What’s the black side of a tennis table paddle for ? And the red side ?
In: Other
I assume you mean table tennis rackets. I think the color doesn’t stand for anything specific because it all depends on the player. The short answer is they are two different rubber which provides different characteristics when hitting the ball.
There is actually a little history behind it. In the early years when players introduced 2 kinds of rubber on 2 sides of racket, they are actually the same color. Because opponents won’t know what they are expecting. But in order to make the game more competitive because some countries/players were too good at it, the ITTF required “Two different colors on two sides of racket”. Guess what, it didn’t solve the problem. Some players, Chinese for example, used two similar colors. That was still confusing AF, but also very smart. Eventually ITTF requires “Two drastically different colors” which brought us what we are seeing today. But you may still don’t know what does the black side do unless you are the player, or coach.
There might be some inaccurate information in my explanation because I learned it from my dad. But I believe it’s 99% accurate.
Players can choose different rubbers for each side that have different effects on how the ball interacts with the paddle but the color lets their opponent know which side they’re hitting with. The color and the type of rubber are completely independent, they just let the opposing player tell them apart. The rule that there had to be a black side and a red side was created by the ITTF, the governing body for table tennis.
I’m no pro, but I’ve noticed that you have more control with the slightly padded black side. It could be a more conservative approach. The red side doesn’t have the padding and could be used for more quick-pop power. That’s my guess.
[removed]
Latest Answers