Question for Carol re racquets

[Torres]

Question for Carol if I may...

We know that the 6.1 16x18 is your racquet of choice, but if you couldn't play with that racquet, what would be your racquet of choice?

Also did you get a chance to playtest the Wilson Juice Pro? If so, what did you think of it compared to the 6.1 you normally use?

Thanks

[TW Staff]

Torres,

Unfortunately, I never play tested or played with the Wilson Juice Pro, so I can't answer to that.

I really enjoyed the Head Youtek IG Radical MP and I am currently enjoying my playtest on the Boris Becker NYC racquet.

Hope that helps!

Carol, TW

[zapvor]

carol-whos better- you or Brittany

[TW Staff]

I would say it depends on the day. Their levels are very close.

Chris, TW

[zapvor]

hehe Chris being such a neutral swiss

[coolblue123]

between brittneys return of serve, bh and carols forehand, volleys. its pretty close. I want to see brittney and carol vs chris match.

[zapvor]

there is footage of them playing. dude brittanys fh is pretty good

[Fed Kennedy]

Brittany, you look like you are killing the ball...do you add lead tape to your vcore?

[TW Staff]

Originally Posted by Fed Kennedy

Brittany, you look like you are killing the ball...do you add lead tape to your vcore?

I actually use the racquet in stock form with a poly string at mid tension. After playtesting with Tennis Warehouse for the past two years I have honed in on my preferred specs. I have determined these specs to be around 11-11.1 ounces in weight, around 5-6 points headlight, swingweight of approximately 310 and mid 60s in stiffness. And if you take a look at the Yonex VCORE 100 S specs, they are very similar!


Brittany, TW

[Fed Kennedy]

Originally Posted by TW Staff

I actually use the racquet in stock form with a poly string at mid tension. After playtesting with Tennis Warehouse for the past two years I have honed in on my preferred specs. I have determined these specs to be around 11-11.1 ounces in weight, around 5-6 points headlight, swingweight of approximately 310 and mid 60s in stiffness. And if you take a look at the Yonex VCORE 100 S specs, they are very similar!


Brittany, TW

That is good info Brittany, thanks. Sorry for the thread hijack.

[Shangri La]

With so much racquet playtesting going on, do you guys/gals really have time to hit with your 'main' racquet?

[TW Staff]

Originally Posted by Shangri La

With so much racquet playtesting going on, do you guys/gals really have time to hit with your 'main' racquet?

Those periods are really few and far between. We can go months without even touching our main sticks.

Spencer, TW.

[zapvor]

So Spenny whos better you or Chris

[TW Staff]

Chris for sure. It's only once in awhile that I can give him a close match.

Spencer, TW.

[Ducker]

Carol,

I am assuming that you leave your 6.1 16x18's stock. Is this a correct assumption? And can you comment in a simliar way to Brittany in terms of your prefered swingweight, balance and static weight?

Thanks!

[TW Staff]

Originally Posted by Ducker

Carol,

I am assuming that you leave your 6.1 16x18's stock. Is this a correct assumption? And can you comment in a simliar way to Brittany in terms of your prefered swingweight, balance and static weight?

Thanks!

Ducker,

I don't customize my racquet at all. I really enjoy the Wilson BLX 6.1 as it is. I like a traditional racquet (my first racquet being the Wilson Pro Staff 6.0). The Wilson BLX 6.1 weighs 12.2 oz. strung and I am very comfortable with this relatively heavy weight. I also enjoy the headlight feature of this racquet and prefer all my racquets to be headlight. I never enjoyed head heavy racquets and they never complimented my long strokes and style of play. I like the swingweight range to be between 300-330. My main thing is Control & Stability (with a little power punch)!

I use Luxilon Big Banger ALU Rough 16 on my crosses and Pacific Tough Gut Natural Gut 16 on the mains. I string both at 53 lbs. I recently dropped the pounds on my racquet from 56 to 53 and am really enjoying the feel and the relief it adds to my arm. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal from March 6 that really encouraged me to drop the pounds on my string tension. This article stated that the new trend for professional players is the dropped tensions for a bit more punch on their ball. Currently, Roger Federer (my idol) has his racquets strung at different tensions that range from 48-52 pounds.

Here is the article: http://professional.wsj.com/article/...?mg=reno64-wsj

Does this help? Please let me know if you want me to expand on anything.

Carol, TW

[holytennis]

Carol, I want to know why you didn't enjoy the IG Prestige MP. I currently use this and found it much better than the 6.1 (18x20). I also find it as maneuverable as the 6.1.

[Power Player]

Carol, your setup is what I used in that racquet except I found MSV Cofocus to last way longer. The ALU dies pretty fast. So if you get bored, give it a shot.

Of course you guys probably can get restrung all the time, so this may be pointless.

But gut mains - GOLD.

[TW Staff]

Originally Posted by holytennis

Carol, I want to know why you didn't enjoy the IG Prestige MP. I currently use this and found it much better than the 6.1 (18x20). I also find it as maneuverable as the 6.1.

holytennis,

The Head Youtek IG Prestige MP was a difficult racquet for me to understand. Looking at the specs, it should be a slam dunk great racquet for me, but I had a hard time maneuvering the racquet with groundstrokes hit over my shoulder. It felt as if I was trying to pull through a 25 lbs. weight at times. It felt much heavier than the 11.9 oz it states with these shots. I responded to these type of shots with weak replies that caused me to be on the defensive much more than I like. Anything right in my strike zone I was popping with control and comfort, but I still felt the frame to be a little sluggish. I also felt some shock and vibration with balls hit outside the sweet spot on the racquet that I am not accustomed to. I think with a little customization, this racquet could have performed a little better for me (i.e. handle feel technology and maybe a little more even weight distribution). I do use the Wilson BLX 6.1 95 (16x18 & 18x20) as a comparison tool to other racquets. I felt that I had a little bit more pop on my ball with the Wilson BLX 6.1 and the swing felt much more fluid compared to the Prestige MP. There are many attributes to the Prestige MP I enjoyed: serve and volley, which I think performed better than the Wilson BLX frame. All in all, I didn't not enjoy the playtest with the Head Youtek Prestige MP, I just think the Wilson BLX 6.1 95 (18x20) was the better racquet for me.

Carol, TW