Can tweener racquets be used effectively by an advanced player ?

Can tweener racquets be used effectively by an advanced player ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 63 94.0%
  • No

    Votes: 4 6.0%

  • Total voters
    67

Franco05

New User
I’ve seen a lot of college and pro players use tweener sticks. If they can play with these, should we too ? Is it the right racquet for them even if they hit long a lot ?
 

J D

Semi-Pro
There’s a balance. If you force errors more than you hit long, it’s a winning proposition. Just keeping the ball in all the time only works if you want to be a grinder.

Use the tool that works best for your game.
 

Trip

Legend
Short Answer: yes, of course. Look at all the pro players who use tweeners, with great success. Best example of all: Nadal.

Longer Answer: Most players, at most levels, advanced included, are usually better off playing with the most tweener-ish qualities that they can get, while still allowing for proper-enough mechanics, adequate comfort and just enough control. Much short of that, you're typically giving up more free performance in more aspects of the game than you are gaining any extra benefit from increased maneuverability, precision, finesse, etc. of smaller-headed/thinner-beamed alternatives. For some players, that's still a Blade or other modern control frame. But for many, it's higher power-to-weight pleeners and tweeners. It's just where the modern game is at, love it or hate it.
 
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socallefty

G.O.A.T.
It is a more serve-dependent and topspin-dependent game these days. More maneuverable racquets are easier to swing along the vertical axis when you are serving and when you are hitting with more of a vertical component to your swing. So for modern players who brush up on the ball a lot, the increased swing speed from a slightly lower SW racquet is preferable to having more mass which is good for more linear swings.
 

danbrenner

Legend
I’ve seen a lot of college and pro players use tweener sticks. If they can play with these, should we too ? Is it the right racquet for them even if they hit long a lot ?
No. Everyone should use player frames. And def if you are a lefty, or from Spain then def you should not be using tweeners.
 

Power Player

Bionic Poster
Some people struggle to control tweeners which can actually make the frames more advanced for them than a control frame.

In some circumstances, tweeners can require better technique once you hit the intermediate level.

Pro tweeners are typically weighted up a bit which also adds to the control difficulty. But if you can control them, you get a lot of free power which will save energy over the course of a long match.
 
Every player should be using a tweener, I don't know much about head anymore, although I used a prestige for a decade plus and a speed pro later, nor do I know Wilson, but to give examples every player should use a vcore, ezone, pure Aero, pure drive IF you are a greet player and can tame it , or a pure strike. I guess the Percepts, too, but really why forego the power of a vcore or ezone, unless you are extremely high level 5.0 and want the precision of a percept and can actually use it to its full potential.

No lead needed other than matching.

Any of those rackets mentioned above or the equivilent from Head or Wilson and everyone reading this will win the maximum number of matches their ability will allow.
 
Every player should be using a tweener, I don't know much about head anymore, although I used a prestige for a decade plus and a speed pro later, nor do I know Wilson, but to give examples every player should use a vcore, ezone, pure Aero, pure drive IF you are a greet player and can tame it , or a pure strike. I guess the Percepts, too, but really why forego the power of a vcore or ezone, unless you are extremely high level 5.0 and want the precision of a percept and can actually use it to its full potential.

No lead needed other than matching.

Any of those rackets mentioned above or the equivilent from Head or Wilson and everyone reading this will win the maximum number of matches their ability will allow.
I totally agree. Most people would be better off with a stock tweener. None of us are hitting the ball hard enough to warrant a 330+ sw unless you are a D1 player or above imo, and the extra power, spin, and forgiveness far outweigh the worse feel and directional control. I was a middle of the road 4.5 when I was using my v5 weighted Blade 18x20, and after I switched to a stock ezone 98, I jumped into high 4.5 - low 5.0 territory.

It seems a lot of people perhaps overrate their ability and think they need a 340 sw blade pro 18x20 to play their best tennis when an ezone would do the trick lol
 

jimdontcare

Semi-Pro
Can we settle on a modern definition?

