Wilson kPS 88 Review

A

alu16L

Rookie
I've had this racket for the past couple of days and have spent about 4 hours playing with it so here is my review of this highly anticipated stick.

My Background - I'm a teaching pro and get to play test many rackets ranging from Yonex RQiS 1 XL UL to Wilson Kobra Tour. My regular racket is Wilson kBlade 98 (sw 340, 338.5 g, 329 mm) with some customizations, strung with Luxilon Alu 16L at 50 pounds.

First Impression - Since I caught the first glimpse of this new arrival on the forums, I couldn’t wait to try it out and compare it to PS85 and its other versions, including k6.1 Tour 90 US and Asian additions. This frame’s cosmetics are a clever combo of old school red and yellow stripes and the kFactor signature outline patterns. At first look I was very impressed, but after having it around for the past couple of days it just doesn't stand up to the original classic. Another cool retro reference is the white butt cap with a red Wilson logo. Once you have the frame in your hand, two things will stand out right away - the heavy, but comfortable swing weight and a very substantial pick up weight of 371.5 grams! The Wilson leather grip and Pro Overgrip provide lots of feed back on all shots and allow for very precise racket control. Overall I would rate this frame's at 9/10 in this department.

Test Drive - Once the racket was examined and its specs measured (sw 350, 371.5 g, 322 mm) it was time to hit! This racket was strung with Wilson's new hollow core string at 56 pounds, which turned out to be surprisingly comfortable and controllable. Starting with some light hitting at the baseline it will take you a few shots to figure out that the sweet spot is about 1.5 inches lower than most of the rackets out today, but once you figure this out you will find this frame to be pretty playable. It feels very stable on all shots, but most notably on half volleys and volleys and my personal favorite - delicate drop shots from all areas of the court. Ground strokes and returns felt very controllable and pretty consistent, but because of its weight I did lose some racket head speed and spin. Overall, I hit the ball harder than my kBlade 98, but not quite as consistent and with less movement. Serves felt great with lots of precision and pretty good power. I did lose about 5 mps of my usual speed, but its control makes up for less power with superb placement. The only down side to this frame is that most recreational players are not conditioned to handling such heavy stick over two or three sets of tennis. In this category, here is how it scored:

Power - 7/10
Control - 10/10
Topspin Groundstrokes - 8/10
Flat Groundstrokes - 8/10
Transition Shots - 8/10
Sliced Backhand - 10/10
Volleys - 10/10
Half Volleys - 10/10
Serve Power - 8/10
Serve Placement - 10/10
Overheads - 9/10

Conclusion - in order to compete well with this stick you'll have to be a very good attacking player in fit shape and great hand-eye coordination. On another hand, it is stable enough to bring some good results to players with NTRP of 4.5 and above. To truly understand this racket, you have to experience it for yourself. The official release is scheduled around 1/25/09, but to those of you who are interested enough in trying it out and won't mind spending a couple of minutes to research which local authorized Wilson dealers and clubs have gotten the already released early demos. If you ask them the right way, I'm sure they will grant your request and you will be able to appreciate it for yourself. It's final overall grade - 9/10.
 
D

downdaline

Professional
Im surprised that it rated highly in the spin department.

Have you tried the original prostaffs or the k90? Any similarities in feel?
 
J

jrod

Hall of Fame
alu16L said:
Power - 7/10
Control - 10/10
Topspin Groundstrokes - 8/10
Flat Groundstrokes - 8/10
Transition Shots - 8/10
Sliced Backhand - 10/10
Volleys - 10/10
Half Volleys - 10/10
Serve Power - 8/10
Serve Placement - 10/10
Overheads - 9/10
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I've not tried this stick but you rated it precisely how I would rate the k90. How did it compare to the k90 in your opinion? What did it do better/worse?
 
N

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
alu16L said:
Conclusion - in order to compete well with this stick you'll have to be a very good attacking player in fit shape and great hand-eye coordination. On another hand, it is stable enough to bring some good results to players with NTRP of 4.5 and above. .
Click to expand...

