Aeropro Drive 2010 and how much lead tape?

[TheCanadian]

I was inspired by Nadal to put 3 grams of lead at 12 on my Aeropro Drive 2009 ( not 2010). Can somebody tell me how much weight I would still need to put on to get the specs of Nadal's racquet? (At least in terms of weight). And do you advise putting some weight on the sides for stability? (3 and 9). And how much?

 

[Cup8489]

8 million grams.

 

[tommyfr]

Before 2012 rafas racket was 334 g, so 14 g leadtape/silicon as stock weight string is 320, and he uses stock racket. 8 gram 9-12-3 and 6 gram at butt.
Then 2012 he added additional 3 gr at 12 oclock. Thats my conclusion from numerous sources on the matter.

Good luck.

 

[Bartelby]

See Greg Raven's website - 9 grams under the top and 3 grams at the bottom - before recent change.

 

[TheCanadian]

Can you link to GR's info? I note that Bartelby and Tommyfr can't be both right.

 

[Bartelby]

Rafael Nadal's Babolat Aeropro Drive -- 2007 Pacific Life Open

Racquet Mass Bal. cm RDC Flex Swgwt Length
Nadal's 332 33.50 65 355 26-7/8
USRSA 337 33.75 69 337 27
Tennis Warehouse 320 32.70 67 324 27
Notes on Nadal's racquet

This racquet may be shorter than spec due to hoop compression during stringing. I did not get a chance to measure the racquet unstrung.
There is no way to take a racquet with the specs given by USRSA and make it into a "Nadal" racquet. However, if one had a racquet with Tennis Warehouse's measurements, one could add roughly 9.5 grams under the bumperguard near the tip, and about 2.5 grams one inch up from the end of the butt cap to get a racquet with measurements very similar to those of Nadal's racquet.
It is not unheard of for otherwise identical brand new Babolat racquets to have 2 kg•cm² difference in flex.
Nadal's string reel reads "Pro Hurricane Nadal." The printing on the string itself reads "Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour," just like the normal Pro Hurricane Tour. However, the string is translucent, unlike the normal opaque Pro Hurricane Tour. Here is a 60x image with Nadal's string on top and the retail Pro Hurricane Tour on the bottom.
To the casual observer, Nadal's Pro Hurricane Tour looks and acts for all the world like Babolat Duralast.
Nadal requested that the crosses be strung from the bottom up.

 

[TheCanadian]

So, I would need to ad 13 grams + the recent 3 grams = 16 grams to my racquet? That's a big difference.

 

[Cheetah]

That's a lot of grams. I don't know if you have experience with lead tape but if don't and you add 16 grams you won't be having a good day of hitting that day for sure.

What you should do is experiment with lead if you haven't already and change it every 2 times you play or something like that until you find what fits you. Then you can add 3 grams to the head and get the same benefit/effect that nadal got when he added 3 grams to his already custom fits-like-a-glove setup for him.

You probably aren't built like nadal and probably dont have his racquet speed or his swing style so having his exact same setup doesn't sound like the right thing to do besides being able to say 'i have the same setup as rafa!' on a forum.

 

[Bartelby]

Either 9 or 12 at the tip under the head guard and 3 inside the butt. I'm sure you won't like it but its worth an experiment.

I tried putting weight at 3 and 9 - 2 grams on each side - but I find the swingweight on mine already enough in stock form.

 

[TheCanadian]

I'm thinking of adding 5 grams at top and maybe 1.5 grams at butt.

It all seems a bit arbitrary anyways.

 

[Bartelby]

Why don't you start with 3 at the top, so ten extra sw points.

 

[TheCanadian]

I did and it doesn't make much difference. I'm 6' and 210 lbs.

 

[dsa202]

I did and it doesn't make much difference. I'm 6' and 210 lbs.

Congratulations.

 

[SFrazeur]

I did and it doesn't make much difference. I'm 6' and 210 lbs.

It's not your fault you're Canadian. :-o

-SF

 

[Wilander Fan]

I tried with the APD but the negatives really outweigh any positives. Because of its round head, the racket, IMO, is less stable than a normal oval frame. Lead might help a little but the inherent instability of the shape limits the benefit and you lose the main advantage of the APD which is very fast low to high swing speed.