Why is Photino unpopular among top professionals ? Its the same question ...... 

 

from the extra or oc to yeo or hh.

 

and shakehanders with chinese rubber also usually played with wood blades.

 

europeans however like tboll or maze tend to use a/c in the past with european like rubbers.

 

with the glue ban and big ball it is easier to find control and getting power in an a/c. but also the new chinese rubbers in the fh tend to be with a not so firm sponge to match an a/c blade.

 

in anycase top players also like feeling and control.

 

and with chinese rubber it is good a blade that helps a wider movement drive.

 

 

tb zlc or sc or gergely have inconvenients to control the short game to players of all levels. jm probably has also issues with some rubbers.     

 

In short, it's a gimmick. Pros get free stuff, and are therefore impervious to gimmicks.

 

The japanese are usually the only ones to use that stuff because butterfly has them by the Balls more than anyone else, and is a Japanese Brand. Mizutani I guess you could say needs the fastest thing possible since he gives up the table instantly. That way he can loop from 20 feet out and be okay lol.

 

We see a high price tag, and think it must be good if it's expensive. ESPECIALLY if they put a pro's name on it.

 

Result- Butterfly wins. Flawless victory.

 

Well said mate.  Majority of the blades that BTY and other manufacturers produce are more or less the same as other blades from the same families.  These companies create so many blades just so they can profit more from suckers who are "brand loyalists", who collect all of their blades.  Engineering and manufacturing wise, a lot of them are relatively similar to each other.  So bascially we're buying the same blade that features two different names, and two different prices. 

this is the funny part about EJ  , you can have a blade that helps you to play great but if no pros is using it you feel that is crap..i feel scared how powerful is marketing among growns up

 

I'm not on an Anti-Butterfly rant. Behind my post was the point that they don't really make any difference or give you any edge. The human variable is much greater than the equipment one. No matter what Brand. If they really made much difference, everyone would be using them, especially at a professional level. But even the guys who were using composites before ZL came out are still using the same stuff becausse really it's just as good. I bet if you asked timo boll or really anyone that was using a blade that was composite and not ZLC/F and then asked them why not, they would probably just tell you the same thing- "it doesn't matter much" or "I've been using this a while now no reason to switch" or "I like this just fine"

 

The fact is- whatever you use that can suit your basic needs you will adapt and get used to, and will use just as well as you would use any other blade that you adapted to and got used to. That's why half of the top level players are still using things like clippers and korbels and other all wood blades. They like the performance, it performs just fine enough at any level, and there's no reason to use something like ZLF or C unless it's given to you or are paid to do it or just really like to have fun trying equipment. The last one is the case for 99% of players. The problem is they can't distinguish between enjoying the testing of equipment, which is just fine, and thinking that it actually makes a difference, which I guarantee it doesn't, at least not enough to effect game play.

 

at the end of the day i guess it really does come down to personal preference, and if you like it better then you like it better. But it really doesn't do anything worth noting in terms of changing your performance. pro or not.

i think u nailed the topic with your posting. i do feel that i need some help from my blade. hahaha

 

Yeah, just wait until BTY secures one of the young up and coming Chinese players with a ZLC and it'll get more popular the way Zhang Jike made Viscaria in demand.  If I was Tamasu, I would have been courting Yan An or Fang Bo three years ago.

 

Slower movements tend to give less spin since the blade can give you more speed but not more spin, at least not directly. A blade can give you dwell time to allow you more time to accelerate your racket and generate more spin but that's related to the amount of arm acceleration you can achieve while the ball is on your paddle. So faster movements (greater acceleration) give more spin. Also I think another consequence of slower movements is they are more easily read by your opponent making it easier to predict where the ball is going.

 

Once again, just my two cents.

Hungarian coach number 2. Says Maze OFF was too fast for him and couldn't control it and so he prefers good feel over speed. I forgot what blade he uses but its OFF- with a very nice feel to it. (the Belarus head coach recommended it...)

They both say that a fast blade without training will only harm your game more than it will improve. So anything faster than blades like Maze off, TBS, ALC might not be good choices for average players and maybe even the pros? due to control issues or bad feeling.

It is mostly down to preference and what you want out of the blades.

I would also love to hear why they chose those blades over everything else. Just out of curiosity.

 

I can see some reasonable exceptions.  For example older players often have touch beyond their ratings, but simply can't perform the physical requirements to put the ball away with slower equipment.  For them a faster blade might make sense.

+1

Most of the top 100 have been there for years, before ZLC and other new technologies came out. Most of them probably use what they know best. And the world top 50-100 is still not even a drop in the bucket of all the different TT styles and preferences out there. You can look at most blades and ask why don't the top pro's use them?

As for TB ZLC in particular, its a very fast blade, like carbon back in the speed glue days. Not everyone used carbon back then, but it was still considered a legitimate technology. Besides all that, I think ZLC has a unique feeling. Different than ALC or Carbon. I like it personally.

MATTENET A-6534.jpg

ZLC ??

If you go back in time a bit till the 1970's there you will see a game at the professional level that is much more like the game you see in clubs today, that's the stuff most people should be using

 

But that was also the 38mm ball.

 

That's definitely an IF ZLC.

 

Thanks for the ittf photo page, now we can all see what the pros are using.

 

 

Sure, and it will always be...that's by design that they don't just TELL you.  But it's hard for me to believe that the two afformentioned players just went to carbon overnight suddenly when they got sponsored.