Any good HEAD racquets out there?

wsk429

Semi-Pro
Old and short Asians? This is NH, where 94% of the population is white. 2% of the population is Asian. The only Asian guy I play is a 5.0 from out-of-state.

I've never measured my service speed. I'd guess that I could get over 100 MPH but I have no proof.

I will say that it's very hard to accelerate near 400 Swingweight over your head if you don't do it regularly.

I work on my fitness to avoid the problems that most older people run into.

It's nice that it helps my tennis as well in preventing injury and helping to recover faster from injury.

Take care of your body. It's the only one you have.

At least until gene editing gets far more developed.

Let me guess. ... and 94% of the 2% are half white? LOL
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Movdga.....
You must have played some 4.0's. Whether or not you actually serve flat serve to them makes no impact on your actual flat serve speeds. You have seen their fastest serves, are they as fast as your fastest serves?
You mention shoulder high bounces when you were younger. What about NOW? I'm 67, and still regularly serve faster than almost all 4.0's. Don't bother to imagine how I served back in '78.
You list the player's on court with you. Now, LOOK at those guys. Do they look like serious threats to your game? How impressive do they LOOK. I know, one was a former ATP dude.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Movdga.....
You must have played some 4.0's. Whether or not you actually serve flat serve to them makes no impact on your actual flat serve speeds. You have seen their fastest serves, are they as fast as your fastest serves?
You mention shoulder high bounces when you were younger. What about NOW? I'm 67, and still regularly serve faster than almost all 4.0's. Don't bother to imagine how I served back in '78.
You list the player's on court with you. Now, LOOK at those guys. Do they look like serious threats to your game? How impressive do they LOOK. I know, one was a former ATP dude.

Now? As I wrote several times, I just hit kickers, not particularly fast. I mostly play a ground game.

The former open player used to regularly beat me for a few years. Then I lost 75 pounds.

The best two serves that I've seen in the past ten years were 120+. One was radar measured. The other guy's speed was comparable though he had more action.

The former open player is known by a lot of players in my area. There are people that tell me how good he is but that was from a long time ago.

We hit today in 91 degree heat. Could you stand a few hours of that in long, baseline rallies?
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Are you saying you just can not compare your fastest serves to other guy's fastest serves?
Plenty of former ATP player's around, most you never get to see their fastest serves unless you know them and actually get asked to practice with them. Tracy was ATP 1,007 something, Malcohm was ATP 202, Larry Dodge WON the World's 50's beating Torbin Ullrich, and some really old slicer dude just showed up who made Wimbledon's, and USOpen main draw, playing in place of Larry, who had knee replacement surgery earlier this year.
Can you paddle out in 12' Pipeline surf and actually catch AND make a few waves?
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
> Are you saying you just can not compare your fastest serves to other guy's fastest serves?

I could but I'd rather not without measured evidence.

> Can you paddle out in 12' Pipeline surf and actually catch AND make a few waves?

Could you write a browser?

Database optimizer?

Make millions in the stock market?

Run ten miles?

Could you teach calculus?

Could you write an expert system?

Do you have a bachelors degree?
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Yeah, it does come down to a chest puffing matchup, doesn't it?
I'm giving you flak because you always brag about using a 386 gram racket, and how powerful it is.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah, it does come down to a chest puffing matchup, doesn't it?
I'm giving you flak because you always brag about using a 386 gram racket, and how powerful it is.

I'm more about brains than brawn. But I'm making up for the latter to improve quality of life in the 70s, 80's and 90's while making contributions to medical science to make that longevity possible for lots of people.

The 386 gram racquet is powerful. You often talk about adding lead tape for more power and you make my case for me. Or we could just discuss physics. Right?
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
..and that's why it all comes down to the serve.
What good is a powerful racket if you serve dinky twist serves at 60 mph?
I can't talk about forehands, mine are weak AND inconsistent, especially for 4.0.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
..and that's why it all comes down to the serve.
What good is a powerful racket if you serve dinky twist serves at 60 mph?
I can't talk about forehands, mine are weak AND inconsistent, especially for 4.0.

Ask Andy Murray.

Or Andy Roddick.

I've watched a number of grass matches this week. I didn't see one player playing serve and volley. I used to hit big serves against the guy on the other side of the net. And then he started playing back at the curtain and getting a racquet on the ball and hitting a slice lob deep. He did this with other big servers too. And then I watched a match where Federe was doing this. So if someone neutralizes your big serve, you need a ground game. And you need fitness to back up that ground game.

So guess what I do when I face a big server.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
One good result of a strong first serve is that you get weak returns, which you can use to really start the point.
Another is moving the returner BACK away from the baseline, so your wide serves work much better, them returning from wide of the doubles alley. Also, when they're well back from the baseline, it opens up the drop and angle volleys, which won't work well if they're crowding deep NML when returning your serves.
I find short angles and drop volleys MUCH easier than trying for depth with medium pace, and from watching Pro's playing the net game, they also think so.
If you just kick it in high to either side, it gives the returner a high volley, one of the easiest strokes in tennis, as they just step in, block it low for either angle or DTL shots, then come to net position.
Now for sure, we're talking serving to guys who CAN handle high kickers, peers of your level, not some 3.5 who's never seen a kick/twist before, and whiffs trying to kill it.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
One good result of a strong first serve is that you get weak returns, which you can use to really start the point.
Another is moving the returner BACK away from the baseline, so your wide serves work much better, them returning from wide of the doubles alley. Also, when they're well back from the baseline, it opens up the drop and angle volleys, which won't work well if they're crowding deep NML when returning your serves.
I find short angles and drop volleys MUCH easier than trying for depth with medium pace, and from watching Pro's playing the net game, they also think so.
If you just kick it in high to either side, it gives the returner a high volley, one of the easiest strokes in tennis, as they just step in, block it low for either angle or DTL shots, then come to net position.
Now for sure, we're talking serving to guys who CAN handle high kickers, peers of your level, not some 3.5 who's never seen a kick/twist before, and whiffs trying to kill it.

