Diary of a Racketaholic

gino

Legend
Fall here in the Bay Area going easy on us. Really enjoying the response from these CTR refinished sticks, the thinner paint giving a touch more feel. Also revisiting the v12 RF97 - which feels somehow different to my v10/11 sticks. More muted for sure, I forget if they changed the layup at all between 11 and 12

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Fintft

G.O.A.T.
I’m going to Gut mains & poly crosses for the winter. VS mains 56 & Hawk Rough crosses @ 53. I played in club finals this week in 50 degree weather & my arm is a little sore. The strings felt like a board & balls felt dead. Excited to try the Carve 100 with this setup.
I do 50 gut/47 poly myself.
 
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BBender716

Professional
Man, I finally have gotten to playing way looser and "skipping rocks" in match play on my forehand and somehow my potent second serve has become much less reliable. Used to be automatic but I think working on more aggressive first serves has messed with my second serve form. So frustrating. Coach says I need to remember to keep my elbow away from my body and avoid tightening up. Sigh. So mental.
 

veelium

Hall of Fame
Some observations from watching Vienna qualis live.
I don't like the Blade paintjob, just looks meh.
Moutet's tecnifibre paintjob still reminds me of a diaper accident.
The ball catcher racquet have some kind of speed paintjob.
Halys is a stoic man, dont think he changed his facial expression once during the 1.5 sets I watched.
Moutet crazy as usual but damn is he entertaining to watch.
 

BBender716

Professional
Man, I finally have gotten to playing way looser and "skipping rocks" in match play on my forehand and somehow my potent second serve has become much less reliable. Used to be automatic but I think working on more aggressive first serves has messed with my second serve form. So frustrating. Coach says I need to remember to keep my elbow away from my body and avoid tightening up. Sigh. So mental.
I think also I've been looking away from the ball too soon and then netting it. Looking forward to a date with the ball machine and serving this afternoon with some video
 

gsinko1

Semi-Pro
Was just recently on here raving about the TGT293.1 (338g, 32.1cm, 326SW strung) I picked up, but I just tried lux nat gut 1.25 mains x restring sync 1.20 crosses @55/52 and what an experience. Haven’t used a racquet or set up that had me swinging with so much confidence and control since I first tried the retail YT IG Prestige Pro some 12 years ago. If the gut lasts long enough to make up for the cost I think I might have a new set up for the first time in 10+ years. Been a full bed of Tour Bite 1.20 for years but I didn’t feel I was missing any spin or control with the gut and was getting noticeably more depth for free. Very excited to keep trying this setup out. Now feel like I have to pick up a matching stick…
 

tim-ay

Legend
Easy doubles match this morning. C100 with fluxx was serving nasty stuff. Control so good with fluxx. Really wanna try pure rush
Fluxx still has better control. PR is still very good. Spin is about the same. PR a shade softer. I don’t know…. I like them both and it’s just about what color looks better in each racket. Haha. PR looks killer in the Origins.
 

topspn

G.O.A.T.
Fluxx still has better control. PR is still very good. Spin is about the same. PR a shade softer. I don’t know…. I like them both and it’s just about what color looks better in each racket. Haha. PR looks killer in the Origins.

PR has pop to it for sure over fluxx but just thinking about the feel in the C100 and what that would give me
 

tim-ay

Legend
PR has pop to it for sure over fluxx but just thinking about the feel in the C100 and what that would give me
It’s a little more comfortable but I don’t really notice much difference in touch shots. My Carves are hovering around 340SW now so that takes over the difference in the strings; they are very close in feel anyway.
 

topspn

G.O.A.T.
I am going for my 3rd C100. Wish I had just kept my first one which turns out was pretty good. It was a bit overweight 304-305, pretty low SW and just a tad under 32cm balance. Added a lot of
lead to 12 and some under butt cap. I think this suites this frame customizing it up to your SW and compensating with weight under butt cap.
 
