Federer wont stick with the 98

The Meat

Hall of Fame
No.

He's going to switch back when the clay tournaments are over. I'm sure this was only a testing phase he might do for the next few years on clay exclusively.
 

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
No.

He's going to switch back when the clay tournaments are over. I'm sure this was only a testing phase he might do for the next few years on clay exclusively.

I can't say I agree. Pros don't switch frames around like that for different surfaces. if they find a racket they like, they stay with it. they only change string tension a little bit.
 

gplracer

Hall of Fame
Hard to say. If he feels he did not player better in this tournament he might switch back. I really do not see any difference.
 

Lambsscroll

Hall of Fame
Actually if he didn't have a bad back and played more tournaments to keep his timing in tuned he would be fine.
Edberg, Sampras, Courier with their PS 85 did fine against the other guys that were using 95,98,100 and whatever head size Aggasi was using.
 

gplracer

Hall of Fame
Actually if he didn't have a bad back and played more tournaments to keep his timing in tuned he would be fine.
Edberg, Sampras, Courier with their PS 85 did fine against the other guys that were using 95,98,100 and whatever head size Aggasi was using.

The game has changed today and the ball is traveling at a higher rate of speed. I think if the courts were faster like they used to be then Federer would have an easier time. He does not hit his serve quite as hard as some of the player today but it is still very accurate and most effective. If the courts were faster then it would be more about the serve and less about the groundstrokes. Edberg and Sampras ruled with their serves. It is harder to do that today and a racket that is more appropriate for ground strokes and has a bigger head has become the norm. The powers that be have decided that slowing the courts and the balls down is the best thing for tennis. They want the ground strokers like Nadal to rule the game. Please Nadal fans do not take this as a dig against him. He is a great player.
 

cork_screw

Hall of Fame
Oh boy. After that thread on he's switching, he's switching. Now you guys are starting to see the light. I wrote a few posts in the black out thread that you guys rush to judgement and giddy up on the train too quickly.

I said give him time and see how he feels about them after these two tournaments. I have a gut feeling he might switching to some other frame, or switch back. He played really badly against Florian Mayer, and Mayer isn't even top 10 material. In fact, in the previous meetings, Mayer never got more than 5 games against fed in any of the previous match ups, they were all routine victories. This time around he took a set away from fed and matched 5 games in the final set with a few breaks.

Federer did not look like any special player with that 98. He looked like an average joe tennis professional that shouldn't be in the top 5. He doesn't seem to be getting much control or that much court penetration. All his balls look like rally balls instead of those winners you're used to seeing him hit. Even if given say 10 tournaments, I think he would not peak much from what you saw today, I think he's pretty much plateaued with this 98 black frame. If I were fed, I would keep testing other frames, and before the USO I would switch back. For some reason, I feel if he played Mayer with his 90, he would have crushed him in straight sets. The rallies seem pretty long today and I'm used to fed ending the point in less than 5 strokes. Fed didn't have those go to spray winners you're used to seeing from him. Now people can say that he needs more time, but I don't know if you're going to see dramatic changes from now till US Open. People were expecting some sentinel on God Mode and I think everyone overblows everything just like how the internet wants us to.

Federer before the racquet switch, fed was worried about facing Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, and Berdych. With this black frame he should be afraid to face Florian Mayer. And I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound right. I don't know if he would even get to those guys before ousting out, if he sticks with this frame. Besides the erratic ball trajectory and the really ugly unforced errors, his ball didn't have penetration. It looked consistent at times when he wasn't hitting them 5 feet long, but other than that he was hitting rally balls. Not the rifle shots you're used to seeing from his 90 stick.

Don't want to say it, but we'll see what happens.

RIP man in black.
 
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The Meat

Hall of Fame
Oh boy. After that thread on he's switching, he's switching. Now you guys are starting to see the light. I wrote a few posts in the black out thread that you guys rush to judgement and giddy up on the train.

I said give him time and see how he feels about them after these two tournaments. I have a gut feeling he might switching to some other frame, or switch back. He played really badly against Florian Mayer, and Mayer isn't even top 10 material. In fact, in the previous meetings, Mayer never got more than 5 games against fed. This time around he took a set away from fed and matched 5 games in the final set with a few breaks.

