The pro stock to end all pro stocks: The Fed racket

[FEDERERNADAL13]

Originally Posted by aimr75

hmm, if they customise for the general public, and you provide the specs you desire, then they should do it. Just dont ask for the Fed spec and use the numbers provided by FabFed

Maybe! I'll consider it for sure!

[フェデラー]

Originally Posted by FEDERERNADAL13

I asked them about doing a retail racket to that spec, but they said that they don't customize to pro player specs

That seems kind of silly, I mean if you're willing to pay, who would refuse you?
And thank you for answering the questions. So I assume it also has that new amplifeel stuff in the handle? i always wondered whether or not roger would have it on his considering its a totally new technology (and i think a few people on here have complained about it).

[FEDERERNADAL13]

Originally Posted by フェデラー

That seems kind of silly, I mean if you're willing to pay, who would refuse you?
And thank you for answering the questions. So I assume it also has that new amplifeel stuff in the handle? i always wondered whether or not roger would have it on his considering its a totally new technology (and i think a few people on here have complained about it).

I actually don't know! The leather grip is so nice (far superior to retail), so I haven't even thought about taking it off. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't

In the coming weeks (maybe even months) when the grip wears down I'll take it off so see if it is or not. I just don't want to lose this grip.

In terms of P1, I respect what they do with pro players. They respect their player's privacy (or the player's brands) and don't give the specs/customizations away. I say good on em!

[gplracer]

Does this racket have lead tape on it under the bumper guard? I know the ones for Fed do. I would think his racket would be more head heavy and have a higher swing weight....

[FEDERERNADAL13]

Originally Posted by gplracer

Does this racket have lead tape on it under the bumper guard? I know the ones for Fed do. I would think his racket would be more head heavy and have a higher swing weight....

It hasn't been customized by P1, so, no. I am considering adding 6 grams at 12 to make it a P1 setup and retaking weights and such, but this is why the swing weight is off.

Hope this helps!

[Nostradamus]

Very confused, how does federer play so well with this ? he mishits more balls than any other pro

[Pistol Pete]

I'm not sure that what you have is a fed racket. The rackets fed has done by p1 have no handles on them, meaning it's just graphite. I don't think Wilson would have fed rackets with a handle laying around. Maybe I'm wrong. If anything I think they would just have the FED racket with no handle ready to go.

I'm sure what you have is a pro stock however.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by aimr75

hmm, if they customise for the general public, and you provide the specs you desire, then they should do it. Just dont ask for the Fed spec and use the numbers provided by FabFed

One thing important to note, is that players change their specs. So they may play with a certain weight and balance at one tournament, and 6 months later it has changed. Sometimes they change it during a tournament. So it would be kind of fruitless to request the specs of a given player.

Ona side note, I believe, as someone else pointed out, that P1 receives the frames without the pallet or grip, and then modify it to thier particular client.

[aimr75]

Originally Posted by drakulie

One thing important to note, is that players change their specs. So they may play with a certain weight and balance at one tournament, and 6 months later it has changed. Sometimes they change it during a tournament. So it would be kind of fruitless to request the specs of a given player.

Ona side note, I believe, as someone else pointed out, that P1 receives the frames without the pallet or grip, and then modify it to thier particular client.

Oh yeah, definitely agree with this, though i guess to get a general feel for how his racquet is set up, you could go with one of the listed specs from FabFed. Here are the ones he has:

2008 Fed K90 - 32.4cm, 364 grams
2009 Fed K90 - 32.1cm, 364 grams
2009 Fed K90 - 32.2cm, 364 grams
2010 Fed BLX90 - 32.2cm, 364 grams

All same weight and relatively close as far as balance

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by FEDERERNADAL13

A view of the custom grip mold. It was hard to get a good picture, but this kind of shows how one side is “jutting out” more than the other.[

Just a small note on this. I have paid attention to grips for years and EVERY single Wilson I have ever owned has had that - over 30 frames bought from retail stores. It is not a custom mould feature. It's simply how it ends up when the grip is wrapped - especially if the grip is leather.

