Any idea why i can't play a futures event with this racket?

[christinamaniac7]

Sorry guys for making another thread regarding my choice of racket!!
but it's a really vital choice for me,hope you guys can make me clear about it...
i used to play with a babolat nPower racket,my coach says i can't play any match with it!
i feel really comfortable with it,it's not that much light or too much heavy and i enjoy playing with it,
i have compared it with some of professional rackets,it's something very much similar to them.
now the question is,what's the matter with it that prevents me from playing a futures match??
-is it a matter of string?
-is it a matter of racket frame?
-is it a matter of grip?
-Etc...
that'd really good if someone can clear me up about this,
thanks in advance...

 

[jmsx521]

I don't understand why you have to play a tournament with a specific racket!? You play with whatever frame you play your best tennis. You have to elaborate on what your coach said. Most competitive players use pro (player) frames: That means, they don't use cheap rackets from the local Wal Mart. However, if a cheaper frame, or a frame that is not a player racket is what you like playing with, then play with it and forget what others are saying. Though, tell us whay your coach said that.... He/she may have a good point!

 

[christinamaniac7]

First off thanks for the answer!
well my coach says i have to play with a heavier racket like Wilson npro series, i've tested that one and it really didn't suit my hands, indeed it was pretty much the same weight as this one is...
i feel really comfortable with this racket and it's not that heavy or that light!!
i guess my coach's point is just that i have to use a more expensive racket rather than a better one, i bought this $ 70 and nPro is just a little more expensive!!!
so,do u think i can play a futures with this racket if i feel good with it??

 

[gonzalocatalino]

are you talking about the Babolat POWER GAME??

 

[christinamaniac7]

Well it's pretty much similar to what i'm talking about! i'm talkin' bout Power Game which is pretty much the same racket with yellow and black frame!

 

[Bud]

Try a k90 with lead at 3 and 9 :lol:

 

[Il Mostro]

Since you coach is so insistent, he should spring for a couple of APDC's for you. Use whatever racquet you feel plays best, including your current one.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Thanks guys for the infos...

 

[slkbassist]

Play with what you like. Just because your coach has a preference, doesn't mean you should be forced to have the same. Maybe try demoing another racquet, but if you play just fine talk to your coach or get another one. Another suggestion could be to try some lead tape for heft and stability. Yet as long as it doesn't have some electronic guidence system you should be able to play.

Also if you do decide to get a new racquet, you can always get an older style for cheaper on Tennis Warehouse (or a local shop at times).

 

[OrangeOne]

I struggle to think that there would be people out there who are capable of playing futures who would not have already found, and be very comfortable with, a decent racquet of their choice.

 

[TheShaun]

let me guess. your coach is sponsored by wilson?

 

[christinamaniac7]

Of course he is sponsored by wilson but he won't be of any use for them...cuz as i have understood noone of his pupils are using wilson!!!

 

[LPShanet]

Sorry guys for making another thread regarding my choice of racket!!
but it's a really vital choice for me,hope you guys can make me clear about it...
i used to play with a babolat nPower racket,my coach says i can't play any match with it!
i feel really comfortable with it,it's not that much light or too much heavy and i enjoy playing with it,
i have compared it with some of professional rackets,it's something very much similar to them.
now the question is,what's the matter with it that prevents me from playing a futures match??
-is it a matter of string?
-is it a matter of racket frame?
-is it a matter of grip?
-Etc...
that'd really good if someone can clear me up about this,
thanks in advance...

Is he saying it's illegal to use or that he thinks you would do better with another racquet? Either way, it doesn't make sense to me for you to switch away from something you're comfortable with, unless it's an illegal frame in some way.

 

[christinamaniac7]

he just says you won't be able to play with it,which i assume means the same as illegal!!! everytime i ask him why i can't play with it, he just refuses to give a logical answer and just insists you can't play with that racket!!! :shock:
even when i played a national match with the same racket and i won it but he still insists the same... does anyone else think i should stick to my own racket and ignore that ignorant coach??

 

[noobplayer]

in another thread i noticed u said u were a beginner, so how can u be playin futures event? plus i think its embarassing to play at a futures event with a babolat power whatever cuz i think ure gonna look like a total noob

 

[Mini Roddick]

I don't know what racquet it is!

I'm not sure which racquet you're using. When that guy posted the picture of the racquet, and you said yeah just different colors, those colors probably mean that yours is an older version, or yours has different specs. I searched "Babolat nPower", and I only got wilsons. Also, if you got the racquet for $70 US dollars it probably isn't good. Either that or you got an old used racquet on a website [or store] that doesn't know crap about pricing a racquet. If you could tell me exactly the model, and where you got it, I could help you a whole not more.

 

[gonzalocatalino]

Well it's pretty much similar to what i'm talking about! i'm talkin' bout Power Game which is pretty much the same racket with yellow and black frame!

so, this is it!

