Blade V9 vs Pro staff v14

[pastashop42]

Good recommendation. In fact, I just played for an hour and a half this morning, comparing Pure Aero 98 with ProStaff v14 X. I didn't care for the Babolat. The ProStaff felt *much* nicer. Strung with 4G 1.25 gauge at 47 lbs. After a bit of initial adjustment, it was "plug-and-play" and a very enjoyable feel, just about the middle ground between the PS 97 v14 and Blade 98 v9, with more feel than the Blade, and more forgiveness than PS 97. If someone gave me a great deal on a pair of PS v14 X, I'd not hesitate to use it as my main stick.

That said, I will probably end up going with PS 97. It felt just a tad better / more precise on serves for me, which is a major part of my game. It also felt like the PS v14 97 came through the air a bit faster on ground strokes, while allowing for a bit more "attitude" adjustment to pull cross-court or down-the-line. (I suppose this is maybe due to a lower twist-weight of the smaller head?)

Anyhow, it's probably all in my head, and I'm just being recalcitrant in not admitting that my actual match results would be better with the 100 square inch frame. But I am willing to give the 97 a go for now.

 

[pdparos78]

Good recommendation. In fact, I just played for an hour and a half this morning, comparing Pure Aero 98 with ProStaff v14 X. I didn't care for the Babolat. The ProStaff felt *much* nicer. Strung with 4G 1.25 gauge at 47 lbs. After a bit of initial adjustment, it was "plug-and-play" and a very enjoyable feel, just about the middle ground between the PS 97 v14 and Blade 98 v9, with more feel than the Blade, and more forgiveness than PS 97. If someone gave me a great deal on a pair of PS v14 X, I'd not hesitate to use it as my main stick.

That said, I will probably end up going with PS 97. It felt just a tad better / more precise on serves for me, which is a major part of my game. It also felt like the PS v14 97 came through the air a bit faster on ground strokes, while allowing for a bit more "attitude" adjustment to pull cross-court or down-the-line. (I suppose this is maybe due to a lower twist-weight of the smaller head?)

Anyhow, it's probably all in my head, and I'm just being recalcitrant in not admitting that my actual match results would be better with the 100 square inch frame. But I am willing to give the 97 a go for now.

I played an MT100 today, and earlier today I went to the court to practise some serves with the PS X with the full bed of Alu Power and I couldn't get it to work. I pulled out the PS97 which has the Gut mains / 4G crosses and 9/10 serves were going in so it's definitely not in your head! The PS X has it's good points, but I think the 97 is a better racket overall, if you're on time. I struggled with it on the backhand side on clay today a little bit, but my precision was decent. Not sure if full bed Alu Power is the way to go on the X although I though it was perfect the previous day when I was coaching some intermediates and the ball was going exactly where I wanted in that context.

 

[pastashop42]

Update: Passed on PS X, instead went with PS14 97 for the feel. Bought just one for now to tweak, try strings, see how I’ll gel with it. Put on leather grip, about 4 inches of skinny lead tape in the hoop, GrappleSnake Tour Sniper at 46 lbs —> 350 grams total, about 31.5-ish balance point, IIRC. Have about 5 hours of play on it so far, players ranging from low 4.0 to solid 4.5. Plays very nicely on ground strokes, felt a bit underpowered off the baseline, but “opened up” a bit in the last couple of hours of play. Excellent serving stick.

 

[pdparos78]

Update: Passed on PS X, instead went with PS14 97 for the feel. Bought just one for now to tweak, try strings, see how I’ll gel with it. Put on leather grip, about 4 inches of skinny lead tape in the hoop, GrappleSnake Tour Sniper at 46 lbs —> 350 grams total, about 31.5-ish balance point, IIRC. Have about 5 hours of play on it so far, players ranging from low 4.0 to solid 4.5. Plays very nicely on ground strokes, felt a bit underpowered off the baseline, but “opened up” a bit in the last couple of hours of play. Excellent serving stick.

i've been leaning into my RF97 more and more lately the last couple of weeks and although a little more sluggish than the PS97, I feel I play better with it - more stable, when I go for the lines and corners, i'm not missing much. you just have to engage your whole kinetic chain and be fit (which I am). The PS97 is easier on the backhand side though and it allows me to be a touch later. I don't know how I feel about the PSX - I know it's easier and spinnier etc, but i'm not SOLD SOLD on it. I think it comes down to context i.e. am I getting pushed around (PSX), or am I dictacting and attacking (PS/RF97).

