Guide on the rubber in a padel racket

We start this guide by defining what rubber is:

The rubber of a paddle tennis racket is a material that is placed between the faces of the racket and allows it to be given an elastic character.

How does rubber impact our game?

The main impact that the rubber will have on a paddle tennis racket is its hardness. Being the most elastic element of the racket, the use of a more elastic or less elastic rubber will lead to softer or harder touches in the game.

The elements of a rubber that define its hardness are:

• The density of the rubber: measured in kg/m³, the density of a rubber tells us how much a cubic meter of said rubber weighs. The higher the density, the greater the weight of the rubber and, therefore, greater hardness, since it will be more compact and less flexible. The densities of the padel racket rubbers vary between 15 kg/m³ of the softest rubbers up to 50 kg/m³ of the hardest rubbers used. by professionals.

The density of a rubber also affects the balance of the racket. A rubber with a density of 28 kg/m³ represents about 50 grams of the blade before being perforated. If instead we use denser rubbers, the weight will be greater and, therefore, the balance of the racket will go towards the head.

• The composition and materials of the rubber: a greater density does not always imply a harder touch. Depending on the materials used for the composition of the rubber, the recovery capacity and elasticity of the rubber will vary, being able to achieve more or less hard touches for the same density.

What types of rubber are there?

Although the popular belief is to classify rubbers into foam rubbers and Eva rubbers, the reality is that foam is not a material, but rather refers to the foamy state of the rubber. Therefore, all the rubbers used in padel rackets are foam rubbers.

The correct grouping would be to classify the rubbers into EVA foam rubber (higher density rubber), and polyethylene foam rubber (lower density rubber). However, in practice, combinations of EVA rubber with polyethylene rubber are often made, seeking to achieve lower densities and weights.

In recent years, the use of hybrid rubbers has proliferated, made up of outer layers of a different density than the inner layers. Currently, there are both rubbers on the market with outer layers that are less dense than the inner layer, and rubbers with outer layers that are denser than the inner layer.

Polyethylene foam rubber

When we talk about polyethylene, we generally refer to rubbers with a lower density (between 15 and 25 kg/m³). These lower densities provide a softer feel and lower balance to the racket.

In its beginnings, polyethylene was manufactured mainly in Argentina and was characterized by being an open-cell polyethylene, more foamy, and which made it possible to see the bubbles in the rubber. Currently, this open-cell polyethylene has changed to a more compact, cross-linked polyethylene.

The main advantage that polyethylene rubbers give us is a greater ball output than higher density rubbers, since, having a lower density than Eva rubbers, we get the ball to enter more into the face of the racket, the rubber bends more, and the ball comes out with more force thanks to the so-called spring effect that occurs when the rubber returns to its initial position.

Marginally, by achieving a softer touch and greater elasticity of the blade, these rubbers will provide a little more sweet spot than blades with harder rubbers.

The combination of soft touch, high ball output, and sweet spot make polyethylene rubbers the most recommended for players with arm discomfort, and/or for players looking to enhance their game from baseline track.

The main drawback of polyethylene rubbers is that they have less power than EVA rubber blades. This is due to the fact that, being less dense, in power shots these rubbers absorb part of the force that we print, subtracting power from the shots.

Another drawback of polyethylene rubbers is that they transmit less control than eva rubbers, due to their high ball output, which forces the hit to be contained more.

The third drawback of this type of rubber is its durability. Their low density makes them flex more than EVA rubber, causing a greater effort in the rubber to recover its initial position, and therefore causing it to lose properties sooner.

Eva foam rubber

When we talk about EVA foam we refer, in most cases, to those rubbers with a higher density (between 25 and 50 kg/m³). As we can see, there is a great variety of densities within Eva rubbers, which give rise to touches from medium-soft (25 kg/m³) to very hard touches, only suitable for professionals (50 kg/m³), giving rise to different types of EVA rubber.

This variety of densities gives rise to the commercial names that many brands use such as eva ultrasoft, eva soft, eva medium or eva hard. However, there is no arbitrary and homogeneous criterion between brands that allows a rubber to be classified within these trade names.

The main advantages of EVA rubber over polyethylene rubber are given by the greater hardness of the rubber due to having a higher density. All these advantages become more evident the higher the density of the rubber.

The first advantage of EVA rubbers to highlight is their greater power in blows such as the auction with respect to polyethylene rubbers. This greater power is achieved due to the fact that these rubbers, being more compact, flex less than polyethylene rubbers, absorbing less the blow and managing to print all the force that we apply on the ball.

The second advantage is a greater sense of control and safety than in polyethylene rubbers, due to the absence of the previously explained spring effect, which means that the ball does not bounce excessively and is easier to control.< /span>

The third advantage of eva rubbers over polyethylene rubbers is their greater durability. Its more compact properties and the fact that it does not flex as much mean that the effort to recover the initial position of the rubber is less, extending its useful life.

The main drawback of eva rubber over polyethylene rubber is that it requires a higher degree of demand in the game.

As they are denser rubbers, they will have a lower ball output than polyethylene rubbers, so it will be necessary to exert greater force on slow hits (bottom of the court) to get the ball to come out, due to to the absence of the spring effect.

These properties of the eva rubber make us recommend it for those players who have an advanced level, especially if we talk about the higher density rubbers, since they provide us with more power and control in the game, but require more technique than polyethylene rubbers.

What is "Black EVA" rubber?

In recent years the trade name Black EVA rubber has been extended. According to the manufacturers, there is not a single type of rubber called black eva, and it may be the case that there is no difference in composition and hardness between a white eva rubber and a black eva rubber.

The black eva rubber is a rubber that in its manufacturing process is produced in that color (it is not tinted white rubber), and at the performance level on the track it offers the same benefits as a white eva rubber of the same composition. and density.