Basically, is a recreational frame, (alluminium alloy).

Maybe you coach thinks that your game deserves a better frame..i´m sure you can find a racquet with similar specs, but made of graphite only. If you dont want another, just play with your power game!

 

[LPShanet]

he just says you won't be able to play with it,which i assume means the same as illegal!!! everytime i ask him why i can't play with it, he just refuses to give a logical answer and just insists you can't play with that racket!!! :shock:
even when i played a national match with the same racket and i won it but he still insists the same... does anyone else think i should stick to my own racket and ignore that ignorant coach??

I can't think of any reason the frame would be illegal. He's probably just thinking that because you have a junky frame you could be playing better. But if it's working, then it doesn't matter what he says, or whether you look like a noob (or any other negative description). It's better to look like a noob, than to be the person who just got beaten by that noob.

Feel free to try other frames, and you may find you like them even better. But if you don't like them better, then stick with what works.

 

[matchmaker]

Well this is not really known as a player's frame. I would doubt someone would be able to play at national or futures level with it. So hence the critism of your coach.

 

[LPShanet]

Well this is not really known as a player's frame. I would doubt someone would be able to play at national or futures level with it. So hence the critism of your coach.

While we all care a lot about equipment, and it certainly helps, in the end it's the player. Yannick Noah impressed Arthur Ashe while playing with a 2x4 and Bobby Riggs used to beat college players using a SHOE.

While the OP's racquet probably isn't of the highest quality, and he might get some benefit from a top notch frame, it makes more sense for him to switch when he's ready for it, and not while he's perfectly happy (and successful) with his equipment. Even if it's a good switch, it'll take time to get used to, and this seems like a bad idea right before playing a big event. Maybe AFTER the event is the time to start experimenting with new stuff, but not right before it. After all, there's no racquet that will instantly make him a better player...only practice does that.

On a related note, if you look at some of the poorer countries around the world, many of their top national players develop their games using racquets far junkier and out of date than what the poster is talking about, and it doesn't hurt their games. If there are 6.0 players using "supermarket special" racquets (and there most certainly are), then I think the OP will be fine.

 

[Dave M]

While the OP's racquet probably isn't of the highest quality, and he might get some benefit from a top notch frame, it makes more sense for him to switch when he's ready for it, and not while he's perfectly happy (and successful) with his equipment. Even if it's a good switch, it'll take time to get used to, and this seems like a bad idea right before playing a big event. Maybe AFTER the event is the time to start experimenting with new stuff, but not right before it. After all, there's no racquet that will instantly make him a better player...only practice does that.

Whilst I agree with what you are saying maybe his coach thinks his game is ready/in need of the change.It might not be just to sell him a frame.
To the OP, ask your coach what his recommendation is and try it out.Try lots till you find one you like.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Thanks guys for sharing your views with me regarding my problem!!
to dave_m: well my coach is just talking nonesense and all the time asking me buying wilson rackets,you know the money isn't a problem for me,i could've bought babolat aeropro racket if i wanted to but the thing is that i just feel very crafty with this racket!!! my coach is just saying what himself feels comfortable with and not what i feel!!!
i've tested most of wilson player rackets but they didn't fit in my hands...otherwise i'd have bought them just to solve this problem!!!

 

[christinamaniac7]

Indeed i'd love to say thank you to LPShanet for his/her great comments! i just feel really good whenever i read your posts man!!!

 

[LPShanet]

Indeed i'd love to say thank you to LPShanet for his/her great comments! i just feel really good whenever i read your posts man!!!

Thanks...Dr. Phil may need to start worrying about his job.

 

[2nd_Serve]

Your coach sounds like an idiot. Every coach should understand what racket their students use is use is = because it fits them.

 

[Cyclone]

use whatever you flippin like

 

[tzinc]

stick with what you like

 

[Bantlord]

hi mate, are you already at futures level or are you anticipating competing in them over the coming years?

your choice of racquet should be down to you and only you with guidance from others if you have limoted knowledge. I cant understand why you would not play with what you feel comfortable with, however i will say this............


60% of players at futures level hit quite gently but with amazing accuracy and depth. if you play these guys then you dont have a problem using the type of racket you have mentioned. The problem is when u face big hitters. The frame is just not stable enough to deal with heavy balls. As a result you will struggle. But! rather than change the frame, see what happens when you sprinkle some lead all over it.
good luck in the futures events.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Well i've been guaranteed some qualifying berths in a few futures which will be on september and october!

Btw-does anyone here have any experience of playing in these type of tournaments? if so plz share them with us maybe it will help...

 

[christinamaniac7]

Hi again,
Well today and for just a few games i played with two head rackets, Head MG radical pro which is andy murray's racket and MG prestige mid which marat safin plays with...
i just felt really comfortable and crafty with both of them,does anyone suggest me to use them in the futures circuit? or are them just useful for pros??
thanks for any answer...

