Chinese style forehand vs european
darion888 asked 2 years ago
Hello,
I’ve been recently wondering if you need a specific rubber type for a specific stroke technique. In other words, if you can use Chinese style forehand with European rubbers and vice versa or do you need Chinese ones to make it work? For 5 months I’ve been using Tibhar MXp-P on forehand side on Tibhar VS Unlimited’s blade. Earlier I used a slower blade and rubbers. In the beginning my forehand was probably little bit more European (less body rotation, more bend arm, shorter stroke) and I struggled with consistency using this rubber. I’ve recently started (like 2 months ago) to develop Chinese technique because I got really inspired by Chinese players and by the effectiveness of their forehands. Surprisingly this technique (hitting more with the body than with the arm and pushing the arm more forward on contact with 45 degrees closed bat angle) helped me to execute more relaxed, consistent and powerful strokes. So does this rubber (MX-P Tibhar) work better with Chinese technique or it doesn’t matter so much at all?
Dan Academy Coach answered 2 years ago
Hey! It’s great that you are working on your shots an experimenting what technique works best for you and feels comfortable as well, that’s the most important thing. The equipment doesn’t matter as much, you can definitely still use a Chinese type technique with Mx-P and still work great! It’s more about what equipment you are happy with and feel comfortable playing your shots with too. If your forehand is feeling better using this technique and equipment set up I would definitely just stick to that and keep working on improving it more 🙂
darion888Yeah, thanks for the answer. As you’ve mentioned it’s really important to find some way that works and stick to it. Changing too much and experimenting can also detriment the process of development. Yeah personally I’ve got the feeling that this rubber is some sort of mixture between euro and chinese rubbers. It’s quite hard but not so tacky as chinese rubbers are. And what are you feelings guys while testing this rubber? Can it suit both styles chinese and europeans? Or maybe mx-p 50 hard can suit better chinese style? I’ve been thinking about trying this rubber out.
DanYes definitely sticking to something you are comfortable with is key! Yes it’s still fairly hard which makes it closer to a Chinese style rubber, the MXp hard is even more in that direction with the hard sponge, MXp is one of the best rubbers available I would say for all styles. The MXp hard you might find even better when using a Chinese style forehand technique I would say. It gives you that nice firm feeling you need for this style of shot 🙂
I’ll definitely try it out soon, so thanks for the advice :). But what wonders me is how it will behave with spin, especially against backspin. I saw your videos (a comparison between mx-p nad mx-p 50) and I hope is not only for fast flatter topspin shots. At the league where I play I won a lot of points with simply good brush and spin, which made players unable to counterattack. So the question is if I can also produce tons of spins with MX-P hard, especially against backspin, which would keep the opponents under pressure? My technique is more forward motion with the use of wrist (similar to Liam Pitchfords’ forehand wrist movement) and good body rotation.
