question to those say pros apply only the new paintjob to their racquet.

not to tease or call you guys liars

but just pure curiosity



how can you guys be so sure that people like Federer or Nadal only uses only the paintjob for their new racquets?

some posts below even claim string is also altered which is completely different kind as it should


has there been some proof? or is it just assumtion?

again just curious that some of you claim that as proven fact

let me know~

If you narrow your topic down to a single person you don't believe is using a paint job, then we can show you the distinctions between the racquet they are using and the paintjob.

the person can be either Fed or Nadal

bluemagic said:

not to tease or call you guys liars

but just pure curiosity



how can you guys be so sure that people like Federer or Nadal only uses only the paintjob for their new racquets?

some posts below even claim string is also altered which is completely different kind as it should


has there been some proof? or is it just assumtion?

again just curious that some of you claim that as proven fact

let me know~

Click to expand...

If pros are so anal they need 2-3 freshly strung racquets at the very pound of tension just for practice you really think they switch to the new "technology" of racquets?


They never switch racquets and I find it quite silly that people think pros switch racquets. People have posted pictures of Nadal and Roddicks racquets both cortexs are painted on.

On Karlovics racquets you can see the flexpoints still in it. On Gasquets rackets he's still using a Liquid metal instinct because you can see the head of the racquet is more egg shaped instead of a cicle like the extreme.

There's tons more but don't feel like taking the time for all top 200 pros.

I just read the first post in this forum that dealt with my question

and downtheline sort of made a good explanation

which couldve been better without teasing in saturday morning but still;;

thanks!

-PL

I didn't mean to poke fun.

DownTheLine said:

If pros are so anal they need 2-3 freshly strung racquets at the very pound of tension just for practice you really think they switch to the new "technology" of racquets?


They never switch racquets and I find it quite silly that people think pros switch racquets. People have posted pictures of Nadal and Roddicks racquets both cortexs are painted on.

On Karlovics racquets you can see the flexpoints still in it. On Gasquets rackets he's still using a Liquid metal instinct because you can see the head of the racquet is more egg shaped instead of a cicle like the extreme.

There's tons more but don't feel like taking the time for all top 200 pros.

Click to expand...

But that shows at some point a few years ago Karlovic did switch to the flexpoints (which few others did, but he saw something that made him switch--there were no flexpoints in Head racquet till mid 00s...) Hewitt really switched racquet two years ago and has apparently switched back. Djokovic really switched to a Speed Pro. So to say "they never switch racquets" is obviously an overstatement. And we really don't know what's under the paint of Fed's racquet--the new versions of the Wilson Prostaff 90 look very much like the older, so it's tough to say for sure, the honest answer is only Wilson reps really know what's under the paint.

Lots of folks made a big deal of Dimitrov playing a PC600, but then someone posted a pic of his racquet showing the TGK 237.1 throat code--a pro room MG Prestige. Everyone insisted Donald Young was playing a PT57a and then a pic surfaced a year or so ago of him with a TGK throat code in his MG radical, like a TGK 233.3, some pro room version of a MG radical, which is what the paint was...

This is really a fair question. I've lurked on this board for quite a while and seen very little proof of many of the claims made. Where there is proof like throat codes for Head racquets (thanks for that Head!) it shows that many pros do play PJ of older models like the PT57a, but some really switch to the model they're supposed to be playing. It's probably a majority that play PJ, but there seems to be some evidence that a substantial minority of pros really do switch, more than I think gets credited by the "experts" on here... and the differences between a k model prostaff and a blx are really much more slight than most credit. Good review of the current Prestige mid by TW staff who actually got all 10 Prestige models (and predecessors) and said there is very little difference between them...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Djokovic has never used a real Speed Pro in match play. He did really switch back to a HEAD racquet but not a real Speed. You can search my post on Djokovic's racquet.

Young did for a very short time did use TGK231.3 But is now happily back to his superior PT57A.


Dimitrov has switched from HEAD MG Prestige Mid (TGK237.1) to the Wilson BLX 90. At the very least testing it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox97-DQdm00

vsbabolat said:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Djokovic has never used a real Speed Pro in match play. You can search my post on Djokovic's racquet.

Young did for a very short time did use TGK231.3 But is now happily back to his superior PT57A.

Dimitrov has switched from HEAD MG Prestige Mid (TGK237.1) to the Wilson BLX 90. Who knows if it will stick.

Click to expand...