 

[HyperHorse]

What strings you using and at what tension?

 

[christinamaniac7]

Well i'm sure the string was pacific classic natural gut but ain't sure about the tension...

 

[Moz]

Well i've been guaranteed some qualifying berths in a few futures which will be on september and october!

Can you tell us a bit more of the background behind these guaranteed berths. Are they because of your ranking? Which country? Etc...

Good luck in them.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Well there's a special story behind it...i'll try to sum it up here:
two years ago i started to send lots of mails to some of french academies and asing them to help me with some WCs! after a little while i became pretty close friends with one of their directors,he's the director of some of french futures events too!
after two years of requesting to them they finally accepted to give me a few WCs to get some itf rankings!
and thanks for your wishing...

 

[Moz]

That's excellent - congratulations on your initiative.

May I ask what your French rating is? e.g. -4/6, -2/6.

It'd be good if you could start a seperate thread on your experiences in the events - a lot of people would be curious.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Well i'm not sure about my rating because here in my local club and events we don't rate with numbers! well i've played 5 events here in the last 2 months and won 3 of them.also finisehed runner up in one. i've also beaten the #1,3,4 seeds at least twice each...!!!
i dunno how would be its ratings by those #s??!

Btw-a few months ago i wrote in a thread that i'd like to be pro and everyone started to laugh at me just cuz i'm 18... (i mean i ain't sure if everyone would like to hear my experiences?!)
i'll hopefully play some futures and get some rankings,then i'll surely start a new thread and share the experiences with everyone!!!
thanks for your suggestion!

 

[Anton]

Don't like to be negative but you play with an aluminum wall mart frame and the extent of your experience with a racket is the measure of how "crafty" you are with it...it is true that Federer would probably have no problem beating me with a ping pong racket, but let me go out on the limb here and say you aren't ready for futures level tournaments.

How long have you been playing? Any videos?

My advice would be to demo as many frames as you can to try to narrow down what you like.

P.S. Andy Murray doesn't play with Radical Pro and Safin doesn't play with MG Prestige - they have paintjobs on their rackets so you go out and buy those rackets.

 

[Bantlord]

Well i've been guaranteed some qualifying berths in a few futures which will be on september and october!

Btw-does anyone here have any experience of playing in these type of tournaments? if so plz share them with us maybe it will help...

i play on the futures circuit mate,

there is not much to say apart from the fact that u need to keep playing them and eventually they get easier. dont get down on yourself when you lose matches 0 and 0 etc.......

 

[slkbassist]

If you like the radical pro or prestige mid I would say dmeo them a bit more and make a choice. Because as mentioned stabilty against heavy hitters is key later on. I personally find Head racquet grips fit me well.

 

[Dave M]

to dave_m: well my coach is just talking nonesense and all the time asking me buying wilson rackets,!!!

As a tennis coach myself I was hoping that wouldn't be the case!!!Looks like you may of found something you like but either way good luck with it all.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Don't like to be negative but you play with an aluminum wall mart frame and the extent of your experience with a racket is the measure of how "crafty" you are with it...it is true that Federer would probably have no problem beating me with a ping pong racket, but let me go out on the limb here and say you aren't ready for futures level tournaments.

How long have you been playing? Any videos?

My advice would be to demo as many frames as you can to try to narrow down what you like.

P.S. Andy Murray doesn't play with Radical Pro and Safin doesn't play with MG Prestige - they have paintjobs on their rackets so you go out and buy those rackets.

Unfortunately i don't have any vids but it's now nearly 3 years that i'm playing tennis! it's my second year playing local club matches and in my own humble opinion i believe it's now time to take my game up to another level and play some futures...
btw-thanks for the racket stuff,i didn't know they're paintjobbed at all!!! anyways do u think there's a lot difference between those rackets and those paintjobbed ones??

 

[christinamaniac7]

i play on the futures circuit mate,

there is not much to say apart from the fact that u need to keep playing them and eventually they get easier. dont get down on yourself when you lose matches 0 and 0 etc.......

Thanks bantlord for your encouragement,
can you share more experiences with us? i.e. how tough is it to play these kinda matches? and how does the first days of playing an int'l event feel? etc...?
P.S.in which countries/cities have you played so far?
thanks again,
bye

 

[christinamaniac7]

If you like the radical pro or prestige mid I would say dmeo them a bit more and make a choice. Because as mentioned stabilty against heavy hitters is key later on. I personally find Head racquet grips fit me well.

Well most of my friends have HEAD brand rackets,i just played a few games with those two and their handle fitted my hand and game! it's just way too flexible in my hands that i can have all kinds of shots with it...
i'll try to play more games with them and choose the best one out of the two!

