Best and Worst Racquet Changes

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cork_screw

Hall of Fame
Top 5 Best Racquet Changes by Brand.
*this does not include teenage years*

Best

1. Djokovic: Wilson ---> Head
2. Berdych: Dunlop ---> Head
3. Wawrinka: Head ---> Yonex
4. Tsonga: Wilson ---> Babolat
5. Querrey: Prince ---> Babolat

*close tie for 5th is Verdasco Dunlop ---> Babolat, but maybe too early to tell.


Worst

1. Davydenko: Prince ---> Dunlop
2. Blake: Dunlop ---> Prince
3. Wozniacki: Babolat ----> Yonex
4. Tomic: Yonex ---> Head
5. (can't think of a 5th)
 
Didn't Tomic go Head ---> Yonex?
And anyway that happened in his teenage years.
I agree that it was a bad change though.
 
Worst
Ferrero from Prince to HEAD

Best
Ferrero from HEAD back to Prince
Ferrer from Prince back to Prince (from the Vendetta paintjob or wtv he was using, to the o3 or ozone tour)
 
I don't think Djokovic's Wilson --> Head was that good. Correct me if I'm wrong but when he first started playing with that white Head racquet he wasn't doing very well.
 
Verdasco: Tecnifibre ---> Yonex ---> Dunlop

I think he was doing well with Tecnifibre, hit a hot streak when he switched to Yonex and then finally settled into his current erratic play once he made the switch to Dunlop. Appears that he should have stayed with either the Tecnifibre or Yonex.
 
merwy said:
I don't think Djokovic's Wilson --> Head was that good. Correct me if I'm wrong but when he first started playing with that white Head racquet he wasn't doing very well.
Click to expand...

Yeah. He played like crap for a whole season (at least for his standards)..
 
cork_screw said:
Top 5 Best Racquet Changes by Brand.
*this does not include teenage years*

Best

1. Djokovic: Wilson ---> Head
2. Berdych: Dunlop ---> Head
3. Wawrinka: Head ---> Yonex
4. Tsonga: Wilson ---> Babolat
5. Querrey: Prince ---> Babolat

*close tie for 5th is Verdasco Dunlop ---> Babolat, but maybe too early to tell.


Worst

1. Davydenko: Prince ---> Dunlop
2. Blake: Dunlop ---> Prince
3. Wozniacki: Babolat ----> Yonex
4. Tomic: Yonex ---> Head
5. (can't think of a 5th)
Click to expand...

Blake never really used a Prince racquet. It was his Dunlop blacked out with Prince written on it.
 
Does switching frames count within a brand?

Del Potro switching to a new Wilson stick, then got a wrist injured and went back to his old one.

Roger latest (test) switch wasn't very successful. He's back to the good old pro staff.

Retired Sampras is playing with the Babolat Pure Storm. He said he should have made the switch to a new racket when he was still a pro.
 
THESEXPISTOL said:
Worst
Ferrero from Prince to HEAD

Best
Ferrero from HEAD back to Prince
Ferrer from Prince back to Prince (from the Vendetta paintjob or wtv he was using, to the o3 or ozone tour)
Click to expand...

Agreed re JCF, that has to be the most disastrous switch amongst recent players. I can't remember a single good match he played with that Head racket of his LOL
 
TlovesTennis said:
Does switching frames count within a brand?

Del Potro switching to a new Wilson stick, then got a wrist injured and went back to his old one.

Roger latest (test) switch wasn't very successful. He's back to the good old pro staff.

Retired Sampras is playing with the Babolat Pure Storm. He said he should have made the switch to a new racket when he was still a pro.
Click to expand...

Fed hasn't switched racquets, he's switched the paint on his racquets. He's been using the same racquet for a long time now.
 
TennisCanada1 said:
You can argue Tsonga, as he made his deepest run at a slam (AO 2008 final) with the Wilson
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was going to say that Tsonga's frame change hasn't really been good or bad. He's had very good results with both and played some uninsipred tennis with both.

Lots of changes back in the day, but don't know if they were necessarily good or bad

Edberg - Wilson to Adidas back to Wilson. Anyone remember the white Adidas frame he used for a brief moment?

Agassi - Prince to Head. Clearly it was a good change as he won more Slams with the Head, but I'd argue he would have won them with the Prince as well, as he was simply more mature. And, I think he did win one or two with the Prince (?)

Graf - Dunlop to Wilson. Don't remember when exactly this happened in her career. She seems to have dominated with both.

Seles - Prince to Yonex. Good move as she won all or almost all of her Slams with Yonex. But, I remember he playing well as a youngster with her Prince.

