Racquets of the 2008 Australian Open

Agustin Calleri Head Prestige Mid Microgel
Albert Montanes Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Alejandro Falla Babolat Pure Control
Alun Jones Head Radical Pro Microgel
Amer Delic Wilson KSix-One 95
Andreas Seppi ProKennex Ki 10
Andrei Pavel Wilson nBlade
Andy Murray Head Radical MP Microgel
Andy Roddick Babolat Pure Drive
Arnaud Clement Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Benjamin Becker Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Bobby Reynolds Babolat Pure Drive
Boris Pashanski Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Brydan Klein Head Radical Tour Flexpoint
Carlos Berlocq Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Carlos Moya Babolat Pure Drive
Chris Guccione Wilson KPro Tour
David Ferrer Prince Shark DB
David Nalbandian Yonex RDS 001 MP
Denis Gremelmayr Head Radical Pro Microgel
Denis Istomin Tecnifibre T-Fight 320
Diego Hartfield Wilson KSix-One 95
Dmitry Tursunov Wilson KBlade Tour
Donald Young Head Radical Pro Microgel
Dudi Sela Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Edouard Roger-Vasselin Babolat Pure Drive
Ernests Gulbis Head Prestige MP Microgel
Evgeny Korolev Prince O3 Tour
Fabio Fognini Babolat Pure Drive
Fabrice Santoro Head Radical Tour Flexpoint
Feliciano Lopez Wilson KPro Tour
Fernando Gonzalez Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Fernando Verdasco Tecnifibre T-Fight 320
Filippo Volandri Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Florent Serra Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Florian Mayer Head Prestige MP Microgel
Frank Dancevic Volkl Tour 10 MP Gen II
Gilles Simon Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez Head Prestige MP Microgel
Harel Levy Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex
Hyung-Taik Lee Head Prestige Pro Microgel
Igor Andreev Babolat Pure Drive
Ivan Ljubicic Head Extreme Pro Microgel
Ivo Karlovic Head Instinct Flexpoint
Ivo Minar Fischer M Pro Number One 98
James Blake Dunlop Aerogel 2Hundred
Jamie Baker Boris Becker Becker 11
Janko Tipsarevic Tecnifibre T-Fight 320
Jarkko Nieminen Wilson KSix-One 95
Jesse Levine Wilson KSix-One 95
Jiri Vanek Fischer M Pro Number One 98
John Isner Prince O3 Speedport Pro White MP
Jose Acasuso Head Prestige Mid Flexpoint
Joseph Sirianni Head Radical Pro Microgel
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Wilson KBlade Tour
Juan Carlos Ferrero Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Juan Ignacio Chela Babolat Pure Control
Juan Martin Del Potro Wilson KSix-One 95
Juan Monaco Yonex RDS 002 Tour
Juan Pablo Brzezicki Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Julien Benneteau Babolat Pure Drive
Jurgen Melzer Head Prestige Pro Microgel
Kevin Anderson Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Konstantinos Economidis Head Prestige MP Liquidmetal
Kristof Vliegen Tecnifibre T-Fight 320
Lleyton Hewitt Yonex RQ iS 1 Tour
Luis Horna Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Lukas Dlouhy Fischer M Pro Number One 98
Lukas Lacko Wilson nSix-One 95
Marat Safin Head Prestige Mid Microgel
Marc Gicquel Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Marcel Granollers-Pujol Tecnifibre T-Fight 320
Marcos Baghdatis Fischer M Pro Number One 98
Mardy Fish Wilson KSix-One 95
Mariano Zabaleta Head Prestige MP Microgel
Marin Cilic Head Radical MP Microgel
Martin Slanar Wilson nSix-One 95
Martin Vassallo Arguello Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Mathieu Montcourt Babolat Pure Drive
Michael Berrer Wilson KSix-One 95
Michael Llodra Wilson KPro Tour
Michael Russell Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Mikhail Youzhny Head Extreme Pro Microgel
Mischa Zverev Yonex RDS 001 Mid
Nick Lindahl Babolat Pure Drive
Nicolas Almagro Dunlop Aerogel 5hundred Tour
Nicolas Kiefer Wilson KSix-One 95
Nicolas Mahut Wilson KSix-One 95
Nicolas Massu Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Nikolay Davydenko Prince O3 Tour
Novak Djokovic Wilson KBlade Tour
Olivier Patience Babolat Pure Drive
Olivier Rochus Prince Graphite TT
Oscar Hernandez Wilson KBlade Tour
Paul Capdeville Head Instinct Flexpoint
Paul-Henri Mathieu Wilson KBlade Tour
Peter Luczak Babolat Pure Control
Philipp Kohlschreiber Wilson KBlade Tour
Radek Stepanek Volkl DNX 9
Rafael Nadal Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex
Rainer Schuettler Head Prestige MP Microgel
Rajeev Ram Wilson KSix-One 95
Richard Gasquet Head Extreme Pro Microgel
Robert Kendrick Wilson KSix-One 95
Robert Smeets Head Radical Pro Microgel
Robin Haase Head Prestige MP Microgel
Roger Federer Wilson KSix-One Tour 90
Roko Karanusic Wilson KSix-One 95
Sam Querrey Prince O3 Hybrid Tour
Sam Warburg Babolat Pure Storm Tour
Santiago Ventura Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Sebastien Grosjean Head Radical Pro Microgel
Sergio Roitman Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Simone Bolelli Head Prestige Pro Microgel
Stanislas Wawrinka Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Stefan Koubek Wilson nPro Open
Steve Darcis Wilson KSix-One 95
Thierry Ascione Wilson nBlade
Thomas Johansson Dunlop Aerogel 3Hundred
Tomas Berdych Dunlop Aerogel 2Hundred
Tommy Robredo Dunlop Aerogel 3Hundred
Victor Hanescu Head Radical Tour Flexpoint
Viktor Troicki Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Vincent Spadea Prince Original Graphite
Wayne Odesnik Prince Ozone Pro Tour
Werner Eschauer Wilson KBlade Tour
Xavier Malisse Prince Diablo Tour
Yen-Hsun Lu Head Extreme Pro Microgel