P.S. do you guys think i'll still have problems with big hitters even when i buy these head racquets?? i myself think its frame is a lot more stable than what i'm playing now,isn't it??

 

[christinamaniac7]

As a tennis coach myself I was hoping that wouldn't be the case!!!Looks like you may of found something you like but either way good luck with it all.

I just found these two head racquets which i guess is more useful for me,at least other than most of Wilson racquets!!
thanks anyways dave

 

[Bantlord]

Thanks bantlord for your encouragement,
can you share more experiences with us? i.e. how tough is it to play these kinda matches? and how does the first days of playing an int'l event feel? etc...?
P.S.in which countries/cities have you played so far?
thanks again,
bye

i play all over the world. Try to stay away from tourist destination cities. They are the strongest tournamnets. Try to stay away from 15k futures especially 15k H (hospitality or 10khospitality). These attract better players and u have very little chance of getting into qualies.

experience is the key. most of the time you will lose easily because you assume the person you are playing is decent. After a while you learn to get on an play your own game. At futures level, you will tend to lose the match through unforced errors rather than actually getting blown off court, unless you are way out of your depth.


If you make it to the main draw, it is all about luck. You may be drawn against top seed, normally 350 ish in world. All you can do is keep ur feet moving, stay solid and take chances when they present themselves.



Life gets easier when you get points, until then it is hard hard hard graft.

the key is to researching your tournaments, choosing the right ones on the best surface with the weakest draw that week.

 

[christinamaniac7]

Thanks bantlord,
after those events i'll try to play first those poor countries which is both cheap and has less top player in it.

P.S.well do you think there'd be some sponsorship chances once someone shows the strength and ability to get up the rankings??
i'm not sure but i don't think most of pro players have had the money to travel that much,some people may have helped them anyway,right??

 

[Anton]

Unfortunately i don't have any vids but it's now nearly 3 years that i'm playing tennis! it's my second year playing local club matches and in my own humble opinion i believe it's now time to take my game up to another level and play some futures...
btw-thanks for the racket stuff,i didn't know they're paintjobbed at all!!! anyways do u think there's a lot difference between those rackets and those paintjobbed ones??

Well I've been playing for two and a half years and in my local tournaments I'm still trying to take first in the B group. The local A group winner is someone who has been playing, taking classes (and instructing in later life) in tennis from about the age of 5.

This winner, and maybe the runner up will be competitive in the futures tournament which I thought was a low-level PRO tournament. But maybe it is different here in the states.

Re. paintjobs - don't worry so much about what the pro's use - most of them have been hitting with the same frame for years and years and years and they don't want to switch so tennis companies put paintjobs on their old model frames to sell new rackets.

What grip do you use?

 

[Moz]

Well I've been playing for two and a half years and in my local tournaments I'm still trying to take first in the B group. The local A group winner is someone who has been playing, taking classes (and instructing in later life) in tennis from about the age of 5.

This winner, and maybe the runner up will be competitive in the futures tournament which I thought was a low-level PRO tournament. But maybe it is different here in the states.

I have a feeling you might be massively underrating the standard of play in futures events.

This may also be the case with the OP. To the OP: If you can try and seek out someone who tried to make it at the futures level and failed and pay him for an hours play. This may save you the travelling cash in the long run and will give you an idea what you're in for.

 

[LPShanet]

I have a feeling you might be massively underrating the standard of play in futures events.

This may also be the case with the OP. To the OP: If you can try and seek out someone who tried to make it at the futures level and failed and pay him for an hours play. This may save you the travelling cash in the long run and will give you an idea what you're in for.

I think we need to clarify the term "futures" as it's being used here by the OP and others.

To elaborate, Futures can refer to the bottom tier of the former professional satellite circuit in the US...the ones you play before you move on to Challengers. These are adult professional tournaments and many participants have world rankings.

There are also junior tournaments called Futures, which are regional tournaments intended for good players who are new to tournament tennis, and I believe they have rules excluding a certain level of ranked players from entering the draws.

To the OP, please let us know which ones you're talking about, or if there is some other type of Futures you're referencing. Also, where are you located?

Cheers
L

Note: Both of my definitions above apply to USTA tournaments in the United States. The term may also be used on other countries differently.

 

[LPShanet]

Unless you play at one hell of a club, I wouldn't expect anything.

Another thing to note is that "club" means different things in different parts of the world. In the U.S., it denotes local recreational play at the country club, usually in the 2.5 - 4.5 range. However, in Europe, club play is done by grade, and the top club level is the equal of entry level satellite/professional play. Top players are paid to play for their club, and it is a serious outing. The German and other East European club leagues are considered excellent off-season training options for up and coming players, and many of those country's pros and Davis Cup players play in these club leagues.

Again, to the OP, we need to know which kind of club play you're referring to, and where in the world you are.