world-table-tennis

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I got to thinking this morning, if I were to switch blades, what would I choose?

If I stayed with Stiga, it would likely be a Clipper, possibly a Clipper CR. A close second would be the Cybershape.

If I decided to go Butterfly, I would probably choose some kind of Innerforce, possibly a Viscaria but not as likely.

Am I really really wanting to get back into a soft, Limba outer ply?

🤔🏓

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1992 Olympics singles finals

There was genius on both sides of the table in this final, but Gatien was outplayed.

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It's New Year's Day, 2025! And I've made it a habit to change my rubber out every year at the start of the year, so this time I thought I would post my blade and rubber combination and write a bit about it and why I'm playing with it. I started playing with this combo in mid-2021 and don't see myself moving away from it any time soon.

Blade: Stiga Dynasty Carbon, Xu Xin edition, 85g. Xu Xin has probably been my favorite Chinese national team player from this century actually, and I'm a Stiga guy, so why not try his signature blade out? That was the thinking. And it ends up that this blade fits his style of play: creative topspin game, dynamic shot making, super stable at the table, excellent touch. And this blade has helped a (much lower level) player like me achieve some of the same… easy topspin, easy block, easy table game, and not so much power that I fall behind in my footwork. It has just enough speed to play offense, but is slow enough for a big guy like me to move around in rhythm with the ball. This blade has amazing ball feel; crisp due to the thin koto outer ply, not unlike a Butterfly Timo Boll ALC or Viscaria in feel and shot making accuracy, but with cushy dynamics due to the thick ayous core. It plays very accurately and consistently, but has a bit of throw when you get down into the wood on a bigger shot. It has the Stiga feeling!

Forehand rubber: Butterfly Dignics 80, 2.1mm. While I don't love Butterfly blades all that much, I believe they produce top quality rubber, as good or better than anything out there perhaps. Dignics seems to be the default rubber selection for intermediate to advanced level players these days, but the question arises as to which one to choose between: 09C, 05, 80, or 64? I chose 80 for my forehand. Though, it seems it is not a usual choice, as most players intermediate through pro levels are using 09C or 05 on their forehands. However I do have unique reasonings for my choice: 1) 80 is the Dignics with the most allround characteristics; I can spin the ball, hit the ball, block the ball, chop the ball, lob the ball, etc, all with relative ease and without too much fuss, and there's nothing really getting in my way from the rubber to impede any of those shots. I don’t have to overthink it; 2) easy speed: 80 is pretty fast and I can generate power on most balls with relative ease with seemingly little effort; 3) yes, it's spinny: while not as spinny as 09C or 05 in "mechanical spin", it certainly generates quite a bit of spin from a variety of stroke productions, and I would estimate it is spinnier than Tenergy 05 on most shots; 4) dynamic range: I get the sense with 09C and 05 that I HAVE to spin the ball with pretty good technique on most balls to get a decent result, but with 80 I have freedom to choose spin level and trajectory with or without a perfect stroke. In that sense it plays a bit like a nicely speed-glued rubber from the 90's... I can spin cleanly or mush the ball with a "glue shot" for a winner. Not so easy with 09C or 05. 5) physicality: I’m not using my body as efficiently or powerfully enough to be able to get close to bottoming out 09C or 05 on hard shots, which means I would be underutilizing those rubbers a lot of the time. So it’s my opinion that most players under a certain level MAY be better off choosing something other than 09C or 05, and potentially something other than Dignics entirely... That level could be 2000, or could be as high as 2400 as a barrier to entry, depending on the individual player’s strength and body mechanics. 09C and 05 are certainly not for everyone just because they might like to loop the ball! To finalize, Dignics 80 is easy to play, with pretty good power, pretty good spin, and flexible… easy peasy!

Backhand rubber: Stiga DNA Platinum S, 2.0mm. I've always been into Stiga gear as I primarily used it when I first started playing, so I always try to use something on my racket Stiga-based; there's something about Stiga gear that feels "right" when using it. When I started training with a national level coach in 2016, she recommended a soft-sponged Stiga rubber for my backhand, and it was the perfect recommendation. Back in the 90's I used a lot of soft sponge rubbers on my backhand, one specifically most of the time: Skitt Coppa Tenero. So her recommendation sat well. In terms of the DNA Platinum Soft that I'm currently using, it is quite fast for a soft rubber, and definitely fast enough throughout its life span. There’s improved spin generation in topspin compared to the previous DNA Pro, and it is excellent in block and counter. All in all, a perfect backhand rubber for a control player like me. And that is an important point, the soft sponge is likely geared towards control players seeking control and flexibility across a wide variety of strokes, both offensive and defensive. Aggressive players would find more utility in a harder sponge.

