Best racquet for volleying?

[GasquetGOAT]

I can demo the following racquets from my local tennis shop. Which is the best for volleying? Which should I avoid?

Prince TT Warrior midplus
Yonex RDX500 midplus
POG mid
Pure Drive Cortex
Yonex MP Tour 1 98
RDS001 mid
03 Tour midplus

[In D Zone]

No need to avoid any racquets.

Finding a racquet for volley is more on personal preferences - some like bigger heads, others like mids, head heavy vs headlight then also the swingweight and frame stiffness.
As for the volley itself - Volley is more on the skill and footwork. I know because I switch between mid and midplus when I play doubles and not worry about which racquet volleys better.

Looks like you got mix of 10oz and 12oz racquets between mid and midplus. First question for you is what specs do you normally play with... MID or MiDPlus? I would start with the racquet that is closes to what you are use to then experiment on the other specs.

How does the racquet feel when you are in the baseline? Is it too heavy for you? Are you going to play it on singles or doubles?

Singles - you want a racquet that is manuverable because there is alot more moving and running around compared to doubles.

For me on singles - I would try RDS001 mid, POG mid , Mp Tour 1 98 and the O3 Tour M+.

For doubles - all of the above. Again - that only me.

[GasquetGOAT]

I've played with these (TT Warrior midplus, RDX500 midplus, POG mid) racquets before for singles and I could adjust to each of them just fine. Now I'm starting to play more doubles and want to find a good volleying racquet.

How would you rate the racquets in the list from best to worst based on volleying capability alone?

Prince TT Warrior midplus
Yonex RDX500 midplus
POG mid
Pure Drive Cortex
Yonex MP Tour 1 98
RDS001 mid
03 Tour midplus

[In D Zone]

Originally Posted by GasquetGOAT

I've played with these (TT Warrior midplus, RDX500 midplus, POG mid) racquets before for singles and I could adjust to each of them just fine. Now I'm starting to play more doubles and want to find a good volleying racquet.

How would you rate the racquets in the list from best to worst based on volleying capability alone?

Here's my opinion:
1. RDS001 mid (very stable, great control - you can move around and whip the volley with ease)
2. MP tour 1 98 (similar to RDS002 Tour)
3. 03 Tour Midplus (have not played with the O3 but the spec is closer to what I like)
4. RDX500 Mid+ (don't like the muted feel) or TT Warrior Mid+ (found it too light for me - I added lead between 3 and 9 oclock)
5. POG mid (its good but too much racquet vibration)
6. Pure Drive with Cortex (found the head to be too big and heavy to manuever).

[Bubba]

1. PS85
2. PS85
3. PS85
4. RDS-001 Mid
5. nCode Tour 90
6. K90
7. RDx500 mid
8. K95
9. nCode 95

[jorel]

type of string is also essential

but i loved the Prince Precision Ti when it was around... customized very headlight

[Eastern Technifibre]

Technifibre 320

[Eastern Technifibre]

Babolat racquets are really bad for vollying

[Blade0324]

One that you feel comfortable with!! Thread over!!

[!Tym]

Anything with a monoshaft or close to it (like the old Precision Graphite 90) beats the pants off ANY, and I do mean ANY, Y-throat racket (which is everything these days).

[hrstrat57]

best I have ever played is Dunlop Max 200g....might be a few close but none the equal at the net. Kinda like catching the ball and throwing it back. PS 85 esp SV's were close....and Prince POG mid good too in my experience. All now are a compromise in todays game trying to stand your ground with a big hitter at the baseline.

IMHO of course, and really a thread poach not answering the OP's question in any way.

My i prestige MP's are very, very good at net too. The OP probably should put both the mid and mp microgel prestige on the test drive list. I certainly want to give them a whirl soon.....

[In D Zone]

Fellas !!

Please read the original topic posted by GasquetGOAT before you start making comments to this thread.

Topic is limited to only the following racquet (not other model).

Originally Posted by GasquetGOAT

I can demo the following racquets from my local tennis shop. Which is the best for volleying? Which should I avoid?

Prince TT Warrior midplus
Yonex RDX500 midplus
POG mid
Pure Drive Cortex
Yonex MP Tour 1 98
RDS001 mid
03 Tour midplus

[Schills]

Originally Posted by Eastern Technifibre

Babolat racquets are really bad for vollying

Why? I love mine at the net.