Great review...I would add that racquets like these are not only usually best suited for advanced players, but also advanced players with milder grips and a less steep angle of attack, and more traditional precision shotmaking.

Odd the sweetzone is located lower in the stringbed than other racquets...this may partially explain why the serving was less than your best w. it as better players tend to hit their serves higher in the stringbed. personally I wouldnt care to try and adjust my swings to accomodate a sweetzone located in a new place...that would be a very difficult adjustment for this 5.0. I think this is why people who love Yonex tend to stick w. Yonex and why those who have played something else for a long time, tend to stick w. other brands. the Yonnies are generally unique I think.

Also, by giving this racquet a 10 on control, I presume you mean directional control and not depth control, as this would be a very demanding racquet to control depth with

Pro_Tour_630 said:
finally a nice review
Click to expand...

I agree...this is a good review which doesnt appear to be coloured by the mystique. There actually was another good one some while ago.
 
Last edited:
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
It is said that the smaller the head, higher the sweetspot (in absolute measurement from the butt). Maybe the 1.5 in lower sweetspot is a deliberate design to make the absolute location the same?
 
N

NoBadMojo

G.O.A.T.
sureshs said:
It is said that the smaller the head, higher the sweetspot (in absolute measurement from the butt). Maybe the 1.5 in lower sweetspot is a deliberate design to make the absolute location the same?
Click to expand...

people who said that seem to have forgotten that quite usually smaller headsizes also have correspondingly smaller sweetzones..i would think this would be a wash at best

before people jump in w. the usual stuff comparing their serves to Sampras and stating how great Sampras served w. a frame like this so therefore these must be great serving frames, they should consider that samps racquets were heavily customized and weighted, as is his version of this new frame. the days of very headlight racquets have been on the wane for some while now at advanced levels
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
vkartikv said:
Prostaffs, in general, have a lower sweetspot. This is nothing new..
Click to expand...

Wonder if you can raise the sweet spot by doing the staggered tension. like 58/56 or 56/54 lbs. this works on Yonex, but not sure about wilson. and i can personally tell the lower sweetspot especially on wide running shots. it seems like i lose some power.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Fedace said:
and i can personally tell the lower sweetspot especially on wide running shots. it seems like i lose some power.
Click to expand...

Everyone loses power when is stretched out. Nothing to do with you realizing you missed the "sweetspot" by an inch. :roll:
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
drakulie said:
Everyone loses power when is stretched out. Nothing to do with you realizing you missed the "sweetspot" by an inch. :roll:
Click to expand...

Have you seen Federer's running forehand, it doesn't look like he is losing any power to me. if anything, he hits it harder. and as for me, i meant, compared to my Yonex tour-2 which is 1/2 inch longer and has higher sweetspot.
 
T

TennisD

Professional
drakulie said:
personally, I don't believe someone could tell if they are hitting the ball one inch higher/lower in the string bed. BS if you ask me.
Click to expand...
One inch? Perhaps not, but I'd say that it's not too hard to tell whether the sweet spot of the racquet is higher or lower, even by that small of a margin.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
^^^^ I agree about knowing if the sweet spot is higher in the string bed middle or lower.


However,
if player's senses were that fine-tuned, to knowing they are missing a certain spot on the string bed by an inch>>>> then that also means they are hitting that very same spot 95 out of 100times????? If this is the case, then one only needs a stringbed the size of a tennis ball.

Remember, a frame typically has 90, 95, 100, or 105 inch stringbed, etc

This means that they know where they are hitting the ball within one inch out of 90, 95, 100, or 105 square inches. I call BS>
 
T

TennisD

Professional
drakulie said:
^^^^ I agree about knowing if the sweet spot is higher in the string bed middle or lower.


