Battle of attacking frames - PST vs Prestige Tour vs TF40 vs PS97

I did not "get" the ProStaff feel - it was good but nothing special. Dare I say, even slightly muted. Could be strings though (Hyper-G).

For what it's worth:

I'm a high 4.5 player who plays relentlessly attacking tennis. If a rally isn't over in <4 balls I'm upset.

I bought two 360+ Prestige Pros (So the current Prestige Tour) a year ago. They're great racquets, but over that time I've started to feel like they're just the tiniest bit unforgiving for me. They were amazing to demo, and when I play people who I'm better than, they strike the ball with power and precision. But if I'm playing another strong player, particularly people better than me, I really struggle to make clean contact as they move me around.

I've been searching for new options for the last six months. I have played a lot with the Angell TC95 18x20, and rate it very highly. It's not as unforgiving as the Prestige, but it is still a 95in, so it really requires you to be on. Very rewarding when you are though.

But I did just last week demo the Pure Strike Tour, and honestly loved it. It had a little extra pop right from the get go, and my coach commented that I basically couldn't miss with it. He's a former top 200 player so he's hitting me very heavy tough balls and my consistency was still high. I only got two sessions with the demo, but I'm very close to buying one for an extended demo and deciding if I want to switch.

The other racquet I demoed recently and really liked was the Gravity Pro. It's a bit of a club, but I'm a big guy and can handle some weight. I felt like extra forgiveness really helped and I do like the feeling of mass behind the ball. I'm about to buy one second hand for a reasonable price and I'll likely be demoing that against the Pure Strike Tour and the TC95 and then hopefully making a commitment. I want to spend the latter half of the year sticking with the same frame/strings so I can just concentrate on my tennis. I want to push for a UTR 9 this year before I get to old for that to be achievable.

Thank you, @Andykay! I'm very close to pulling the trigger on the PST, but still intrigued by other available options. It's almost as if the racquets are the stocks in my head and their valuations change daily as I get more info.

Tranqville said:

Thank you, @Andykay! I'm very close to pulling the trigger on the PST, but still intrigued by other available options. It's almost as if the racquets are the stocks in my head and their valuations change daily as I get more info.

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The reality is they all have pros and cons and you can probably play at a very similar level with all of them. I tend to find demo periods to be poor indications these days, except for honing my list down to "possibly" and "no thanks". Like I said, I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and buy a few single sticks (just bought that second hand Gravity right now) to demo against one another over the course of two months. You can get 60-70% of the cost back by reselling, so it winds up being $100ish to demo the racquets for as long as you need. Not cheap, and not viable for everyone, but luckily I can afford to eat that cost. And by the end I should be absolutely confident in my choice.

For the record though, my initial instinct is it'll be the Pure Strike Tour. Something about that initial hit with my coach was magic.

socallefty said:

Tough to make a choice between two racquets that you like just by demoing them as the way they perform is so stringjob dependent (strings, tensions, age of job). If you are really stuck deciding between two racquets, buy one of each and string them the way you want, experiment a bit with tensions and then decide which one to switch to. You can always sell the other one used as long as it is a somewhat popular brand. Alternately it doesn’t make a huge difference if two racquets have slight differences in power/control spin as long as they both are in the stability/maneuverability range you like with a comfortable feel - you can fine tune its performance a lot for power/control/spin by changing strings and tensions. The more I learn about how strings and tensions affect performance, I almost feel like I can buy any racquet in the Weight/SW/Beam width/Head size/Vibration frequency range that I prefer along with an aesthetic design I like and then I can make it perform exactly as I wish by experimenting with strings. For me, the Goldilocks range is 11.8-12.2 ozs/330-335SW/<22mm BW/97-98 sq inches and <140 Hz.

Racquets are a very low-tech product and I don’t think they vary that much once you know what Weight/SW/Head size/Beam width/VF works for you or whatever variance there is between two racquets in that optimal range can be compensated by changing the strings and tensions. I even adapt to different string patterns within 10 hours and don’t worry about switching patterns anymore as I have done it a couple of times.