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Fintft

G.O.A.T.
I am going for my 3rd C100. Wish I had just kept my first one which turns out was pretty good. It was a bit overweight 304-305, pretty low SW and just a tad under 32cm balance. Added a lot of
lead to 12 and some under butt cap. I think this suites this frame customizing it up to your SW and compensating with weight under butt cap.
Personally I like that weight, but if you had to add a lot of weight it might have turned into an RF97A 360g strung, which so pasee :)
 

Nollid

Professional
Man, I finally have gotten to playing way looser and "skipping rocks" in match play on my forehand and somehow my potent second serve has become much less reliable. Used to be automatic but I think working on more aggressive first serves has messed with my second serve form. So frustrating. Coach says I need to remember to keep my elbow away from my body and avoid tightening up. Sigh. So mental.
I feel ya. It's been one step forward two steps back with serve improvements going on a couple of years now. This summer the kick serve finally clicked for me, so now my body gets what it has to do to accomplish a good kick. At my most recent serve lesson, I asked coach to give me advice on developing rhythm because it gets wonky during matches. His advice was good and has helped my serve quite a bit. He showed me a routine and it has increased my consistency. The routine has to do with weight shift and breathing, ie. start with all weight on front foot and exhale, start shifting back and inhale to trophy, then exhale for racket drop and coming up to the ball. It has helped me to have these check points because my previous routine consisted of bouncing the ball a number of times. Elementary, I know, but it's helped me.

Zero news on the racket front. Still happy with my set up. Still enjoying reading the adventures on this thread. Things I would like to try (if I was still doing that) 1. Carve 100 2. Prestige MP 18x19 3. New TF 40 305 4. Head Extreme Pro 5. Pure Rush strings
 

BBender716

Professional
I feel ya. It's been one step forward two steps back with serve improvements going on a couple of years now. This summer the kick serve finally clicked for me, so now my body gets what it has to do to accomplish a good kick. At my most recent serve lesson, I asked coach to give me advice on developing rhythm because it gets wonky during matches. His advice was good and has helped my serve quite a bit. He showed me a routine and it has increased my consistency. The routine has to do with weight shift and breathing, ie. start with all weight on front foot and exhale, start shifting back and inhale to trophy, then exhale for racket drop and coming up to the ball. It has helped me to have these check points because my previous routine consisted of bouncing the ball a number of times. Elementary, I know, but it's helped me.

Zero news on the racket front. Still happy with my set up. Still enjoying reading the adventures on this thread. Things I would like to try (if I was still doing that) 1. Carve 100 2. Prestige MP 18x19 3. New TF 40 305 4. Head Extreme Pro 5. Pure Rush strings
Agreed on the routine. The coach I had wasn't so much prescribing what the routine should be but just that I needed one that was consistent. I might add in the breathing though, I like that. Right now I bounce twice and do one "sampras rock" where I shift the weight onto the back foot and lift the front foot toe then toss.
 

TwinCinema

Professional
3. New TF 40 305

From what they’ve written on TW, it seems like the “new” TF 40 is just a paintjob. Mold and layup appear to be the same, and the listed specs are identical to the prior release. So I guess it’s like what Yonex did with sand beige VCores and aqua night EZones.
 

Nadal15thslam

Hall of Fame
Will the Rf97 become a rarity in the future and a legendary racquet like the 90? The new ones are not similar at all to the old Rf97, not even the same mold.
 

vndesu

Hall of Fame
Will the Rf97 become a rarity in the future and a legendary racquet like the 90? The new ones are not similar at all to the old Rf97, not even the same mold.

I think in time it will. I have my laver cup blue rf 97 thats been used quite a bit and gotten some offers from friends. I also have the last version I bought, one brand new in the plastic still and one thats being used.

I can also agree that the new rf01 is a different take but I can see how itll benefit others who would want to try the RF series. Love everything about the RF97 btw, only thing I feel like gets affected by the weight is my serves.
 