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by FEDERERNADAL13

Pro room rackets are (generally) stock rackets at perfect specs. Also, it is speculated that pro room rackets have better quality ingredients (I agree with this after trying these two rackets).

Yes, modified pro room P1 is the best, so I can see why Roger would want to use them!

I am suspicious as to whether Federer's frames are via the pro room at all. The pro room is to cater to their general sponsored players who want specific specs etc. Federer is not one of their general players - he is 95% of their marketing talent and would get anything at all that he wants in a frame - including frames made out of anything he desired even if it meant making them for him in the USA (which they possibly do to make sure they're how he wants them).

About two years ago they cut down their pro room service massively by the way - a player who is coached by someone I know who was in the top 50 lost her custom balance frame supply from Wilson.. she gets stock frames now even though she is well back in the top 50 again. Wilson's cut-off for this service is in the range of top 20 nowdays. Barely more than a courtesy service for a couple of their players who have future potential (Dolgopolov etc).

Federer, on the other hand, has frames which - in 5 or more years - have not once been confirmed as being related to the retail model other than their mould (nor confirmed as being substantially different either to be fair). Many people who seem to have a keen eye and understanding of frames suspect his are constructed more like the original Prostaff 85 - braided and with more kevlar-type materials used and/or foam filled (the fact he uses no vibration damper yet his frame still sounds like dead-ish seems to be consistent with this imo). I tend to agree with them. His quality control is likely higher than normal - he doesn't want to waste any time at all with setting frames aside because they play differently - something which even P1 cannot control for if it's a construction issue prior to their receiving them to regrip/balance. (unless Ron Yu is able to confirm whether they run some sort of flex/characteristics tests on all the frames they receive prior to sending them to Federer)

The same coach I mentioned above also claimed to have an *actual* Federer frame about 2 years ago - direct from the Wilson pro room but it took me all of 30 seconds to work out otherwise. It may have been from the pro room but it wasn't a Federer frame.

Not trying to be a killjoy to the OP but any frame not sourced via Federer (an ex-game match for example) or P1 I would tend to assume was not a Federer frame even if it was a pro room frame based on the retail model which they have made available to other players.

[sixone90]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jr

Not trying to be a killjoy to the OP but any frame not sourced via Federer (an ex-game match for example) or P1 I would tend to assume was not a Federer frame even if it was a pro room frame based on the retail model which they have made available to other players.

Agreed, I'm very skeptical when people claim they have a Fed frame. I'm not saying the OP's racquet isn't but it's hard to prove otherwise. One could very easily put on a K Factor grommet and bumper guard onto the BLXPS90

[Rusty669]

I somehow cannot believe that you are holding one of Fed's actual frames...
The last info I had regarding his frames was that Wilson send the rackets straight to P1 without a grip pallett whatsoever.
It is only there-at Priority One- that the custom grip mold is applied to all of Fed's rackets and also the balance,weight etc is tweaked there, not at the Wilson Pro Room.
In addition, Roger has P1 leather grips installed,not Wilson.

[FEDERERNADAL13]

Originally Posted by drakulie

One thing important to note, is that players change their specs. So they may play with a certain weight and balance at one tournament, and 6 months later it has changed. Sometimes they change it during a tournament. So it would be kind of fruitless to request the specs of a given player.

Ona side note, I believe, as someone else pointed out, that P1 receives the frames without the pallet or grip, and then modify it to thier particular client.

This racket does have a custom grip mold though. It is definitely not retail (I've played with Wilson frames since Day 1, this is not the same as my other rackets).

The way it was explained to me (by my very reliable connection), is that this racket was given a grip by Fed's "technician" (I assume he means P1, he is not great with English). He then got (quite a few) Fed rackets at this point, before lead taping the head or anything else. Big John , one of the members here, has also had experience with my connection.