We all adapt to different ages of string jobs for identically strung racquets by changing our swing in the match warmup even though poly at 2, 5, 10, 15 hours can be somewhat different. Similarly it is not that hard to adjust between different racquet models if the important specs are within the optimal range each player likes. I think there is too much obsession over racquets on this forum and not enough understanding of how much a racquet can be made to play/feel totally differently by changing strings and tensions. String a racquet with stiff poly, soft poly, gut etc. at 45, 50 and 60 lbs each and see how different the racquet plays with the nine different combos. And then once you expand to hybrids, that’s a whole new dimension that will lead you down a rabbit hole.

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@Andykay post above prompted me to repost this from another thread.

Andykay said:

For the record though, my initial instinct is it'll be the Pure Strike Tour. Something about that initial hit with my coach was magic.

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"magic" is the exact word I used describing my demo with it

socallefty said:

@Andykay post above prompted me to repost this from another thread.

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Very nice post, thank you for sharing!

Tranqville said:

"magic" is the exact word I used describing my demo with it

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You and @Andykay are hard to please. You throw around words like ‘magic’ after a demo and it still doesn’t prompt you to buy one, string it the way you like and try it again? Commitment-phobia?

socallefty said:

Commitment-phobia?

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Something like that. A few other choices, like Auxetic Prestige Tour, are also tempting. I do not say "magic" lightly: PST is the only recent demo that I felt this way about.

OP, I relate to you.
Also looking at a custom 70RA Zus 315g unstrung, which has about 323 SW.

But only bc I already own 3 RF97A.

Fintft said:

OP, I relate to you.
Also looking at a custom 70RA Zus 315g unstrung, which has about 323 SW.

But only bc I already own 3 RF97A.

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Aren’t you scared of the 70 RA - that’s stiffer even than the RF97 and might be dicey to string with poly. If you want to try a lighter racquet, the 18x20 Pure Strike might be worth trying out as it has a lower SW than the Tour.

Tranqville said:

Something like that. A few other choices, like Auxetic Prestige Tour, are also tempting. I do not say "magic" lightly: PST is the only recent demo that I felt this way about.

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I am still waiting for the day when I feel like using the word ‘magic’ about a racquet/string/tension combo.

socallefty said:

Aren’t you scared of the 70 RA - that’s stiffer even than the RF97 and might be dicey to string with poly. If you want to try a lighter racquet, the 18x20 Pure Strike might be worth trying out as it has a lower SW than the Tour.

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Not from what I read, as even at 70 RA apparently it is plush. Besides there is a 63 RA as well.
Besides I am using soft poly, Mayami.

Andykay said:

For what it's worth:

I'm a high 4.5 player who plays relentlessly attacking tennis. If a rally isn't over in <4 balls I'm upset.

I bought two 360+ Prestige Pros (So the current Prestige Tour) a year ago. They're great racquets, but over that time I've started to feel like they're just the tiniest bit unforgiving for me. They were amazing to demo, and when I play people who I'm better than, they strike the ball with power and precision. But if I'm playing another strong player, particularly people better than me, I really struggle to make clean contact as they move me around.

I've been searching for new options for the last six months. I have played a lot with the Angell TC95 18x20, and rate it very highly. It's not as unforgiving as the Prestige, but it is still a 95in, so it really requires you to be on. Very rewarding when you are though.

But I did just last week demo the Pure Strike Tour, and honestly loved it. It had a little extra pop right from the get go, and my coach commented that I basically couldn't miss with it. He's a former top 200 player so he's hitting me very heavy tough balls and my consistency was still high. I only got two sessions with the demo, but I'm very close to buying one for an extended demo and deciding if I want to switch.

The other racquet I demoed recently and really liked was the Gravity Pro. It's a bit of a club, but I'm a big guy and can handle some weight. I felt like extra forgiveness really helped and I do like the feeling of mass behind the ball. I'm about to buy one second hand for a reasonable price and I'll likely be demoing that against the Pure Strike Tour and the TC95 and then hopefully making a commitment. I want to spend the latter half of the year sticking with the same frame/strings so I can just concentrate on my tennis. I want to push for a UTR 9 this year before I get to old for that to be achievable.

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Can relate to you on the 95’s. Been using 97/98 stuff over the past 2ish yrs now

Strike Tour gets slept on but a lot of ppl seem to like it. Haven’t played it; judging based on the reg. Strikes I prolly wouldn’t love it overall (I use lower pwr stuff) but Strikes are so fun to use (love the pwr on serve & FH).

