A Rubber By Any Other Name Would be Just as Spinny

G'day Alois

from your answer to Lionel's question re: Ryu Seung Min, I gather that you don't consider the choice of equipment (rubber/blade) to be very important (except in broad categories I assume such as anti-spin, friction inverted, long pips, short pips, where it does make a big difference).  Do you consider it's a bit of a storm in a teacup when people debate long and hard about which rubber to use, and pore through spin, control and speed ratings, reviews etc...?

I've heard some people say that the choice of rubber is of a very marginal and minimal importance.  Good players can generate a ton of spin off a 10 year old worn out rubber they got from Toys'R'Us.  It's the player and the technique, not the equipment.  Do you agree?  And what does that mean for the regular weekend player?  Should we just get some cheap but reasonable quality rubber and work on our technique instead of wondering whether we should get that Hurricane 3 after all?

Ji-Soo,

Alleluia...

Yes, just get something in the range that suits your game.  If you are fast attacking player use a fast rubber.  If you like to spin the ball get a rubber with a good spin rating etc.  It really doesn't matter too much.

Waldner would even beat most players that play at club level with a plastic bat from Toys 'R Us.

Thanks Ji-Soo.  Jeff and I have been wondering how to say this for a while.

First and foremost, work hard on technique .