Review date: 19 December 2023
Here’s a review of the Victas V>22 Double Extra rubber. This is the rubber currently used by England No.1 Liam Pitchford. It’s fast and spinny and very good for topspin to topspin rallies, especially from mid-distance. I did have a few issues with control when pushing and blocking, but serving was excellent. In the review I go into more detail about what I liked and didn’t like. I am using the max thickness version of the rubber. I tested the rubber using the TIBHAR Drinkhall Powerspin Carbon Blade.
Tom’s rubber ratings Speed = 9 Spin = 9 Control = 5 Hardness = Medium hard Throw angle = Medium Where to buy Bribar Table Tennis (UK and worldwide) Megaspin (USA) |
Topspin vs topspin
I used the Victas V>22 Double Extra rubber for around 10 hours of play. The first thing I want to mention is the tackiness of the rubber. I wouldn’t necessarily put it into the category of a “tacky rubber” but it is very grippy.
This means I was able to play some very good topspin and counter topspin shots. This is a big strength of the rubber. When I properly commit to playing topspin strokes, I really feel as though the rubber grips the ball, picks it up and generates some very decent topspin.
I like to play quite close to the table. At first, I found I was overhitting a little bit. So I needed to turn the bat angle more and really grip the ball. When I did this I was able to get better topspin consistency playing closer to the table.
The rubber really comes into its own when you play a little bit further back from the table. The combination of speed, grippy topspin and medium trajectory, makes it very easy to play topspin strokes at mid-distance. It felt like I couldn’t miss! Not only could I get good spin, bit I was able to get my topspin shots very deep. It’s probably one of the nicest rubbers I have used playing from mid-distance.
Flat hits
I found it a little harder to control my flat hits, as the ball really does spring off the rubber. If my bat angle was a little too open, then bam! – the ball would fly off the end. So I had to turn my bat angle more to keep my flatter attacks on the table. The margin of error is quite small here.
This is more of an issue for me on my backhand, where I tend to play a little flatter. I missed many attacks by over-hitting. On the lupus side, using this rubber did force me to play with more spin on my backhand, which is probably beneficial for my long term development.
Looping vs backspin
The other area which I felt just a little bit tricky with this rubber was looping against backspin.For some reason, when looping against backspin, the trajectory just felt a little bit lower. At first I was hitting many of my forehand loops into the net. I had to adjust my stroke and swing up a little bit more to arc that ball over the net. Maybe if you’ve got more of an explosive looping technique against backspin, you can make this rubber work for you. But my loops are a little safer and I struggled to get good quality speed and depth. When I did connect well, the spin generation was great.
Passive play
How about more passive play – pushes and blocks? I found that if my pushes were too controlled, the ball would pop up quite a bit. Keeping the ball short was also a challenge. So when pushing I really had to focus on really gripping the ball and spinning it to have any control over the height and depth of the push. But with the grippy topsheet, when I did push with more commitment the spin was very heavy and I could keep the ball low.
It was a similar story with blocking. If my blocks were too passive the ball would jump up quite a bit. I really had to close the bat angle quite a lot to keep the ball low. Then blocking was perfectly fine. But this will take quite a bit of getting used to.
With passive play, there are better rubber choices available. But if you’ve got a very good touch, then I’m sure you can make this rubber work for you.
Serving
I really liked serving with this rubber. That grippy topsheet works wonders! I was able to get a lot of spin, keep the ball low and control the length. I tested my serves out against players who are very familiar with my serves and I was definitely causing them more problems than usual. It just felt very reliable, as though I knew I was going to get decent spin every time. I’m putting a lot of effort into improving my serves and this rubber helped me get the rewards for my efforts.
Final thoughts
So in summary what do I think of the Victas V>22 Double Extra rubber. It’s a very good attacking rubber for players who like to play an open topspin oriented game. Because of the grippy top sheet and the dynamic sponge, you can really grip the ball and generate lots and lots of spin. Personally, I preferred using it on my forehand. This is probably because I am better at spinning the ball with my forehand, compared to my backhand, so I really got a benefit, especially playing a little further away from the table.
If you are more of a flat hitting type of player, I don’t think this is the right rubber for you. It’s a little harder to control. The ball really jumps off the rubber. And if you’re more of an all-round type player, who uses lots of pushes and blocks, again maybe this isn’t the best rubber for you, unless you’ve got really good touch. But overall, it’s very good attacking rubber particularly for players who really like to spin the ball.
Here’s a video review, where you can see footage of me using the rubber with my PowerPong Omega robot …
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