TripleB - How's the Honeymoon?

[Richard Pur]

Benjamin,

I demoed a few racquets recently and basically tried the RDX 500 MP (even though I hate the racquet shape!) just to see what you were talking about, and I have to say that it hit the best of any racquet I've tried so far. I am typically a Wilson man, but the RDX beat out the PS 6.0 95 (sorry Breakpoint).

One area of concern for me was return of serve though (primarily when blocking serves back). I won't say that it was unstable, but it wasn't as solid as I wanted. For me, this was the only weakness. In all fairness though, I wasn't playing against a hard hitter, so I couldn't use any of his "power" to block back returns, like against a hard hitter. Do you have any issues blocking back serves? It could also have been because it was a demo with a smaller grip than I am used to. Like yourself, I use a 5/8 grip, so that might make it seem a little more stable/solid. Also, I remember some posts regarding the Yonex racquets saying that the bigger the grip you get, the heavier the racquet is?

Have you modified the racquet any with lead tape?

Rich

[TripleB]

Richard Pur,

I'm glad you liked the racquet so much. I was VERY hesitant to try the RDX-500 Midplus because I had bought a Yonex MP Tour-1 Midplus (because of great reviews and opinions) and absolutely hated it. Used it for about a month and a half and then sold it. I figured the RDX-500 Midplus was the same racquet but with different cosmetics....luckily I was VERY wrong.

Anyway, onto your questions. I haven't added any lead tape at all to the racquet. My extremely lenghty quest was for a lighter POG mid so I'm really enjoying the weight (around 346.5 grams with head tape, overgrip, and rubber band) of the RDX-500 Midplus. My ability to get around on the ball and hit sharp cross court angles has never been better. While I was demoing the RDX-500 Midplus I did add some lead tape...up to 10 grams (I used it at 3 and 9 and also at 2 and 10). It felt extremely akward so I took the lead tape off in 2 gram increments and then played again after each drop in weight. I eventually got down to where there wasn't any lead tape and I felt that it played the best that way.

I haven't had a problem with my return of serve with this racquet. I think being used to the heavier (by about 15 grams) POG mid makes the RDX-500 Midplus feel so much lighter so I'm able to get around on the ball pretty good, being pretty agressive on my returns. I intially had my poly mains strung to high and didn't feel like I was getting enough power on my returns and it did (as you mentioned) feel somewhat unstable. After lowering the tension a couple pounds (I'll probably end up going with 58 pounds mains and 58 pounds crosses), that problem has all but disappeared.

As far as the weight going up as the grip gets larger, I don't think (from what I've read) this is the case any longer. I think that they used to be different weights for different grips but I think Yonex stopped doing that.

I hope some of this information helps. If I didn't answer your questions please let me know.

TripleB

[Richard Pur]

Thanks Benjamin. I think in terms of performance and the ability to hit the shots I want to hit, the RDX 500 MP is the one all the others have to measure up to for me. I've eliminated a lot of racquets (maybe not as many as you - LOL) along the way, but I don't know whether I can pull the trigger on the SHAPE!

I'm going to revisit the Fischer Pro 1 and Slazenger ProX1. I didn't give them enough playing time in all fairness. I may give the new M-Fil 200 a try, but I typically don't like the 18 X 20 pattern racquets.

I hope that no new racquets come out between now and summer !! LOL

Rich