 

[anfield]

I use the PS97 v13 but have been searching for something that I can use for old-man doubles. The issue with the PS97 is it quite sluggish and you really have to make a full cut or very committed shot to keep the ball in. The v14 is quite head-heavy, so very sluggish and the flexible throat makes it very unpredictable, especially of a OHBH. The v9's hoop feels huge and the flex is nice to keep balls in but the upper hoop flex is an issue with OHBH.

My happy medium is the CX200, what a great stick that punches above its weight. It flexes linearly and the hoop is very solid with just a big of lead. It's so much faster than the PS97, I can do flicks and tricks and defend so well, but more importantly hit dime-sized targets. I'm not getting the natural depth of the PS or v9 but I'm hitting shots that are so accurate from any position, especially if I'm late to the ball.
I'm in the quandary the PS97 I can push someone off the court and the CX200 I can move someone off the court. If the v9 was a 97 I might have more love, the CX200 98 plays like a 97.

 

[StanislavUZ]

The v14 is quite head-heavy, so very sluggish and the flexible throat makes it very unpredictable, especially of a OHBH.

Balance Point 12.6 in 32 cm 7pts Head Light

How can it be head-heavy?

 

[RF2017]

Balance Point 12.6 in 32 cm 7pts Head Light

How can it be head-heavy?

I'm guessing he's talking more about the increased swing weight rather than the balance point of the racket as it was raised from the v13 to the v14

 

[TennisManiac]

Plays very nicely on ground strokes, felt a bit underpowered off the baseline, but “opened up” a bit in the last couple of hours of play. Excellent serving stick.

Ofcourse it felt underpowered. You're playing with an ultra low powered string. Tour Sniper is a terrible string to use in the Pro Staff 97.

 

[pastashop42]

Yeah, completely agree. Maybe as a cross with gut mains?.. anyhow, I only realized this after I spec’ed it, so it’s on me for failing to do the research. I’ve a set of Alpha waiting to go in at the end of this week… should be better, right?

 

[AlexKangaroo]

i've been leaning into my RF97 more and more lately the last couple of weeks and although a little more sluggish than the PS97, I feel I play better with it - more stable, when I go for the lines and corners, i'm not missing much. you just have to engage your whole kinetic chain and be fit (which I am). The PS97 is easier on the backhand side though and it allows me to be a touch later. I don't know how I feel about the PSX - I know it's easier and spinnier etc, but i'm not SOLD SOLD on it. I think it comes down to context i.e. am I getting pushed around (PSX), or am I dictacting and attacking (PS/RF97).

I guess you would like to ideally have the 1 racquet that can work its best in both scenarios. I don't know if this exists, but then I would imagine the other is to play with the one you play better against tougher opponents.

 

[pdparos78]

I guess you would like to ideally have the 1 racquet that can work its best in both scenarios. I don't know if this exists, but then I would imagine the other is to play with the one you play better against tougher opponents.

Yes of course, if I was playing loads of comps with difficult opponents, the PSX would have to become my primary stick. I'm one of those players who can easily adapt to various rackets (within reason of course) I can easily switch between a 347g PSX, to a 349g PS97 to a 363g RF97 - but heavy pace makes the RF97 useless on the backhand side as I just don't get there in time if the balls are coming in heavy. At least with the PSX i have a chance to counterpunch effectively.

 

[Xarvet]

Wilson has the PS X marked down to $142 and it's taking a lot of willpower not to snag one since I actually like the current color and it sounds like this is the end of the line for a 100 inch. This is probably the wrong place to have someone talk me off the ledge lol

 

[pdparos78]

Wilson has the PS X marked down to $142 and it's taking a lot of willpower not to snag one since I actually like the current color and it sounds like this is the end of the line for a 100 inch. This is probably the wrong place to have someone talk me off the ledge lol

You won't regret getting one. Just check the QC and make sure it's got a swing weight of at least 320 strung, otherwise, lead it up at 10 & 2 with leather to counter. It really is an easier to use PS97 and makes counterpunching possible.

 

[pastashop42]

String update: After about 8 hours with PS97v14 with Grapplesnake Tour Sniper (46/44 lbs), I had it restrung with Grapplesnake Tour M8 at 45/43 lbs. MUCH more depth and spin. I recall net clearance still being higher with the X, but at least the number of times the ball clipped the tape in an hour and a half went down like 80% with M8 compared to Sniper. I was able to launch pretty fast and spinny serves quite easily, but felt perhaps a bit too tired to really put a lot of weight on the serve today. Also noticed that I was not as confident as I would have liked in keeping the ball in-bounds when pulling cross-court, and the backhand slice felt more tenuous than it was previously. Not sure what the reason is, but will be paying more attention to timing and may need to tweak the grip set-up and overall balance (currently bare leather that’s been used on a different stick for awhile, plus a few inches of lead at the top of the hoop).