London Worlds: Some Important Equipment Reflections, Part 1
Today let me chat about the equipment impressions and reflections from this Worlds team event.
1
Hurricane 3. A discussion of control and the sense of speed. What rubber controls better? Weak elasticity. Before being fully glue- or oil-boosted, the Hurricane 3 really has weak elasticity. Add the high-tack surface further suppressing elasticity, and it controls better. Is good control important? For weaker players, very. For experts, likewise. With good control, you can more easily execute techniques and tactics. Short when you want short, long poke when you want long. So now many flagship tensors are turning slightly-tacky too — for better control, keeping the arc and basic ball quality even when you are out of position. A fact: from the 2024 Incheon Champions event, Hugo switched to the slightly-tacky Jinghai C55.0 on both sides, intending to strengthen his over-the-table control. He improved a lot afterward. Tacky rubber’s role is first this: raising control ability. Whether domestic high-tack or imported slightly-tacky. Of course, domestic high-tack (including Battle, Gaobo Power AMG) generally has weaker elasticity and controls better. Imported slightly-tacky sits between domestic high-tack and imported tensors, trying to strike a balance.
But weak elasticity brings one problem: slow speed. Slow speed can be when actively firing, or when passively borrowing pace. So when former national players commentate, they especially stress that Wang Chuqin and Liang Jingkun should stay in front as much as possible — essentially backhand Hurricane’s speed is not great and cannot keep up with the opponent, so staying in front helps borrow pace and ramp up speed. If you are a speed player, especially a pace-borrowing speed player, there is even less reason to use Hurricane — at least use a slightly-tacky tensor. Using high-tack domestic rubber like Hurricane suits active power generation more. Playing it tiring is normal. As for weak elasticity and slow speed, the current solution is boosting. Look at Wang Chuqin’s surface with full, plump pips and it is clear.
2
ZYRE-03, T05 Hard. These tensors have strong elasticity. Faster rebound, more effortless to play. Power more easily has penetration, and borrowing pace is fairly easy too. They have the satisfaction of speed. But the springier, the harder to control. What does harder to control mean? You need more concentrated focus, or your state may swing wildly. And tensors are relatively less stable in ball-holding than tacky rubber. When you are not relaxed enough, the error rate rises. Choosing high-tack means a higher ratio of active power generation and arc control. Choosing slightly-tacky means by-the-book, hoping to have both but neither at the extreme. Choosing a tensor means less prone to catching spin, easier to ramp up speed. Essentially, none is best, because you also have to consider personal style and blade pairing.