Red or black
Table Tennis Equipment
Last updated 4 years ago
Adhiraj Mohanta Asked 4 years ago
Which side of the racquet should you use black or red?
Alois Rosario Answered 4 years ago
Hi Adhiraj,
The color of the rubber doesn't make any difference to its performance so you can use either side.
Thoughts on this question
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Neville Young Posted 4 years ago
Hi Adhiraj,
As Alois has said thew colour of your bat doesn't make any difference.
What you might like to learn is why we have red and black for rubbers.
Originally, bats had rubbers the same colours both sides. That was back in the days when all rubbers were the same.
Manufacturers began making different sorts of rubbers. Some were faster, some had more spin and other has no spin.
Players would have different rubbers on either side of their bat, but because they were the same colour, you had trouble telling which side of the bat they were using.
Players became expert at "twiddlimg" their bat below the table line. Twiddling was turning the bat so you opponent couldn't see which type of rubber he was going to use. One shot could be done with the spinny rubber, the player would twiddle the bat (turn it to the opposite rubber) and the next shot with exactly the same stroke but it might be a no spin shot, or a fast shot. It was very hard to tell what to expect.
Eventually it was decided to have two completely different colours so you could tell what rubber was being used and could anticipated what sort of return to expect.