Some other rackets in that heavy 98 group I’d recommend demoing are these:
-Diadem Elevate Tour: Similar specs to the Strike Tour but 5g lighter & 16x20. These are great all rounders. Good pwr for a control frame (not as much as Strike tho), maneuverable & stable, nice feel, & the 16x20 is so versatile (kinda weird to string tho lol). I use the regular Elevate bc it’s softer & a bit lower pwr but rlly like the Tour. Diadem’s website has demos for these
-Head Radical Pro: Also similar specs to the Strike but 5g lighter. Also great all rounder, does everything well. Everything I said ab the Diadem applies here, except Rad is 16x19 (it’s dense tho) & has less pwr than you’d expect from ~65RA. But it’s solid & worth a try.

Tranqville said:

Thank you, @Andykay! I'm very close to pulling the trigger on the PST, but still intrigued by other available options. It's almost as if the racquets are the stocks in my head and their valuations change daily as I get more info.

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At the rate you’re going your brain will turn into Wall St. Except the walls won’t be the highrises of investment bureaus, they’ll be tennis rackets

You. Need. To. Demo. At least try stuff like the RS315, Rad Pro, etc if nothing else more than to determine you don’t like em compared to the PST. At which point I’d pull the trigger on the PST if I were u. Also keep in mind the strings in the demos affect the playtest but usually I can tell if I like a racket even w/ diff strings. The only exceptions are foam-filled rackets whose playability & feel vary more than most rackets based on string choice.

BallBasher247 said:

Also keep in mind the strings in the demos affect the playtest but usually I can tell if I like a racket even w/ diff strings

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Let’s say you get a demo with dead poly strings (high probability since most polys are dead within 10-15 hours) where you don‘t know the tension or age of the string job. How do you determine the performance of the racquet separate from the strings? If I knew the string, tension and number of playing hours, maybe I could try to guess, but most demo racquets don’t have that information.

socallefty said:

Let’s say you get a demo with dead poly strings (high probability since most polys are dead within 10-15 hours) where you don‘t know the tension or age of the string job. How do you determine the performance of the racquet separate from the strings? If I knew the string, tension and number of playing hours, maybe I could try to guess, but most demo racquets don’t have that information.

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You can still get a general feel...
I was went to the other extreme and strung a Prince new demo with full bed NG Babolat VS Team and didn't buy it but, I send a friend to get it.

socallefty said:

Let’s say you get a demo with dead poly strings (high probability since most polys are dead within 10-15 hours) where you don‘t know the tension or age of the string job. How do you determine the performance of the racquet separate from the strings? If I knew the string, tension and number of playing hours, maybe I could try to guess, but most demo racquets don’t have that information.

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Bc Ik what I’d want a racket to feel like even w/ dead strings. Ik how my rackets of choice feel w/ dead strings & enough of the characteristics of the racket (i.e. pwr/cntrl, maneuverability/stability, spin potential, connectedness & stiffness) come thru where I can tell if it’ll be something I’d like. For ex if I can’t feel any vibration from the stringbed on a racket even w/ dead strings Ik it’s not for me. This is what I disliked about v7 Blade, VC98, Strike gen 3 16m etc.

@Fintft
I think the ZUS 70RA will be fine in terms of stiffness (more like 66RA when strung and nobody's reported any issues with them so far).
I also think that the ZUS is probably the all round highest quality racket of those on your list (and arguably the best on the entire current retail market).

There are two pitfalls, as I see it.
1. $$$ - Testing the ZUS is expensive and you stand to lose the most if the experiment fails and you don't like it.
2. Psychology - even if you love the ZUS (or whatever you opt for), there will still be a part of your mind that longs for some improvement in some way...especially on the bad days... and that voice is going to start wondering what the other frames are like. You can only know the best if you've thoroughly compared all the rest...which brings us back to problem No.1.

There is no perfection. Even the best rackets don't cure our flaws.