However,
if player's senses were that fine-tuned, to knowing they are missing a certain spot on the string bed by an inch>>>> then that also means they are hitting that very same spot 95 out of 100times????? If this is the case, then one only needs a stringbed the size of a tennis ball.
Click to expand...
In most cases yes, but not true for all. I know a few people with excellent feel in terms of ball-contact and so on that aren't great players. But for the most part, I'd agree that the majority of people won't be able to tell two non-sweet-spot hitting zones an inch apart from one another, unless one is at the an extreme part of the stringbed.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
^^^Right and Wrong. By Missing the sweetspot by inch or two, you can tell where the sweet spot is. if you hit the same spot everytime then you wouldn't know what it would be like to miss the spot.
on the run, if you are late, you tend to hit the ball higher on the stringbed so i would help if sweetspot was higher.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
TennisD said:
In most cases yes, but not true for all. I know a few people with excellent feel in terms of ball-contact and so on that aren't great players. But for the most part, I'd agree that the majority of people won't be able to tell two non-sweet-spot hitting zones an inch apart from one another, unless one is at the an extreme part of the stringbed.
Click to expand...

An expirement was done a few years back with pros on the ATP tour.

They got the pros frame, strung it up at their preferred tension. Then got two more of the pros frames, and strung those up >>>>> one a few pounds lighter, and the other a few pounds tighter. Not one pro was able to pick which frame was the one with "their preferred tension". Not one.

now posters are babbling on about knowing if they hit the frame an inch higher/lower in their seetspot???? :roll:

Additioinally, they noted that the lower tension **MIGHT** provide one mile per hour more on shots. One MPH. yet, posters on here are saying they could tell "they are hitting the ball with more pace when they lower their tension??? Again>>> BS>

No human being has the capability of distinguihing this.

I suppose people are out there playing and saying, "oh, I hit the ball 70 mph with 1000 rpms of spin on that shot because I hit it one inch lower in my preferred spot. If I would have hit it one inch higher, I would have hit that shot 71 mph, and with 1001 rpm's of spin."

Blah.

Again>>> BS.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
I can tell cause i experimented with different sweetspots. strung one yonex to 56/54 to raise the sweetspot and make it bigger and strung the other one at same tension 54/54. i got more power off the 56/54 tension frame on the serves and more spin too.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
^^^Seriously. You didn't. Absolutely impossible for a human being to tell if they are hitting a serve (in your case) one mile per hour faster with a different string tension.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
^^Ok, i admit that i didn't have the radar gun to measure it. but i have very sensitive feel and touch. and i could tell the serve was taking spin so much better like bending and curving more. and zipping thru the court faster.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
^^^Whatever. It has proven been proven (scientifcally thru expirment), that lowering tension **MIGHT** ( not will) provide only 1 mph more.
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Legend
Fedace said:
^^How do you know ?? i didn't see you there watching me experiment ??
Click to expand...

no one watched you experiment with the bag covering the strings to protect them from the grips moisture, only a person with an IQ of 35 would believe that.
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Legend
alu16L said:
I've had this racket for the past couple of days and have spent about 4 hours playing with it so here is my review of this highly anticipated stick.

My Background - I'm a teaching pro and get to play test many rackets ranging from Yonex RQiS 1 XL UL to Wilson Kobra Tour. My regular racket is Wilson kBlade 98 (sw 340, 338.5 g, 329 mm) with some customizations, strung with Luxilon Alu 16L at 50 pounds.

First Impression - Since I caught the first glimpse of this new arrival on the forums, I couldn’t wait to try it out and compare it to PS85 and its other versions, including k6.1 Tour 90 US and Asian additions. This frame’s cosmetics are a clever combo of old school red and yellow stripes and the kFactor signature outline patterns. At first look I was very impressed, but after having it around for the past couple of days it just doesn't stand up to the original classic. Another cool retro reference is the white butt cap with a red Wilson logo. Once you have the frame in your hand, two things will stand out right away - the heavy, but comfortable swing weight and a very substantial pick up weight of 371.5 grams! The Wilson leather grip and Pro Overgrip provide lots of feed back on all shots and allow for very precise racket control. Overall I would rate this frame's at 9/10 in this department.

