For most people this is old news, but I thought there was no way around making a post about it. A few days ago Roger Federer announced his departure from the 2016 season on his website:

Dear Fans,

I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season. Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year. The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year. However, the silver lining is that this experience has made me realize how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries. The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans remains intact. I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.

Thanks for your continued support.

Roger

 

This is obviously a huge downer for most tennis fans, but if we want to take out the positives it is that he looks forward to playing tennis for a “another few years”. The tour will now feel slightly empty without both Federer and Nadal in action, but hopefully some young guns like for example Shapalov, Thiem or Kyrgios can steal some of the limelight and prevent the sport from being too one-sided (meaning Djokovic winning everything).

In Washington, D.C. last week we saw the usual under-performer Gael Monfils win his first ATP 500 title and with his new coach Mikael Tillström (Sweden doesn’t have a lot of great players these days, but the coaches are definitely top notch), he seems more focused on results and less prone to hot-shot games away.

So hopefully we can see a resurgence of Monfils and why not also Dimitrov who has had horrible results for quite a while, but has now won a couple of matches in Toronto and looks to be regaining some confidence. For us gear nerds, Dimitrov has been switching racquets back and forth and now rumours say he’s back to his old 93-inch pro staff albeit under a new paint job. This means Wilson released the Pro Staff 97S as his signature model and only months later he’s playing with a completely different racquet. Maybe they should completely stop with this kind of advertising because it is starting to become slightly ridiculous with some exceptions (Federer actually using the RF97A being one of them).

In other (maybe less intriguing) tennis racquet news, I’m now play-testing the first generation Babolat Pure Drive (from 1994 if I’m not misinformed) and I must say I’m very impressed with the feel and spin. Will play around a bit with weight and balance and also string before I give it a review here. The stiffness rating is RA 67 unstrung which means I’m playing a Pure Drive that is relatively soft on the arm. Amazing stuff.

Hope you’re all happy and playing and watching a lot of tennis.

Tennis is in a slightly “dead” period at the moment with many players traveling to the Rio Olympics to try to win a medal for their country. News reports from the games have mostly talked about Brazil’s flimsy economy at the moment, the players’ rough accommodations and every other article is another tennis player withdrawing from the tournament (5 out of top 10 ATP so far). I have a feeling the interest around the olympic tennis medal won’t be very strong considering.

In other news, Novak Djokovic broke the record for number of Masters titles (30). It wasn’t the strongest Roger’s Cup ever, Murray, Nadal and Federer were all out of commission, but with the way Nole has been tearing up the tour this year, I’m not sure it would have mattered. Is the US Open title certain? Well, of course not, but I’d keep him as the overwhelming favorite.

That might as well go for the Olympics of course, where he doesn’t have a medal.

Personally, I acquired two beautiful new sticks, Babolat Pure Drives from 1995. Here is one of them with some lead at 3 and 9. These have an astonishing (for Pure Drives) stiffness level of RA 67 unstrung which make them relatively flexible, especially considering modern Pure Drives have unstrung RA numbers around 73-75.

I’ve sometimes given Babolat crap for the way their stiff and light racquets contribute to tennis elbow, but I must also say that playing with this racquet makes tennis feel easy. And with the proper technique and strings, hopefully my elbow will be fine. The lower RA should definitely help in this aspect. First test off the stringer is my go-to string Solinco Hyper-G and RS Lyon. Will keep you posted.

Since I’ve acquired a few new sticks, a couple needs to go so I don’t get my own new TV show called “Racquet Hoarders”. You will always find my current racquets for sale here. What I’m selling at the time of writing is one beautiful Prince TeXtreme Tour 95 and one Tecnifibre Speedflex 315. Let me know if you’re interested.

That’s it for now folks. Don’t forget to play tennis.

I’ve been wondering this question for quite a while. After all, this is the racquet Rafael Nadal still plays with, despite numerous iterations and paint jobs over the years. Most racquet nerds in various tennis forums claim that Babolat ruined a good thing when they introduced the Cortex technology* in their racquets and that Babolat racquets “pre-cortex” is where it’s at. I’m currently playing with the first Babolat Pure Drive without Woofer, Cortex, GT, FSI and other technologies that Babolat has introduced over the years and I’m really enjoying it so far.

