Who thinks Fed would play better with a 95" racquet?

P

pow

Hall of Fame
Rabbit said:
I get Darkulie's anaology and agree with it. For Sampras not winning the French, it wasn't his frame as much as it was a) bad luck, b) bad preparation (most years), and c) bad match ups. Sampras' game was not really suited to the French and guys whose names ended in vowels who came out of the woodwork.

Granted the French's surface has changed from the first time Sampras played until now. Pat Cash made reference to this when interviewed on the Tennis Channel during coverage last year. Cash noted that the surface didn't have the hard slate under it, that it was much more mushy and soft than today. He also noted that they used pressureless balls then compared to the more lively balls now. So, Sampras may have really struggled at first and pretty much written the tournament off when he became the pre-emminent grass court player of his era. Much like Borg skipped the French to prepare for Wimbledon, Sampras really phoned in much of his clay court season.

While Sampras has noted that he may have done better with a bigger racket, he also says that if his kids played tennis, they would be taught and grow up playing with wood as that is the only way to learn proper technique. Please don't flame me personally as these are Sampras' words and not my interpretation. So, Sampras is playing both sides of the fence on this one.

Again, I agree that Sampras' racket had little to do with his failure at the French based on what I saw and heard during his professional career.
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Exactly! People can't seem to understand that the player behind the frame is what wins the grand slams.

People are putting too much credit and blame on racquets. In their minds, the next time someone wins a slam, the trophy will be presented to the racquet!
 
Richie Rich

Richie Rich

Legend
RoddickistheMan said:
I remember some guy asking me to post some evidence of pete sampras stating his regret about not switching to a bigger frame sooner in his career. Well heres the evidence.
"I regret it a lot, I do," he said. "Especially on the clay, I would have loved to put the bigger racquet with the sort of string everyone's using, you can get so much power from way beyond the court. The combination is incredible. I used a small racquet with the same specs my whole career, and at the end it started to catch up with me -- I'm playing Roddick with the big Babolat racquet, serving 140. I believe federer will be in this same situation soon as he continues to age. He will need to rely on more power since his mobility will steadily decline.
http://tennisworld.typepad.com/travelblogue/2008/02/san-jose-sampra.html
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drakulie said:
Sampras' problems on clay were not his frame of choice, but rather his game not being suited to beat the baseline grinders of those days on that slow surface.
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drak, i understand what you are saying but when sampras himself questions his racquet choice there has to be something there. sure, his game wasn't suited to clay. but the racquet may have exaggerated that. it is a possibility isn't it? i don't think he's making up an excuse.
 
Richie Rich

Richie Rich

Legend
BreakPoint said:
....they have different styles of play.....
Again, the racquet was not the issue for Sampras.
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see post 285. sampras felt, for some reason, mental or otherwise, that the racquet MIGHT have made a difference. he had regrets for not changing something. those are his thoughts. why should anyone here discount that? who's got a better perspective on the issue than the world's greatest player?
 
Richie Rich

Richie Rich

Legend
BreakPoint said:
Again, the racquet was not the issue for Sampras.
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by the way, in the article, sampras doesn't mention once that he would have changed his style of play. he focussed on the racquet and what benefits that MAY have provided. even his coach mentioned he should try a different racquet and said nothing about changing the way he played.

if the racquet wasn't the issue why did he chose to focus on talking about racquet choice and not his style of game?
 
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AlpineCadet

AlpineCadet

Hall of Fame
The bigger head size will give him a bigger sweet spot and more power/spin. More room for error/slight miss hits would also be a benefit.
 
Rabbit

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
I went on to the ATP site last night and put together Sampras' clay court prepartions year by year from 2002 - 1993. The post was unfortnately deleted.

Sampras averaged 6 matches a year in preparation for the French. Given that it was not even close to being his favorite surface, I don't think this is even close to enough time on the dirt.

Sampras was also looking past the French every year to....the big W. He was the odds on favorite there and looking to break records. IMO, he thought he had a much better chance at Wimbledon and because of that and clay being so slow, I pretty much think he just dialed in his clay court season. If you look back, he played hard court events and then maybe two clay court events.

It wasn't that he couldn't win on clay as evidenced by his victory in DC over Kafelnikov in Moscow. But I really believe that his motivation was Wimbledon, not Paris. Further, I think now he realizes that 7 Wimbledons is great, but 1 French and 5 Wimbledons may have made him an undisputable GOAT.