I have recently been playing with the pt57a, with gut mains alu power cross. This stick is designed to play better at high speeds ala pro swing speed. The feel is soft. The harder you hit, it is still soft, (think a stick of firm taffy), but firms up with increased mass/acceleration applied to the string bed, and the ball seems to sit there even at very high mass/acc. The feel is identical from stick to stick. I have strung 3 of 8, and all three are absolutely identical in their feel. Of course, the wt/bal. pts are also identical. Even when I changed the grommet guards, the feel is the same. So I've been trying to play with babolats for years, about ten now, and have always suffered with touch/consistency. These have amazing touch, and far more natural volleys. Serves are fine, when mass is added. You can see Tsonga suffer with the bab, when his touch shots fail. He slams the raquet in his hand, in disgust.

^^^^
You do know that the PT57A came out in 1993.

I know because I held Roddick's racket in my hand in Cincy and could see that the cortex was just black paint and wasn't the real cortex system.

vsbabolat said:

Young did for a very short time did use TGK231.3 But is now happily back to his superior PT57A.

Click to expand...

Interesting. Assuming that both are pro stock, made in Head's pro room to a standard far above commercially sold racquets, etc., what makes the PT57A superior to the TGK231.3?

All of the higher ranked pro's use custom-made rackets. Those who think that they indeed use the stuff they are endorsing (and get payed gazillions of $$$$$$$$$$$ to advertise) are being delusional.

It's exactly the same as in the music business. You don't really believe that buying a 777 green Ibanez Jem guitar makes you play like Steve Vai, okay?

A lot of the time members of the forum have either held, or own certain pro's rackets. Which kind of let's them see that they're not what they say they are. I even own a few, some of them aren't even subtly different from the racket they're supposed to be.

If paintjob frames don't exist with the pro's then explain the Flexpoint paintjobs and the Liquidmetal paintjobs that are found all over. There are many of us that own paintjob frames so why is it so hard to believe. It is common knowledge that Nadal has no cortex.

Also - even if someone is playing with the actual model, the frame is so customized by technicians that you would never recognize the frame but for the paint. For example, if I can take a new racquet, obviously change the weight, change the handle, change the balance, change the length, modify to composition (for certain players), change the string drilling pattern, etc., does it really matter what I started with?

So which racket is Federer really using then?

When he was "supposedly" using the ncode and the kfactor, you could notice that the buttcap of his rackets was not the same as the ones you buy on the store; his buttcap would have a white W with a red background, so I heard some say this was proof that he was not using either one of those.

Note: I do not know how the buttcap of the ncode you buy at the store is, since they don't seem to have that racket anymore here in tenniswarehouse and I couldn't find any picture of it either, but I do know that the buttcap of the kfactor you buy is not the same as Federer's: the kfactor's is a silver W with a black background and Federer's wasn't.

But now, with the BLX, you can see that the buttcap that appears on the racket he is using, is the exact same one as the racket you can buy at the store; they both have a black W with a gold background.

Cross-court said:

So which racket is Federer really using then?

When he was "supposedly" using the ncode and the kfactor, you could notice that the buttcap of his rackets was not the same as the ones you buy on the store; his buttcap would have a white W with a red background, so I heard some say this was proof that he was not using either one of those.

Note: I do not know how the buttcap of the ncode you buy at the store is, since they don't seem to have that racket anymore here in tenniswarehouse and I couldn't find any picture of it either, but I do know that the buttcap of the kfactor you buy is not the same as Federer's: the kfactor's is a silver W with a black background and Federer's wasn't.

But now, with the BLX, you can see that the buttcap that appears on the racket he is using, is the exact same one as the racket you can buy at the store; they both have a black W with a gold background.

Click to expand...

For the buttcap, his customizing and stringing service Priority 1 had a bunch of the old buttcaps from wilson. They had a lot leftover, so they just put those on fed's racket.

Fed is using a pj tho

Wes_Loves_Dunlop said:

For the buttcap, his customizing and stringing service Priority 1 had a bunch of the old buttcaps from wilson. They had a lot leftover, so they just put those on fed's racket.

Click to expand...

So Federer specifically asked to keep the old buttcap just for his rackets? Why?

pant jobs

I can only think of a couple of players in the top 20 who use the frame their paint job represents.

Cross-court said:

So Federer specifically asked to keep the old buttcap just for his rackets? Why?

Click to expand...

Top players notice a difference in their hand if they go swinging something different. Federer knows this and obviously enjoys the feel of the older buttcaps much better