I did this a few years ago and it turned up all over the web.

I thought I'd give it a go again today. It took me all day to compile. Perhaps someone can format it better for me.

Thanks

Let's pick out the ones that are actually factual. I'd say less than 10%.

i see alot of paintjobs had been done.

thanks for putting that together, i'm sure that took you a long time to do.

i think it should be named "racquets they appear to be using" list.

There is an official stringing area at Melbourne Park where the stringers are like goldfish in a bowl and the public can look in at them at work. I had my face pressed to the glass for awhile - and while I'm not that interested in paintjobs and conspiracies, there were many many frames there that did not have real Flexpoint technology!

one thing that i can say is that nadal does not use cortex technology i took a couple of photos of his sticks at the open if anyone is interested please tell me ho to load them up and i will.

i also noticed the flexipoint thing and that some of the ke factor paint jobs are PS.

guccione - kblade tour?? he isnt even using that paint not to mention the racquet. kpro open(tour?) paint.......
same goes for llodra- kblade??? its thickness and green paint beg to differ. (kpro....paint, pj more than likely)

korolev and davydenko- nope, still with the o3 tour mp (not even using the new paint)

florian mayer- where'd you come up with babolat pure storm tour? he has always been with head and is using the microgel prestige mp paint on what i believe is either a pt280 or i.prestige, dont really remember and dont feel like looking it up.

smeets and gremelmayr are using the microgel radical pro, not the extreme pro (dont know if smeets' is a pj)

haase- microgel prestige mp pj, not the prestige pro.

gicquel and horna both got new paint of their prestige/pc respectively

Bogie,

I want to thank you so much.

You were totally correct with the exception of Horna (I checked again and he’s using a Babolat Pure Strom – picture link below).

With Chris Guccione and Michael Llodra I just didn’t see the green on the paintjob, so I’m sure you are right, those are likely KPro PJs.

Totally messed up Davydenko and Korolev. Thanks for the catch.

I got Florian Mayer mixed up with Florent Serra (first names so close). Sorry it was late. Thanks for that catch too.

I agree Robert Smeets and Denis Gremelmayr are with the Radical Pro Microgels – changed them.

With you being so accurate I can’t explain how you missed Luis Horna. He’s clearly using a Babolat not a Head Prestige.
Picture
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080114/483/xmel18701140939/

I’ve made the corrections. I very much appreciate the help. I want the list to be as accurate as possible.