So that’s why I started pondering the question about Nadal’s racquet of choice, the Babolat AeroPro Drive Original that so many hail as a legendary stick. I haven’t hit with it frequently before, but I found one used that I’m going to take out for a serious play-test soon and see what all the fuss is about.

From the first few hits, the feedback you get on your strokes is more direct, which, if you hit it outside the sweet spot is a little harsh. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the things Babolat has tried to work on for each iteration (if they’ve been successful is up for discussion): increasing the sweet spot and making sure off center hits don’t jar the arm and still get back into the court. I personally really like the raw feel and find the information useful when I’m off on my groundstrokes, but I can see how it’s not the most user-friendly racquet for intermediate players and can quickly become slightly painful for the arm. But this is on the other hand the complaint with most Babolats and should also be attributed to technique that needs work and/or bad string and tension choice.

TIP: Don’t give up on your racquets until you try different strings and tension and possibly adding some lead tape or blu tack/silicone to the handle to change weight and balance.

Talking about strings,  The Weisscannon Silverstring seems to work really well with the Babolat Aero Pro Drive Original, but I’m going to also try my current string of choice (together with the RS Lyon), the Solinco Hyper-G in it and see if I can get even more spin. Since the Hyper-G is a slightly stiffer string than RS Lyon, I hope it won’t bother my arm too much.

No matter what string, what I really enjoy about the so called APD Original is the massive spin and whip you can get on the ball. It inspires you to go for the ball “Wild West Rafa style” and that sure makes for an entertaining (and sweaty) hit, although you should probably stay away from copying his technique too much or you might decapitate yourself or frame the ball into outer space.

I’ll update this post with more information as soon as I get the chance to hit with it some more. Looking forward.

What is Cortex? (from Babolat)

A CDS (Cortex Dampening System) interface transmits useful information to the player and the handle design brings that information closer to the player’s hand for perfect control on every hit.

Marin Cilic become more than a one-slam-wonder yesterday when he won the Cincinnati Masters title, beating Andy Murray 6-4 7-5 in a match where he played close to the form of his 2014 US Open title.

A lot of people are wondering what kind of frame gives Cilic the power to hit through the court and his opponents like that? I can tell you it’s a quite powerful frame, but not from the stiffness, but from being quite heavy in the head. The paint job is a Head prestige graphene xt mp (he used to use a Radical paint job for a long time), but the model is a pro stock with the code TGK 231.3 which means it is the mould from a Head Microgel Radical MP with an open string pattern.

I used to own and use one of Cilic’s actual frames and another TGK 231.3 and they are really nice-playing frames with nice feel, but also good spin. There was a quite a bit of lead tape on Cilic’s frame which increases the swingweight and makes it play more powerful, but without lead and silicone it wouldn’t be the same. The Head Microgel Radical MP is one of the most popular “platform” frames which are great for customizing with lead and silicone (or blu-tack). Cilic’s frame also has a custom molded L4 grip, not in the rectangular Head shape, but more Wilson-like, similar to the TK82S pallets. (Since it doesn’t come with pallets, you can’t change the grip size.)

If I remember correctly, the specs were around 350 grams strung with a balance around 32,5 cm. He uses Babolat VS 16 Natural Gut in the mains and Big Banger ALU Power 1.25 in the crosses. Tension around 25-26 kg depending on conditions.

Here are some pics of my Cilic frames:

The Babolat Project One 7 has ended and the new Babolat Pure Strike line has been revealed. Complete with FSI (Frame String Interaction, which means a tighter pattern in the sweet spot area) and everything. It sure looks great to me, but whether it plays a lot different than the previous Pure Strike remains to be seen. Will see if I can get my hands on one so I can try it properly and write a review.

According to Babolat officials they launch for pre-sale on September 1st and are in stock September 8th.

I haven’t yet seen any stiffness ratings so that will also be interesting to see. So far there are four different versions of the new Pure Strike:

So as you can see, no heavier “Tour” version this time. Seems like tennis gear are all moving towards lighter, high swing-speed frames. After all, you can always add lead tape and silicone in the handle to make the racquet heavier. Most pro stock hairpins come in at 300 grams anyway so that’s a good customization starting point for tennis racquets.

Looking forward to see some reviews and be able to test this line myself.

