Use of side tape

utkarsh agarwal Asked 9 years ago

I've seen many players using side tape for their racket. I dont think the side tape can protect your blade from dents, so, what is the use of it?

Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago

Hi Utkarsh,

It does prevent the dents a little. Sometimes it can also help to prevent chips on the edge of your rubber.

← Dealing with low fast long serve Senior Citizen Prognosis →

Kaustubh Kulkarni Posted 9 years ago

Is using any sidetape legal? Some players in my club use shiny colourful sidetapes.( they are mostly home-made)

Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago

I also heard that some players do not use the side tape, but cut the rubber so that it has 2mm edge hanging over the blade. Do they also use it for protection?

Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago

As long as the edge tape doesn’t have too much glare I don’t think it would be a problem. Sometimes the edge of the rubber does overhang the blade. It is allowed to be up to 2mm over the edge.

Shaun S Posted 9 years ago

Edge Tape also prevents the rubber being caught on the edge of the table and lifting the rubber from the blade. If the rubber sheet gets separated from the blade even a little bit you have to re-glue the whole sheet because of the water based glue. It also also helps to prevent the rubber (Tensor rubbers especially) from cracking around the edges.

Andrej Koralewski Posted 9 years ago

These things are so thin they can hardly give any real protection - it's mostly for the eyes, really. (I had mine printed online with the name of my club on it, looks gorgeous ;-))