on one side and wide pips with sponge on other side may work but this combination is an adsolute no no for all but a very very very few shakehand players because wide pips is strictly a forehand rubber & strictly NOT a backhand rubber for any player , any grip, shakehand or penhold or American grip and also old, young or para