Courier Gear Interview
 

Between the two segments, about fifteen minutes. Of interest, he wishes he hadn't been stubborn and stuck with small head rackets because there is no advantage to a 90 over his new 102. He also says all recreational players should use poly in their stringbed, as at any swing speed it gives an advantage. Courier is one of the two best commentators on the pro game, an accomplished senior player as well as a former ATP #1, and his opinions on those subjects are at odds with many of the posters on these boards, but certainly carry more weight.
http://www.tennis.com/gear/2012/09/g.../#.UE1iy1F62Sq
http://www.tennis.com/gear/2012/09/g.../#.UE1iy1F62Sq

Delete Post.

And that's exactly what they are, his own personal opinion.

I get no "advantage" from using poly strings. All I get is tennis elbow from them.

I also get no advantage from using 102 sq. in. racquets from my 90 sq. in. racquets. All I get from larger racquets is a loss of feel and control.

interesting interview - thank you for posting the links.

He certainly seems a lot more into his gear than many other pros or former players.

Good stuff...

Here's the text-portion of it!
http://www.tennis.com/gear/2012/09/n.../#.UE2piLLiaAp

Justin diFeliciantonio: I’ve heard that you use a special grip size. What are the details?

Jim Courier: It’s a 4 and 7/16ths—in between a 3/8ths and a 1/2. The thing is, I play with TournaGrip on my racquets, and that adds about 1/16th of an inch. What I’m looking for is a 4 and 1/2 [size], in total. And obviously, if I’m using a 4 and 1/2 handle, with the leather and TournaGrip, it’ll be bigger than that.

JD: What’s the nature of your palette?

JC: Underneath I use a custom leather grip that Roman Prokes [of RPNY Tennis] makes, and then I use TournaGrip. It’s more the Wilson shape. It’s the shape that I’ve used since I used a Wilson racquet, so I presume it’s the Wilson shape.

JD: You used a pretty small Wilson Pro Staff when you were on tour. What was the weight?

JC: You’d have to check with Roman. He has them exactly. But traditionally [on tour] I’ve played with 385 grams, all in, with string and grip. And I’ve come off of that, mostly out of the head. Roman is very good with the particulars. I just tell him what I’m looking for, and he does the work. Then I feel it, and if I like it, great; if not, we tweak it.

JD: That’s a pretty heavy stick.

JC: Yeah, 385g, all in. Pete was like 400g, and Andre was, I think, right around where I was. Some players are a little lighter. Like Rafa now, he’s in the 330s, very light. But he’s got a racquet that’s hollow and very powerful. And obviously, being such a strong guy, he has unbelievable acceleration with that light frame.

JD: Did you feel very personal about your racquet when you were on tour? Your racquet, those of your opponents, is this something you paid a lot of attention to?

JC: Not really. I wasn’t that concerned about it. I figured, my racquet was my racquet, and I didn’t worry too much about what the other guys were playing. I was just going myopically along. Andre, in his book, said that he would ask for racquets from players to sell them for his charity. And he would sell them for his charity. But first he would hit with them for a bit—test them out just to see what his opponents were using, just to see if he was missing anything.

JD: Oh, really?

JC: Yeah, Lendl used to do the same. Lendl would get racquets, say, whatever Mac (John McEnroe) or [Jimmy] Connors were using, and he would play with them to know what their racquets felt like. So if he could exploit any weaknesses in the racquet, he would have that information.

JD: Really?

JC: Yeah, it’s a whole ‘nother level, isn’t it? It’s like checking out the missile defense system of your opposition.

here's part 1. both links in the OP are the same. great find jackcrawford.

http://www.tennis.com/gear/2012/09/g.../#.UE2vpe0TPZk

btw, the editor/interviewer's name first read as Deliciano to me. :)

Jim Courier says Nadal plays with a very headlight racket compared to the norm because he needs to create head acceleration to do what he does and Federer on the contrary has a heavier racket in the head because he is driving the ball more through the court and he is an allcourt player so people at home can take a lesson from that.

Ok, can anybody explain what Jim is saying here cause Nadal has a racket with a much more higher swingweight(360 plus) than Federer(330 plus) and Federer has a much heavier and much more headlight racket than Nadal.

This sounds like the opposite of what Jim is describing??!!

I like Courier's ability to throw in expressive turns of phrase like the bolded example above. He does enliven the commentary booth and has grown on me in recent years.

I would say he got it the wrong way round but I am an amateur...

Did he also mention how often they need to restring? Sounds like a bad advice to players who do not change their strings until they break and don't break poly strings ever.

he has red hair..

close thread

This guy is Genius. So All amateurs should use poly. I did not know that. i thougth it was mostly only for guys that likes to use lots topspin on their shots.

Which poly does courier use ?

Excellent interview.

Great interview and input.

I watched this when it was posted on tennis.com, and I thought Courier's statement that he tells rec players to use poly is strange. The stuff dies after a few hours, and is hard on the arms. He should be telling people to use gut, dammit.

I'm also not sure I agree that the tennis is better now than it was, say, in the 70s. Those guys were surgeons. The racquets were scalpels. They weren't necessarily the fastest, fittest humans on earth by four thousand orders or magnitude, like today, but they didn't have to be.

The problem Jim identified, games over too fast, short rallies, happened after the end of the dead-ball era, and as a result of the abandonment of traditional equipment. So the solution was to also abandon traditional string?

There's a reason pickle ball has become so popular -- pickle ball courts are replacing tennis courts around here -- and I think if you look at how fast and heavy the ball is these days, I think you might have the reason.

I am going to agree with Jim in that Nadal's racket is headlight. Ive played with the stock APDs and they are extraordinary headlight. If you lead them up, it just reduces swingspeed so its not a big improvement...still Nadal probably does lead them up somewhat or he would be push around all over the courts on returns.

These are the specs of Nadal and Federer. Nadal is not playing a headlight racket with an almost even balance and an extreme high swingweight!!

Nadal = 335/33,8/365 sw

Federer = 360.5/31.6/330 sw

335 is pretty low for a top tour level player. these guys do so much training that even at SW of 350, i was told racket feels like feather to them. Their Core and shoulder strength is very high. Us amateurs will never know that kind of strength and conditioning.

At 335, the racket must feel like ping pong paddle to nadal

weight is nothing. swingweight counts. Point is that Nadals racket is not headlight. period.