With the new Wilson Roger Federer Pro Staff 97 Autograph racquet being available soon, it was high time that one all-time great of women’s tennis, Serena Williams, also get an autograph model. The specs are not out yet, but I’m sure it’s like with the RF97A, just a nice paint job change. The old Wilson Blade 104 model has the following specs (taken from Tennis Warehouse).

If you like easy-to-use racquets, the Wilson Blade 104 has you covered, but it’s also not a bad racquet to lead up and get into more of a player stick category if that’s more your fancy. Just remember that it’s extended length (70 cm) so it might require an adjustment from you.

A big part of the Wilson racquet line-up gets a makeover. In addition to the Wilson Roger Federer Autograph Pro Staff 97 and the Wilson Serena Williams Autograph Blade 104, it looks like also the Blade 98 will get the black and green paint job.

Specs are yet to be revealed.

Any love for the old school? I have occasionally played with wooden racquets just to get back that “ball feel” and to make sure I don’t get lazy with my feet or technique. I can’t spin the ball like I do with my customized Babolat Pure Drive Originals, but it’s enjoyable to hit with wooden racquet. You really feel the ball on the strings which is a completely different thing to most stiff spin monsters these days.

Right now, I have a few wooden oldies in my collection. Everything I have is always for sale as the collection is constantly changing so if you’re interested I can surely give you a good price.

In the picture you have a Dunlop MaxPly McEnroe in the middle. A true classic that’s never been strung. It was the last wooden racquet model that McEnroe used, based on the popular Dunlop MaxPly Fort and came out in 1982. In 1983 he went on to the graphite revolution with the Dunlop Max 200G.

To the right of the Dunlop MaxPly McEnroe you have two Japanese classics, JMI Skyline Slitshaft, one of the first models to try to split the shaft in the nowadays classic manner.

First racquet to the right on the picture is a Swedish wooden classic called Ideal Upsala Hultman and the second one is a graphite classic called Donnay CGX 25+. The Donnay actually still hits a really good ball!

If you love old school racquets, let me know in the comments. Would be nice to hear about your collection and I’ll gladly post pics of it on this blog.

Nishikori is playing well again at this year’s US Open and a lot of people wonder how a relatively short guy like him can get so much power out of his shots. Is it the racquet? Well, it’s mostly his technique and lighting-fast movement, but if you’re interested in Kei Nishikori’s racquet specs, this is the post for you.

Contrary to what most people think, Nishikori is not playing with the racquet model he endorses, the Wilson Burn 95, but an older model called the Wilson BLX Tour (review by Tennis Warehouse on the link) and the specs are as follows:

Head Size: 95sqin
Length: 27.25 inches
Strung Weight: 340 grams
Strung Balance: 334 mm
Swing weight: 350

His string of choice is Luxilon 4G which he strings at 24 kg.

Both the Wilson Burn 95 and the BLX Tour are stiff racquets that play fast, so I would recommend a softer string or a hybrid for players who want to emulate Nishikori’s specs. It’s also good to point out the extended length, which requires some getting used to if you’re not already using extended frames.

Lucas Pouille made a small breakthrough in this year’s US Open when he beat Rafael Nadal in the 4th round. After three 5-set matches in a row he was out of gas in the quarter-finals against compatriot Monfils, but I’m sure we will see more of him shortly.

A lot of people wonder about his racquet, especially since Prince has lost a few of their sponsored players, Ferrer, Delbonis and a few others to Babolat. Why isn’t a Frenchman like Pouille playing a Babolat?

His current racquet of choice is the retail version of the Prince TeXtreme Tour 100P, a racquet I’ve never tried, but heard many good things about. The Tennis Warehouse review wasn’t bad and I am a big fan of the Prince TeXtreme Tour 95, as some of you might know.

The retail specs of the Prince TeXtreme Tour 100P are:

Strung Specifications

I don’t know what specs Lucas Pouille have on his Prince TeXtreme 100P, but I’m sure there is a lot of lead in the hoop and silicone in the handle. He strings it with Prince Tour XC 16L at 24 kg (depending on surface/conditions).

I’m keen on trying the Prince TeXtreme 100P to see how it plays. If it’s as good as the Tour 95, I might make the switch! Have you played the Textreme 100p and what is your opinion of it? Let me know in the comments.

The massively hyped-up Project One 7 has been revealed as the new Babolat Pure Strike.