Whew… that was a lot to write, but I wanted to outline things clearly if I was going to do it at all. ‘Til next time…

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90’s era Waldner

I started this place with the intent to post interesting facets of table tennis history, and instead it has turned into a who’s who of Swedish table tennis…

😳

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I felt like sharing this interesting blade with a history...

This is a Stiga Hans Alsér 50th anniversary blade from 1994. There were only 500 of these made to commemorate Stiga's first 50 years from 1944-1994, and this one is #378.

In 1995, I played with this blade actually, and peeled off the Stiga stickers from the handle as they were slippery, though today I wish that I had left them on. I used this back in the era of the powerful, toxic speed glue (tip top, probably) without varnish, but amazingly the surface of the blade has remained in mostly pristine condition...

At least back in the days of speed gluing and the 38mm celluloid ball, this as they say, was a real "player's" blade... Swedish 5-ply construction with soft Limba outer plies and Ayous inner plies. A classic construction copied by other blade makers, such as Butterfly in the original Primorac, Korbel, and the entire Innerforce series, or Donic in the original Allplay, the Appelgren series, and even in Waldner’s signature senso carbon… the Ayous core is dynamic and gives good pop on the ball, and the soft Limba outer balances it out and allows plenty of catch. Variable and elastic, with good throw. The classic Stiga feeling...

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This is a “best of” compilation that I found on Instagram, showing Waldner’s amazing game play… great points here, many of which I’ve viewed previously. There’s great points by Zoran Primorac and Yoo Nam Kyu in this one also.

I’m such a Swedish fanboy though, and it’s showing here with posts on the all-star Swedes from the 80’s/90’s. I’ll cook something else up soon 😊

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The king, in service. Highly creative, fluid, deceptive. I often tried to emulate some of Waldner’s service technique until I would realize that it was better for me to focus on something more repeatable and executable for my level. It’s tough to copy the king; tough to emulate genius.

I’d like to say that this snippet is from an American tournament called the Gilbert Cup, which was held sometime in the late 90’s. It was 1997-98 perhaps…

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A treat for Jean-Michel Saive fans: here are a couple of my personal blades that I used previously with Saive’s inspiration in mind…

1) Stiga Clipper - my well used version with straight handle, from 2014. As used by Saive at the end of his career.

2) Schildkröt Vmax - Saive’s signature blade made by long defunct German manufacturer Schildkröt. I purchased and used this blade lightly circa 1995 but quickly changed back to Swedish style allround blades which were en vogue at the time. I believe these were manufactured in the mid to late 90’s, and it might be difficult, if not impossible to find one in this like new condition today!

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And a few more inspirational photos of Jean-Michel Saive from Belgium...

To say a bit more about Saive, he was world #1 for a couple of years in the early 90’s, around the time that Jean Phillipe Gatien won the world championships in ‘93. Incidentally Saive went on to win the European championships in ‘94, but never won a world title. He had a relentless attack and was known for producing some of the heaviest topspin on tour. In later years he was considered to be one of the best lobbers in the game.

In the picture of Saive in service, he is using a Stiga Clipper CR with straight handle, and likely Tenergy rubber (best guess). He moved to the CR with the change to the plastic ball before his retirement in 2017, and was using the regular Clipper from the beginning of his Stiga sponsorship until that point.

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Jean-Michel Saive is one of my favorite players. I’ve always found his game inspirational due to his clear tactics, brute force execution and never-give-up fighting spirit.

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The king, hitting medium topspins. I think Waldner had a beautiful, flowing technique, yet it was effective. 🙂

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The king, in his youth… this must’ve been very late 70’s

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Mikael Appelgren, Sweden

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And a couple more of Michael Maze in service… I’m a huge fan obviously

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As a follow up to my last post on Michael Maze, here are a couple of interesting action shots of Michael’s forehand topspin, from seemingly challenging angles.

Dynamic and creative…

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Following up to the post featuring Timo Boll as a (mostly) pure topspin player, Michael Maze is the other European that came to prominence within the last 20 years that really stands out in that category for me.

Michael is a super-talented, dynamic topspin player who plays with loads and loads of feeling. Bruce Lee said "be like water", and Michael has always had that quality in his body. Gobs of feel and flowing like water... yet explosive spin play was the result.

Though he is no longer at the top of the world stage, he is still both entertaining and inspirational to watch.

Waldner once of said of him that he is "the best in topspin"...

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Timo Boll is probably the greatest European 2-sided looper to grace the world's stage in the last 20 years. The only European player to come close in the same time frame and playing style is Michael Maze.

Enjoy.