Pay most attention to reviews from players who describe a similar playing style and level to your own. You can find lots of reviews of almost all rubbers on the RevSpin website. You can also do your own online research.
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Here a few rubbers I recommend for controlled all-round play. You want the feeling that you can control incoming spin fairly easily. If your pushes and blocks go low over the net and stay on the table, then this will probably be a good all-round rubber. Pay particular attention to pushes and blocks. A good all-round rubber should be able to perform all these shots well.
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When testing, it is important to play a range of shots – pushes, blocks, topspins, drives and flicks. If possible, I encourage you to try out other players’ table tennis bats to see what you like and don’t like. The best way to test a rubber for control is to try it out for yourself. If the speed rating is less, then it is probably more suited to all-round play.īut this is not an exact science. It’s probably a bit easier to judge whether a rubber will be good for all-round play based upon the speed rating. This is why table tennis companies often give all their rubbers high levels of control. In theory, all table tennis rubbers have good control, depending on your playing level. Choosing a controlled rubberĬhoosing a controlled rubber can be a little confusing. In general, if the rubber thickness is 1.7mm – 1.9mm then you can expect it to be a little slower and less responsive to incoming spin. So for me, a controlled rubber equals medium speed and medium throw.
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Similarly, if your opponent was to do a fast topspin attack, a controlled rubber would be able to take some of the speed off the attack and return the ball on the table, rather than flying off the end. If your opponent were to do a spinny sidespin serve, a controlled rubber would absorb some of this spin and prevent it from shooting off the side of the table. What I mean by ‘control’ here, is rubbers which are not too fast, not too slow, with a medium throw and are easy for most amateur players to play with. Really, you can achieve high levels of control with any rubber, so long as your technique is good enough. What is a ‘controlled’ rubber?Ĭontrol is a bit of a vague term. So I like to have a rubber which can perform all these shots well. I like to push, block, flick and sometimes topspin. I will often use a more controlled rubber on my backhand for this reason. This allows you to play a range of defensive and attacking shots and have good consistency with all. These are rubbers which are generally a bit softer, with medium speed. If you like to play and all-round game – some pushes, some blocks, some topspins – then you will need versatile rubbers.