Who thinks Fed would play better with a 95" racquet?

[BreakPoint]

BTW, why is it that whenever Federer loses a couple of matches, everyone blames his racquet. But when any other pro loses a couple of matches, nobody blames their racquets?

Likewise, when Federer wins 3 Grand Slams in a year and over 80 matches, nobody gives his racquet any credit?

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

BTW, why is it that whenever Federer loses a couple of matches, everyone blames his racquet. But when any other pro loses a couple of matches, nobody blames their racquets?

Likewise, when Federer wins 3 Grand Slams in a year and over 80 matches, nobody gives his racquet any credit?

Because they are idiots who want to pat themsleves on the back and their ridiculous argument that nobody has any business playing with a frame any smaller than 110 square inches.

[drakulie]

Oh, and I really doubt he is playing with a 85 or 80 square inch racquet.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Craig Sheppard

Where'd you get this little nugget of information? Federer moonlights as a racquet designer, and for a racquet he doesn't even use? Sounds like more Wilson sales rep bs to me.

It is from Wilson of course. I think you missed the sarcasm in my post ....

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by BreakPoint

BTW, why is it that whenever Federer loses a couple of matches, everyone blames his racquet. But when any other pro loses a couple of matches, nobody blames their racquets?

Likewise, when Federer wins 3 Grand Slams in a year and over 80 matches, nobody gives his racquet any credit?

Because when any other pro loses a couple of matches, no one talks about it at all, let alone his racquets.

Because Wilson made such a big deal about Federer and the K90, which was much bigger hype than Nadal and the APD.

Because no other pro uses the K90, one other uses a 90, leading to the suspicion that Fed was winning inspite of his racquet.

[iplaybetter]

maybe he will go to pj if he is not already

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Because no other pro uses the K90, one other uses a 90, leading to the suspicion that Fed was winning inspite of his racquet.

First off there is another pro that uses the K90 Julia Vankleno from the Ukraine on the WTA Tour. Also there are plenty of players using 90 sq.inch racquets. Off the top of my head Lleyton Hewitt uses a 90 sq.inch head size and all the players that use the Prestige Classic 600. Some of those Prestige Classic 600 players are Marat Safin, Gael Monfils, Agustin Calleri, Rainer Schuettler, Mariano Zabaleta, Mark Knowles, and Jose Acasuso.

[BreakPoint]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Because no other pro uses the K90, one other uses a 90, leading to the suspicion that Fed was winning inspite of his racquet.

That's pretty funny. Winning "in spite" of his racquet? Isn't it more rational to say that he's winning BECAUSE of his racquet?

If he couldn't win a Grand Slam with it, I don't think he would be using it.

[hoosierbr]

I'm pretty certain that Schuettler uses a 98 in racquet. And he switched to extended length in 2005/2006, interestingly around the same time his mega drop out of the Top 100 began.

[nBladed]

Awhile I suggested that part of his slump may be due to change of rackets. I then was berated here for believing in some marketing hype. FU.

When someone shanks that many balls, there is something off with their timing. Feds timing is usually spot on. I attribute it to that there was a genuine change in rackets. It is one of the only variables that has truly undergone change.

If anybody does a search, you will find that Wilson and Fed went through many molds to get "it right". I personally don't believe it is the previous racket with a new pj.

[jelle v]

Originally Posted by nBladed

Awhile I suggested that part of his slump may be due to change of rackets. I then was berated here for believing in some marketing hype. FU.

When someone shanks that many balls, there is something off with their timing. Feds timing is usually spot on. I attribute it to that there was a genuine change in rackets. It is one of the only variables that has truly undergone change.

If anybody does a search, you will find that Wilson and Fed went through many molds to get "it right". I personally don't believe it is the previous racket with a new pj.

I agree with this.. even when he was playing the AO he was shanking a lot of balls on his forehand. Ever since he started playing that k-factor (yes I do believe he is playing a genuine k-factor) his forehand has been off.. his backhand did get better, but his forehand is just off.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by nBladed

When someone shanks that many balls, there is something off with their timing.

I actually posted a response to all the "shank" conspiracy theories. Many people (maybe you included) went ballistic after the clay final against Nadal. Seemed like many people after watching that match, such as you are stating here, feel he was shanking too many shots .

