Diary of a Racketaholic

[JGads]

Originally Posted by PED

^^I've stayed away from "lead hell"...lol

I really like the stock setup so I'm leaving it as is. Your comments are spot on: the key is the way it "runs after the bounce". Kind of like a receiver and yards gain after a catch.

The control is different than you will find with your TGK's. The pattern controls the tgk more I think and the spin on the Steamer controls it. My strokes are more grooved to spin so I would probably struggle to be effective with the TGK.

My strokes are actually grooved more to spin too, but I've become a subscriber to the theory that's opposite usual TT wisdom - for me tighter patterns increase my accuracy and flatten out my spin more, allowing me to hit through the court more instead of the ball spinning too short and sitting up.

In truth I can utilize both patterns effectively - I LOVE the spin-monster BC20, have REAlly Dug MD's BB Delta Core Pro, one of the best tweeners out there. But in the end I just always find myself veering back to the closed sticks for the trusty pinpoint control.

But I am a racaholic so I had to try the Steam.

But I get the 'just makes the game easier' vibe, too. That's what I feel whenever I grab MD's DC Pro. The depth and spin just comes off SO easily. Key for me is whether that translates to matches when things get tight, or over hitting in those key moments.

[JGads]

Originally Posted by Ross K

RHs,

Anyone care to share some thoughts on the X Fast Pro. Just read something that made me sit up and take notice. I also like the sound of the slight extra addition in length (which I didn't know about before.)

Was it this?

http://www.tennis.com/gear/2013/01/q...racquet/46224/

Just looked at TW page/comments. SW seems very low, but 'Babolat power' with 'Fischer Feel' ... That's about what you've always been looking for, eh Ross?

You're on assignment.

[Ross K]

The Worldwide Racketaholic Diarists Convention for January/February 2013 is now taking place at the following venue...






Gentlemen, those were some SPOT ON posts earlier. I agree with so much that was said.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Ross K

The Worldwide Racketaholic Diarists Convention for January/February 2013 is now placing place at the following venue...






Gentlemen, those were some SPOT ON posts earlier. I agree with so much that was said.

I prefer to eat suchi with the company of my Vcore 97 Tour, 310 version. Wow its hot in here, give me some salmon suchi and some lemonade please.

[Ross K]

Power,

Polybreak... I've wanted to try this string for a while, so, yes, definitely that could be one for me consider with the 99s... good call.


Gads,

Yup, that was exactly what I was referring to. It did make me wonder, not least being a fan of the X Force Pro.

[JackB1]

Hey guys....I just came back from a hour long hitting session with the Steam 99s and I think it (literally) threw me for a loop! I used a demo that was strung with full 4g and it was awesome. Not stiff feeling at all and nice pockety feel with a little flex to each shot. To my surprise, my one handed backhand was great. I hit some shots that made me question if that was really me that hit them I even hit a high topspin backhand that was above my shoulders for a crosscourt angled winner. I don't think I've ever done that. Anyways, this session now has me totally convinced I need to play with this racquet. Since I switched to a one hander, I was thinking I needed a smaller headsized, more flexible racquet, but I think I might have been mistake. The extra spin I got with the 99s actually helped my 1hbh because some shots that were close to the baseline hooked down and in. So the headsize fear is debunked and the only remaining issue is the stiffness, but I was really amazed at how comfortable the full 4g setup felt. No harshness or stiff feeling at all. And the 99s really does make the game easier. It's effortless to hit deep rally balls all day and wait for the short ball to pounce on. I think I'm sold!

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by JackB1

Hey guys....I just came back from a hour long hitting session with the Steam 99s and I think it (literally) threw me for a loop! I used a demo that was strung with full 4g and it was awesome. Not stiff feeling at all and nice pockety feel with a little flex to each shot. To my surprise, my one handed backhand was great. I hit some shots that made me question if that was really me that hit them I even hit a high topspin backhand that was above my shoulders for a crosscourt angled winner. I don't think I've ever done that. Anyways, this session now has me totally convinced I need to play with this racquet. Since I switched to a one hander, I was thinking I needed a smaller headsized, more flexible racquet, but I think I might have been mistake. The extra spin I got with the 99s actually helped my 1hbh because some shots that were close to the baseline hooked down and in. So the headsize fear is debunked and the only remaining issue is the stiffness, but I was really amazed at how comfortable the full 4g setup felt. No harshness or stiff feeling at all. And the 99s really does make the game easier. It's effortless to hit deep rally balls all day and wait for the short ball to pounce on. I think I'm sold!

4g goes well with some rackets and not others. Almagro and Gasquet play with 100 head rackets and look at their one handers!

