Donic Original №1 Senso

The Donic Ovtcharov No. 1 Senso, now with a new name, supposedly had Dima Ovtcharov involved in its design before he moved to Butterfly. However, I’ve never seen him use this blade in tournaments. There is a 15-minute YouTube video of Ovtcharov practicing with it and discussing its features.

This blade features an inner carbon (acryl) construction and weighs between 82 to 90 grams. I requested the lightest one available and received an 84g blade. It measures 159.5 x 150 mm and is 5.9 mm thick, with a frequency of 1378 Hz, classifying it as Off-/Off. The handle is thinner than usual, making it unsuitable for those with large hands.

Having never tried the DHS Hurricane Long 5, I cannot confirm whether this is a clone or if the top ply is indeed limba instead of ayous. As an intermediate player, I paired the blade with 47.5-degree Andro Hexer Powergrip 2.1 mm rubbers on both sides. This combination feels perfect for my skill level. While the blade is intended for semi-pros and pros, I believe its flexibility would better suit them with harder rubbers.

Donic classifies this blade as stiff, but it is not. It is more flexible than blades like the Koki Niwa Wood. The control is incredible, and the sweet spot is huge. While not particularly fast, the spin properties and excellent control compensate for the lack of speed. I can’t imagine a better inner carbon blade for an intermediate player, although the Tibhar Shang Kun Hybrid AC comes close. The hollow “senso” handle is excellent, making the racket light enough to use heavier rubbers. Best of all, its head-heavy balance ensures the racket is always at the right angle for a counterattack when switching from backhand to forehand.

This product is amazing. It is not a fast blade when playing at low speeds. For serve, receive, and touch play, it feels identical to any wooden 5-ply racket with the soft feeling that limba provides.

However, when playing at medium to long distances, an extra gear kicks in, providing support for speed.

It has a comfortable handle (although I have small to medium-sized hands for a man). I realized that its forehand to backhand transition is pretty easy to execute since it has great balance and a reduced weight with the senso handle. However, if you have bigger hands, I would not recommend this handle unless you are used to the thinner handles that come in blades nowadays. As a comparison, I had an EU Primorac before, and that feels like a tennis handle to me now (a bit clumsy). Also, the senso handle makes the blade feel more agile and literally feels hollow in your hand, which is a feeling I have liked.

I sincerely think this blade is a HL5 produced by DHS with a different handle design and given to Donic for sale. The handle dimensions, blade size, and blade composition are identical to HL5. Also, the most telling thing is the lens shape. It is the only blade in Donic’s catalog with a shorter, rounder lens, like the DHS ones, instead of the longer, thinner ones that are normal with Donic. The quality of the blade is quite good, with no rough edges, but some sanding of the wings is required since they are quite sharp.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the blade. The flexibility makes it great to combine with Chinese rubbers and makes open-ups very easy. If you like to play a spin and forehand-oriented game, you can’t go wrong with this blade. The soft limba and the inner carbon make it great.

Very good touch and feel with this blade.

The weight distribution is unique due to the hollow handle.

It’s easy to play with and has plenty of speed when needed.