Sabatini - Prince to Mizuno? She used a POG and then used that white frame that was shaped differently. She won her Slam with the Prince, but I didn't see any sort of huge drop off with the other frame. Her problems were mental, not equipment based.

Just a few.
 
THESEXPISTOL said:
Worst
Ferrero from Prince to HEAD

Best
Ferrero from HEAD back to Prince
Ferrer from Prince back to Prince (from the Vendetta paintjob or wtv he was using, to the o3 or ozone tour)
Click to expand...

I agree with Ferrer and I was very tempted to put him on, but that would be breaking the rules *by brand*

But I agree that once ferrer switched from that TT Warrior to the O3, he became a very different player. He was placing in the finals of a lot of clay tournaments (which he wasn't doing before when he was playing with the warrior - people tend to forget that he wasn't stellar on clay before that switch)
 
bluetrain4 said:
Agassi - Prince to Head. Clearly it was a good change as he won more Slams with the Head, but I'd argue he would have won them with the Prince as well, as he was simply more mature. And, I think he did win one or two with the Prince (?)
Click to expand...

prince to head? with AA the chronology was prince> donnay> head.

it was really stupid of AA to leave prince but he had bollitieri pulling the strings there. he did win Wimbledon in 92 with the donnay and made 3 other slam finals with it but in the bio he always seems to wax poetic about his pog os. he would go on to win 7 slams with the head stick. he never won a slam with the prince stick (iirc a semi or quarter at the uso was as close as he got with the prince stick). it is well documented that he would go back to the prince (or a close facsimile thereof) from time to time.
 
In Paris 2012, Janowicz mentioned he changed racquets (to Babolat, although I don't know what from - does anyone know?).

Comparing him before and after Paris suggests this was a great racquet change.
 
Worst???

Monfils went away from prince - his dress in colour of prince rebel was cooles ever.
 
cork_screw said:
Top 5 Best Racquet Changes by Brand.
*this does not include teenage years*

Best

1. Djokovic: Wilson ---> Head
2. Berdych: Dunlop ---> Head
3. Wawrinka: Head ---> Yonex
4. Tsonga: Wilson ---> Babolat
5. Querrey: Prince ---> Babolat

*close tie for 5th is Verdasco Dunlop ---> Babolat, but maybe too early to tell.


Worst

1. Davydenko: Prince ---> Dunlop
2. Blake: Dunlop ---> Prince
3. Wozniacki: Babolat ----> Yonex
4. Tomic: Yonex ---> Head
5. (can't think of a 5th)
Click to expand...

Djokovic never used Wilson. They were all Head, since the 98 is indistinguishable on television from the Wilson K Blades at the time. If you look closely though, same drill pattern, just different grommets.
 
Eltoro said:
Verdasco: Tecnifibre ---> Yonex ---> Dunlop

I think he was doing well with Tecnifibre, hit a hot streak when he switched to Yonex and then finally settled into his current erratic play once he made the switch to Dunlop. Appears that he should have stayed with either the Tecnifibre or Yonex.
Click to expand...

I think Verdasco's switch from Dunlop to Babolat has been good for him. He certainly seems more consistent.
 
Wawrinka's switch to Yonex made an immediate difference in his game. I think if Tommy Haas did the same, his game would get a boost.
 
MrFlip said:
Djokovic never used Wilson. They were all Head
Click to expand...

Are you serious?? Djokovic has been using wilson and you're saying he never used it?
null_zps94b951e0.jpg


He used to use the K Blade. C'mon now.
 
Worst racquet change was when federer switched from the K Factor Six One Tour to the BLX Six One Tour 90 even though its Wilson to Wilson. His performance was worst. I believe that each and every one should be destroyed. The prostaffs are much better.
 
Shaun said:
Are you serious?? Djokovic has been using wilson and you're saying he never used it?
Click to expand...
It was a paintjob. In reality, Wilson replicated his older HEAD frames under the paint. You should give it a search in the Pro Gear section.
 
Shaun said:
Worst racquet change was when federer switched from the K Factor Six One Tour to the BLX Six One Tour 90 even though its Wilson to Wilson. His performance was worst. I believe that each and every one should be destroyed. The prostaffs are much better.
Click to expand...

You know Federer has been playing with the same racquet since May 2002. The only thing that has changed is the paint job on his racquets.
 
Sometimes the paint job seems to make a difference. Del Potro seems to think so. I think Federer likes red and white rackets (Swiss colors).
 
Eduardo Schwank was pretty successful a couple of years ago when he used the Fischer/Pacific Pro no 1 frame but then changed to a Pure Drive and didnt win a single match. It was not until he started using the Fischer mold again that he started winning matches
 
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