[JGads]

Originally Posted by JackB1

Hey guys....I just came back from a hour long hitting session with the Steam 99s and I think it (literally) threw me for a loop! I used a demo that was strung with full 4g and it was awesome. Not stiff feeling at all and nice pockety feel with a little flex to each shot. To my surprise, my one handed backhand was great. I hit some shots that made me question if that was really me that hit them I even hit a high topspin backhand that was above my shoulders for a crosscourt angled winner. I don't think I've ever done that. Anyways, this session now has me totally convinced I need to play with this racquet. Since I switched to a one hander, I was thinking I needed a smaller headsized, more flexible racquet, but I think I might have been mistake. The extra spin I got with the 99s actually helped my 1hbh because some shots that were close to the baseline hooked down and in. So the headsize fear is debunked and the only remaining issue is the stiffness, but I was really amazed at how comfortable the full 4g setup felt. No harshness or stiff feeling at all. And the 99s really does make the game easier. It's effortless to hit deep rally balls all day and wait for the short ball to pounce on. I think I'm sold!

For what it's worth, I thought your ball looked consistently deeper in your 99s video than your Juice vid (think I mentioned as much back then when you were wavering on the 99) .. Albeit very small samples.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Boricua

4g goes well with some rackets and not others. Almagro and Gasquet play with 100 head rackets and look at their one handers!

you sure theirs are 100"?. True they have the paintjob of the Extreme and 500T, but I'm not so sure the headsize aren't smaller?

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by JGads

For what it's worth, I thought your ball looked consistently deeper in your 99s video than your Juice vid (think I mentioned as much back then when you were wavering on the 99) .. Albeit very small samples.

I played extremely well with the 99s when I demoed it for a week about a month ago. For some reason I thought the stiffness would be an issue, but it wasn't today and I hit a bunch of 1 handers. I just ordered one, so we'll see how it goes. If I start to feel any elbow pain, its back to the 200G.

[corners]

Attention! All those in the steam room: TW Professor reports on his recent experiments with Faux-spaghetti racquets, Steams, copolys and nylons here: http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/lear...inpatterns.php

[Ross K]

Originally Posted by Ross K

The Worldwide Racketaholic Diarists Convention for January/February 2013 is now taking place at the following venue...






Gentlemen, those were some SPOT ON posts earlier. I agree with so much that was said.

@ Fed K (if you're out there lurking!),

IIRC you were about to hit with one a week or two back...?

As we were both hyperventilating and cramping with paroxysms of excitement from the early days of drakulies dispatches (it was so full on, I was actually compelled to take a lengthy medical time out by page 2), well, so what say you re the new Steam?

The Worldwide Racketaholic Diarists Convention for January/February 2013 (venue: the Steam Room) awaits your speech.

[JGads]

Just got out...

Thoughts coming...

[JGads]

First foray into the Steam Room...

General impression:
I like it. Much more so than I expected. Ball is just ... easy...easy to roll it back deep, mostly easy to go after the ball, AWESOME on the slice. Swings effortlessly. And the ball feel is far better than I expected. Does not feel like most tweeners on contact. I expected Bab hollowness. When you hit this sweetspot, it's actually quite delightful. Toward the edges, not nearly as good, but the sweet spot is hugely sweet and extremely noticeable (kind of like when you hit a PWS sweet spot, and you just know)...

Had two Steams tonight. One stock that came in at 11.3, one with lead at 12 and an overgrip that went from 11.3 to 11.6. (can't believe the two demos came in at same spec. Very un-Wilson like. Part of the reason I ordered two demos: Wilson Quality Control Insurance)... I liked the leaded one a bit more, MD preferred the stock version but wasn't quite as into the frame as I was by the end of the night.

I felt this stick was seriously easy to fall into a rhythm with, get into a good rally, and awesome at changing direction, going cross-court or inside-out. Every time I was pulled wide, I could snap a deep shot back to the opposite corner pretty easily.

Was also very pleasantly surprised that it's not difficult to flatten the ball out with this thing. It can be done. I had my doubts going in. The ball trajectory isn't quite as high up as I anticipated from all of the reports.

Dislikes:
The frame still doesn't feel as thickly substantial and easily boomable as what I'm used to, but, hey, this is a tweener, and I've been rolling with heavier pro stocks. So not a great basis for comparison there. I also brought along the BC20 because I thought that would be a good comparison stick to this frame, and the BC20 feels thicker, nicer, more pro-stocky, and the spin effect/ball funk felt about the same, if not more (because of the all-in-all heavier ball). The BC20 ball rips through the court more effortlessly. The Steam takes a bit more of a forceful swing/slap, but it also moves through the air a bit more easily than the 20 as well so it's effortless to get the racquet head speed up, and quickly.

Launchers. Definitely had a few. When you don't catch it just right, it can definitely sail on you. Full, complete swing needed to get the ball to do what you want it to do. Have a feeling that if you're hesitant at all with this frame, you'll get punished. Can't be tentative or you'll leave a sitter or hit the back fence. Then again, lot of player sticks can be described similarly.

