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"Rectangular grip or rounded grip?" or "Is it bad to switch between two different brands of racquets?"

Joe B. noticed that when he switched back and forth between his Prince Original Graphite and a Head Youtek Prestige Pro, his forehands would pop up suddenly. I figured that it had to be the shape of his handle. Why? 

Prince and Wilson use a more "round" grip, meaning the bevels are roughly similar in width. This favors the Eastern grip user and Semiwesterners that like to hit flatter drives. The angle of their hand to the back of the racquet handle is not altered by a fatter bevel.

Head and Volkl tend to use a "rectangular" grip, which means the number 3 and 7 side bevels are wider. This is favored by a Western grip user. It is easier for the inside of the index finger knuckle to move to where the hand is angled. For Easterners, they will feel they are not lined up straight.

So the angle of the hand to handle makes a difference as to the racquet face angle, and hence, the ball pops up inexplicably. Not all racquets are the same unfortunately. lol

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That explains it.  I feel like I need to use a more extreme (Western) grip when hitting with the rectangular grip.  I'm not sure which part of my hand actually feels for a particular bevel, as it's mostly automatic to me anyway, so switching back and forth poses some issues that I have to correct while actually hitting.  Oh, and though I'm trying not to be a stickler, the POG actually stands for Prince Original Graphite, not oversize.  I doubt many people would call a 93" racquet an OS, unless you're used to hitting with wood, ha ha ha!

Oops! Not a Prince guy. Hahaha!

I agree with this point of view. But: there are several kinds of grip head: tk57: rectangular, TK 76 and tk 82, medium between round and square, TK 82s: round. Today, head pallets on retail are often tk82s (round) . others kinds are difficult to find

It all depends on the size of the head of the racquet.   I find it easier to  switch between Round and Oval when the racquet head is larger. When I first switch from my Prokennex 98 Type C Rod Laver, color Grey ( not the redundo, color Red) *Note 1* to the k-factor tour 90, I went from an Oval grip to rounded on the prokennex to a Rounded Grip on the kfactor 90.  It took me well over a year to adjust. But then they changed the grip again on the 90 and went back to a semi-oval grip or a classic prostaff grip. If completely helped my game. But on the other side of it, I also own a Prince Graphite Original, and The Prince O3-Tour 107, These racquet have very rounded grips and I find them to work better with the larger heads.

But the contradiction in this is a discontinued players racket from prince.  Thfe 95 O3Tour. The 95 O3 tour racquet was such a sweat racquet. If gave me power speed and Feel that surpassed the Wilson Prostaff.  I was sold. as a player and coach i contacted the local Prince rep about getting a contract/sponsorship with prince that year. Long and behold Prince was not giving out contracts that year. Because of .........Ivan Ljubičić  VS

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova  

Ivan was having a hard time with sponsors.... mainly Prince. the Reason was that Maria Contract was soooooooooooo Much Money they didnt support Ivan. He complained, blacked out his prince racquet, but you can still tell because of the "O"s on it.. but Maria Contract was so big it also affected us Coaches. so Prince denied handing out contracts to teaching pros that year in the eastern sections. so ok just buy the racquet for personal use. Well you cant do that either. Remember when James Blake was play testing racquets for prince.   This is Speculation on my part. no facts are involved.... the 95 version was part of that play test of that year. and since he didnt sign with prince after the test period the 95 version was discontinued.  So thank you sharapova.

The 95 version grip was rounded like most prince racquets.

* Note 1:  in my professional opinion the old prokennex Type c rod Laver heritage tennis racquet is a complet copy of the Wilson Prostaff 6.0 or current Wilson 6.1 90 Tour Prostaff.  but Type c with a 98 Si head and favors flat strokes with a 18x20 string pattern*

@ Alexandre Rousseau. Ah, a true Head aficionado! Well, I have used all of these pallets in my course of trying all the Head racquets. I do like the current TK 82. I did not like the TK 57 as much.

When you switch between two types it kinda feels unusual and since it is new, you feel like you need to focus more. Can be a good technique...

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