As for paintjobs, I have a friend on tour and he claims there are not as many paintjobs as people think. Many are stock frames modified afterwards with weight and or different pallets. For sure some of the Prestige Flexpoints are not Flexpoints, but again I think people would be surprised how many are the real frames.

Thanks again Bogie. You help was awesome!

Indy

Here’s the count:

Head wins!

Head is being used by 41 players (a full third of the Men’s field). The last time I did this (the 2006 Australian Open) Head was still the top maker, but with only 37 players, so they’ve gone up quite a bit.

Congratulations Head!

Babolat dropped from second in ’06 to third this year behind Wilson. I think several Babolat Pure Drive players moved to Head’s Extreme Pro and that hurt them a bit.

Rounding out the Big Four is Prince with 15 players (up from 13 in 2006).

Head 41
Wilson 29
Babolat 21
Prince 15
Dunlop 5
Tecnifibre 5
Fischer 4
Yonex 4
Volkl 2
Becker 1
ProKennex 1


The top dogs outside the Big Four are Dunlop and Tecnifibre with five players each.

Only two players are using my beloved Volkl (three if you count the Becker frame).

There are 11 manufactures represented this year down from 12 in 2006. Kneissl and Slazenger are off the list now and Becker is new to the list.

thanks for the hard working post two ?--
Isner-Is it the real deal??-customized?
Felicano Lopez-Thought he was using a ktour pj

Isner - real deal
Lopez - KPro Tour

Thanks

I'd almost bet that Yonex and Prince end up in the top 3 for the women.

Indy Tennis said:

Isner - real deal
Lopez - KPro Tour

Thanks

Click to expand...

Lopez is not using the KPro Tour. 19 crosses, not 20.



Looks like a pj of his old NPro.

are you sure that fernando and massu are using the pure storm tour paintjob? i thought i saw the orange.

I just find it amazing that Head has such a large percentage of players.

A third of the field in a Grand Slam!

That has to be some sort of record.

I wonder if anyone kept track of the racquets pros used at Slams over the years?

Indy Tennis said:

Bogie,

I want to thank you so much.

You were totally correct with the exception of Horna (I checked again and he’s using a Babolat Pure Strom – picture link below).

With Chris Guccione and Michael Llodra I just didn’t see the green on the paintjob, so I’m sure you are right, those are likely KPro PJs.

Totally messed up Davydenko and Korolev. Thanks for the catch.

I got Florian Mayer mixed up with Florent Serra (first names so close). Sorry it was late. Thanks for that catch too.

I agree Robert Smeets and Denis Gremelmayr are with the Radical Pro Microgels – changed them.

With you being so accurate I can’t explain how you missed Luis Horna. He’s clearly using a Babolat not a Head Prestige.
Picture
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080114/483/xmel18701140939/

I’ve made the corrections. I very much appreciate the help. I want the list to be as accurate as possible.

As for paintjobs, I have a friend on tour and he claims there are not as many paintjobs as people think. Many are stock frames modified afterwards with weight and or different pallets. For sure some of the Prestige Flexpoints are not Flexpoints, but again I think people would be surprised how many are the real frames.

Thanks again Bogie. You help was awesome!

Indy

Click to expand...

just to clarify, notice how i said gicquel and horna prestige/pc respectively, meaning gicquel's prestige and horna's pc. pc= pure control which is the exact same mold as the pure storm and the babolat pros get their sticks customized to their specs anyway so you can call it either a pc or a ps.

o and denis istomin has apparently switched to a tecnifibre stick and is no longer using his flexpoints.

Players Raquests

I put togther the list of players and filtered them so, you can click on a brand, such as Head as see all the pro's using them etc.

Agustin Calleri Head Prestige Mid Microgel
Ernests Gulbis Head Prestige MP Microgel
Florian Mayer Head Prestige MP Microgel
Guillermo ````````Head Prestige MP Microgel
Hyung-TaikLee Head Prestige Pro Microgel
Jurgen Melzer Head Prestige Pro Microgel
Marat Safin Head Prestige Mid Microgel
Mariano Zabaleta Head Prestige MP Microgel
Rainer SchuettlerHead Prestige MP Microgel
Robin Haase Head Prestige MP Microgel
Simone Bolelli Head Prestige Pro Microgel