Test Drive - Once the racket was examined and its specs measured (sw 350, 371.5 g, 322 mm) it was time to hit! This racket was strung with Wilson's new hollow core string at 56 pounds, which turned out to be surprisingly comfortable and controllable. Starting with some light hitting at the baseline it will take you a few shots to figure out that the sweet spot is about 1.5 inches lower than most of the rackets out today, but once you figure this out you will find this frame to be pretty playable. It feels very stable on all shots, but most notably on half volleys and volleys and my personal favorite - delicate drop shots from all areas of the court. Ground strokes and returns felt very controllable and pretty consistent, but because of its weight I did lose some racket head speed and spin. Overall, I hit the ball harder than my kBlade 98, but not quite as consistent and with less movement. Serves felt great with lots of precision and pretty good power. I did lose about 5 mps of my usual speed, but its control makes up for less power with superb placement. The only down side to this frame is that most recreational players are not conditioned to handling such heavy stick over two or three sets of tennis. In this category, here is how it scored:

Power - 7/10
Control - 10/10
Topspin Groundstrokes - 8/10
Flat Groundstrokes - 8/10
Transition Shots - 8/10
Sliced Backhand - 10/10
Volleys - 10/10
Half Volleys - 10/10
Serve Power - 8/10
Serve Placement - 10/10
Overheads - 9/10

Conclusion - in order to compete well with this stick you'll have to be a very good attacking player in fit shape and great hand-eye coordination. On another hand, it is stable enough to bring some good results to players with NTRP of 4.5 and above. To truly understand this racket, you have to experience it for yourself. The official release is scheduled around 1/25/09, but to those of you who are interested enough in trying it out and won't mind spending a couple of minutes to research which local authorized Wilson dealers and clubs have gotten the already released early demos. If you ask them the right way, I'm sure they will grant your request and you will be able to appreciate it for yourself. It's final overall grade - 9/10.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. Unlike some other BS poster (cough-Berg-cough) this seemed appropriate without the "fanfare". I was wondering about the SW compared to the K90 and PS 85. I know its higher, but did it actually feel like 350?
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
Azzurri said:
no one watched you experiment with the bag covering the strings to protect them from the grips moisture, only a person with an IQ of 35 would believe that.
Click to expand...

LOL,,,,Not believe, actually seen. i had my doubts about it when i was told this by the pro. since it was already in the bag after i got the freshly strung racket back,,,, i said what the heck,,,try it. so i just kept the bag and wrapped it with rubberband after i played, instead of throwing away the plastic. and you know what, Natural gut string stayed fresher.:):)
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
Azzurri said:
Thanks for the review. Unlike some other BS poster (cough-Berg-cough) this seemed appropriate without the "fanfare". I was wondering about the SW compared to the K90 and PS 85. I know its higher, but did it actually feel like 350?
Click to expand...

Once again, 100 % of your posts are antagonistic......how sad..:-?
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
drakulie said:
^^^^ I agree about knowing if the sweet spot is higher in the string bed middle or lower.


However,
if player's senses were that fine-tuned, to knowing they are missing a certain spot on the string bed by an inch>>>> then that also means they are hitting that very same spot 95 out of 100times????? If this is the case, then one only needs a stringbed the size of a tennis ball.

Remember, a frame typically has 90, 95, 100, or 105 inch stringbed, etc

This means that they know where they are hitting the ball within one inch out of 90, 95, 100, or 105 square inches. I call BS>
Click to expand...

2 things:

1. Head size is also about power (vibrating string area)

2. As I have analyzed before, a moving frame + moving target + angled hit (for slice/topspin) presents a very different condition compared to a static analysis where stringbed area = ball cross section is enough.
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
drakulie said:
^^^Whatever. It has proven been proven (scientifcally thru expirment), that lowering tension **MIGHT** ( not will) provide only 1 mph more.
Click to expand...

