Head manipulates those RA figures, by creating an overly weak throat. You ever tried to weight up an XT Prestige Rev Pro or XT Speed Rev Pro (or any Graphene racquet)? Ever tried to swing numb chucks?
Let me play devil's advocate here... and let me know if this question has been asked before b/c I wasn't here 5 years ago.
My question, asked in a different thread, was whether "this" is intentional. "This" meaning Type 2 in the following list of racket types.
- Type 1: Stiff all around
- Type 2: Flexible throat with stiff hoop
- Type 3: Flexible all around (what we are asking/hoping for from the Prestige line)
If we assume that poly + Type 1 (and Type 2) frames are the "optimized" version of modern tennis, are we (players interested in Type 3) missing the point of these updates? Is it possible that there is a market for Type 2?
Sure, there are arguments to be made that Head should have done this on a different product line and kept the Prestige line as the 3rd type of racket. And will acknowledge that the pro stocks are flexible AND pros use poly to play the modern game, but I assume the majority of tennis players cannot maintain the racket head speed swinging flexible clubs to use poly effectively. Therefore, the next best thing would be to sell stiffer frames to apply more power to the average player's groundstrokes to bend poly more effectively.
FWIW, I used to break 16g synth gut every other day on a mid size frame as a junior, but since coming back, I've switched to 17g poly precisely b/c I couldn't swing hard or fast enough to get 16g poly to work (also lowered the tension to 40 lbs from 65 with synth gut). I definitely lift heavier than before, so strength has increased.
This line of thinking hinges on whether or not stiffer rackets are better for poly strings, so someone with a physics background please comment on my assumption. Just correlating Babolat popularity since the introduction of poly.