Gasquet Racquet 2012

[greystar403]

Watching re-runs of Roger's cup. Saw Gasquet's racquet with a WHITE/TRANSLUCENT head guard.

Same Liquidmetal Instinct XL or something different?

[Doubles]

Sam racket, but the new extreme pj has that translucent bumper.

[Rulo]

I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

http://deportes.starmedia.com/imagen...nidos-2012.jpg

[Nostradamus]

What is the advantage of translucent headguard ?

[dgoran]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

What is the advantage of translucent headguard ?

We can now see lead placement unlike with other non translucent head guards

[Arsnlrob]

Originally Posted by Rulo

I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

http://deportes.starmedia.com/imagen...nidos-2012.jpg

Not only that, he comes to the court with a big container of Tournagrips and changes the overgrip 5-6 times each match!

[dadozen]

The funny thing is that the leather grip is actually Babolat. Saw that while he was playing doubles at the USO, and was changing the Tournagrip of his racquet

[floydcouncil]

Originally Posted by Rulo

I saw him playing at the US Open....Did anyone notice that he actually uses half a leather grip and half overgrip?? Is he not sponsored anymore and he is trying to save some cash?? Or it's something about balance??

http://deportes.starmedia.com/imagen...nidos-2012.jpg

Maybe he just likes it that way......... no big theory nor over-thinking needed...

[I Heart Thomas Muster]

I have no direct knowledge on the matter but it looks like he wraps the leather and Tournagrip multiple times around the butt of the racquet to make it larger which doesn't leave enough grip material to cover the entire pallet similar to Thomas Muster's racquets.

Notice the changes over the years:

[thejackal]

Notice the change in the size of the buttend flare over the years as well

[Fed Kennedy]

What the hell richie that looks ridiculous

[ace0001a]

Looks like the bare pallet for the top half of the grip handle. I wonder if there is a leather or base grip under the tournagrip...

[Seth]

As vsbabolat pointed out in another thread, it's the Liquidmetal Instinct Tour XL but, as of this year, without the Liquidmetal ridges.

[ace0001a]

Also, if Head is able to make translucent bumper guards and grommets for the old Instinct mold (PT161?), I wonder why they don't put them on Murray's PT57 since they have them for the YT IG Prestige Pro? From a marketing standpoint it would make sense since Head went through all the trouble of changing the the Radical Pro to the Radical MP mold with 16x19 pattern and then putting CAP grommets on it.

[Marcus2137]

I just saw him play at the China Open the other night. I got some close up shots of his racket.

His racket definitely doesn't have ridges any more but the clear bumper does.

The top half of his pallet is bare and in one picture I can read the pallet. It's a TK57 L4.

He has 1/2 a leather grip. He uses a full length Tourna, but he wraps the end of the butt cap about 4-5 times to get the flare before he continues to wrap the rest of the grip (still stopping halfway, just like the 1/2 leather grip). So basically 1/2 of the overgrip is wrapped around the butt cap, and the other 1/2 covers the 1/2 leather grip.

Just a guess, but when he was changing his Tourna grip, I'm 99% sure he had a Head Finest Calfskin Grip under.

He racket also has his name printed in the throat.

I can load pictures and show them if anyone is interested.

[JohnB]

That would be great!!

[Power Player]

Definitley looks like he is building up the buttcap with his grips instead of getting them modded. I like it. It probably makes the grips absorb a lot better too.

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by ace0001a

Also, if Head is able to make translucent bumper guards and grommets for the old Instinct mold (PT161?), I wonder why they don't put them on Murray's PT57 since they have them for the YT IG Prestige Pro? From a marketing standpoint it would make sense since Head went through all the trouble of changing the the Radical Pro to the Radical MP mold with 16x19 pattern and then putting CAP grommets on it.

It's because Murray does not want use the Clear grommets. Tommy Haas is the same way. He wont use the clear grommets either.

[Marcus2137]

Originally Posted by vsbabolat

It's because Murray does not want use the Clear grommets. Tommy Haas is the same way. He wont use the clear grommets either.

VS is right of course.

I also got some close ups of Haas' setup. Looks like PT57a's (18x20) with IG paint, but classic black caps. Looks nice. At one point he threw a racket and it landed just in front of where I was sitting (front row, about 7' off the court). I was trying to imagine how I could reach his racket before he had time to come pick it up.

I'll work on cropping and posting the Gasquet pictures in the next few minutes. I'm sure it's nothing new or amazing, but at least some people can get a look.

[Marcus2137]

You can easily see LM ridges in grommet bumper, but not on racket

He's spinning the racket here, and it's night, so there is some blur, but you can see his name in the throat and see hints of lead under the bumper



I was a little wrong about the grip. The leather grip is also wrapped a few times on the butt cap, so it already has some extra flare, and then the Tourna grip is wrapped around a the butt cap a few extra times to make the flare bigger. When I zoom in on this, I can also clearly see the shiny "HEAD" that they use on their Finest Calfskin grips, so I'm 99% sure that's what it is.