You’ve maybe read the glowing reviews? Usually I’m skeptical towards reviews, especially by companies selling the racquets themselves (like Tennis Warehouse), but you can’t but react to the amazing feedback that the new Babolat Pure Strike has received.

I’m therefore extremely curious to try it and will order one after I return from my current trip. Will it beat my current Babolat Pure Drive Original? Will the stiffness of RA 70 unstrung bother my elbow? Is the hype just hype? Well, I hope to let you know here rather soon.

Until then, I would like to know what you think about the new Babolat Pure Strike. Have you tried it? Please write in the comments. What did you think of the old version? Myself, I felt the old Pure Strike was a bit boardy unless you strung it really, really low or used a gut/poly hybrid.

My current setup is a leaded-up Babolat Pure Drive Original around 340 grams with 32 cm balance and strung with Solinco Hyper-G. It’s rather soft for a Babolat Pure Drive and the lead adds the needed stability. But, like so many times before, it’s just a question of time before the racquetholism strikes again…

Hey everyone,

I have a One Strings Spindeeper 300 for sale. A real spin machine, very similar to Babolat Pure Drive but with an interesting 14×19 string pattern.

Specs of the One Strings Spindeeper 300

300 gram
Grip 3
RA 68 unstrung
Balance 320 mm
Length 688 mm

Pics of the One Strings Spindeeper 300

So. The racquetaholic never sleeps. That’s why I have two new frames to test out at home: the Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ATP Ltd. The model itself is not new, but from 2013 and the specs make a lot of racquet fans drool with its customizable weight, silicone already injected in the handle and low stiffness rating. People “in the know” call it a poor man’s PT57A and that’s why I’m keen to try it out in tomorrow’s hitting session.

As with all more interesting racquets – there is a huge thread on this one at the Tennis Warehouse Forum where customizations, string jobs and general opinions about the frame is being discussed. The Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ATP Ltd (maybe it’s time to shorten names?) comes in two string patterns – 16/19 and 18/20. I’ve recently started to gravitate towards the more open one and my latest stick of choice, as some of you regular readers know, is the Babolat Pure Drive Original which I now have up for sale.

Why am I selling the Pure Drive Original? Well, I tend to get bored with frames when I’ve figured out what they do for my game and how I need to adapt my technique to bring the most out of the racquet. The Pure Drive is a great frame, but it’s a lot of power to tame and that’s why I want play with a softer frame for a while so I can really swing out. Next time I’ll write about my own racquets here I’ll probably be playing with something else. But that’s kind of half the fun!

Here are the specs for the Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ATP Ltd 16/19. I will surely customize and play around with string and will update the post once I’ve done so.

Strung Specifications

Head Size:98 sq. in. / 632.26 sq. cm.

Length:27in / 68.58cm

Strung Weight:11.6oz / 328.85g

Balance:7 pts HL

Swingweight:301

Stiffness:59

Beam Width:20mm / 20mm / 20.5mm /

Composition:Graphite & Texalium

Power Level:Low

Stroke Style:Full

Swing Speed:Fast

Racquet Colors:Black/ Red

Grip Type:Leather

String Pattern:16 Mains / 19 Crosses Mains skip: 8T 8H Two Piece No Shared Holes

String Tension:55-65 pounds

It’s racquet releasing season and besides the big kaboom launch of the hyped Project One 7, that became the new Babolat Pure Strike we have Wilson launching a new series of Blades with Countervail technology and Yonex adding SV to their VCORE series. There is so much jargon in the tennis racquet making community, so many technologies to keep track of. VCORE has been around for a while, but I have no clue what it means but I intend to find out. SV means “Spin Vortex” and means the fins on the inside of the tip of the frame, as well as those inside the hoop at 2 and 10 o’clock. Their intention is to decrease wind drag and increase swing speed. Tennis.com also states that it includes: Nanometric XT—”a highly flexible carbon material—is positioned inside the upper portion of the racquet to facilitate better ball pocketing and longer frame kickback for increased propulsion.”

In layman’s terms, what Yonex is trying to do is to fight with the other racquet makers in creating a spin-friendly, light, yet controllable frame, much like the Blades or the Strikes (they do already have the DR98 to be fair)  The sweet spot around players’ racquets these days seem to be 98 inch, 305 grams, 70 stiffness unstrung (66-67 strung) and with a 16×19 string pattern and Yonex VCORE SV 98 really fits the bill here.