Federer did not look like any special player with that 98. He looked like an average joe tennis professional that shouldn't be in the top 5. He doesn't seem to be getting much control or that much court penetration. All his balls look like rally balls instead of those winners you're used to seeing him hit. Given 10 tournaments, I think he would not peak much, I think he's pretty much plateaued with this 98 black frame. If I were fed, I would keep testing other frames, and before the USO I would switch back. For some reason, I feel if he played Mayer with his 90, he would have crushed him in straight sets. The rallies seem pretty long. Fed didn't have those go to spray winners you're used to seeing. Now people can say that he needs more time, but I don't know if you're going to see average joe fed now and see some type of God Mode sentinel in 1 month time in time for the US Open.

Don't want to say it, but we'll see what happens.

You have to give some credit to Mayer though, he was serving pretty effectively and was pounding groundstrokes. Federer was all over the place, never utilizing the drop shot when his opponent was a good 5-10 ft behind the baseline grinding....

Federer's net game has also taken a turn for the worse, not hitting any fantastic volleys or putting away smashes on the first one...
 

Wodz

Rookie
I heard there are rumors that they are going to speed the courts up a bit. I also read that the Aus Open this year was slightly faster than normal. I believe the article said something to the tune of "since 5 hour matches are becoming the norm we realized that slowing the courts way down has worked a bit too well and has led to an unwanted result".

Many people like myself are not fans of the 5 hour marathon matches. Sure some of the shots are amazing but in my opinion having a 40 shot rally from 20 feet behind the baseline is a bit of a joke and is the furthest thing from all-court tennis. With the courts being so slow why would anyone be stupid enough to come in toward the net in the first place when their opponent has so long to react to a return? This in turn has forced newer crops of players to simply never tune their all-court games and learn to just hammer away from behind the baseline. We constantly hear the commentators talking about top 20 players being "scared" to come to the net or "unsure". Pathetic :(


Back on topic -

Federer would not use different racquets for different surfaces. That is a ludicrous statement. The only thing he would generally change for surfaces/conditions would be his string tension.

Federer is always going to be very restrictive with his serving speed due to his back issues. Placement beats power all day long.

Keeping it or not this possible transition is very exciting and Sampras said he had wished he had changed during the end of his career as he believes it would have made a difference for him. I wonder if that has any bearing on Federer wanting to change.
 

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
Keeping it or not this possible transition is very exciting and Sampras said he had wished he had changed during the end of his career as he believes it would have made a difference for him. I wonder if that has any bearing on Federer wanting to change.
After watching Federer at Hamburg with his bigger racquet, I'd bet Sampras is thanking his lucky stars that he never switched to a bigger racquet during his career. :)
 

gplracer

Hall of Fame
Oh boy. After that thread on he's switching, he's switching. Now you guys are starting to see the light. I wrote a few posts in the black out thread that you guys rush to judgement and giddy up on the train too quickly.

I said give him time and see how he feels about them after these two tournaments. I have a gut feeling he might switching to some other frame, or switch back. He played really badly against Florian Mayer, and Mayer isn't even top 10 material. In fact, in the previous meetings, Mayer never got more than 5 games against fed in any of the previous match ups, they were all routine victories. This time around he took a set away from fed and matched 5 games in the final set with a few breaks.

Federer did not look like any special player with that 98. He looked like an average joe tennis professional that shouldn't be in the top 5. He doesn't seem to be getting much control or that much court penetration. All his balls look like rally balls instead of those winners you're used to seeing him hit. Even if given say 10 tournaments, I think he would not peak much from what you saw today, I think he's pretty much plateaued with this 98 black frame. If I were fed, I would keep testing other frames, and before the USO I would switch back. For some reason, I feel if he played Mayer with his 90, he would have crushed him in straight sets. The rallies seem pretty long today and I'm used to fed ending the point in less than 5 strokes. Fed didn't have those go to spray winners you're used to seeing from him. Now people can say that he needs more time, but I don't know if you're going to see dramatic changes from now till US Open. People were expecting some sentinel on God Mode and I think everyone overblows everything just like how the internet wants us to.

Federer before the racquet switch was worried about facing Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, and Berdych. With this black frame he should be afraid to face Florian Mayer. And I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound right. I don't know if he would even get to those guys before ousting out, if he sticks with this frame. Besides the erratic ball trajectory and the really ugly unforced errors, his ball didn't have penetration. It looked consistent at times when he wasn't hitting them 5 feet long, but other than that he was hitting rally balls. Not the rifle shots you're used to seeing from his 90 stick.

Don't want to say it, but we'll see what happens.

