My Racket, What's Yours??

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Comment by Randy Lynn Rutledge on February 2, 2010 at 3:51pm

At 57 years of age, my days of buying the latest tennis racquets are long past. I play with whatever I can find at Goodwill & Salvation Army stores. My current racquet set me back a whopping $3.75, it's a mid size Court Comp by Pro-Kennex. I like the tight string pattern of the racquet's sweet spot. I am not sure what the string tension it, but it feels to be about what I am used to. I usually get racquets strung on the high side of the recommended range. For me it is string tension that is important. I enjoy the control I get from higher string tension.

Fix Your Tennis: A tennis discussion group where tennis players can share and discuss their own tennis life. http://www.tennisopolis.com/group/fixyourtennis

Comment by richard meaghan on November 20, 2009 at 4:31am

As you can see from below Im a bit of a Racketaholic.
Throughout the 2 yrs Ive been playing i have continually analysed my progression, fitness and equipment.
As i did with golf when i was younger over a period of 3 yrs I moved from a 9 handicapper to scratch using the same obsessive analysis.
As ive improved (I used to play to a reasonably high level when very young) and got back to some of the consistency of my teens Ive also assessed my strengths and weeknesses as a player.
Ive recently spent a lot of time purposely playing baseline tennis to improve my consistency. In this scenario I found the Prince Ozone Tour (customised) the best racket from a number of playtests. I continued with this racket even tho I couldnt serve with it. This in turn made me realise the obvious. I am an aggressive S&V.
My recent racket exploits have revolved around what benefits this side of my game and in doing this Ive had to take into account that I will have to compromise in other areas of my game.
Ive moved back to a smaller headed racket, its better for serving and volleying and is more stable. Im in the middle of playtesting a number of rackets but the leaders of the pack are the Wilson kps 88, Head pro tour 600 (90's racket) and the Graphite Pro 600 (an 80's racket).
Ive found the only rackets worth their salt are the older models, their materials and the way they are made are far superior to todays models which are tinny and unstable. The only rackets Ive found to be anywhere near to yesterdays models are the pro staffs and the new kps88 ticks all the boxes. ery smilar to the pst90 below but with a little more swingweight and ooomph.
The other important factor is a change in string set up from all poly to gut.
This has had by far the biggest affect on my game and cannot be underestimated. My serve has become a monster, it has always been the best part of my game its just now so much more. I can understand the big serving pro S&V so much more, the pace, spin, swerve is unbelievable and the grip on serve enables you to get into the net. My 2nd serve is so much more penetrating now as I can go for it much more due to the grip and trajectory from the racket.
I do have to ciompromise on groundstrokes tho, no longer can a swing away freely hitting heavy topspin shots. My technique is much more important. I have less room for error and have to be controlled and think a little more. I am still hitting heavy topspin with my extreme grips just not what it was like with the larger headed prince racket. Im hitting harder and flatter so at the moment making a few more errors than normal but making it up by not losing my serve.

Ive started looking at the coverage of Mcenroe, edberge, Ivanisevic, sampras etc from when I grew up and its like a breath of fresh air. Very aggressive. Good servers going for there shots when recieving.
I must of known there was always a reason i liked Edberg's game when I was younger.
Just to say Im very happy, I will always playtest different rackets, but now Im playing to my strengths and working on those areas that I have had to compromise, all in all, Im in transistion but the benefits are already showing with winning games that would normally be a little more difficult

Comment by richard meaghan on October 11, 2009 at 7:34am

Ive been playing with Prince Ozone Tour for the past 3 months and playing some of the most consistent stuff in 2 yrs. My problem with it is I cant serve with it! Maybe its the larger head I dont know, cant hit a hot serve and cant slice out wide. As my serve is my biggest weapon I decided to go look somewhere else and I found the most beautiful racket in the world. The Wilson Pro Staff Tour 90, same mold as the Fed racket, similar spec, better cosmetics.
I have also bought the k90, ROK and the kps 88 to playtest, so interesting times ahead...............

Comment by richard meaghan on May 17, 2009 at 6:05am

Have been finding the Babolat below to have too much power and I am shortening my shots, reucing their effectiveness. So I went back to my Rebel, it is truly a great racket and Im much more comfortable. I hit the ball much harder with a full swing cos its such a lw powered racket.
Hurt my wrist yesterday doing volleying exercises for an hour with the weight of my racket being 360g

Comment by richard meaghan on May 10, 2009 at 2:08pm

Ive gone and bought one, I like it so much, great racket. Ok I cant do touch shots quite as well as the Rebel but I spend most of my time at the baseline and Im playing with much stronger players now and the even balance and the stiffer Pure Drive Roddick is an absolute dream with loads of power and control. If you haven't demo'd it I think you'll be quite shocked at how easy it is to play with.

Comment by richard meaghan on May 7, 2009 at 1:53am

Bought what I thught was the upgrade to the Prince O3 white, the Speedport Pro White. I thought the spec suited me better and the closed string pattern would give me a little more control. So after customising it so that is was the same as the older O3 I took it out and it feels like a completely different racket. Its a great racket but the difference in the spin is considerable which is what I liked about the O3 except that it was far too light. Ive gone back to my beautiful Rebel, she just needed a restring and she was back to her beautiful best!
Its the best racket at the net Ive used and for a 95 headsize and 18x19 string pattern I get so much spin and feel especially on touch shots. I think its the best all round players racket around.
Although sometimes I wish I just played singles, stayed back at the baseline, never went to the net and blasted the ball with Bab's Pure Drive Roddick corner to corner!

Comment by hofertennis on April 18, 2009 at 11:57pm

I have the new Dunlop Aerogel 4D racquets in. I love the Dunlop Aerogel 4D 300 Tour, a new frame this year that fits nicely between the Aerogel 200 and Aerogel 300. A heavier, head light and 18/20 string pattern version of the Aerogel 300.

I also have been playing with the new Dunlop Aerogel 4D 200.

I am still waiting before I try my favorite, the Dunlop Aerogel 4D 500 Tour.

Comment by richard meaghan on April 18, 2009 at 12:02pm

yes at 12 oclock gives most power but also makes it harder to swing
2 and 10 or 3 and 9 make it steadier and gives it more power
play around

Comment by Michael on April 18, 2009 at 10:21am

i play with a yonex rds 001.
its pretty good but it takes a while to get used to the shape.
i am thinking about adding lead tape to it also.
is lead tape a good idea to add if i want more power from my racket?

Comment by richard meaghan on April 18, 2009 at 2:13am

Prince Speedport Pro White
http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageRCPRINCE-SP03PW.html

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