The racquets do pretty much what you expect from them. They’re relatively easy to swing and quite stable despite the relatively low weight. The stiffness may bother some (potentially many), especially when paired with a poly (and to be honest, it seems weird to use this kind of frame without a poly string), but it does appeal to a wide user group since you get good spin and decent control in a user-friendly package.

If you look at the TW reviews, the feedback for all of the frames in the Yonex VCORE SV series is pretty much the same – it is easy to swing, spin-friendly, but not that comfortable and lacking feel. I think these are things you’ll see with most frames in this spec range, but personally I really appreciated the Wilson Blade 98 (2015) because I think you got good feel despite its lightness and stiffness and I have yet to try the new Babolat Pure Strike (2016).

I still find it strange that the racquet manufacturers such as Yonex doesn’t try to sell even close to the model of their biggest stars – most racquetholics know that Wawrinka plays the 95D and not the VCORE 97 Duel (330g), but they persist that this is the case. Why not use this moment to sell the exact specs of Wawrinka under the VCORE SV 95? And if you can’t sell the exact specced racquet, why not at least get the head size of the player right? I think racquet brands should release signature editions with light and ultra light versions, exactly what Wilson is doing with the RF97 Autograph. Why doesn’t Yonex have a Stan the Man autograph (I blogged about this situation previously here)? I’m sure they can charge for the exact same model that Wawrinka is using, the same Wilson is charging a premium for the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph.

Anyway, time to stop ranting about the pro stock tennis racquet situation. The Yonex VCORE SV series is out and I’m sure they’re worth a swing, because is a high-quality producer who seems to understand the player segment well. However, I still think their top seller (rightly) should be the DR98. Oh, by the way, why not try to work a bit harder on the naming of the different frames?

Have you tried any of the VCORE SV models? Please write your feedback in the comments.

Tennis bad-boy Nick Kyrgios has been in the news recently due to his odd behaviour during his Shanghai Masters match against Mischa Zverev, where he pretty evidently tanked through large parts of his loss. He first received a 16,500 USD fine for failing to give a full effort, unsportsmanlike conduct and verbal abuse of a spectator. But the ATP wasn’t done with him and a few days later he was handed an extra 25 000 USD fine and a suspension lasting through January 15 next year, UNLESS he “enters a plan of care under the direction of a sports psychologist or equivalent, approved by the ATP.” Then the suspension would be reduced to three weeks and he would be able to return to the ATP tour on November 7.

Since there are not many tournaments left in the ATP calendar year, it’s safe to say, no matter what, you won’t see Kyrgios on a tournament court in 2016. Will this serve as a strong push for him to move into the right direction? Well, let’s hope so. Kyrgios has one of the most exciting and audience-warming games in the sport today and I think tennis as a sport really needs him to move past his demons and become a professional. He’s only 21 so we know there’s time, but he really needs to sort out some immaturity issues pronto to make sure he can become a force on the tour.

One alarming thing in the case of Kyrgios is that he seems to prefer basketball as a sport over tennis and has several times alluded to that his love for tennis isn’t that strong. Maybe his lack of true affection for his profession makes it harder for him to respect the sport, the audience and his opponents? No matter what, I personally hope to see him back soon with a new mindset, a willingness to improve his mental approach and a desire to become the best tennis player in the world.

But this is not what the post is about, because this blog’s main audience seems to like reading more about tennis racquets than tennis in general. Being a self-proclaimed racquetholic and a marketing guy, I’m always curious about the latest racquets and finding out what the top players play. You’d be surprised how often they use something completely different from what their sponsors advertise.

This is also the case with Nick Kyrgios. He endorses the Yonex DR 98, a well-reviewed model stemming from the previous Ai and Xi racquets (Yonex make good racquets, but less good names for them). But tennis pros don’t change racquet every other year, so what he really plays with is the Yonex Xi 98.

How does the Yonex Xi differ from the Ai or DR 98? You can read the TW review and find out, but I can already tell you it’s a stiffer and less nuanced experience than both the Ai and the DR 98. What Yonex did with the well-reviewed Ai 98 was that they changed the feel completely and created a more responsive, more flexible racquet that still had decent stability. But no matter if the Xi, DR or Ai is the better of the bunch, when a pro starts playing and liking a racquet, they’re very unlikely to switch. There are only a few players that seem to change their racquets from time to time. One of them is Fernando Verdasco, who seems to try a new setup every year, but if you look at for example Andy Murray he’s used the same racquet throughout most of his pro career (PT57A in 16×19 string pattern) and I would say that’s the far more common scenario.