RIP man in black.

There are some truths in the above information. Federer lacks much of the wow factor he had just earlier this year with the 90.
 

Wodz

Rookie
BP I find it hard to believe that any pro could make such a huge change and just hit the ground running without problems. I would think there would be a serious transition period. If you told me any top player was going from a 90 to 98 I would have to think they are going to struggle as first. Not just with the size difference but they will need to play with balance and SW in order to find what works best for them. Unless Wilson did that already with him and somehow it is perfect on the first go.. which I doubt.. idk.
 

cork_screw

Hall of Fame
You have to give some credit to Mayer though, he was serving pretty effectively and was pounding groundstrokes. Federer was all over the place, never utilizing the drop shot when his opponent was a good 5-10 ft behind the baseline grinding....

Federer's net game has also taken a turn for the worse, not hitting any fantastic volleys or putting away smashes on the first one...

Yeah I do give him credit. Hell he beat Nadal, so you can't be a chump for accomplishing that. But if I was a virgin to tennis and knew ABSOLUTELY nothing about tennis and you asked me (after watching the match) if the man who was playing Mayer (the dude in the cardigan) was a future Hall of Fame legend, I would probably think you were fu*king wtih me.

My point is, if Mayer did that to fed (with mayer's skillset), I can't imagine what would happen if he faced someone like Tsonga. I mean, not even a Nadal, but Tsonga or Berdych. He looks pedestrian with that stick. And I hope he proves me wrong, but I don't know what improvements you can take after some of those really ugly unforced errors. BTW, Mayer is good. But what you saw today was Federer making Mayer look especially good with the style and the balls he was giving to mayer. Everything looked like it was in Mayer's wheel barrel zone and Mayer was hitting some impressive winners. Roger is really good at taking time away from his opponents and rushing them. I did not see that today or in previous matches leading up to today.

We'll see what he brings in the next few rounds.
 
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BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
BP I find it hard to believe that any pro could make such a huge change and just hit the ground running without problems. I would think there would be a serious transition period. If you told me any top player was going from a 90 to 98 I would have to think they are going to struggle as first. Not just with the size difference but they will need to play with balance and SW in order to find what works best for them. Unless Wilson did that already with him and somehow it is perfect on the first go.. which I doubt.. idk.
Sure, there will be an adjustment period, but if you're not even playing any better (maybe even worse?) then why even bother trying to adjust to it? How do you know the time invested will ever pay off?

It's like when you demo racquets, if the demo racquet doesn't initially play any better than the racquet you're currently using, are you going to bother buying the racquet and invest more time playing with it? Probably not.
 

Wodz

Rookie
Right and I completely agree with your post and it honestly seems like this racquet is making Federer much worse in many regards. So he either needs to switch back or demo a different stick. In general I think he should look to increase his SW as his previous sticks reduced it and forced him to waste more energy
 
Mayer has the game and has made more than a few guys look like they are not entirely in control. I could stomach a loss to him more so than Staichovsky (spelling?) I would also suggest that transitioning from grass, and this being an addition to his scheduling not normal playing schedule for most of his career, meaning after Wimby, not the tourney itself is uncharted waters for Fed.
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
It seems clear that he's left himself the opportunity to switch back for the US Open series, so his move is cleverly designed given that he also needed a bit more match time.
 

Teniludius

New User
With respect to the Mayer match, I think it's clear that Fed was physically hurting through the second set and much of the third. His first serve speeds were way down (I was watching the radar screen), his serve motion seemed a bit stilted, and his movement seemed hampered. This is a better explanation for his drop in play and also explains his resorting to the vest. If you attend to the first set when all was well physically and the end of the third, when Fed through perhaps sheer will pulled it together, I think you'll see he was playing quite well with the new stick.

Also, switching back after playing with another stick for awhile might have its own drawbacks. It's not as if he can just hit reset.
 
People seems to overanalyze everything , they just want fed to be perfect, he has his down days and mayer played good. Fed is not gonna change back to old racquet MARK this... Here is what fed told:

"It's a prototype," Federer told reporters at a tournament in Hamburg this week (he reached the semifinals with a victory Friday). "I'm happy I did the change and we'll see how it goes. So far, so good."
 

Vcore89

Talk Tennis Guru
He'll revert back to his old racquet or get Wilson to spec a slightly bigger racquet, 93 maybe but shouldn't be from existing line.
 