---------------------------------------------------
Arnaud Clement Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Boris PashanskiHead Prestige MP Flexpoint
Carlos Berlocq Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Dudi Sela Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Filippo Volandri Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Gilles Simon Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Jose Acasuso Head Prestige Mid Flexpoint
Kevin Anderson Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Marc Gicquel Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Sergio Roitman Head Prestige MP Flexpoint
Stanislas Wawrinka Head Prestige MP Flexpoint

Care to do a woman's list LOL

Bogie said:

just to clarify, notice how i said gicquel and horna prestige/pc respectively, meaning gicquel's prestige and horna's pc. pc= pure control which is the exact same mold as the pure storm and the babolat pros get their sticks customized to their specs anyway so you can call it either a pc or a ps.

o and denis istomin has apparently switched to a tecnifibre stick and is no longer using his flexpoints.

Click to expand...

Bogie,

You are the man! Racquet expert of the pros!

I noticed Istomin had switched to Tecnifibre when he played Hewitt. He must have done that just before the tournament.

Indy Tennis said:

Bogie,

You are the man! Racquet expert of the pros!

I noticed Istomin had switched to Tecnifibre when he played Hewitt. He must have done that just before the tournament.

Click to expand...

ya, im glad tecnifibre picked up a hard working guy like denis. i remember when he went through the asian championships, and he won the whole tournament and thus got a wildcard into the aussie main draw only to play fed first round. he also wasnt really sponsored by head at the time and was paying for his own sticks(fxp rads) that were beat to hell by the time he played fed. he's just one of those guys who works extrmely hard and doesnt get anything for free, and has to work for every ranking point. good to see him playing better, he gave lleyton a real scare for the first 3 sets there.

baseliner87 said:

one thing that i can say is that nadal does not use cortex technology i took a couple of photos of his sticks at the open if anyone is interested please tell me ho to load them up and i will.

i also noticed the flexipoint thing and that some of the ke factor paint jobs are PS.

Click to expand...

photobucket.com

or

imageshack.com

or email it to me and I will be glad to upload it for you.

Lol. If the manufacturers put racquets weighing a pound on the shelves no one would buy them. So they give us realistic racquets. Big deal.

Also, the average person knows nothing about physics. There are actually people who believe that Prince's O3 technology has some benefit at all. But the players don't buy it. The best technology is an old flat beam with egg shaped head like the Prestige and 90% of the players have this type of flat beam 18-20mm racquet. Money and sponsorship is not enough to play with a silly racquet with holes in it IMO.

Bogie said:

just to clarify, notice how i said gicquel and horna prestige/pc respectively, meaning gicquel's prestige and horna's pc. pc= pure control which is the exact same mold as the pure storm and the babolat pros get their sticks customized to their specs anyway so you can call it either a pc or a ps.

o and denis istomin has apparently switched to a tecnifibre stick and is no longer using his flexpoints.

Click to expand...

Actually, they're both using stock PC+'s with PS paint jobs and weight/balance customization after. The Babolat pros don't get custom layups or molds, they do mostly aftermarket work.

Indy Tennis said:

Robin Haase Head Prestige MP Microgel

Click to expand...

Haase was in a dutch TV show (Holland Sport) this evening.
He said that he's playing with a paintjob.
He explains that he's using a 20 year old (painted) Head frame, just like Goran Ivanisevic did.

He also said he beat Ljubicic in the 1st round last week with a broken racket (3rd and 4th set...).

Real Value In These Threads !!

....see....the 2 posts above that actually CONTRIBUTED something...were actually entertaining TOO !!! Now...shut up and...SERVE !!!

Last night on espn, Cahill said that he thinks part of the reason for Ljubicic's decline is due to switching to a new racquet. He said that Ljubicic almost had to switch b/c Head gave Lubi a deal tht would take care of him long after he retires from tennis.

Is David Ferrer really using a Prince Shark DB?

goober said:

Is David Ferrer really using a Prince Shark DB?

Click to expand...

You think he would want a contract but I believe he is prevented from a new contract because he has to have the double bridge and that would be visible even with a PJ. I suspect he is playing with the old flat beam double bridge classic from years ago. That was a true player's frame. I don't remember the model but it has been around a long time.

pavels nblade

does anyone know if its for real.. looks a bit strange in its shape to me to be an nblade mp..
he was with fischer for a long time .. could it be a pj ?

I watched Llodra (play doubles) and his supposed stick: "Michael Llodra Wilson KPro Tour"

So do you think it's really a KPro Tour?

