Rubber Thickness
Now here's an aspect of table tennis that beginners know very little about.. Why are some rubbers thicker than others? How does thickness change a rubbers behaviour?
Let's start, according to the ITTF, the maximum thickness a rubber can have (sponge + top-sheet) is 4mm.
What is the sponge? What is the top-sheet?
Well, check one of your own rackets/rubbers; now, see the sponge in contact with the blade itself ? That's the sponge. In contact with the sponge you can see the top-sheet, the top-sheet is either red or black, and is either pips-out or pips-in (the most comonly used rubbers are pips-in (inverted), and probably the ones you use are as well).
(Rubber = Sponge + Top-sheet)
Sponge + top-sheet can be at most 4mm thick.
When classifying a rubber, manufacturers use numbers to express a rubbers thickness, for example, 1,8 corresponds to a 1,8mm sponge thickness, 2,0 to a 2 mm sponge thickness and so on...
The 2,0 classification means the sponge has 2,0mm, don't involve the topsheet on this (yet).
Some rubbers have the denomination MAX, this means that they are as thick as legally can. The sponge/topsheet MAX thickness isn't always the same on all rubbers, for example, one MAX rubber can have a 2,1mm sponge and a 1,9mm thick top-sheet, while another can have a 2,5mm sponge and a 1,5mm topsheet, both are 4mm thick together, and both are MAX.
Now, what's your "thickness of choice"?
That depends on what kind of player you are and what you intend to do with a specific rubber...
1,0mm - Very defensive and/or Control based players and/or beginner lacking control players.
1,5mm - All-round, for players slightly more offensive but that still need plenty of control due to either their game style or their experience.
1,8mm - All-round players, still quite controllable but due to an increased thickness can also be used to attack effectively.
2,0mm - Probably the most popular Thickness, All-round + / Offensive - players, slightly less controllable than the 1,8mm thickness but better suited for attack due to its increased speed.
MAX - Offensive and Offensive + players, very fast rubbers, hard to control for less experienced players. Most offensive world-class players use rubbers of this thickness.
There are more thickness variations, such as 1,9; 2,1 and so on, but the ones shown are the most expressive, check the one closest to the information you need.
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As you can see, offensive based players use greater thickness rubbers, while more defensive use lower thickness rubbers. The thicker a rubber is, the faster it is, at least when comparing to a less thick equal rubber.
How about Spin? In thickness inportant for Spin? Well, Spin is relative, a 1,0mm rubber can be spinier than a max rubber and vice-versa, it all depends on the used rubber. But, on the other hand, when considering equal rubbers, those of less thickness give you the opportunity to increase the amount of effort you put on the ball and still (eventually) land it on the opponent's side.
(c) Pedro V.
posted by Pedro V. @ 2:39 AM
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