BBender716

Professional
I just royally messed up my ankle myself last night. I always wear a brace on my right ankle since as a kid I completely ruined it but of course, it was time for my left ankle to get wrecked. Tried to play through it for an hour but the coach sent me home after I he saw I just couldn't move around at all. Should have just gone straight home when I injured it in warmups because now I can't really walk all that well. I guess if there's a positive, I felt like I was playing really loose both on serve and groundstokes to compensate from not being able to drive as hard from my legs and it really felt good.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
I just royally messed up my ankle myself last night. I always wear a brace on my right ankle since as a kid I completely ruined it but of course, it was time for my left ankle to get wrecked. Tried to play through it for an hour but the coach sent me home after I he saw I just couldn't move around at all. Should have just gone straight home when I injured it in warmups because now I can't really walk all that well. I guess if there's a positive, I felt like I was playing really loose both on serve and groundstokes to compensate from not being able to drive as hard from my legs and it really felt good.
Speedy recovery, hopefully you won't need a cast or anything!
My friend rolled his ankle Saturday and two days later it got swollen and painful really badly?!! Probably b/c of his gout. So it could be worse.

My ankle tested me just a little bit two weeks ago, but it healed/got strong again, on its own.
Gl!

It's funny (or not), but not only are my shots worse with gut/poly, I also don't hit as hard as with the poly/poly hybrid @galapagos reviewed as "mushy, so it inspires confidence to swing fast" :)

Oh well I just did 2 more gut/poly and one poly/poly on the new 3 prostocks so at least one more month of gut/poly on 3 sticks. The good news being that my elbow is telling me that I don't seem to need gut, as long as I cut the poly hybrid after no more than 20h or so. Once I went 40h.
 

galapagos

Hall of Fame
Speedy recovery, hopefully you won't need a cast or anything!
My friend rolled his ankle Saturday and two days later it got swollen and painful really badly?!! Probably b/c of his gout. So it could be worse.

My ankle tested me just a little bit two weeks ago, but it healed/got strong again, on its own.
Gl!

It's funny (or not), but not only are my shots worse with gut/poly, I also don't hit as hard as with the poly/poly hybrid @galapagos reviewed as "mushy, so it inspires confidence to swing fast" :)

Oh well I just did 2 more gut/poly and one poly/poly on the new 3 prostocks so at least one more month of gut/poly on 3 sticks. The good news being that my elbow is telling me that I don't seem to need gut, as long as I cut the poly hybrid after no more than 20h or so. Once I went 40h.
Im not sure i said that „mushy feel inspires to swing fast” but mushy and control/spin oriented setup sounds like mayami big spin/tour hex hybrid ? ;p
 
Question for the brain trust here: I’ve been demoing a Pure Drive 98 and it’s been helping me realize that I like firmer-feeling rackets with a constant flex, but I’d like something mid-RA for arm health reasons. I’d also like something somewhat more spin friendly, which for me rules out rackets like the Radical MP. Any suggestions?
 

gino

Legend
Will the Rf97 become a rarity in the future and a legendary racquet like the 90? The new ones are not similar at all to the old Rf97, not even the same mold.

already rare and expensive. with only 4 iterations across 8 years (three of which have that awful rubber paint), I expect them to appreciate rapidly and hold value. as the secondhand market has already indicated
 

emhtennis

Hall of Fame
Question for the brain trust here: I’ve been demoing a Pure Drive 98 and it’s been helping me realize that I like firmer-feeling rackets with a constant flex, but I’d like something mid-RA for arm health reasons. I’d also like something somewhat more spin friendly, which for me rules out rackets like the Radical MP. Any suggestions?
Pro Kennex Top Banana or Ki10 (which is the pure drive mold, or at least the original destiny mold that babolat bought or leased in the late 90s)

Could also demo the new Dunlop FX500
 

taylor15

Hall of Fame
People complained about the 2021 wrecking arms, but I haven't had any issue with gut / poly. I think @taylor15 usually uses gut / poly also. 2021 provides a tiny bit more pop. 2023 is more muted and that cancels out the softer feeling. PJ on 2021 is better!
I regret ever moving my 2021s, I just got the itch. Still using gut/poly and never had any arm issues
 

JOSHL

Hall of Fame
People complained about the 2021 wrecking arms, but I haven't had any issue with gut / poly. I think @taylor15 usually uses gut / poly also. 2021 provides a tiny bit more pop. 2023 is more muted and that cancels out the softer feeling. PJ on 2021 is better!
Muted is not what I’m after so thank you!
 
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