[Review Experience] THRUSTER RYUGA

Jayce September 6, 2024 2 0

As I mentioned in the previous article, “speed is the only martial art that can’t be broken”, but there is also a saying that “the fist is afraid of the young and strong”, what if I still believe in the violent aesthetics of “one power over ten clubs” on the court?

The TK series has gone through a not-so-good, impetuous product development phase, after the Ghost Chopper, the tk7000, tk8000, tk9000, tk9900, and tk boxer are the top offensive/defensive rackets more or less damaged in reputation and popularity under the rapid iteration of the product update. As a result, during the release of THRUSTER RYUGA this year, every player who cared about the development of Victory’s products from this old racket manufacturer was watching and worrying whether it would become the next cold flagship, and THRUSTER RYUGA’s 2021 All-England Champion, Lee Tsz-Ka, injected a sufficient amount of adrenaline into this racket’s hot streak. “Difficult to hit” is the inherent impression of this kind of head-heavy attack singles racket, but to know the reason still need to know the reason, thanks to the players to provide a good price for the racket, I’m not talented, but also to make up the number to eat a cold meal.

Parameters: 4UG5, stay bottom on the line on the hand rubber total weight of 95g, balance point 303mm, 210mm long centre pole, Bai Luo carbon material, with whiplash gain system, larger racket frame, T-head traditional cassette frame transition two wings fluid cassette box and 12 point wind breaker, 9-3 point line slot, pulling line 25-27lbs eb63.

The red, white and black colour palette is dog-eared, very flamboyant and eye-catching, and it’s a tough one at first glance. In addition, the Ryuga font design on the centre pole is very powerful, angular and metallic. Shooting frame asymmetrical design, also do not know whether it is yyy sky axe series brought up by the head, personal feeling of incongruity is not too big. But the overall feeling of the paint water is really as fat tiger teacher said with cheap plastic feeling, a slight pity.

The weight of 4U, the typical hand light swing heavy, racket box frame part of the main, swing speed is quite slow, head heavy feeling strong, bulky. However, the hardness of the racket is high, and the head and middle bar deformation is small when swinging fast, and the THRUSTER RYUGA is more like a basalt sword than the Ghost Chop series, which has the feel of a meteor hammer. The feel is solid and comfortable.

THRUSTER RYUGA has a very comfortable lofting experience. The head weight is good for borrowing power, and the Bilo carbon also has excellent elasticity, not too tight and not too slow an overhand ball, can be in place. The singles rackets that I have tried before, including the Sole cp7000, zsp, hx990, and wind 9000, are of course very easy to hit, but in comparison, they don’t feel as refined as the THRUSTER RYUGA – they don’t need to add power, they don’t need to speed up, and they allow for a slow-paced motion, which makes for a very efficient transfer of power. Of course, if it’s a short power shot with added power, such as a flat high ball, then the ball speed is also very impressive. Of course, the forgiveness and sweet spot of this large frame is satisfactory, and with the relatively pleasant stiffness of the wire bed, the feel of some chopped slice sliders in the backcourt is quite good supported by a proper wraparound feel.

I don’t need to go into detail about the quality of the downswing, but the first kill of the day made me realise that this is by far the most violent racket I’ve ever tried, even if it’s only a 4U. There are three reasons for this realisation: 1) the head weight, which is naturally downswing-boosting and makes it easy to deform the mid-range, and 2) the thin mid-range of the Paro Carbon, which has excellent explosive power, but isn’t extremely hard, making it relatively easy to deform the mid-range. WES, a very characteristic feel so that even if you don’t hit the ball hard enough, you can still hit a significant whipping sensation. Under the support of eb63, every heavy kill is supported by the roar of the beast, the ball is fast and heavy, not good defence. Because of this, it is easy to give opponents the impression that the kill is heavy, but instead, you can use this psychological expectation to play a combination of fast and variable, including the flat high ball and the collection of hanging have a higher tactical effect.

I can’t say anything about the stability of the small ball feel, but I am not good at creating opportunities in front of the net, rubbing and releasing the hook and other tactical movements are rough, you will often encounter this problem: if you take a high point, then the stability of the feel and the right sense of unloading can ensure that there is a very close to the net of the return; and once you can’t grab a high point, the force to achieve high-quality playback needs to be more accurate, not force the ball to go down to the net, and force the return will be too high. The heaviness of THRUSTER RYUGA makes the whole racket sluggish in some small movement changes, similar to a big truck reversing into a garage.

As a singles racket, THRUSTER RYUGA still impresses me very much, with six of those points coming from offensive ability. But since it’s a 4u, it would be a shame not to try it in doubles, hehe ……

Flat blocking exceptionally slow, one or two boards down on the catch; sealing the net the same reason very inflexible, racket head inertia is large after the action is easy to do big, resulting in active net pouncing net or out of bounds; even if there is a good judgement, the interception is often due to the reaction time is short and the swing speed is a little slow so that the hitting point backward, a lot of opportunities to guard to attack did not materialise because of the return of not enough to stick to the net; the worst thing is to save the ball in the more proactive picking! THRUSTER RYUGA has a very good effect in getting rid of the ball, but the passive underhand shots are really hard, either the racket is not in place, or the racket is in place but the movement is not completed the quality of the return is not high and continue to be passive.

The worst thing is, in doubles, this racket is very ruined feel, as long as in the confrontation with the THRUSTER RYUGA used a game, then the next game will be the previous THRUSTER RYUGA swing weight and swing speed will be biased, with the speed back to the racket will be obviously out of shape. It is not recommended to use this racket for doubles because of the load on the wrist and arm.

How can I say, it is a great performing racket, the tuning is very focused, it itself meets the expected positioning, it is cool and difficult to use, and I think the NJ factory has been successful in shaping this racket. However, there are not many usage scenarios where it can perform as it should, singles masters should like it, even Team Cai suggests that the 5U version is just fine for amateurs.

I had to get rid of it after 7 days and 2 matches, making it the shortest racket I’ve ever handled.