I also recall seeing somewhere that he was quite odd in his racquet set-up. He used a small grip on a very light racquet which was strung far looser than most other players at the time.
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Two different people here, myself included, have heard it commented on previously because it is an quite odd detail. If you know different we should find out somehow. (old racquets supposedly from pros aren't always reliable evidence imo - the number of times they turn out to be promo/charity giveaways and not the actual racquet used seems to be quite high)
. Safin is also 6.4, uses a 1/2 grip and his fingers look to be touching (or close to touching) his palm most of the time (certainly in the continental grip he uses for serves).
With regards to the Head frames...yes the Prestige Mids and MP's and the radical MP's are smaller than advertised, but that has nothing to do with being "measured" from the inside or outside of the frame, it has to do with marketing BS and round numbers.
The difference in area from measuring including the frame and excluding the frame (string bed only) would be far far far faaaaaaaaar larger than the 3-ish sq inches difference difference that actually exists between what's advertised and what's true.
With regards to Stich's grip size, I remember reading on the forum a guy who had his frames stating they were grip size 4 (4 1/2).
Also...have a look at this picture...I clearly see space between his fingers and palm...and he's a very tall guy with fairly big hands and long fingers.
Granted ... he might have gone up in size as he aged...but grip size 2 (4 1/4) is still hard to believe for me for a guy who's some 1.93 m...(Safin/Ivanisevic size).
Rafa is 1.85 m and he's "pushing it" with his small grip size. Stich's hands are significantly larger !
Makes sense.. I hear you on the big man/hands thing but I also considered it relative to the frame thickness.. Just looking at my other racquets here it doesn't look that big.
Here's another pic where the grip looks on the small side to me.