I am confident this is still a Fed racket (or at least the mold, but without the lead tape in the head )

[jackcrawford]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jr

Not trying to be a killjoy to the OP but any frame not sourced via Federer (an ex-game match for example) or P1 I would tend to assume was not a Federer frame even if it was a pro room frame based on the retail model which they have made available to other players.

Great post. As a side note, remember this frame plays like a wand in Fed's hand but over the past five years, less than 1 % of ATP and WTA top 300 pros have used it - the same can't be said for the 95 Wilson series or the Pure Drive; Courier and Sampras dumped it as they dropped to the low 7.0 range - it's a fanboy/collector frame, not something anyone but Roger can play their best with.

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by FEDERERNADAL13

This racket does have a custom grip mold though. It is definitely not retail...

Since we know for a fact his grips are customised by P1, if your frame has some sort of custom grip it is either from P1 or is not an actual Federer frame - perhaps just a frame from the Wilson pro room.

As I said above, take the grip off sometime and take a closer look at the pallet. All of my retail Wilson frames over the years have looked basically like your photo simply because of the way the grip was wrapped.

Originally Posted by FEDERERNADAL13

The way it was explained to me (by my very reliable connection), is that this racket was given a grip by Fed's "technician" (I assume he means P1, he is not great with English). He then got (quite a few) Fed rackets at this point...

We know that Roger gets four batches of 12 racquets per year - P1 has said so (I think it is 12 frames?). Other than used frames which are either kept or sold for charity auctions it's highly unlikely to be any actual Federer frames hanging around which would end up in *whoevers* hands. Ron Yu would probably know best and maybe he'll post here about it someday.

The best we have of that is what Fabfed has posted - and he owns a number of actual playing frames. Perhaps some sharp-eyed member here will spot some key detail to confirm or deny the likelihood of your frame being an actual Federer frame.

Could you take some close-up shots of the inner throat info and some of the decals on the frame?

[RJYU]

I can't be totally sure, but i'm not convinced that racquet made it through our office. That's not to say it isn't a stick like Roger's, just probably not one with his specific handle mold. We get the racquets from Wilson with no handle molded on them. After molding the handle, we add the butt cap, wrap the grip, and add any further weight necessary to get to his proper spec.

We would not have used a Wilson leather grip on that particular cosmetic, nor would we have released it from the office without additional weight added under the bumper.

[jorel]

Originally Posted by RJYU

I can't be totally sure, but i'm not convinced that racquet made it through our office. That's not to say it isn't a stick like Roger's, just probably not one with his specific handle mold. We get the racquets from Wilson with no handle molded on them. After molding the handle, we add the butt cap, wrap the grip, and add any further weight necessary to get to his proper spec.

We would not have used a Wilson leather grip on that particular cosmetic, nor would we have released it from the office without additional weight added under the bumper.

thanks ron

[ENJOY TENNIS]

Hi Ron,

What material do You use to mould the handle?

Originally Posted by RJYU

I can't be totally sure, but i'm not convinced that racquet made it through our office. That's not to say it isn't a stick like Roger's, just probably not one with his specific handle mold. We get the racquets from Wilson with no handle molded on them. After molding the handle, we add the butt cap, wrap the grip, and add any further weight necessary to get to his proper spec.

We would not have used a Wilson leather grip on that particular cosmetic, nor would we have released it from the office without additional weight added under the bumper.

[FEDERERNADAL13]

Originally Posted by RJYU

I can't be totally sure, but i'm not convinced that racquet made it through our office. That's not to say it isn't a stick like Roger's, just probably not one with his specific handle mold. We get the racquets from Wilson with no handle molded on them. After molding the handle, we add the butt cap, wrap the grip, and add any further weight necessary to get to his proper spec.

We would not have used a Wilson leather grip on that particular cosmetic, nor would we have released it from the office without additional weight added under the bumper.

Hey Ron! Would any pictures of parts of the racket help in figuring out if it's a fed frame? Anywhere in particular? I really want to be sure, because if it's not a real fed racket, my connection and I need to have a talk

Thanks!