I chose to buy a ZUS 100 70RA 16x19 recently after being on the racket merry-go-round for 2 years. That is to say, I decided to just spend the extra money getting the very best frame that money can buy (according to my own subjective research of course). It was expensive but my logic is that I'll save money in the long run if I no longer have that voice tempting me that 'the grass is always greener on the other side'.

Demoing is the way to go for those who live in countries where that's an option, but many people here don't realise that it's not possible everywhere. In many countries, we have to buy blind- especially for the rare brands like Angell, ZUS, Diadem, etc.
So what I'm saying is, it's a risk that you either can or can't afford...but at least be aware of the psychological factor in advance, so as not to fall into an endless and very expensive rabbit hole.

I'm pulling the trigger on the PST, starting with one frame for now. So excited! Will string with Babolat VS Touch mains, Kirschbaum Max Power crosses. @socallefty, I want to try your tension set-up 47/44, will it work for these strings, what do you think? I also considered Black Zone for crosses, but Max Power will hold tension better, which is important as we're starting from low tension already.

P.S. Dream of finding a great blue or red colored poly cross to match the mains and the PST

Having the PST weighted before ordering, looks perfect.

TimePlease said:

@Fintft
I think the ZUS 70RA will be fine in terms of stiffness (more like 66RA when strung and nobody's reported any issues with them so far).
I also think that the ZUS is probably the all round highest quality racket of those on your list (and arguably the best on the entire current retail market).

There are two pitfalls, as I see it.
1. $$$ - Testing the ZUS is expensive and you stand to lose the most if the experiment fails and you don't like it.
2. Psychology - even if you love the ZUS (or whatever you opt for), there will still be a part of your mind that longs for some improvement in some way...especially on the bad days... and that voice is going to start wondering what the other frames are like. You can only know the best if you've thoroughly compared all the rest...which brings us back to problem No.1.

There is no perfection. Even the best rackets don't cure our flaws.

I chose to buy a ZUS 100 70RA 16x19 recently after being on the racket merry-go-round for 2 years. That is to say, I decided to just spend the extra money getting the very best frame that money can buy (according to my own subjective research of course). It was expensive but my logic is that I'll save money in the long run if I no longer have that voice tempting me that 'the grass is always greener on the other side'.

Demoing is the way to go for those who live in countries where that's an option, but many people here don't realise that it's not possible everywhere. In many countries, we have to buy blind- especially for the rare brands like Angell, ZUS, Diadem, etc.
So what I'm saying is, it's a risk that you either can or can't afford...but at least be aware of the psychological factor in advance, so as not to fall into an endless and very expensive rabbit hole.

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Thanks and what specs is your ZUS 100 70RA 16x19?

Tranqville said:

I'm pulling the trigger on the PST, starting with one frame for now. So excited! Will string with Babolat VS Touch mains, Kirschbaum Max Power crosses. @socallefty, I want to try your tension set-up 47/44, will it work for these strings, what do you think? I also considered Black Zone for crosses, but Max Power will hold tension better, which is important as we're starting from low tension already.

P.S. Dream of finding a great blue or red colored poly cross to match the mains and the PST

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Enjoy. I have tried 47/44, 48/45 with VS mains and several poly crosses like HGS, HG, Cyclone, Cyclone Tour and Tour Bite Soft - seemed to work fine and I prefer it to higher tensions as I started off trying 55/52, 54/51, 52/50, 50/48 etc. Everyone‘s preference is different, but you can start there and adjust up or down as needed. Btw, Cyclone Tour is red and a good string also.

socallefty said:

Enjoy. I have tried 47/44, 48/45 with VS mains and several poly crosses like HGS, HG, Cyclone, Cyclone Tour and Tour Bite Soft - seemed to work fine and I prefer it to higher tensions as I started off trying 55/52, 54/51, 52/50, 50/48 etc. Everyone‘s preference is different, but you can start there and adjust up or down as needed. Btw, Cyclone Tour is red and a good string also.

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So you are not afraid of stringing with shaped crosses? I thought round works best in terms of longevity. I'm largely ignorant about hybrid setup, opening a whole new can of warms.

Tranqville said:

So you are not afraid of stringing with shaped crosses? I thought round works best in terms of longevity. I'm largely ignorant about hybrid setup, opening a whole new can of warms.

