729 Friendship’s Presto rubber series comes with two highly interesting, modern offensive rubbers specially developed for the new plastic ball. The developer’s goal was to optimize both speed and spin values compared to previous Friendship rubbers. With the introduction of the plastic ball, it has become more important for players to increase spin with the appropriate material. Contrary to what might be assumed, the Presto-Spin and the Presto-Speed both feature the same sponge. The open-pore sponge has a hardness of 42°, giving it a very European feel.
This sponge is very dynamic and powerful. Although the Presto blades don’t quite match German speed glue rubbers in terms of speed and catapult effect, the combination of a grippy, spinny topsheet and a fast sponge provides absolutely sufficient speed, especially in combination with faster blades.
As its name already implies, the Presto-Speed offers slightly higher speed than the Presto-Spin. Since both rubbers have identical sponges, 729 Friendship made some changes to the topsheet. The Presto-Speed’s topsheet is slightly thinner than that of the Presto-Spin. The Speed version is aimed at offensive topspin players playing close to the table and relying on fast topspins, hard blocks, counter-attacks and smash shots.
This rubber is a highly interesting alternative for players for whom the catapult effect seen in German and Japanese rubbers is too pronounced, but for whom classical Chinese rubbers (very tacky, high spin potential, but not very dynamic) are not a viable solution. When playing near the table, the rubber can be combined with blades from All+ to Off+, depending on the general offensive strategy. From mid-distance, we recommend blades that provide a certain amount of speed (Off- and upwards) due to the slightly lower catapult effect in comparison to German blades.