Green, Pink, Magenta… Oh No. We are not talking about the funky colors of rubbers that you see on a racket bought from Walmart. We are talking about the professional table tennis rubbers available in market that you can buy and attach to a blade.
The official colors of table tennis or ping pong is Red and Black. A beginner of the sport often comes with this question, what should I use on my forehand and what on the backhand. I started with Black on the forehand and Red on the backhand. For a while, I changed to Red on the forehand. Now, I have black on the forehand. What is there to this colors?
The rubbers of this generation are way different than the rubbers of previous generations. Consider the rubbers of 1990s and 2010s. They are different. The new technologies added spin and speed to the rubbers. Few years back there was DHS Hurricane II, now there is Hurricane II Neo. During this evolution, the manufactures have tried to keep something constant. That is, the characteristics of a rubber the same irrespective of it’s color. I mean the speed, spin, weight, lifetime etc…
That was a good try. However, the rubbers in red and black show little difference in it’s behavior. These minor differences are not big deal. But some players give a big deal of it.
Spin:
The black color inverted rubbers can generate little more spin from it’s skin. This applies to Asian rubbers made in China. The red color long pips made of more natural rubber can generate more spin than black ones.
Speed:
The rubbers in black color and made in Japan have more speed. The long pips made of natural rubber in color black has more speed than red.
The German rubbers don’t show difference in speed or spin between colors. They are little evident in Chinese made and Japanese made rubbers.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I very much doubt if an amateur player will notice any difference in spin or speed of red or black rubbers as it is infinitesimal.
That’s right.