Anyone hit with one yet?

Gasquet still using Liquid Metal Instinct XL Pro.... ?

I've seen pictures of Gasquet's "Head Microgel Extreme Pro", and it's very obvious that it's the same Liquid Metal Instinct XL Pro that he has used for the previous few years. Just has the new paint job and decals, but the frame is clearly the Instinct XL Pro.

Also, I read his bio on Wikepedia, and the writer confirms this.


Was watching a recording of a recent Tommy Hass vs. Youzhny match. They had a closeup on his racquet, which I froze and counted the strings: 18 X 20 string pattern, which told me that it was probably a Dunlop 200 G painted to look like the 300 G. ... Or 200 Aerogel vs. the 300 Aerogel, or whatever Dunlop is calling their frames these days.

I'd always wondered how a player of Hass's ability who has always used a full-weighted frame could play with something as light as a 300 G. Unless they took a 300 G frame and drilled it for the more dense 200 G string pattern, which I doubt. Also, the frame looked a bit too thin for the 300.

This is odd. You would think that Dunlop would prefer to have Hass playing with the 200G, since he has always played with the full-weighted "pro" frames by Dunlop in the past.

Gasquetrules said:

I've seen pictures of Gasquet's "Head Microgel Extreme Pro", and it's very obvious that it's the same Liquid Metal Instinct XL Pro that he has used for the previous few years. Just has the new paint job and decals, but the frame is clearly the Instinct XL Pro.

Also, I read his bio on Wikepedia, and the writer confirms this.


Was watching a recording of a recent Tommy Hass vs. Youzhny match. They had a closeup on his racquet, which I froze and counted the strings: 18 X 20 string pattern, which told me that it was probably a Dunlop 200 G painted to look like the 300 G. ... Or 200 Aerogel vs. the 300 Aerogel, or whatever Dunlop is calling their frames these days.

I'd always wondered how a player of Hass's ability who has always used a full-weighted frame could play with something as light as a 300 G. Unless they took a 300 G frame and drilled it for the more dense 200 G string pattern, which I doubt. Also, the frame looked a bit too thin for the 300.

This is odd. You would think that Dunlop would prefer to have Hass playing with the 200G, since he has always played with the full-weighted "pro" frames by Dunlop in the past.

Click to expand...

Technically, Gasquet's racquet is called the Head LM Instinct Tour XL...

Just wanted to get that in, hope you don't mind :wink:...

Did the Tour XL have the same string pattern as the normal Instinct, or does it have 16 mains?

Vincent Spadea Prince Original Graphite = real deal, and G.O.A.T racquet

Mace said:

You think he would want a contract but I believe he is prevented from a new contract because he has to have the double bridge and that would be visible even with a PJ. I suspect he is playing with the old flat beam double bridge classic from years ago. That was a true player's frame. I don't remember the model but it has been around a long time.

Click to expand...

No, I think he still uses a More Control MP with a PJ.

racquet_jedi said:

Technically, Gasquet's racquet is called the Head LM Instinct Tour XL...

Just wanted to get that in, hope you don't mind :wink:...

Did the Tour XL have the same string pattern as the normal Instinct, or does it have 16 mains?

Click to expand...

You are correct with the nomenclature. Thanks. I own about four of them. I don't play my best tennis with them... but hey, I'm a Gasquet fan.

The string pattern is 16 mains on the Tour XL and 18 mains on the regular Instinct. Not sure about the number of crosses. Probably 16 X 19 vs. 18 X 20. But the Tour model is indeed heavier, about 11.8 ounces... an even 12 if you add an overgrip and string dampener... and because of the extra length it has a fairly high swingweight. It's no "tweener" racquet. I find it heavier and bulkier to swing than your typical 12 ounce 27-inch "player's stick." You really need to be pretty strong to use the XL Tour Instinct. But it does have a lot of power. I can see how Gasquet can rally so well from 15 feet behind the baseline and even bust winners from there with this stick.

Mace said:

You think he would want a contract but I believe he is prevented from a new contract because he has to have the double bridge and that would be visible even with a PJ. I suspect he is playing with the old flat beam double bridge classic from years ago. That was a true player's frame. I don't remember the model but it has been around a long time.

Click to expand...

he's using a 28 in. tt warrior.....