Player Level and Style
Penholder with short pips forehand and inverted backhand for RPB, 1700-1800 USATT level.Rubber Reviewed
Nittaku Nodias (black) with 2.0mm sponge. This replaced my previous backhand rubber, Joola Samba 2.0 and was also compared to Joola Mambo C. I have been using the rubber for the last year and a half and have tried 3 sheets. Rubber used on a Joola Guo 3C blade.Marketing Hype
Powerful Top-spin and Pin-Point Control! In the production process of the top-sheet of Nodias, natural rubber is mixed carefully, taking a longer time than normal rubbers. This unique mixing method results in the superior “bite” (or “grab”) feeling of Nodias. Even in counter attacking, the rubber grabs the ball firmly to keep it under control. The ideal combination between the top-sheet and the high elastic sponge enables you to: 1) produce powerful top-spin, 2) generate slow shots intentionally, and 3) get pin-point control in a variety of shots."Supposedly this rubber was used on the backhand by Wang Liqin and Guo Yue.
Summary
Good stable inverted rubber for those who really like to feel the ball.Who Will Like It
Those who like to spin the ball and don’t mind a fairly heavy rubber with a medium hard sponge.Who Will Hate It
Those who want the newest, latest, lightest, fastest whizbang rubber sheet.Specifications
Nodias has a thick, very grippy topsheet. Sponge is a medium hard cream color (42-43 in hardness). Rubber was primed with rubber cement, but not speedglued or treated with Ecolo Expander II. Rather heavy rubber, a good 10 grams heavier than the similarly hard sponge Joola Mambo C, probably due to the heavier, natural rubber topsheet.This is one of the harder sponge Japanese rubbers I’ve used, but you can still feel the ball. This may be a rebadging of Nittaku J.O. Waldner as that rubber could not be sold in the U.S. or Europe due to rights to the Waldner name.
Playing Impressions
The rubber really feels midway in between a Chinese and a Japanese sheet. I mostly use it for looping underspin as an opening, but I can also put away high balls and flip it to my forehand in order to loop long serves. It is great for those (like me) who never really had a slow loop as the medium throw angle and touch helps the process. With Nodias I finally managed to consistently spin the ball on the table with my reverse penhold backhand.While I don’t use it often to serve, push or flick or to block with, it seems to do those things quite predictably as it is not bouncy at all, which helps my control, especially when I flip my blade from the short pips side. The slightly higher throw angle compared to softer topsheet rubbers (like Joola Mambo C or Chinese rubbers) means I have to be a little bit more careful to close my blade and really stroke the ball rather than hitting into it.
Overall
The rubber has been very durable. I used the first sheet for almost a year before rotating it to another blade just because I thought the sponge was getting a little soft. The second sheet still seems to be doing fine and I’ve put my teammate’s old sheet (which came off a broken blade) on a third blade. As long as you don’t mind the weight it would be a good sheet for backhand and might be a nice option for those who like a harder sponge on the forehand.Interested in purchasing Nittaku Nodias? Vendor's Website
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