noticed that safin isn't using the gut-alu power hybrid...
- Thread starter Bobble
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ShcMad
Hall of Fame
By looking at pictures of Marat at Wimbledon, it looks like he's still using the Alu Rough/VS Gut hybrid.
However, during the clay season, he is always known to switch to full Babolat Ballistic Polymono 16 around 55lbs.
the close up of his racket that they showed didn't look like a hybrid at all.
It's prob a full ALU Fluoro , or full ALU string job.
I thought that thomas martinez confirmed that safin uses a full BB original job on clay... I remember this issue came up during russia's davis cup tie with Chile back in feb.
It's prob a full ALU Fluoro , or full ALU string job.
I thought that thomas martinez confirmed that safin uses a full BB original job on clay... I remember this issue came up during russia's davis cup tie with Chile back in feb.
By the way most strong play/balistic polymono users have switched to BB original... even moya eventually switched to BB original.... I don't think that there are any active pro's using a full polymono string job... None in the top 50 anyways.
PurePrestige
Semi-Pro
From photo closeups it looks to be that Safin still used Full Ballistic during clay court season as usual. and Shcmad seems to be right for grass he looks like he's back to the Alu Rough/Gut setup.
Though nothing new here, though I wonder what his tension preference was for this years hard/clay/grass courts.
Though nothing new here, though I wonder what his tension preference was for this years hard/clay/grass courts.
ShcMad
Hall of Fame
This is Thomas Martinez' quote on another post:
"Safin never used VS 17. When he was playing with the Prestige Classic in the regular cosmetic, he used various stuff, from Luxilon BB Original, to Super Smash 130, to eventually when he felt like it, VS 130. His tension that year, which was 2000 at the US, if memory serves was 30-32 kilos. After that, he signed with VS and started to use VS 130 and did for many years till recently around the same 31 kilo mark. He would though on red clay go to the Polymono 130 at slightly lower tensions, around 28 or so. At the US Open in 04 he went to a ALU Rough/VS 130 hybrid at 25/24 kilos, which he used until some time in 05."
More recently, in 2006, Richard Parnell posted on these boards saying that Safin had four racquets strung each day in Valencia with full Babolat Polymono at 55/53lbs. and 57/55lbs:
"Safin is using a full polymono job at 26/25 and 25/24 kgs.2 of each tension per match (4 restrings a day).
All the best,
Richard"
From looking at pictures of this year's clay season, it still looks like he's using the same string. People are speculating that he's using BB Original or full gut because the color is a natural creme; however, I have been using Babolat Polymono for the last couple months, and I promise you that it would be really hard to differentiate it from BB Original if there were no markings on the strings. The color is really identical under sunlight. People think Ballistic is a white-colored string, but it's not.
I've never heard Thomas Martinez say that Safin used BB Original in recent years. He did say that he used various stuff when he had the PC600 cosmetics though. I can't remember who said this (Either Grant Morgan or Thomas Martinez), but Safin claims he likes Ballistic on clay because he feels like he can hold the ball longer on the strings. Rounick is the only one who claimed that Safin was using BB Original during the Chile-Russia Davis Cup tie. But, I really wonder how he came to that conclusion. I'd like to know if he's the one who personally handled Safin's frames. Bogie concluded that Safin ALWAYS uses full gut in clay. Yeah...right... If you look at close-ups of his racquet on clay, you can even see the markings on the string saying BABOLAT BALLISTIC POLYMONO. I love how all these people come to conclusions so easily.
If you look at recent pictures of Safin playing at Wimbledon, you can clearly see he's using different mains and crosses. You can see that his mains are clearly silver-greyish and the crosses are white. I don't know what close-up picture you saw, but in the pictures that I saw, his main strings are grey and his crosses are white.
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rafa_prestige89
Professional
Why Safin isn't using Kirschbaum Super Smash anymore? Is the Babolat Ballistic Polymono better than Super Smash? Cause in TW Babolat Ballistic Polymono is cheaper than Super Smash...
