Alcaraz adding weight

The match against Bautista Agut at Indian Wells. I think Carlos does not even hide his VS under the PA98 pj. There is no longer mystery? He uses PAVS.
 
Babolat should produce alcaraz frames for retail w his current specs. Adding 5g to the throat isnt hard but more clean if the frame comes that way. I suppose the argument against is that some frames are overspecced and you cant take iff weight.
 
DG21 said:
The match against Bautista Agut at Indian Wells. I think Carlos does not even hide his VS under the PA98 pj. There is no longer mystery? He uses PAVS.
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What did you see that confirms it as PAVS? Curious.
 
I always put lead on my 2016 pure aero plus frames. Just felt more solid and stable that way. Sometimes it works but on other frames I may not like it.
 
Power Player said:
I always put lead on my 2016 pure aero plus frames. Just felt more solid and stable that way. Sometimes it works but on other frames I may not like it.
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Same for my SX300. I put 5g of lead in the throat and i really liked the outcome. The frame felt more solid and my wrist also thanked me
 
Jonesy said:
Something happened, from beating roided to the gills peak Sinner to losing to Draper. The only thing that i remember changing was him adding weight to his racket.
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He lost to machac a week after beating sinner, it has nothing to do with the racquet, hes inside a process, a mental and tenistic process, if he will be able to achieve the results he did in the past, we cant know, but i think he will
 
Jonesy said:
Something happened, from beating roided to the gills peak Sinner to losing to Draper. The only thing that i remember changing was him adding weight to his racket.
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Players get hot.
In 2023 he drubbed medvedev at IW and Wimbledon then got drubbed by med at USO.

“If it’s the racket then let’s all buy aero 98 no weight”
 
TheSlicer said:
He lost to machac a week after beating sinner, it has nothing to do with the racquet, hes inside a process, a mental and tenistic process, if he will be able to achieve the results he did in the past, we cant know, but i think he will
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Let's see, if he doesn't win a slam this year then he needs to look back.
 
Charlie's results worsened after Stefanos switched to the same racquet. Coincidence?? The more players using a frame, the more diluted the frame's intangible qualities become; that's just physics 101. Petros Sampras won 14 grand slams because nobody else could use the Saint Vincent stick after he bought them all and put them in a warehouse in the New Mexico desert. Juan Carlos Ferroro should initiate legal action against Stefanos.
 
Think the weights better for him. When it was too light he had that weird shoulder or forearm injury. Now he seems to be healthy.
 
dyslexical-scope said:
Charlie's results worsened after Stefanos switched to the same racquet. Coincidence?? The more players using a frame, the more diluted the frame's intangible qualities become; that's just physics 101. Petros Sampras won 14 grand slams because nobody else could use the Saint Vincent stick after he bought them all and put them in a warehouse in the New Mexico desert. Juan Carlos Ferroro should initiate legal action against Stefanos.
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Surprised it took over 100 posts to reach the correct answer.
 
Has he considered using copper tape instead of lead?
it would appear the lead is negatively reacting with the vibration frequency of his racquet causing erratic play and fatiguing his arm?
While likely the result of a rare underlying medical condition (yet to be diagnosed) the switch to copper tape is highly advisable and would improve results 10-fold.
 
dyslexical-scope said:
Charlie's results worsened after Stefanos switched to the same racquet. Coincidence?? The more players using a frame, the more diluted the frame's intangible qualities become; that's just physics 101. Petros Sampras won 14 grand slams because nobody else could use the Saint Vincent stick after he bought them all and put them in a warehouse in the New Mexico desert. Juan Carlos Ferroro should initiate legal action against Stefanos.
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This is the type of Talk Tennis insanity that's been missing around here, love it.
 
Am I crazy or has Grug lost significant mass? He looks 5 lbs lighter and less muscular than he did last yr.
 
Chairman3 said:
Has he considered using copper tape instead of lead?
it would appear the lead is negatively reacting with the vibration frequency of his racquet causing erratic play and fatiguing his arm?
While likely the result of a rare underlying medical condition (yet to be diagnosed) the switch to copper tape is highly advisable and would improve results 10-fold.
Click to expand...
This is correct. Gorilla tape would be even better as it had more vibration absorption capacity, and keep him in slam contention.
 
travlerajm said:
It helps more if you have guns like Carlitos.
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i do
BH-Biceps-1-1024x576.jpg
 
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Mischko said:
Super interesting news, thanks for the info :)

Adding more weight at 12 to the VS felt wrong, already at 332sw and above. Clear big plus on serves, I can just relax and guide the racquet at 340sw, but a total slowdown on fh and bh. Fils plays it at 340 I think, Rune at 350, don't know about Michelsen, but looks around 330 just judging by his swings

I tried to go higher but always reverted to sub 330, it felt best balanced overall, fast and punchy. Downside is I lacked some more mass on the ohbh, and on serves I have to fast twitch more than I like, tiring for the shoulder

Since it already feels super solid and stiff in the throat I never thought to add any lead there, will experiment now
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How was the result? I tried it on my Pure Aero Rafa (290g) and still can’t decide if i keep this set up or not. I think that weight in the throat somehow makes your swing less spiny and whipy bur rather flatter through the ball which is not necessarily something i was looking for.
 