Emiliano55

Professional
We don't really know if the problem is the racquet or himself, he has been playing horrible throughout the year.

However, I do think he did a really big switch by going from 90 to 98. This will destroy the little confidence he already had. A change to 95 would have been safer, I guess.
 

eman resu

Professional
His topspin backhands look better, but he's too defensive overall. He's not looking confident or comfortable on court and I don't doubt he will swicth back at least to 95 or 93.
Anyway, I don't think you can blame the racquet, though. He's got lazy (or older) legs now and doesn't seem to be willing to make things happen during the match.
 

Praetorian

Professional
It's like when you demo racquets, if the demo racquet doesn't initially play any better than the racquet you're currently using, are you going to bother buying the racquet and invest more time playing with it? Probably not.

I agree, and I think that's what some posters here failed to realize. Federer is not a TW Playtester, or TW forum reviewer (no offense), who's going to gush, "oh my god my serves are now 10-20mph faster", or "I raised my NTRP from a 3.0 to 3.5" etc. At the professional level, it's not about what can "racket do to improve my game", but rather "can the racket do what I want to do to improve my game".

I'm still curious how playing with this racket plays out for Federer though - more so on how he adjust his game, rather than what racket he plays with because it'll probably be so different from retail, I might as well just paint my Pro one if I want a racket that looks like his.
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Fed's either slowed or has a degenerative injury affected his movement and he hoped somehow a bigger racquet would somehow compensate, but it doesn't.
 

dekko1

Semi-Pro
He will settle with the 95 like Dimitrov. Why? Cause 95 isnt that far off from 93 so what the heck.

Thanks for starting another thread letting us know what u think about it. How about just post it in one of the 10 other Federers new racket thread?
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
He is just not the old Fed any more and the fire does not burn that hot.

The new frame will make life easier for him so that he can hang around the tour like Hewitt without expending too much energy like with his old frame.
 

Praetorian

Professional
Fed should just retire, and play the national 5.0 ntrp tournaments. He should whip them all, and say, "You need a bigger racket, here's a big bubba".... LOL
 

russell

Semi-Pro
I don't believe Federer will be switching to this new prototype frame... not just yet. I'll believe it when Dimitrov starts playtesting the prototype.
 

paulcd77

New User
kalyan4fedever said:
Fed is not gonna change back to old racquet MARK this...

unless he does. wilson's GM went out of his way to underscore that possibility:

"... [he] said the new racket is based on Federer's requests and feedback from previous tests, and stressed that the process is far from over: Federer could still reject it, and the racket doesn't even have a design or color scheme (like all test rackets, it is black, so the design doesn't influence the tester's perception)."
 
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tata

Hall of Fame
I think Fed will make a switch eventually. We rarely see him commit to it so much in terms of taking it into a match and have all the media about it. As he has mentioned, it is a prototype, so I think there will be a lot of communication between wilson and himself about the changes and making it to his liking. Federer is wilson's marketing machine and they will listen to the man until they get the specs right for him to play well. This will also save wilson from creating a new line or some sort and use the new frame as the platform.
 

Lambsscroll

Hall of Fame
If anything Fed may look at the 88.

With the advent of poly in the mix the sweet spot can be larger without the added power. The highly talented players such as Federer and Dimitrov can only take advantage of this.
 

mto

New User
He is just not the old Fed any more and the fire does not burn that hot.

The new frame will make life easier for him so that he can hang around the tour like Hewitt without expending too much energy like with his old frame.

I would say that you found the right words to express this concern.
 

Arize

Rookie
He will settle with the 95 like Dimitrov. Why? Cause 95 isnt that far off from 93 so what the heck.

Dimitrov uses a 93 head size frame painted as 95, I have tired a few of his frames from a good source in Bulgaria. Federer might drop to a 95 or 93 in my opinion his game has bigger holes with this new 98 frame but it can take time to adjust it doesn't happen overnight. Seems he blasts balls longer because of the power the size produces and if you ask me I think he would be on beast mode if he tried PT57A!!! I have yet to try H22 and H19 and see how they feel but PT57A is the best racquet ever made. Wilson should paint some PT57A's as BLX's and let Federer have a rip at them.
 
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vandre

Hall of Fame
Amazing how much stuff got stirred up by fed changing racquets!

no doubts there! this place was dead until a pic of fed with a blacked out stick popped up!

anyway, if he does got back to the old stick, do you think there's any chance he changes his strings or tension?
 
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