Donic ‘Skachkov Carbon’, released in 2021, is the signature blade developed by Donic for one of European top players, Kirill Skachkov who mainly play at Men’s doubles of international tournaments. Kirill Skachkov plays mainly with continuous but powerful topspin which lays emphasis on strong rotation, and ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is the blade which fits for the his playing style. The basic construction of ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is an outer-type fiber blade of 5+2 ply construction with Koto top layer represented by Butterfly ‘Viscaria’. But, the overall hitting feeling and excellent control remind us of the fiber blades of inner-type construction those are softer and more controllable than outer-type fiber blades. Donic is explaining that ‘Skachkov Carbon’ feels like s mix of outer-type and inner-type. ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is recommended for the players who play with continuous topspin from both hands but pursues stronger rotation and higher power.

As its name expresses, ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is the blade made for Kirill Skachkov who is one of European top players. Its artificial material is ‘Aramid Carbon’, which is inserted under the top layer for maximizing energy efficiency. Together with ‘Anders Lind HexaCarbon’ and ‘Original No.1’, ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is one of important models in Donic blade range.

The construction of ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is a kind of typical outer-type construction. The top layer is Koto, the middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Aramid Carbon, which is the mixed woven of aramid fiber (= aromatic polyamid fiber) and carbon fiber, is inserted directly under the top layer. Overall thickness is around 6.0mm. (It is actually measured value.) This construction looks like that of ‘Viscaria’ at a glance. However, because there are differences in the kind of artificial material and the thickness of each layer, we can expect that there will be difference in actual characteristics.

The size of head is around 159mm x 153mm which is bigger than 157mm x 150mm which is the common head size of most of recent offensive blades.

The shape of FL (flared) handle is wide type which is somewhat unique but not strange. The width of FL (flared) handle is around 28mm (at head side) ~ 28.5 mm (at bulge) ~ 28mm (at narrowest point) ~ 36mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 24mm (at thumb) ~ 24.5mm (at the end). This handle is very firmly fixed in player’s hand, and very stable. The players with big hands will like this FL handle. The size of ST hasn’t been measured yet.

The signature of Kirill Skachkov is printed at right bottom of the foreside of head. And, the name of blade, the construction and the recommended playing styles (= OFF-/OFF) are printed. Donic doesn’t use the signs such as OFF- or OFF for expressing speed level but for indicating the recommended playing style. ‘OFF-‘ means continuous offensive style which lays emphasis on the safety, and ‘OFF’ means ordinary offensive play which is more aggressive than OFF-. If the blade fits for very aggressive playing style, it is indicated as ‘OFF+’.

At the foreside of handle, transparent plastic lens of ordinary shape is applied. Donic logo and the product name are printed in the lens. This type of lens and the layout of inside printing has been applied for most of Donic blades since late 1990’s.

Squared aluminum plate with Donic logo is applied at the end of handle. The text in the end plate is current slogan of Donic – “Donic create(s) success.”

Nothing is printed on the backside of head, other than the country of origin notation at the bottom.

For long time Donic blade range had been represented by many blades of ‘Persson’ series and ‘Waldner’ series. But now Donic is signing new top players and releasing new signature blades those will newly represent Donic, such as ‘Anders Lind HexaCarbon’ (left) for Danish Anders Lind and ‘Skachkov Carbon’ (right) for another European top player Kirill Skachkov. Both of those two are signature blades for top players but provided in reasonable prices.

‘Anders Lind HexaCarbon’ (left) and ‘Skachkov Carbon’ (right) are fiber blades of inner-type and outer-type respectively.

The overall graphic design, including the handle made of 4-layer laminated structure in white, gray and black, gives the impression of stability and reliability.

‘Skachkov Carbon’ is the blade developed in Germany and produced in Taiwan.

Donic is a top European maker which has provided rubber and blades to many top players for long time, winning many big titles including 17 WTTC titles. The box of ‘Skachkov Carbon’ displays the slogan ‘DONIC CREATE SUCCESS’ along with the number of big titles won by players who have used Donic products.

‘Skachkov Carbon’ is an outer-type fiber blade, but it is a quite unique blade whose characteristics are somewhat close to those of inner-type fiber blades. That is because ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is optimized for the playing style of Kirill Skachkov who makes power by strong rotation. While keeping the typical outer-type construction which provides very high energy efficiency, Donic reduced the elasticity of ‘Skachkov Carbon’ a bit by adjusting the thickness of each layer. As the result, ‘Skachkov Carbon’ makes more dramatic arc and stronger rotation when compared with ordinary outer-type blades. For that reason, if the player who has used outer-type blade such as ‘Viscaria’ wants to draw more dramatic arc while keeping the maximum energy efficiency of outer-type construction, ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is seriously considerable. Another notable feature is the shape of FL handle. The FL handle of ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is thicker and wider than semi-wide FL handle of ‘Viscaria’ FL type. Therefore ‘Skachkov Carbon’ is recommendable to players who lay emphasis on the stability of grip, especially the players who has been disappointed by the discontinuation of Stiga ‘LEGEND’ handle.

Following are the performance indices of Donic Skachkov Carbon (avg.weight = 82.5) :

– Ep = 1.80

– Ec = 1.67 (Ec/Ep = 0.93)

– Vp = 1.28

– Vl = 1.38 (Vl/Vp = 1.07)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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