joehight
01-04-2005, 05:42 AM
I'm playing with a $60 racquet - a Dunlop Spirit 100. I put lead tape at 3 and 9 o'clock to give me a little more weight than the racquet's 10.5 ounces. What's crazy is I didn't go for the racquet because it was cheap. It just works best for me. I admit I have an expensive string job on it - VS Team natural gut 17g, strung at 60 lbs - cost almost as much as the racquet. But I also have one strung with Gamma TNT 17g, and it works almost as well.
I also own a Wilson Hyperprostaf Surge, but I can't control my strokes nearly as well with the surge as I can with the inexpensive Dunlop. I continuously hit long with the Surge, though it does give me more zip on the serve than the Dunlop. The Surge is strung with Wilson NXT max at 60 lbs, and I wonder if the string is the problem. What would the Surge hit like with natural gut in it?
I also own two Wilson Hyperprostaf 6.1 stretches, which I played with for more about two years before realizing it was too heavy and unwieldly for me. Gave me great control, but I couldn't get the racquet head speed that I get with the Dunlop, nor the maneuverability, so I gave up on it.
I rememered the Dunlop Spirit from a former demo session with one, and I remembered how I liked it, so I bought it. Even when it first came out it was inexpensive, somewhere around $100. Now that it has been discontinuned you can find them for about $60, though it is getting harder to find the 100 sq. in. head size. There is a 110 head size that is more available.
I might be crazy, but the Dunlop Spirit 100 seems to hit very much like the Wilson Hyperprostaf 6.1, just that it's lighter. I feel a little guilty hitting with a $60 racquet, and if anyone knows of a more expensive racquet that would hit like this one, only a little better, please let me know, and I will try it.
I also own a Wilson Hyperprostaf Surge, but I can't control my strokes nearly as well with the surge as I can with the inexpensive Dunlop. I continuously hit long with the Surge, though it does give me more zip on the serve than the Dunlop. The Surge is strung with Wilson NXT max at 60 lbs, and I wonder if the string is the problem. What would the Surge hit like with natural gut in it?
I also own two Wilson Hyperprostaf 6.1 stretches, which I played with for more about two years before realizing it was too heavy and unwieldly for me. Gave me great control, but I couldn't get the racquet head speed that I get with the Dunlop, nor the maneuverability, so I gave up on it.
I rememered the Dunlop Spirit from a former demo session with one, and I remembered how I liked it, so I bought it. Even when it first came out it was inexpensive, somewhere around $100. Now that it has been discontinuned you can find them for about $60, though it is getting harder to find the 100 sq. in. head size. There is a 110 head size that is more available.
I might be crazy, but the Dunlop Spirit 100 seems to hit very much like the Wilson Hyperprostaf 6.1, just that it's lighter. I feel a little guilty hitting with a $60 racquet, and if anyone knows of a more expensive racquet that would hit like this one, only a little better, please let me know, and I will try it.