Blake Update

[bluegrasser]

O3 technology is not dissapearing. This is one case of one player with one racquet. As stated above, there are still numerous pros (both men and women) who use and do very well with the 03 line. Jelena Jankovic, Davide Sanguinetti, Sharapova, Davydenko, Paul Goldstein, and Guillermo Coria to name a few. And Sam Query is switching to the O3 Hybrid Tour early in 2007.
As far as desperation goes, I guess if wanting to sign and develop a racquet from scratch for the #4 or 5 ranked men's tennis player is desperation, then I suppose they are very desperate. I would guarantee that any number of companies (given the opportunity) would be just as "desperate."

Hey Steve - did you meet my buddy Kevin from Twin City tennis ?

 

[Stringer_Steve]

No, I can't say that I did, but then again it was kind of frenzied. They had a full schedule laid out for us and there were quite a few people that I didn't get the chance to meet/talk to. We mostly hung out with our rep and a few dealers from California and a friend of ours from Cincinnati.

 

[BreakPoint]

And the 03 Tour Coria is using, is NOTHING like the retail version. First off, it's 28" long, has his weight balance and swingweight, along with a layup they do just for him, and a cosmetic they do just for him.

Thanks, Thomas! Well, at least as far as Coria is concerned, this supports my contention that it's hard for me to believe any pro can use a stock O3 Tour MP unless it's heavily customized or a paintjob.

 

[BreakPoint]

You said, " I also personally had a very hard time trying to serve with the O3 Tour MP" . So, in reality, it was only the flat serve you couldn't manage, not serving as a whole.

Most of my serves are flat bomb serves. I could hit spin serves with the O3 Tour MP with lots of slice, but they didn't seem nor feel heavy to me.

If you have a look at the TW review you'll see that 4 of the 5 testers were quite happy with the way they served using the 03 Tour MP and both Granville and Chris mentioned getting good pace on the 'heater'.

I don't recall the review or maybe I never read it, but just from reading this board I have noticed that the biggest complaint amongst people here that have hit with the O3 Tour MP is that it's weak on serves. If you do a search you may find many of these posts.

So, to say that Coria CAN'T serve with the 03 Tour MP is completely wrong. What is causing problems for him isn't a flaw in his racquet but in his mental approach and, probably, his technical one as well.

But perhaps the O3 Tour MP just doesn't work with Coria's (and many others) serve mechanics? He's not going to change his serve mechanics that he's been doing most of his life to accomodate a new racquet, so for him, it is indeed a poor serving racquet. I'm also not going to change my serve mechanics (as I've been hitting serves a lot longer than Coria has ) to accomodate a new racquet. If it doesn't serve well with my current mechanics, then it's a poor serving racquet for me IMO.

Was he wrong to change to the 03 Tour MP in the first place? I would say yes, as you just never mess with a winning game. If you do and suffer a few losses then confidence goes out the window.

That I agree with!

 

[thomas martinez]

Actually Goldstien, he plays a traditional 03 Tour layup, but it's 28" and he has the length to his liking, Prakesh Amritraj, he uses a standard one, but with his weight preferences. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of who else. Davydenko's, his is a stiffer and longer model set to his weights, and the difference between his and Coria's, is the paint(outside of weight preferences). Coria is matte, and Davy is gloss, which actually does effect the way a frame plays.

 

[Rafa's best friend]

Actually Goldstien, he plays a traditional 03 Tour layup, but it's 28" and he has the length to his liking, Prakesh Amritraj, he uses a standard one, but with his weight preferences. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of who else. Davydenko's, his is a stiffer and longer model set to his weights, and the difference between his and Coria's, is the paint(outside of weight preferences). Coria is matte, and Davy is gloss, which actually does effect the way a frame plays.

There is a lot of first time stuff i heard of on this post. 1st, i did not know O3 tour came in 28" length, and 2nd how did they make it stiffer, i can understand you can customize it tobe longer like add or glue extraextension i suppose. But how do you make it stiffer??? And Does goldstein use 28" for the Doubles as well, it is harder to volley with longer racket. and How does color effect the way frame plays?? I don't get this one eithere....

 

[Stringer_Steve]

There is a lot of first time stuff i heard of on this post. 1st, i did not know O3 tour came in 28" length, and 2nd how did they make it stiffer, i can understand you can customize it tobe longer like add or glue extraextension i suppose. But how do you make it stiffer??? And Does goldstein use 28" for the Doubles as well, it is harder to volley with longer racket. and How does color effect the way frame plays?? I don't get this one eithere....

Easy answer: They have a racquet company doing their customization for them (unlike most people on this board who are left to try to improvise). It would be relatively simple for Prince to add length, stiffness (changing the percentages of the materials), and weights during the manufacturing process as they make each batch of frames for each specific pro.

 

[Rafa's best friend]

Easy answer: They have a racquet company doing their customization for them (unlike most people on this board who are left to try to improvise). It would be relatively simple for Prince to add length, stiffness (changing the percentages of the materials), and weights during the manufacturing process as they make each batch of frames for each specific pro.

That must be nice, Don't we all wish we could customize our rackets that way, it will probably cost thousands of dollars. I have Yonex RQS-11 i wish i could make little bit more stiff but that is not possible. It is basically a perfect racket but top of the head is little to flexible so if you hit the ball high in the head, it loses a lot of power and some control as well.....:sad: