TSP Real & Actor Table Tennis Rubber Reviews

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I have tried TSP BalsaFiber 3.5 Plus, XIOM Aigis, Butterfly Joo Se Hyuk, TSP Yanagi Alpha and Joola Chen Weixing. The best combination I’ve liked is with Joola Chen Weixing. The TSP Real is a highly offensive rubber and it needs the right blade to generate its full potential. The Joola Chen Weixing blade is a medium fast blade and its multi layer plies support a rubber like TSP Real. I have also liked it with TSP Yanagi Alpha defensive blade. I have a feeling that the TSP Real will fit wooden blades.

There are few reasons why I like TSP Real. The TSP Real has power and control and is very spinny. The top sheet is grippy and less tacky. I was able to generate very spinny serves with its top sheet – and extremely difficulty for the opponents to return because of it’s spin. It’s grippy enough to generate rotations at hard impact. The top sheet is not tacky, but on soft impact, the rubber generates good spin. I was not successful generating that kind of spin with Tenergy. It has speed glue effect built in, however you won’t hear any click sound – this is due to its medium hard sponge. The TSP Actor and BJorn has more click sound.

Built In Powe: Speed Glue technology from TSP in REAL and ACTOR

Soft push or agressive push, this rubber will trouble the opponents - unless he knows to loop, the point is yours. There is exceptional control while pushing. It behaves like a Chinese tacky rubber on defense.

There is another reason why I like this rubber. Chen Weixing gave his forehand rubber to me after his win at the US Table Tennis Open 2008 against Thomas Keinath. Chen Weixing uses Joola Drum 2.2 mm with many layers of speed glue. The smell is horrible – even after few days keeping it in my office with the window open, the smell has not completely evaporated. I’ve tested Chen Weixing’s rubber and have the same feeling as TSP Real. With TSP Real, I have the great advantage of not using speed glue to achieve what I want.

If you are someone who wants to generate very spinny powerful loops, this is the right rubber for you – close to the table or away from the table this rubber makes its harder for the opponents to return easily. You don’t need to worry about speed glue because this rubber has speed glue effect built in. There is no comparison of this rubber with XIOM Omega III or tensor rubbers because TSP Real is for players who have used Japanese medium hard rubbers with speed glue. It has a more natural rubber top sheet. The power generating players will like TSP Real. The Chinese rubber fans who have DHS Hurricane III and have used them with speed glue, they would be satisfied by TSP Real.

I don’t recommend this rubber for beginners. This rubber suits power players who would like to spin the loop, also with power - for a arm swinging player. It suits also hitting players. I feel it does not suit a European style game. This rubber is for someone who want to finish the point fast when an opportunity arises, so fit more close to the table game.

A softer version of TSP Real is TSP Actor which has less spin and little softer sponge than the medium hard. The TSP Actor suits for more Euro style players. If you don’t like the medium hard sponge of TSP Real, TSP Actor will fit you. Any player can use this rubber and play away or close to the table while TSP Real is more effective close to the table - you look for opportunities to finish the point fast through hit or loop.

The TSP Real has very high throw compared to TSP Actor. The TSP BJorn has almost the same throw angle than TSP Real, but is faster than TSP Real and TSP Actor. I have felt TSP Bjorn is close to Tenergy in speed but less in generating spin from soft or hard impact.

Another rubber I can compare to REAL or ACTOR is JOOLA Mambo H Tuning. Both are very spinny. The Butterfly Tenergy has harder sponge - very similar to TSP Real. But, TSP Real has more speed and lively feeling than Tenergy because it is a soft rubber. This does not mean Tenergy is a bad rubber. Both Tenergy and Real need skills to use it effectively - to spin as well as loop because of the hardness of the sponge. When it comes to speed, the TSP Real is what you may get when a Butterfly Tenergy tuned with one to two layers of speed glue.

The TSP Real rubber costs $39.95 in the United States.

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