"Tweener" was coined, as I remember it from when I was a kid, because those racquets were between traditional midplus frames and oversized frames. The Pure Drive was the quintessential tweener because it brought oversize power into something advanced players could actually be competitive with. (Edit: yes Agassi and the Original Graphite and all that, but you know the oversized frames that existed in the early 2000s)

Given that, I've long thought "tweeners" had to have thick beams (>23 mm, like the Pure Drive and oversized racquets at the time) and at least 100 sqin. Even then, it has felt weird for me to consider something like a Speed MP a tweener since its constant beam is very much trying to keep it from entering Pure Drive--and thus tweener--territory. It's also felt weird for me to consider the Ezone 98 a tweener since it is harder to use and less forgiving than its 100 sqin counterpart, which is a true tweener. I guess that's not really an objective judgment, though.

Either way, it seems like my categorization of "tweener" is off because people are recommending Ezone 98s and Speed MPs as tweeners. So what is a tweener in 2024/25?
 

jimdontcare

Semi-Pro
imo:

Tweeners: Pure Drive, Pure Aero, Ultra, Clash, Ezone 100, VCore 100, Instinct, Extreme MP, FX 500, Blackout, Ripstick

Modern midplus (need a better name): Pure Strike 98s and 100s, Shift, Ezone 98, VCore 98, Percept 100s, Speed MP (maybe Pro too idk), FX 500 Tour, CX 400 Tour, Whiteout maybe, Prince Tour 100s and maybe 98

To me there's such a strong distinction between these categories but I see them all being called tweeners by somebody at some point or another, but maybe I'm missing something
 
Can we settle on a modern definition?

"Tweener" was coined, as I remember it from when I was a kid, because those racquets were between traditional midplus frames and oversized frames. The Pure Drive was the quintessential tweener because it brought oversize power into something advanced players could actually be competitive with. (Edit: yes Agassi and the Original Graphite and all that, but you know the oversized frames that existed in the early 2000s)

Given that, I've long thought "tweeners" had to have thick beams (>23 mm, like the Pure Drive and oversized racquets at the time) and at least 100 sqin. Even then, it has felt weird for me to consider something like a Speed MP a tweener since its constant beam is very much trying to keep it from entering Pure Drive--and thus tweener--territory. It's also felt weird for me to consider the Ezone 98 a tweener since it is harder to use and less forgiving than its 100 sqin counterpart, which is a true tweener. I guess that's not really an objective judgment, though.

Either way, it seems like my categorization of "tweener" is off because people are recommending Ezone 98s and Speed MPs as tweeners. So what is a tweener in 2024/25?
That's why I listed so many example rackets in my blurb, good luck really defining tweener. I do think though, that 98s can be tweeners, but yeah, I personally think all Babolots are tweeners lol, except the Rafa Origin.
 

jimdontcare

Semi-Pro
That's why I listed so many example rackets in my blurb, good luck really defining tweener. I do think though, that 98s can be tweeners, but yeah, I personally think all Babolots are tweeners lol, except the Rafa Origin.
Yeah worthy discussion, I can see why you might consider all Babs outside the Origin and the PSVS tweeners. There's some magic (maybe black magic for some people) in that layup. Really it was your identification of Percepts potentially being tweeners that made me want to crowdsource some definitions here haha.

There's an older guy I play with sometimes, I don't know much about his history but he's a 4.0 who more or less aged out of 4.5, refuses to move on from his Pro Staffs. He can hit his spots but he cannot play any defense. Once the ball leaves the sweet spot it's over. Trying to figure out something I should recommend he try.
 
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Yeah worthy discussion, I can see why you might consider all Babs outside the Origin and the PSVS tweeners. There's some magic (maybe black magic for some people) in that layup. Really really it was your identification of Percepts potentially being tweeners that made me want to crowdsource some definitions here haha.

There's an older guy I play with sometimes, I don't know much about his history but he's a 4.0 who more or less aged out of 4.5, refuses to move on from his Pro Staffs. He can hit his spots but he cannot play any defense. Once the ball leaves the sweet spot it's over. Trying to figure out something I should recommend he try.
Some people are also just stubborn unfortunately. I know a lot of people far worse than me who use way tougher rackets, and if I try to recommend a tweener they just complain about the feel and lack of control. I don't know if your friend is that way, but some people need to discover it for themselves to actually understand the benefits a tweener gives you, especially if they are older or are racquetholics
 
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