Why does he blame his racket? Same reason we do. He, like us, would rather look for any other reason than an inward one to blame a failure on. Fact is, his rackets were probably finer tuned to him than most pros and he wouldn't have done as well with a bigger frame. But, then again, Sampras in his prime could probably serve most everyone off the court with anything. Problem was for him, most anyone didn't include Agassi or Kraijcek, or Safin, or whoever was in the top 10. It does no good to beat 6 guys at a Grand Slam...
 
AlpineCadet

AlpineCadet

Hall of Fame
Rabbit said:
Why does he blame his racket? Same reason we do. He, like us, would rather look for any other reason than an inward one to blame a failure on. Fact is, his rackets were probably finer tuned to him than most pros and he wouldn't have done as well with a bigger frame.
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That's pure speculation since you are actually looking "inward" from your own perspective. Don't think otherwise. Also, Sampras has talked about age being an issue for his power game, and I'm sure he knows more about his own needs than you do.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
I have to agree (reluctantly) that Sampras repeatedly harping on the advantages of his new bigger racquet is a way of saying that he could have played much better and won the French if he had access to this before. His peers like Courier and commentators repeat it like a parrot, probably to imply it was also the case with them.
 
AlpineCadet

AlpineCadet

Hall of Fame
They obviously were stubborn and stuck with a demanding frame that was taxing on their games. Their hindsight proves that.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
AlpineCadet said:
They obviously were stubborn and stuck with a demanding frame that was taxing on their games. Their hindsight proves that.
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Or they are trying to make themselves look better. "If I had Internet when I was growing up, I would be far more intelligent."
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
Richie Rich said:
by the way, in the article, sampras doesn't mention once that he would have changed his style of play. he focussed on the racquet and what benefits that MAY have provided. even his coach mentioned he should try a different racquet and said nothing about changing the way he played.

if the racquet wasn't the issue why did he chose to focus on talking about racquet choice and not his style of game?
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He wasn't going to change his style of play at that stage of his career, thus, he may have been looking for other "solutions". But that wouldn't have worked anyway as his biggest problem was his style of play, his inability to move on clay as well as the dirtballers, and his blood condition which made him ill suited to playing long grinding matches on slow red clay.

Some people were just meant to win the French, while others were just not, and it has nothing to do with their racquets. Europeans and South Americans who grew up playing on red clay and learned how to move on the the stuff stand a much better chance of winning the French than someone like Sampras who grew up playing on the hardcourts of Southern California and never felt comfortable moving on clay. Guys like Nadal, Muster, and Kuerten were groomed to win the French from the day they first picked up a racquet. Guys like Sampras, Rafter, and Henman were not. That's just a fact of life and it had nothing to do with their racquets.

Just ask Roddick or Blake if they think their racquets are the reason they can't get past the early rounds at the French. I'm pretty sure they'll tell you it's the movement.
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
AlpineCadet said:
The bigger head size will give him a bigger sweet spot and more power/spin. More room for error/slight miss hits would also be a benefit.
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Then why didn't Courier also think a bigger racquet would be a benefit for him as well? Wouldn't his baseline bashing style of play benefit him even more? Yet, he still won two French Opens and made the final of a third, and stuck with his 85 sq. in. racquet throughout his entire career and even into the seniors tour (only last year did he finally switch).
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
BreakPoint said:
Just ask Roddick or Blake if they think their racquets are the reason they can't get past the early rounds at the French. I'm pretty sure they'll tell you it's the movement.
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Both of them play with big racquets already, so they are not going to mention that.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Richie Rich said:
drak, i understand what you are saying but when sampras himself questions his racquet choice there has to be something there.
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Like I said earlier, and rabbit and Breakpoint have pointed out>>> it's an excuse.

Again, no frame in the history of tennis was going to magically make Sampras a baseline basher. None. ZERO.

He had to change his style. Period.

Here is an example for you. When you have a type of opponent you can't beat, lets say a serve and volleyer, do you go to the tennis store and ask them for a list of frames to beat serve and volleyers??? Or if you can't beat a pusher, do you ask them for a list of frames to beat pushers?? The answer is no, because there is no such thing.