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No, I play well with them and win a lot without getting injured which is what matters for me. I tried some round polys like ALU Power, RPM Blast and they feel good, but go dead within 6-8 hours for me - so, that happens before the gut breaks and I have to restring anyway due to arm/wrist discomfort. My stringer doesn’t carry Kirschbaum or Ghostwire and so, I haven’t tried them.

The shaped polys I have tried last 10-20 hours before they go dead and cause discomfort or feel erratic - by then, I break the gut anyway and so, I’m fine with that. I can play HyperG Soft crosses for 15 hours of singles or 20 hours if I play a mix of singles/doubles if I don’t break the gut before it feels erratic or has discomfort.

String longevity is very level dependent (including who you play) and also depends on how often you hit outside of the sweet spot, mishit etc. With poly hybrids, I’m sensitive to the slightest sign of arm/wrist discomfort and cut them out right away while many others don’t - for me, poly going dead is an issue well before I break the gut whether I use round or shaped polys. Also the poly goes dead at the same length of time whether it is in fullbed or hybrid although sometimes the discomfort is less in the hybrid as the harshness is somewhat muted by the gut mains.

Just try stuff and don’t get hung up on all the theory floating around on this forum. I am not the only one to like VS/HyperG hybrids - the Bryan brothers used them at tensions in the high thirties.

I willl definitely try Tourna S7T as a cross: it's my favorite crisp shaped poly.

socallefty said:

With poly hybrids, I’m sensitive to the slightest sign of arm/wrist discomfort and cut them out right away while many others don’t - for me, poly going dead is an issue well before I break the gut whether I use round or shaped polys.

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I wonder how you decided to play with Babolat initially, having a sensitive arm and with so many flexible players racquets available in the market. It looks like you take whatever works for you.

Tranqville said:

I wonder how you decided to play with Babolat initially, having a sensitive arm and with so many flexible players racquets available in the market. It looks like you take whatever works for you.

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It is a myth perpetuated on this forum that all Babolat racquets are bad. I went through 3 major racquet demo trial sessions in the last twenty years trying 12 oz racquets from all different brands - picked the Pure Control (2000), AeroStorm Tour GT (2011), Pure Strike Tour (2014). In the first two trials of 10-15 racquets, I was truly brand-agnostic and picked the racquet that felt best to me. By 2014, I was brand-loyal and more prone to picking Babolat if it suited my needs. When I bought Babolat in 2000, the brand was unknown for racquets in California and I was one of the first adopters.

Since Babolat makes two highly popular tweeners (Drive, Aero) with high stiffness, people just associate their brand with those racquets. In reality, they have always made heavy, thin beam, flexible/medium stiff players racquets also like the Pure Control, AeroPro Control, Pure Storm Tour, Aero Storm Tour, Pure Strike Tour etc. Every brand makes light/thickbeam/stiff brands for beginners along with heavy/flexible racquets, but only Babolat is treated on this forum as if they make only thickbeam/stiff racquets. There are so many Babolat-endorsed pro players, college players and junior players playing tennis at an advanced level invariably with poly. If one of them gets injured, there is always hype on this forum about Babolat being responsible. Meanwhile, guys like Tsitsipas, Djokovic, Del Porto get wrist/arm injuries and no one blames their racquet brand. According to this link, “Venus Williams, Bjorn Borg, Aleksandra Wozniak, Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro have all suffered from tennis elbow”.


The reason Babolat is so popular and in 25 years has become one of the top two or three best selling racquet companies (they made only gut strings before that for tennis) is because their racquets always have a bigger sweet spot and more comfort for a particular stiffness than comparable brands. Other racquets with stiffness RA at 70-72 like the Pure Drive/Pure Aero are almost unplayable from a comfort standpoint and that’s why Babolat has dominated that niche. I wouldn’t play with those racquets as they are too powerful, but I find the same big sweet spot with their 12 oz, more flexible players racquets also throughout the last two decades. I have played with their 12 oz racquets with stiffness in 65-68 RA range while other heavy racquets with stiffness in that range feel more uncomfortable for me - with other brands, I have to go down to low-sixties RA for comparable comfort and then I miss the Babolat power on serves.