I re-watched the match and counted how many shots Fed AND Nadal shanked. The truth is, in that final he shanked 3 shots on his backhand (2 on serve returns). Coincidentally, Nadal also shanked 3 backhands. Furthermore, they both shanked about the same amount of forehands.

So much for your "shank" theory.

[drakulie]

Originally Posted by jelle v

I agree with this.. even when he was playing the AO he was shanking a lot of balls on his forehand. Ever since he started playing that k-factor (yes I do believe he is playing a genuine k-factor) his forehand has been off.. his backhand did get better, but his forehand is just off.

see above post.

[TennezSport]

Having strung and measured both the N and K90's, I can tell you they are both the exact same size.

The reason that Fed has more trouble on clay vs. other surfaces is that Fed likes to take the ball early, and with a true bouncing surface his timing is perfect and he makes it look easy.

On clay however, the bounce is not true bouncing most of the time, especially when the clay gets rippled from a lot of ball bounces. This can make the ball take crazy bounces, which will put a lot of pressure on anyone trying to take the ball early.

This is why so many clay courters like Nadal, Moya, Ferrer, etc., stand so far back to give them time to line up their shots. That is not Fed's natural game which will always make it harder for Fed to win the French.

TennezSport

[vsbabolat]

Originally Posted by hoosierbr

I'm pretty certain that Schuettler uses a 98 in racquet. And he switched to extended length in 2005/2006, interestingly around the same time his mega drop out of the Top 100 began.

Schuettler experimented with the Flexpoint Radical midplus for a few months in 2005 then he switched back to the Prestige Classic 600. He has used the Prestige Classic 600 ever since.

Here are some Pictures of Schuettler using the Prestige Classic 600 from the 2007 Hamburg Masters, 2007 BMW Open, 2007 Indian Wells, and 2007 Dubai.




You will note that Rainer's Prestige Classic 600 has the new stencil from this year on the strings. Also Rainer's PC600 has a collar above the grip. The 630 cm2 head size racquet never had a collar and the XL version of the Prestige Classic 600 also did not have a collar.

[@wright]

Just another big headed and mouthed member of the media trying to sound like an insider. I don't believe that he switched racquets at the beginning of the year. The head size on the k looks the same as when it was painted as an n. Good experiment, drak, I think you've got it right. I bet if you were playing against Nadal, you'd shank more balls than he would, and Fed managed to shank less! I can't wait to see what happens in the hamburg final

[NoBadMojo]

shanks shmanks..obviously you gotta also include misshits which create opportunities for his opponents to hit either outright winners or to press the point to conclusion in their favour..of which there are many, especially on the dirt and in windy conditons like in Miami this year.

Fed is no longer so far ahead of the field that he can still give away many points by misshits and still recover and win..

[bluegrasser]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Because when any other pro loses a couple of matches, no one talks about it at all, let alone his racquets.

Because Wilson made such a big deal about Federer and the K90, which was much bigger hype than Nadal and the APD.

Because no other pro uses the K90, one other uses a 90, leading to the suspicion that Fed was winning inspite of his racquet.

I can think of a least three tour players that come to mind - Hewitt, that up and coming American kid who is originally from Serbia I think, also saw a French player using a 90 Prestige.

[Mick]

maybe for Federer, 90 is as big of a headsize that he would want to use. Everybody has his limit, otherwise, we would all be using 135.

[nBladed]

drakulie,

you didn't disprove my 'shank' theory. It was one match you are observing. And you are comparing Fed to Nadal in shanks per that match when that was never in contention.

IT APPEARS TO ME that overall Roger Federer is mishitting many more balls this year than years previous. In an age where timing and athleticism are critical and he has optimized those variables I can only ask what may be the new variable that may be mishaping his game. ... his racket may be one.

WE HAVE ALL DEMOED RACKETS. How many times have you shanked balls with a new racket. It is so easy to do. He may have won the AO with it but he may also may have been experiencing his "honeymoon" period with that racket at that time. Who knows?

This is in no way definitive, so buzz off. It is just a theory.

I am watching the Fed v. Ferrer match now and Fed just shanked another one. It's not like he hasn't played on clay before?!

Nobody truly knows what is going on with Fed. Only he does and this is all speculation. My speculation is that he HAS changed rackets and IS mishitting more often than years previous.