String movement. Definitely an issue. Was putting my mains back in place after some rallies like I do with old synthetic gut. Not used to that with fresh poly bed. Also worried about this bed now getting crazy unpredictable after tonight. If the string needs to be replaced every other hit, it just won't be worth it. Thicker string than 16 would be very nice here.

---

All in all, though, very positive first impression. It's immediately up there with MD's Delta Core Pro as a Tweener I Could Play With. I was expecting a hollow feeling launcher, like a Bab Pure Drive with an even more open string pattern. Not this. The feel is delicious for a tweener, even with full 4G, and it's just ... easy.

Tomorrow I'll try it out in point play against an amazing player. Will it hold its own or be an uncontrollable mess that gets shattered? We'll see.

But to me, this thing just feels SO much better than an apd or frames of that ilk, and probably does what those frames do just a bit better I think. At least that's my first impression.

[JGads]

Racaholic Blowout Part II:

Two other frames were included in the Steamy TW demo box and tested tonight, albeit very limited compared to the Steam Room (it's just hard to get out of steam rooms, you know?)....

Wilson Black Blade 98 (18Main): As a former KBlade 98 user, felt it was finally time to try this new iteration. Out of the box, frame just felt much heavier than its 11.3 spec. Extremely head-heavy. Was surprised that when I started hitting with it, though, it didn't feel nearly as sluggish as I expected it to based on the out-of-the-box feel. The feel here was so much better than the KBlade 98 I used to play with, it's almost unfair. Big ball comes off this frame. Might be a tad stiff, as I'm used to my flexier pro stocks now, but the feel is not at all harsh and actually very good. Will further kick the tires on this in the coming days as well.

Babolat Pure Storm Team (leaded up): When demoing from TW, I often throw a random wild card frame into a demo box that I wouldn't ordinarily demo otherwise. This was the one. I'd been curious about it ever since hitting with a sponsored pro at a Palm Springs club last month who hit CRAZY well, heavy and consistently with this thing (leaded up)... He loved the frame, and given my past love of the Pure Storm series (especially the Limited), I thought a leaded up Team might be fun to try. Can lead it up a lot without getting too crazy on the static weight, frame is a tad thicker and bigger than the other Pure Storms that often fail on serve... Well, happy to say this thing feels absolutely incredible at about 11.6 (stock it was 10.. Beautiful mix of crisp and soft, you can crack a nice flat ball (16/20 pattern still nicely dense but not too much so). Also tried serves with it yesterday and it serves so much easier to me than the Pure Storm Limited, a frame I adored but always felt it died on serve.

So all in all, it was a weird night in that usually when I'm demoing different frames, maybe one stands out, the others feel like rubbish and go immediately back into the box for the week. I can honestly say that I very much enjoyed all three of these demo frames tonight and will play with them some more in some friendlies this week and weekend while MD restrings up my Rads.

Big ups to MadDog for making the drive out tonight for some Racaholic Madness. We had a lot of fun and had a ton of great rallies.

[mad dog1]

my steam room experience: i enjoyed the 99S more than i expected to. it feels more comfy than the high stiffness rating. i was expecting a stiff and potentially harsh stick, but the 99S is very solid and well dampened. did it provide more spin? in some cases yes. in other cases not really. on the receiving end of the spin effect, i didn't find it any harder to deal with shots. so game changer? i didn't think so. did i enjoy the frame? yeah, it's a nice solid tweener frame. offers good feel. offers easy power for defensive shots when drawn out wide allowing you to reset a point. the published 330s SW initially scared me a bit since i generally like 320s SW. this one swung more like 320s rather than 330s. similar to JGad's write up, i, too, found the stick to sometimes launch balls long on me unpredictably. i loved it on the I/O FH. was able to hit sharper angles.

string movt was a BIG issue. after 1 hr the center 2 mains were moving so freely that it felt like they had lost nearly all tension. i think stringing it w/ the JC method might do wonders for this stick.

it was a fun demo but bottom line, i prefer my BC20. i can hit with as much if not more spin w/ the flexy open patterned BC20 with more pace, pop and control.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by JackB1

you sure theirs are 100"?. True they have the paintjob of the Extreme and 500T, but I'm not so sure the headsize aren't smaller?

Well, I only know they say they use those rackets, but dont know if its a paint job. Other examples are Youzny and Ljubicic (retired), both use Extremes and have great backhand one handers.

[mikeler]

JGads and Mad Dog1,

Thanks for posting your thoughts on the Steam. Multi string movement on the Exo Tour happens before the warm up ends for me. I can't imagine what a 16x15 pattern would look like!

Interesting article here about the spin "sitting up":

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tec...-tennis-racket

[Ross K]

Nice feedback there mad and Gads ^... I agree with most everything you've said.

[PED]

Originally Posted by JGads

R
Wilson Black Blade 98 (18Main): Big ball comes off this frame. Might be a tad stiff, as I'm used to my flexier pro stocks now, but the feel is not at all harsh and actually very good.

How does the Blade compare to the 99s in the power/spin department. Does it produce easy depth?