playing-with-tensor-rubbers
xxx asked 5 years ago
>?Hi again guys,
I’ve been playing with Tenergy 05 on a fh and Tenergy 05FX on a bh for half a year already, it took quite time to adapt to it after intermediate rubbers like acudas and rasanters, now I like them more than others for amount of spin and power I can get with great control, but one thing still causing problems is serve return, some people say because of that kind of rubbers need very precise touch. What do you think about it? How to progress with that stuff?
Dan Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hey xxx
Glad you’re enjoying your setup. This is true the rubbers you are using are sensitive to spin so having a soft touch is key. How much are you implementing serve and receive exercises into your practice? Also what blade are you using?
I think do 30 minutes x3 per week of serve, receive specific drills and you will notice a big improvement. One thing i find when players struggle in receiving serves is being to passive. If the ball comes long or with sidespin you need to look at being positive by either topspinning or flicking.
Hope this helps
Dan
xxxI’m using Freitas Alc now, moved for it from euro Petr Korbel. Usually I train twice or thrice a week for 2-3 hours each session including physical exercises and one or two local tournaments on a weekend. Yes, now I’m focus on returning different kinds of serves, to return it actively, in my question I meant that I’ve noticed that earlier it was easy to return spinny, floaty, short, “tricky” serves but with tenergys 05 it tooks more time to adapt, and not so many players in my club using it because of that capricious character and high price. So I decided to discuss this question with you, do tensor rubbers need higher skill to deal with or its just training question?
DanIt’s a combination of both, advanced tensor rubbers like Tenergy 05 need a lot of practice with. You would find it easier using something like Hurricane 3 but then you wouldn’t have the same bite, zip and power in your shots during the rally with Hurricane. Also, the Freitas ALC is quite a bit more responsive than the Petr Korbel blade you use to use so that’s one of the reasons why you are finding it quick and tricky on the short serves.
It all comes down to training really, if your partner can replicate those tricky short serves and you do a lot of practice against them you will be confident and comfortable returning them in no time. At the moment when you are returning these serves are you trying to backhand flick them? Or trying to push them?
usually it depends on what spin is on the serve, if more backspin I try pushing, if sidespin or float so flick, but not that killing flick like some chinese players have, very controllable flick) I’ve noteiced lately that the stuff I’m playing requires more loosen grip on returning (now I’m working on it), so touch becomes more precise, I associate it with the difference between wooden Korbel and Ar-Carbon Freitas that reacts faster.
the common mistakes usually happen when you’re not quite sure is it possible to flick (can’t understand amount of spin-more side or more back, or is it high enough to get confident shot)
Dipak1974Hi Xxx.
I’m in similar position where looking for bh rubber. Previously using t80 both sides. Now moved to T05 on FH and trying various others on BH. Currently dignics on backhand. Do want to try t05fx on backhand to see what suits best.
What difference do u find Between T05 and T05fx?
Many thanks Deep
Hi Deep,
in my opinion 05FX is softer than 05, because of the softer sponge and allows to do more controllable bh topspins against backspin, I use it on my bh because I’m player who looks for strong forhand shots and controlled return from bh (drives, active blocks, pushes) so 05FX suits me well on it. I think it worth trying, I know a lot of players using that pair. Hope it will help you!
Cheers.
I tend to topspin on backhand and look to open up against backspin. I have briefly tried T05 on backhand but found blocking not so easy. Did you find passive play and blocking easier with T05fx? So I’m looking for something spinny but Mayb not so sensitive to spin and good for blocking as well as playing aggressive on my BH. Hence why I’m trying dignics at moment. But for comparison am tempted to try T05fx.
Dan any comments?
Yes, of course, passive play with 05FX is touch easier than with 05, because of its softness, so ball goes deeply through rubber and goes more straight on passive shots like blocks, and also its spinnier and not so sensitive as 05 as you say. I havent got tryed Dignics so far, so couldnt make any suggestions on it. I’d recommend you to take it to test-drive if someone in your club or maybe at the tournaments uses it and give it a try for couple of shots from both sides before buying. I’m interested why did you change 80 to 05, what was the reason? Its said they are golden middle between 05 and 64)
I started on T80 for reason that it’s less sensitive to spin. A lot of people I know use T05 but I was cautious so went for 80s. Been playing really well with 80s but moved to T05 only 3 wks ago to try. It’s a used T05 but still a lot of life. So I put T05 only on FH while kept 80 on BH to compare. Noticed the ease of spin with T80 and slightly higher arc. More spin on serves with T05 also. So I’m happy with T05 now on forehand. I only put dignics on beginning of last week to see how it plays on backhand and in couple wks want to try T05fx and see what best suits my BH.
*Dan has left the chat 😀
?? In my previous msg I mistyped. Ease of spin is better with T05 not T80.
Haha I’m here guys 🙂 xxx I agree a looser grip makes a bit difference, the key thing is you’re are working on this, it’s going to become second nature in no time. Our new video next month looks at returning short side spin serves, we look at the angles of spin and how to overcome this.
Sometimes when players do sidespin serves, they can sometimes produce a little bit of backspin, you need to watch out for these serves as you can get caught between being to soft on the ball and it drops into the net. So at the last minute seeing this backspin and brushing upward on the ball is key. Hope the practice is working out! 🙂
