Challenger Player Using RF97

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
Today I saw one of the challenger guys(Jonathan Ho) using an RF97 with a bit of lead at 3 and 9... so it does get at least some users in the pro ranks outside of Fed himself. On the other hand about 2/3 of the stringing room was full of Blade 98 18x20s
 

kaninfaan

Rookie
Or was it just the Wilson ProStaff six.one 95 BLX2 18x20 with RF97 paintjob?
Like these:

14908198_1029286553860322_8813655319277667134_n.jpg

14937223_1029286500526994_6235709692004885035_n.jpg

14656421_1029286493860328_5141429663455231731_n.jpg

14639747_1029286497193661_2306618975702422753_n.jpg
 
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kabrac

Professional
That's not the same racquet from the previous pictures........no. The ProStaff 97, both the Autograph and the regular have 3 grommets at the throat.....not 4 like in the first picture. Look at the first picture and look at the buttcaps on the bottom of the racquet. Looks to be an older edition 6.1 95 painted.

The picture of him holding the racquet looks to be a ProStaff 97
 

moon shot

Hall of Fame
That's not the same racquet from the previous pictures........no. The ProStaff 97, both the Autograph and the regular have 3 grommets at the throat.....not 4 like in the first picture. Look at the first picture and look at the buttcaps on the bottom of the racquet. Looks to be an older edition 6.1 95 painted.

The picture of him holding the racquet looks to be a ProStaff 97

Yep you are right on the drill pattern and paint from the photo of three racquets. The butt caps are a giveaway as well as the PWS and beam shape.

If you look really close a 6'oclock the decal in the photo I posted doesn't only have '97' but has a box before it with inverted type like the RF (here as well). The lack of stencil on his strings probably means he isn't sponsored by wilson, I bet if he were then this stick would be painted like a PS97. He previously played with a Blade Tour and even messed with some lead on the RF
 

kaninfaan

Rookie
Just to clarify.
I have no idea who the guy the OP mentioned is nor am I an expert on Wilson rackets. I stumbled upon this thread right after having seen that Stein was offering those rackets for sale.
Stein is a certified master racket technician who also sells rackets and is an extremely trustworthy and competent individual.
I know nothing of wilson rackets, the pics are from Stein's facebook-feed linked above, but if Stein says that's what they are, then that's what they are.
fwiw.
 

moon shot

Hall of Fame
Just to clarify.
I have no idea who the guy the OP mentioned is nor am I an expert on Wilson rackets. I stumbled upon this thread right after having seen that Stein was offering those rackets for sale.
Stein is a certified master racket technician who also sells rackets and is an extremely trustworthy and competent individual.
I know nothing of wilson rackets, the pics are from Stein's facebook-feed linked above, but if Stein says that's what they are, then that's what they are.
fwiw.

Yeah, the overwhelming majority of 'PS97' on tour are those, just not this particular one. I think we're on the same page now.
 

kabrac

Professional
Those are 18x20 6.1 95 painted to "fool" the foollable.....so to speak. The only thing that makes those racquet ProStaff 97 is the paint job. That's it. Very common to see that on the tour when a player, under contract, likes their racquet but they do not want to switch to the new one. So they have them painted. It fools the general public and then they go out and buy that racquet.
 

moon shot

Hall of Fame
isn't the butt cap of the middle racquet that of a Hyper PS? I just got 4 and they have that butt cap ;)

Yes, in truth all three is 6.1 95 molds. My post was about the paint, the lie, which has PS97 graphics not RF97 graphics.
edit: to be clear by truth I mean what the frame actually is, by lie I mean the paintjob deception.

It appears to be wilsons intention that only Fed plays with a sponsored RF on tour, everyone else gets PS decals. The new version takes that even further in that you can see from a distance all the PS have red, so there is no confusion as to if Bautista Agut or Shapovalov is using RF as neither will be full black (though neither are using a 97 either).
 
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kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
He was using an RF paintjob at a minimum, not the PS97 (I was a ballperson for the tourney. I could see the RF97 vs the 97) Whether it's actually an RF is up for debate, but him being unknown supports the idea that he'd have a retail racquet vs a pro stock w/ a paint job. Moonshot's picture of him by Rubin you can clearly see the Silver "box" shape for the RF next to the 97 on the bottom of the head.
 
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