[[d]ragon]

all subjective. one racquet i really liked at the net was the lm rad. it had nice pop, good feel, and was stable yet manueverable

[GasquetGOAT]

Originally Posted by In D Zone

Here's my opinion:
1. RDS001 mid (very stable, great control - you can move around and whip the volley with ease)
2. MP tour 1 98 (similar to RDS002 Tour)
3. 03 Tour Midplus (have not played with the O3 but the spec is closer to what I like)
4. RDX500 Mid+ (don't like the muted feel) or TT Warrior Mid+ (found it too light for me - I added lead between 3 and 9 oclock)
5. POG mid (its good but too much racquet vibration)
6. Pure Drive with Cortex (found the head to be too big and heavy to manuever).

Thanks for your opinion. I will certainly demo the rds001 mid.

[GasquetGOAT]

Small head?

Thin beam?

High stiffness?

[Eastern Technifibre]

Originally Posted by Schills

Why? I love mine at the net.

name one pro that volleys well who has a babolat. Roddick cant volley nadal cant volley . name one

[!Tym]

Originally Posted by Eastern Technifibre

name one pro that volleys well who has a babolat. Roddick cant volley nadal cant volley . name one

Easy. Wayne Arthurs and Leander Paes. It's not always size of the wand, it's the talent of the magician. The Pure Drive can definitely be used to volley at the pro level, but probably stringing it up tight would be a good idea if you do. Do I think it's the best volley racket around? Of course not, not by a LONG shot, but in the hands of a skilled practioner you should be fine.

Roddick has stone hands and wasn't exactly a young Leander Paes when he used the POG growing up in the juniors either. He has his style and if you gave him a POG today, he'd still manage to smash his serve something scary in my opinion. It's not like using the POG would turn him into Michael Chang or something serve-wise. Players at the pro level already have their strengths and styles defined for the most part. Once they get to the pros, it's more about little tweaks here in there. A strength of theirs goes slightly out of tweak for instance, and they drop a little in the rankings, a few months later it goes back into tweak, then they climb back the rankings, etc.

As for Nadal? He can definitely volley. Yeah, so he's no Edberg, but then again who is? Nadal is a very solid volleyer in my opinion. I think it's more a stereotype to say he can't volley, it's something that follows all clay-courters around. Just because players don't elect to come in very often doesn't mean they can't volley.

[gogeta087]

Originally Posted by [d]ragon

all subjective. one racquet i really liked at the net was the lm rad. it had nice pop, good feel, and was stable yet manueverable

Same.

Except, its not on the list.

[pmerk34]

Originally Posted by !Tym

Easy. Wayne Arthurs and Leander Paes. It's not always size of the wand, it's the talent of the magician. The Pure Drive can definitely be used to volley at the pro level, but probably stringing it up tight would be a good idea if you do. Do I think it's the best volley racket around? Of course not, not by a LONG shot, but in the hands of a skilled practioner you should be fine.

Roddick has stone hands and wasn't exactly a young Leander Paes when he used the POG growing up in the juniors either. He has his style and if you gave him a POG today, he'd still manage to smash his serve something scary in my opinion. It's not like using the POG would turn him into Michael Chang or something serve-wise. Players at the pro level already have their strengths and styles defined for the most part. Once they get to the pros, it's more about little tweaks here in there. A strength of theirs goes slightly out of tweak for instance, and they drop a little in the rankings, a few months later it goes back into tweak, then they climb back the rankings, etc.

As for Nadal? He can definitely volley. Yeah, so he's no Edberg, but then again who is? Nadal is a very solid volleyer in my opinion. I think it's more a stereotype to say he can't volley, it's something that follows all clay-courters around. Just because players don't elect to come in very often doesn't mean they can't volley.

I highly doubt Edberg would have been able to lay down the volleys he did with a Pure Drive. Edberg is the best volleyer I've ever seen play "live" ( not a tape of a match from 5 years earlier). The Pro Staff is a legendary frame that suited all styles at the highest level. THe Pure Drive is very well suited to the modern, polyster string topsin wicked game that has driven serve and voelly out of the pro game.