I have had tennis elbow pain twice and never with any Babolat - once in the late Nineties with a Head Ti S2 and the other when I fooled around with a Volkl VSense 10 (325) 4 years ago both strung with gut in the high-fifties. I don’t go around trashing those brands because I know that they make many other solid racquets also. The S2 was wrong for my game and I made the wrong choice after a break from tennis for a decade - that’s when I started learning about racquets and joined this forum for the first time in 1999. I still don’t know why the Volk was bad for me as the specs fit my sweet spot - it also injured my friend who tried it a couple of times and so, I sold it quickly. Check the vibration frequency of racquets before you buy them as it correlates to comfort quite well - don’t believe other misinformation on this forum about brands as there is a herd mentality in general. So many hard rules and urban myths on here - ‘Good players don’t play with lighter racquets’, ‘Poly will cause injury always for older players’, ‘Babolat is bad’, ‘Don’t hybrid with shaped polys as it is like a knife cutting through butter’, ‘If you get tennis elbow, you have lousy technique’, ‘If you don’t break poly within 10 hours, you are no good’, blah, blah, blah!

Most players get tennis elbow issues because they string poly over 50 lbs and then play with it till they break it. The problem is that most polys go dead within 10-15 hours and transmit a lot of vibrations to the arm whatever racquet you play with (stiffer is worse of course) - so, if you don‘t break it close to that time frame, you will get injured. That’s why beginners and intermediates get injured by poly more than very advanced players who might even play at higher tensions - the advanced guys break the poly before it goes dead and becomes a health hazard.

My joke is that on this forum when people get tennis elbow issues from playing with dead poly, they react in two different ways.

- If their racquet is a Babolat, they blame the racquet and come and post here that Babolat makes junk.
- If they play with Head, Wilson, Volkl or Yonex, they blame the strings and go buy another racquet from the same brand.

In real life at my club, people get injured with all kinds of racquets and in 90% of the cases, they played with dead poly for too long. Lastly, you choose a racquet, string and tension combination that works for your game and you can always mix and match stiff racquets, soft racquets, stiff strings, soft strings, hybrids, high tensions, low tensions etc. till you find something that works great. I am not particularly hung up anymore on conducting major racquet trials and string experiments like I used to do when I was younger. When you play 500-700 hours a year like I do, I don’t need to listen to other subjective opinions and I can mix and match till I find what I like - just want to have fun, hopefully win a lot and play daily without injuries.

socallefty said:

Most players get tennis elbow issues because they string poly over 50 lbs and then play with it till they break it. The problem is that most polys go dead within 10-15 hours and transmits a lot of vibrations to the arm whatever racquet you play with (stiffer is worse of course) - so, if you don‘t break it close to that time frame, you will get injured.

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Someone in VCORE Pro forum had exactly this situation with VCP D, which is one of the most comfortable racquets in today's market.

Tranqville said:

Someone in VCORE Pro forum had exactly this situation with VCP D, which is one of the most comfortable racquets in today's market.

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I write my longest diatribe ever and thats the only comment you got

Fintft said:

Thanks and what specs is your ZUS 100 70RA 16x19?

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I went for the 305g, 320mm and it came in at 305.8g, 323mm and 325 SW. Not perfect customisation but close enough and this is an ideal prostock platform. That was from Zus's web store in Italy, not the US one.

socallefty said:

I write my longest diatribe ever and thats the only comment you got

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Really, thank you so much for sharing. I find your no-nonsense approach inspiring.
I'm a brand strategist and that helps me see beyond brands. I'm ready to play with anything that works for me.

Tranqville said:

Really, thank you so much for sharing. I find your no-nonsense approach inspiring.
I'm a brand strategist and that helps me see beyond brands. I'm ready to play with anything that works for me.

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Thank you. You needed that pep talk after buying your first PST - no need to have any misgivings about the Babolat brand. It is just like any other brand and a highly successful one at that.

@socallefty If I were responsible for Babolat marketing, I would definitely share your story through the marketing channels. Tennis is not just about young professional players. You make good educated choices, just as professional players do to be successful.

Tranqville said:

@socallefty If I were responsible for Babolat marketing, I would definitely share your story through the marketing channels. Tennis is not just about young professional players. You make good educated choices, just as professional players do to be successful.

