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Saviga V Red 0.5mm on Stiga Energy Wood WRB
This is a
very deceptive, fairly slow, long pimples rubber. The pimples are skinny, very
flexible and grippy on the sides. The surface of the pimples, although rough,
does not have a lot of grip, but the sides and edges of the pimples, which come
into play when the pimples bend, are quite soft and grippy. This allows for a
lot of variation depending on how you hit the ball.
This is essential at the higher levels of competition, as simple spin
reversal will no longer fool your opponent.
When taken out of the
packet, the rubber curled up a little, making me think it may be tensioned
somewhat, although nothing was mentioned on the cover (cover description are
usually totally useless though).
This rubbers seemed very
similar to the 388D-1, visually I cannot tell the difference.
When brushing the ball
with this rubber very lightly, the spin reversal is very good, producing some
very awkward balls.
Blocking
against topspin loops is very good and easy, although some minor adjustment need to be made for high
spin loops (because of the extra grip). It produces a low flat ball, hard
to attack again. When blocked with an open face, the sponge really absorbs a lot of the power, taking the pace
off the return, producing an awkward slow floating ball, very hard to loop
again. I found this rubber to be excellent for drop shots. Chop block also worked well and are effective.
When you close the face of the bat a little and strike forwards, you can impart
decent pace and counter-hit the ball quite consistently. A small amount of topspin can
be produces. Care must be taken to wait for the ball and not reach for it, since
the grip of just the pimple surface is not enough to carry over the ball.
Hitting
against chops is very easy and consistent, and produces decent spin reversal. Chopping
against chop can be kept very low and is very easy to control. When brushed hard
a small amount of backspin can be produced, when brushed lightly decent spin
reversal is produced. great for deception.
I found it
has good control in the short game, although not as good as the Galaxy 955. I was able to block or chop short balls
with easy, and I had great control over the placement. Even 'no spin'
balls were easy to handle.
Choppers
will find the 388D-1 offer very good control mid-distance against loops, with good spin reversal. By changing the angle of your chopping
strokes, sidespin can be produced against spinny loops. Only against long
distance loops, with this fairly slow long pimpled rubber you'll have to
generate some of your own pace to return the ball to the table.
As with most grippy long
pimples rubbers, heavy sidespin can grip on the rubbers, so you need to allow
for this. This rubber is not different, but once again light brushed can return
a lot of the sidespin, and hard brushes can take it off. Great for deception.
The best
thing this rubber offer is variation. Against return of serve, by changing the
stroke and angle slightly, a lot of variation of spin is returned, consistently
drawing errors from the opponent.
This rubber works best on
slower control blades, and will be most effective with a fast and spinny rubber
on the other side for maximum contrast. Alex...
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