I have limits on my time and logistics issues related to tennis and running and lifting are a lot easier to schedule. Given that, it's far more efficient to play a good ground game. Yes, I could work on my serve but I get a better workout running or lifting. The professional working world is brutal these days and raising kids is a lot of work too though fortunately I'm done with that - and yes, college bills are in the rear-view mirror. I'm gearing up for another project which should keep me busy for the next two or three years - job stability is nice to have these days.
 
If you want something comfy with some flex those Costco head sticks have the older extreme pro??? Mold ??
They are around low 50's ra...
Head heavy which I hate but a leather grip more lead tape in the handle and you got the best offering that head makes in my flexy opinion and under 70 bucks all parts included
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
If you want something comfy with some flex those Costco head sticks have the older extreme pro??? Mold ??
They are around low 50's ra...
Head heavy which I hate but a leather grip more lead tape in the handle and you got the best offering that head makes in my flexy opinion and under 70 bucks all parts included

I had a close look at those this past weekend. They feel like Radicals but I think that the beam width is a combination of 22-23-25 so I don't think that it's flexy. The weight was 9.1 ounces which would argue against being flexy. I think that it was either $40 or $50 at our Costco. The pictures on the cardboard were Djokovic, Sharapova and Murray.
 
Yeah we may be talking about a different racket the one that I'm talking about is the head ig heat or challenger spirit . They got a few different paint jobs and different names but they are all exactly the same mold.. I think the ones I'm speaking of may also be a similar beam to the older extreme models... And all the ones I've hit with have all been under 10oz and quite head heavy .. And the RA on the above ones I mentioned... Are in the mid 50's strung at the factory ... per an rdc machine .. I figured as much too after hitting with them .. I even bought one.. The ones I had hit with were always clients rackets and so I thought what the hey.. But it ended up being to head heavy despite the added weight I tried in the Handle.
I ended up exploding one on court , and it had a strange cellophane cork screw material / phone cord like as a filler thru ought .. Weird huh....
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Sounds like what I was using. It was the IG Heat. My arm wouldn't tolerate a frame like that for more than a few hits unless I really leaded it up. I imagine that they sell a decent number of them being that it's Costco.
 

LeeD

Bionic Poster
IG Heat, I got one in Puerto Rico for G/F, and it felt like a junior racket but full sized. My two LMRadMids are there in a closet, used once every 3 years.
 
Yeah I would imagine they sell quite a bit .. I had seen a few folks hitting with them awhile back. So light and sooooo head heavy.. Man I just can't do the head heavy thing . It kinda hurts .. And makes returning a nightmare . For me anyway..
But consider the 42 year old source .
I gotta play with something off the charts embarrassingly flexible or my arm and shoulder kill me ..
Which stinks because I can't play with anything modern .. I like modern I want to be on the forefront . It's my job in some regards . But alas I'm stuck with fiberglass sticks of yesteryear .. And I don't ever see a manufacture making a really super flexy racket in my near future .. I feel alone in a world of stiff rackets .. Whoa is me ..
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah I would imagine they sell quite a bit .. I had seen a few folks hitting with them awhile back. So light and sooooo head heavy.. Man I just can't do the head heavy thing . It kinda hurts .. And makes returning a nightmare . For me anyway..
But consider the 42 year old source .
I gotta play with something off the charts embarrassingly flexible or my arm and shoulder kill me ..
Which stinks because I can't play with anything modern .. I like modern I want to be on the forefront . It's my job in some regards . But alas I'm stuck with fiberglass sticks of yesteryear .. And I don't ever see a manufacture making a really super flexy racket in my near future .. I feel alone in a world of stiff rackets .. Whoa is me ..

As vsbabolat says, Head does make very flexy racquets. They just won't sell them to you.

You could just get a PK Redondo MP.
 
Vs has a point as I'm sure with any and all manufacturers of things fiberglass and carbon they can do all sorts of things to make products firm or flex characteristics can change per request .
Just depends on who is doing the requesting I presume ..
So ..
That's why I go back in time to purchase frames as the person that was requesting at the time was doing it on the cheap. And I love cheap rackets with a ton of fiberglass..
Hence the 80's and early 90's sticks especially from Head... Not the ones most think of . No.. The ones that were lower tier frames sold at Kmart...
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
You can get PT57As for $300 - $500 from the gray market and the MG Radicals are pretty flexible.

I remember playing with the Head XRC which I loved until it melted in the sun one day and I still have three Head Pros. If you hit with those after playing with graphite, you will feel the head wobbling back and forth after you hit the ball. The problem is hitting the ball with a 65 sq in racquet.
 
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