Only way for you to beat these type of players is to change your strategy. Not your frame, or strings, or shoes, or cap.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Design a new 95 si racquet for Federer to revamp his game

You need to specify length, static weight, balance, swing weight, composition, string pattern, stiffness.
 
nickb

nickb

Banned
Length - 30 inches.
Weight - 129g unstrung
Balance - 22.4567801pts head heavy
Swing Weight - 98
Composition - 100% AEROGEL
String pattern - 8 M, 10 C
Siffness - 345RA
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
Here's one that I think would be perfect for Federer:

K61T90.JPG


http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpageRCWILSON-K61T90.html


:)
 
s7evin

s7evin

Rookie
Stop posting these ***************** threads which indicates that pro's don't know how, or with what to play tennis!
 
s7evin

s7evin

Rookie
405230329_06e18f141d.jpg


This is fed's home now that he read all this stuff, unfortunately he can't fit the racket through the door so he hangs it outside.
I heard that he's going for the French next year with this baby THE Volkson KDNX Tour 100K90.
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
He should start with the stock K95 (make sure it really has stock specs LOL) and proceed from there.
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or maybe you shuold let the pro decide what the pro wants to use, instead of pretending to know what might possibly work better for him, since you know absolutely everything about federer. right?
 
Andres

Andres

G.O.A.T.
Take the ProStaff 6.1 Classic and add an extra string to make it 16 x 19.

PS6.1 + 16x19 = Best stick EVER!
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
proracketeer said:
%E5%8E%82%E8%B4%A7K%20SIX-ONE%2090-1.JPG
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Wow!!! Where did you find this? That looks to be a PS 6.0 95 with the K90/K95 paintjob. It's the first time I've seen one. I've seen the PS 6.0 95 with the PS Tour 90/95 and with the nCode 90/95 paintjobs on them and I figured they must have made them with the K90/K95 paintjob too as many people still love this racquet, but this is the first time I've seen it.

So where can I get one of these? :)
 
proracketeer

proracketeer

Professional
BreakPoint said:
Wow!!! Where did you find this? That looks to be a PS 6.0 95 with the K90/K95 paintjob. It's the first time I've seen one. I've seen the PS 6.0 95 with the PS Tour 90/95 and with the nCode 90/95 paintjobs on them and I figured they must have made them with the K90/K95 paintjob too as many people still love this racquet, but this is the first time I've seen it.

So where can I get one of these? :)
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Made in China.
 
the Town Sherif

the Town Sherif

Semi-Pro
round beams first straight beams, flares at the throats versus straight non-flares, weight distribution, thickness in beam...but other than all that, they are exactly the same.
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
sureshs said:
So some guy (other than Wilson) painted this as a K90 for fun? Or was it something that Wilson really put out?
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Wilson does this for their sponsored pros that want to still play with the PS 6.0 95, just they they paintjob other older racquets with current models' paintjobs. However, I understand that this seller had these paintjobs done by an outside source and not by Wilson.
 
S

Samperer

Rookie
BreakPoint said:
I know that's how he advertises it. But my source tells me that it's actually a REAL PS 6.0 95 with a K90 paintjob.
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BP this isnt a PS95. I also bought the same model off the auction site for about £8! Its looking a little worse for wear these days but heres a pic. the beam was about 22m, it weighed about 310 strung and had a 16*19 string (even tho the frame said 16*18!). the bumper/gromet was awful quality and the I dont think the strings had been done on a machine, reckon someone had just pulled them as tight as they could!!!

DSC00006.jpg
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
Samperer said:
BP this isnt a PS95. I also bought the same model off the auction site for about £8! Its looking a little worse for wear these days but heres a pic. the beam was about 22m, it weighed about 310 strung and had a 16*19 string (even tho the frame said 16*18!). the bumper/gromet was awful quality and the I dont think the strings had been done on a machine, reckon someone had just pulled them as tight as they could!!!
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Hmmm...but both your pic of your broken racquet and the pic above clearly show a 16x18 string pattern.

Here's the above pic again:

%E5%8E%82%E8%B4%A7K%20SIX-ONE%2090-1.JPG
 
S

Samperer

Rookie
It must have been the other way around then, said 16*19 but actually had 16*18, my point was that it did match. It also came with a very thin/cheap syn grey grip, and a fake almost see through wilson dumbie. the full length case did not even match up to wilsons poor quality control! If i'd have kept it i would have sent it to you to!
 
RFRF

RFRF

Semi-Pro
s7evin said:
405230329_06e18f141d.jpg


This is fed's home now that he read all this stuff, unfortunately he can't fit the racket through the door so he hangs it outside.
I heard that he's going for the French next year with this baby THE Volkson KDNX Tour 100K90.
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Great photo, that one of the best tennis stores in the world!!!
 
el sergento

el sergento

Hall of Fame
I already designed and named his new racquet:

The Wilson ProStaff ******* Classic - 75si, 18oz, 20pts hl ;)

I did the same for Nadal:

Babolat SpinMonkey 2000 Wimbledon 2008 special edition (green and purple) - 220si, 6oz, 12pts hh

From this thread: http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=215190&highlight=*******+classic&page=2
 
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