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They seem to be doing fine with their marketing and sales strategy when you look at how ubiquitous Babolat racquets are. Even on this forum, I suspect that there are a lot of Babolat users amongst beginners, intermediates, women, juniors etc. which are their strongest customer segments. Too bad that a lot of advanced players don’t even try out their heavier thin-bean racquets when they are in the market for a new racquet model because they think Babolat makes only Drives and Aeros.

Good choice, give it a shot @Tranqville

From my experience, the RA-rating is just one part of the equation. I can play with a mid 60 Blade v5 perfectly well for hours but had problems using a Clash 98 or VCP97D. Guess the stroke mechanics just didn't work with those sticks (when the strings and tension are the same)

If your technique works well with the PST everything else is not relevant. I have always had the regular Pure Strike on my list but since the TF40 is working so well there is no need to test it for me.

Curious how it will work out for you and the OHBH

jalapeno74 said:

Good choice, give it a shot @Tranqville

Curious how it will work out for you and the OHBH

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Thank you @jalapeno74! I had two intense training sessions with PST when I demoed it. I thought it was custom-made for the OHBH: the racquet ploughs heavily, is stable and pleasantly firm. The frame geometry is appropriate. I felt quite connected to the ball with good pocketing. I also found PST maneuverable on the backhand side, contrary to some reviews. Let's see how it will work for me long-term.

As a racketaholic who itches to try new rackets all the time, I've found the PST 3rd Gen disrupting that a bit. I can't find a good excuse to try another racket that has specs that could offer more. As an aggressive baseliner with a wristy, modern forehand - it's so easy to unload a lot of power, spin and control without wearing myself out.

Saitamaxpunch1 said:

As a racketaholic who itches to try new rackets all the time, I've found the PST 3rd Gen disrupting that a bit. I can't find a good excuse to try another racket that has specs that could offer more. As an aggressive baseliner with a wristy, modern forehand - it's so easy to unload a lot of power, spin and control without wearing myself out.

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Become a stringaholic and start exploring the crazy new world of hybrid stringing.

I had my first training session with the PST. During the warm-up, my coach immediately noticed that I started to hit heavier. "The balls are like stones", he said. The feel was wonderful, @socallefty 's hybrid setup unlocked even more magic vs the demo with RPM full-bed. I had excellent control on drives and on touch shots as well. I almost never hit the net, all my misses were sailing long when I was sloppy with my footwork and not putting enough spin on the ball.

We played some points towards the end of the one-hour session. Another pro noticed my inspired play and invited me to hit with her student, so I stayed on the court for another hour. She asked me to hit at an easy pace with lots of slices. My coach also stayed on the court so it started to look like a proper pro training session. When it was done, I got complimented for playing consistently. I was also invited to hit with a good junior player on Wednesday. Looks like PST just launched my hitting partner career.

I feel so happy about my racquet choice! My coach was initially against switching to Babolat, but after the practice today he said: "I must admit that this racquet is perfect for you!"

@jalapeno74 On the backhand side, the racquet worked exceptionally well. My coach said I hit my backhand harder that the forehand. In the second part of the session when my task was to keep the ball in play, found consistency hitting with lots of spin, high arch and moderate pace.

TimePlease said:

@Fintft
I think the ZUS 70RA will be fine in terms of stiffness (more like 66RA when strung and nobody's reported any issues with them so far).

2. Psychology - even if you love the ZUS (or whatever you opt for), there will still be a part of your mind that longs for some improvement in some way...especially on the bad days... and that voice is going to start wondering what the other frames are like. You can only know the best if you've thoroughly compared all the rest...which brings us back to problem No.1.

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Yep this is the gear trap for sure. It's better to try and commit to something and on the bad days figure out what went wrong from a tennis perspective and not a gear one.

Plus where do you go from a custom Zus frame? Honestly I have no idea besides trying pro stocks like Gads is doing. Topspin and Timm-ay have been holding strong onto these things as their best options for quite a while now. It's a good sign.

Power Player said:

Yep this is the gear trap for sure. It's better to try and commit to something and on the bad days figure out what went wrong from a tennis perspective and not a gear one.