Correct. Ball rebound speed was found to be practically independent of tension. Only directional aspects are affected - lower tension can cause divergence in ball's emerging path, resulting in more "depth"
 
D

DJG

Semi-Pro
Good review - I liked it. I have to admit that I'm also a bit stumped by the sweetspot location statement, but then again, I cannot sing, cannot dance, have almost no coordination and can barely play this game, so I'm not judging.
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
sureshs said:
Correct. Ball rebound speed was found to be practically independent of tension. Only directional aspects are affected - lower tension can cause divergence in ball's emerging path, resulting in more "depth"
Click to expand...

then why on my serve, i get more power with lower tension than higher tension ?
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Re: these arguments about telling if SS is lower or higher - just get a can of new balls and note the places where the fluff sticks. Mine tend to stick slightly higher than the center. That tells you your common hitting area - now use your idea of whether you hit the SS most of the time to get a relative read.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
sureshs said:
Re: these arguments about telling if SS is lower or higher - just get a can of new balls and note the places where the fluff sticks. Mine tend to stick slightly higher than the center. That tells you your common hitting area - now use your idea of whether you hit the SS most of the time to get a relative read.
Click to expand...

That's one way. Another is to stencil the entire string bed and note where the paint wears out. Fedace probably wears out the paint on the entire string-bed... :)
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Fedace said:
then why on my serve, i get more power with lower tension than higher tension ?
Click to expand...

I have to admit that the studies were for rebound speed (ball was thrown at the strings, which is the standard methodology of determining power used by manufacturers, RSI and TWU). Serve is obviously different.

I don't know, but you have to ask yourself if the power was more or the depth was more. In groundstrokes, lower tensions produce more depth, which is mistaken for more power.

But your question is a great one for TW Professor if he is reading this (maybe TW staff can point it to him).
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
drakulie said:
That's one way. Another is to stencil the entire string bed and note where the paint wears out. Fedace probably wears out the paint on the entire string-bed... :)
Click to expand...

Aah but have you changed the experimental conditions? Sampras claimed that he could detect the weight of the stencil :)
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Legend
Fedace said:
LOL,,,,Not believe, actually seen. i had my doubts about it when i was told this by the pro. since it was already in the bag after i got the freshly strung racket back,,,, i said what the heck,,,try it. so i just kept the bag and wrapped it with rubberband after i played, instead of throwing away the plastic. and you know what, Natural gut string stayed fresher.:):)
Click to expand...

do you realize that any moisture in the air would be trapped in that bag? if anything it would be worse.
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Legend
Fedace said:
Once again, 100 % of your posts are antagonistic......how sad..:-?
Click to expand...

really? you exaggarate as usual. I thought Nadal_Freak and Conquistador were the most attacked posters on this forum. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion you are. Not all attacks mind you, some actually laugh at you.
 
Azzurri

Azzurri

Legend
drakulie said:
LMAO!!!!

maybe he has a "Ronko" device that sucks the air out. Like those bags they use to keep vegetables fresh.
Click to expand...

Now that is an idea. If Fedace used some type of apparatus that would vacuum seal the bags then he would have something.

Fedace: any chance you could vacuum seal the bags? I would think that would work much better at keeping any moisture from the string bed.

I just had an idea. Why not spray the strings with that sealant for leather jackets and shoes. They sell them at foot-locker and other clothing/shoe stores. Now this might take off! Fedace...what do you think?
 
Fedace

Fedace

Banned
Azzurri said:
do you realize that any moisture in the air would be trapped in that bag? if anything it would be worse.
Click to expand...

You just dont' get it.....You put the Rubberband wrapped around the above the handle,,NOT below it. thereby keeping moisture from handle reaching the strings. ohhhhh boy, why do i have to explain such things to a childish brain.???:???:
 
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