One of Kyrgios’s used racquets was recently on sale on Stringforum, the racquetholic website number one, for a whopping 3000 USD! It has a leather grip (I would guess some silicone in the handle), weighs 343 grams and surely has lead under the bumper. What strings does he use? Some think it’s a painted Luxilon ALU power, others the Yonex Poly Tour Pro.

Will you play better with a pro stick like Nick’s? Sorry, but I doubt it. Pro sticks are usually ex-retail models with silicone in the handle and some lead under the bumper. Stuff you can add to your own frames without much hassle and money wasted. And if you do play better with a pro stock racquet, it’s probably for some purely mental reason making you able to summon the spirit of the player through your racquet (and good luck with that you nutcase!).

Does it make sense to find a racquet you’re comfortable with and then customize it to perfection? Yes! Playing with a racquet that feels like an extension of your arm is a great feeling and makes you trust your game and not worry about the equipment.

Nick Kyrgios doesn’t worry about equipment, but then again, he has other things to think about.

Baby Federer. That’s what we used to call him, the stylish Grigor Dimitrov, with strokes that looked eerily similar to the great Swiss champ’s. But along the line and the years, something happened. His style didn’t change, but his results were “unspectacular” if you will. Brilliance mixed with mediocre. Seemed to get tight when closing out matches. There was the famous meltdown in Turkey in May this year where he broke a couple of racquets and in an embarrassing manner forfeited the match in anger against Diego Schwartzman.

Pressure and disappointment was getting to him, so he needed to start afresh. One step of the way was to hire Berdych’s old coach Daniel Vallverdu. Step 2 was to, after numerous racquet changes, go back to his 93 inch Wilson pro staff with 18×17 string pattern. And voila! Suddenly he is playing well again.

Wilson must be a bit tired of giving him new racquets to test out however. Lots of work was put into releasing his signature model, the thin-beamed and relatively flexible Wilson Pro Staff 97S, but he didn’t end up using the racquet himself for very long and went back to his more trusted 93-inch (that’s not in stores and never has been). He might get less power with that one, but you can already see that he’s more comfortable taking the ball on the rise with confidence and he’s attacking more frequently now. Maybe it has some to do with the racquet, maybe it’s all in the head.

What are Dimitrov’s racquet specs then? Well, he used to play a relatively head-heavy spec with (like most pro’s) a hefty swing weight.

Grigor Dimitrov racquet specs unstrung:

328 grams
338 sw
33 cm balance

Those specs and a 93-inch head are not exactly retail friendly specs which would make the racquet a rather hard sell. The Wilson Pro Staff 97S is more user-friendly, but still made for a relatively small user group:

Strung Specifications

His strings were (I don’t know the latest configuration – players are more keen on testing new strings than new racquets):

Mains – Wilson Natural Gut 17 @ 25.0 KGS (with a 15% pre-stretch)
Crosses – Luxilon 4G 17 @ 24.0 KGS

It’s time for arguably the best doubles pair of all time to get their own signature stick. It is a customized Prince Ignite 95 that is now available in a nice golden paint job (if that’s your thang that is). The specs are not for people who like tweeners as you need to be able to get your feet in place to be able to swing this thing. I’ve played with several Prince 95-inch racquets over the years (latest the Prince TexTreme Tour 95, which I think is fantastic) and they’re really nice playing racquets.

The Prince Bryan Bros Ltd. Edition 95 will be available on the 24th of October.

Strung Specifications

Milos Raonic is the poster boy for the new Wilson Blade series which include the brand new technology called Countervail. Countervail makes the racquet play softer than it is, which means you can add power without hurting your arm. Tennis Warehouse reviewers talk about a lack of feedback in the new Blade line, but that they still play great.

I played for a decent period (for any serious racquetholic) with the previous (green/black) Blade 98 18×20 and I really appreciated that it had a nice blend of power, control and feel. That racquet was for instance and instant hit with juniors all over the world and together with the Babolat Aero Pro Drive I’m sure it’s the most popular racquet among junior players, simply because it does everything pretty well. The obvious question is then: why do we need another iteration of this racquet? Well, Wilson, like any other racquet company, wants to sell racquet and the best way to do that is to launch a new edition with some fancy technology that “improves” the racquet’s power and playability. This time it’s called Countervail.