DG21 said:
How was the result? I tried it on my Pure Aero Rafa (290g) and still can’t decide if i keep this set up or not. I think that weight in the throat somehow makes your swing less spiny and whipy bur rather flatter through the ball which is not necessarily something i was looking for.
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This is the conclusion of my experiment with 2g at the throat (no other weight on the racquet). I was getting a whippy, flatter, through the court ball and this is what I was actually looking for. I found that it you wanted to boost the launch just a little, add minimal weight at 12. I tried 1g and it helped. My PAVS is probably at a static weight of 326g and swing weight of around 318.
 
DG21 said:
How was the result? I tried it on my Pure Aero Rafa (290g) and still can’t decide if i keep this set up or not. I think that weight in the throat somehow makes your swing less spiny and whipy bur rather flatter through the ball which is not necessarily something i was looking for.
Click to expand...
Tried 5g at the bottom of the throat, then removed it bit by bit, and then removed it all. If you don't have to receive ball speeds like Alcaraz, it just slows down your swings but without meaningful gains

As always, pros, and Alcaraz at his crazy high level, are playing with incoming fast pace, they are almost always sort of counterpunching, and mass and swingweight play a big role. But if you are given slow snowflake balls, and then have to speed them up all the time, lighter and faster is clearly better. It's just opposite of what pros do all the time

Since I play on a somewhat higher level, and like high pace both in training and in points play, I sometimes get stuck with my preferences, tighter strings and more swingweight, or looser strings and lower sw. But I still preferred to take it all off from the throat.

I did however change my preferences with regard to lead at 12 though. Now I'm at about 335sw with full bumper guard length of lead. Much smoother serving, easy returning, easy depth, easy countering pace and depth. But slightly more difficult for junk balls etc. Aero VS really gets balanced only with full length of lead at 12, then it has enough on the sides, is stable, and just feels better dampened, less stiff ringing
 
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Mischko said:
Tried 5g at the bottom of the throat, then removed bit by bit, and then removed it all. If you don't have to receive ball speeds like Alcaraz, it just slows down your swings but without meaningful gains

As always, pros, and Alcaraz at his crazy high level, are playing with incoming fast pace, they are almost always sort of counterpunching, and mass and swingweight play a big role. But if you are given slow snowflake balls, and then have to speed them up all the time, lighter and faster is clearly better. It's just opposite of what pros do all the time

Since I play on a somewhat higher level, and like high pace both in training and in points play, I sometimes get stuck with my preferences, tighter strings and more swingweight, or looser strings and lower sw. But I still preferred to take it all off from the throat.

I did however change my preferences with regard to lead at 12 though. Now I'm at about 335sw with full bumper guard length of lead. Much smoother serving, easy returning, easy depth, easy countering pace and depth. But slightly more difficult for junk balls etc. Aero VS really gets balanced only with full length of lead at 12, then it has enough on the sides, is stable, and just feels better dampened, less stiff ringing
Click to expand...
Do you use a ohbh or dhbh? Since going almost stock, I did find that my ohbh has taken a hit.
 
On my PA98, i have 6g at the throat and I found it helps immensely my volleys (all aspects of that shot). FYI: volleys is my weakest shot.
 
Roforot said:
Babolat should produce alcaraz frames for retail w his current specs. Adding 5g to the throat isnt hard but more clean if the frame comes that way. I suppose the argument against is that some frames are overspecced and you cant take iff weight.
Click to expand...
not to respond to an old comment, but babolat has previously done this with the pure drive roddick and rafa's aero. it isn't too farfetched. i'd buy one. the only thing keeping me from already purchasing a PA98 is the fact that it is too light. reading about alcaraz's mods that seem easy to implement is very attractive though.
 
ptung890 said:
not to respond to an old comment, but babolat has previously done this with the pure drive roddick and rafa's aero. it isn't too farfetched. i'd buy one. the only thing keeping me from already purchasing a PA98 is the fact that it is too light. reading about alcaraz's mods that seem easy to implement is very attractive though.
Click to expand...
Alcaraz's actually racket spec, prior to the more recent change, is very similar to a stock PA98. It was 305g / 31.7cm / SW293.
The most notable change is adding 5g of lead in the throat, which can be added yourself.
 
lidoazndiabloboi said:
Alcaraz's actually racket spec, prior to the more recent change, is very similar to a stock PA98. It was 305g / 31.7cm / SW293.
The most notable change is adding 5g of lead in the throat, which can be added yourself.
Click to expand...
I think a custom paintjob Alcaraz frame w/ his new specs would sell really well.
 
ptung890 said:
not to respond to an old comment, but babolat has previously done this with the pure drive roddick and rafa's aero. it isn't too farfetched. i'd buy one. the only thing keeping me from already purchasing a PA98 is the fact that it is too light. reading about alcaraz's mods that seem easy to implement is very attractive though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't think there would be a big market for buying the same racquet with 5 grams on the throat, which is super easy to add. Rafa's racquet is vastly different than the stock Aero, so AI can see that and even then, I don't know what the market was for that since almost no one outside of Rafa would play with those specs.

You really find the PA98 too late? What level are you, if you don't mind my asking?
 
Roforot said:
I think a custom paintjob Alcaraz frame w/ his new specs would sell really well.
Click to expand...

Maybe people would like the paint job, yeah, but they've done that with Osaka's EZone and they never added the weight to 3 and 9. But still, I don't think it would be very popular. Who knows if Alcaraz will even keep those 5 grams on the racquet going forward. I just don't see the point...a racquet very, very similar but a little more demanding that is less customizable. By the way, the is the lead visible on his? That's another factor...on Osaka's, Djokovic's and others the lead has been visible. So, it's more authentic to just add the tape (tungsten preferred) in some cases.
 
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