Plus where do you go from a custom Zus frame? Honestly I have no idea besides trying pro stocks like Gads is doing. Topspin and Timm-ay have been holding strong onto these things as their best options for quite a while now. It's a good sign.

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Yeah, I'm sold on the Zus. I've had 3 sessions so far and have been totally blown away by it. It's the complete package and outperforms all of my other sticks in almost every way (the only exception is serving, where it's not quite as good as my TC95, but that's a particularly high bar to reach). The feel/touch is sublime. And the amount of whip you can get yet it's still stable on defence... It really is on a different level.

socallefty said:

Become a stringaholic and start exploring the crazy new world of hybrid stringing.

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@socallefty What do you think, should I stick to a wonderful hybrid setup I found in VS x Max Power, or experiment with different crosses? I wanted to try Black Zone, S7T, Evolution, Code Red Wax etc, as a cross. Perhaps it's time to freeze my setup for a few years and focus on my game.

Tranqville said:

@socallefty What do you think, should I stick to a wonderful hybrid setup I found in VS x Max Power, or experiment with different crosses? I wanted to try Black Zone, S7T, Evolution, Code Red Wax etc, as a cross. Perhaps it's time to freeze my setup for a few years and focus on my game.

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Depends what your tennis goals are and how curious you are about strings - there is no right answer. Also, if you are already a 4.5+ player, the chance of improving further dramatically from equipment change is less as your technique is fundamentally set and you likely know the spec range and strings that work well for you. If you are still developing your fundamentals, it is also better to stabilize equipment for a few years and develop your game.

In my case I periodically will try newly released racquets in my spec range or poly strings that intrigue me just to satisfy my curiosity and not because I expect big improvements in my game. But, I won’t try them in matches first, only in practice sessions. If I like something in hitting drills, I might try it in social doubles also. If I like it in doubles, then I will try it in singles against known opponents and then unknown opponents. If it is better in singles also in all cases than my usual setup, then it is time to switch to it. Over time, my curiosity is much less and I try new racquets once every 3-4 years (they usually replace/redesign old models in that time frame) and new strings every couple of years because I‘ve found that switching don’t make a significant difference to my results or game level.

My usual practice is just to have 3 or 4 of the same racquets strung identically. If I’m experimenting a lot with strings, I will string one racquet with the new strings and tensions and use it mostly in practice. For the last 1.5 years, my setup is VS17/HyperG Soft 18 at 47/44 lbs on the G3 PS Tour - before that I used HyperG 18 as my cross for a year.

I really like Black Zone for a cross. It soaks up a little more vibration and is a little softer than Max Power. It’s my favorite cross for a hybrid.

KYHacker said:

I really like Black Zone for a cross. It soaks up a little more vibration and is a little softer than Max Power. It’s my favorite cross for a hybrid.

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Thanks! I enjoyed Black Zone as full-bed in my VCP. The reason I chose Max Power is tension maintenance thanks to pre-stretch.

socallefty said:

In my case I periodically will try newly released racquets in my spec range or poly strings that intrigue me just to satisfy my curiosity and not because I expect big improvements in my game.

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I expect some interesting racquets to hit the market this year: Auxetic Radical Pro, Ezone Tour. Next year, Pure Strike Tour 4G, possibly the updated Technifibre RS 315. Do any of those tickle your fancy? I noticed your post in the Babolat thread where you wanted to see Pure Strike VS Tour.

Tranqville said:

I expect some interesting racquets to hit the market his year: Auxetic Radical Pro, Ezone Tour. Next year, Pure Strike Tour 4G, possibly the updated Technifibre RS 315. Do any of those tickle your fancy? I noticed your post in the Babolat thread where you wanted to see Pure Strike VS Tour.

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Since I like my current PS Tour a lot, I’ll probably try only the PS VS and the next release of the PS Tour.

Tranqville said:

Thanks! I enjoyed Black Zone as full-bed in my VCP. The reason I chose Max Power is tension maintenance thanks to pre-stretch.

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If I recall correctly, Black Zone may have better tension maintenance than just about any other poly when strung at 50# or below. I may be misremembering that, though. I was stringing Klip 16m/Black Zone 17x in my Speed Pro at 53m/52/x and in my PS97 at 51m/50x with really good results. I string fairly low, though.