As you more loyal reader of this blog already knows, very few professional tennis players actually use the racquet they advertise and that’s also the case with Milos Raonic. The big question among racquet nerds is whether Raonic is using the popular Wilson Pro Stock model called H22 or a pro stock version of the kBlade 98. Although it’s yet to be confirmed, public opinion is leaning towards the kBlade. Obviously with lead tape. According to Wilson reps, Raonic has been using the Countervail technology in his Blades for quite some time. If that is true, it’s actually the way you’d want racquet technology to work – professional players properly testing out a new technology and adopting to it, before it goes out to the market.

Raonic is using Luxilon M2 Pro string strung really loosely at 42/44 lbs.

By the way, another player using the Wilson kBlade pro stock racquet is Belgian player David Goffin.

John Isner might go down in history as the guy who won the longest tennis match ever when he beat Nicolas Mahut 6–4, 3–6, 6–7^(7–9), 7–6^(7–3), 70–68 in Wimbledon 2010, but besides that amazing feat of serving – he’s won 10 titles and been ranked within the top ten (currently at #19 in the world rankings). So he’s a player that a lot of people look up to (pun intended!). This might make them ask the question: what tennis racquet does John Isner use?

Isner has been a long-time Prince user and before his recent change to a extended Prince TexTreme Warrior 100 he used an XL-size O3 white (seen in the paint job of an EXO3 black). He’s been back and forth with strings, but is currently using the Tecnifibre Red Code. This setup served him well in Paris Masters and current world number one, Andy Murray, had to use all the shots in his tennis vocabulary to beat him and take the title 6-3 6-7 6-4.

Isner is a lot about his thunderous serve, but also plays a competent baseline game (better than for example Karlovic) and has soft hands around the net. Talking about the serve, it obviously helps to be 208 centimeters (6 foot 10) tall, but his technique is really great too. I found this video illustrating the serve. Disregard the annoying voice…

Gael Monfils has qualified for his first ATP World Tour Finals in London after producing the best season of his career. His playing style has always been entertaining to watch, partly because you never really know what Monfils will show up. Will he walk around the court semi-interested because he didn’t feel like playing that day (Kyrgios comes to mind here) or will he hit 160 km/h forehand winners and crazy jump-tweeners and completely crush his opponent? Monfils can play both aggressively and defensively, he can play strategic mastermind tennis and also act (mentally) like he has never played a tour match before.

But he has gotten his game together better this year and besides a strange match against Djokovic in the US Open quarter-finals, he has been quite stable. Maybe it’s his new Swedish coach Mikael Tillström, maybe he’s just made a promise to himself to do everything in his power to improve his results (let’s hope we get that kind of resolution from Fabio Fognini soon). Whatever the reason for his great season, it will be interesting to watch him play in the World tour finals.

But at Tennisnerd we not only want to watch our favourite players, we also want to know what racquets they use. As we’ve written countless of times before, it’s rarely what the racquet companies advertise. Instead they use something called a paint job, where they paint the racquet in the same design as the latest model being sold. And they do come out with new models (mostly updated versions of existing models) quite frequently – every 1-2 years.

In Monfils case, he’s been using Wilson since around 2012, before he used an extended Prince Rebel 95. The model he’s been endorsing is the Wilson Blade series, a great racquet in its own right, but what is actually underneath the paint is a Wilson pro stock model called the H19. This is very similar to Head’s illustrious PT57A that’s based on the Head Pro Tour 630 (labelled by many as the most versatile and feel-friendly racquet of all time). The H19 does, like the Head PT57A, offer a thin and rather flexible beam. It is not a racquet that will give you great power or a large sweetspot, but when you hit that sweetspot it is a feeling like not much else.

So when you watch Monfils in the World Tour finals he will surely be using the latest Wilson Blade 18×20 with Countervail technology but what is actually underneath is his trusted H19.

Gael Monfils racquet specs according to sources on tennis forums:

Length: 27.5 in (XL version)
Weight (strung): 345 g
Balance (strung): approx. 31.0 cm
String pattern:18 x 20
grip size: custom grip (between L4 and L5)
Silicone in handle, lead not visible
Leather Wilson grip