Hi Ravili4,
The backhand flick is definitely a shot that can take time to get right and be confident with. The blade you have is good for someone playing for the length of time you have, it has very good control. I’ve tested Xiom rubbers in the past and found them to be good quality and nice for generating spin so it may the case that it’s simply your rubber has got very old and worn as you said and a fresh sheet of the same rubber will give you the extra grip to help with this shot. If you are definitely looking for a change then a great way is to try other people’s bat’s at your club or you friends to see what rubbers you find you like personally. I wouldn’t however go for a rubber which is very hard and tacky such as hurricane because this requires a more precise contact and different feeling. Something like tenergy or tibhar still have a good quality topsheet to create spin and would be a step up in speed and something like stiga genesis would be perhaps a touch slower but very high amounts of grip.
If you can send in a YouTube link of a video of you playing we’d be happy to analyse your flick and give you some technical tips too!
My personal suggestion is to stay with what you have but buy a nice new sheet, it can often be tempting to change equipment but it’s important especially when you’ve been playing around a year or so to keep working on the technical elements and try not to change rubbers etc too much. Hope that helps, any more questions just let us know!
