Diary of a Racketaholic

Oh - I also have 4 Pure Control Tours, a couple Pure Storm Tours, 4 Aero Storms (2 tour and 2 reg), and APD Original. So I guess that puts my Babolat total at around 23.
You got me beat by 9. I'll have to grab some Pure Storm GTs down the road and step up my game.

But seriously, what I am loving about this collection is it pretty much covers everything for me - classic feel players frame all the way up to boom cannons. And the players frames like the PSVS and Storms are just easier to use than prestiges - more power and forgiveness.

I'm going to re- grommet my Pure Control Swirly and get it in the mix in a few months.
 
Strike Vs honeymoon hit a bump today. Or possibly even ended (but I would need one more such bump for confirmation of an ill-advised Vegas wedding type of a situation)…

Was drilling with my coach today and just missing some of my spots. Too often. Halfway in, went to the bag to yank out a Fedora and was immediately at home, hitting those spots I’d been missing, thinking less, just swinging and pleased.

A lot of this may come down to grip shape. I’m just so used to the 82.

Anyway, no major announcement, other than confirmation that the good ol’ Heads still rule my roost for now.
 
The Artengo 4-racquet “separate compartments” racquet bag is by far the best. Great for organising different things in different/individual zipped compartments, so all of my cr@p won’t go everywhere. Just wish they bring it back or offer a bigger version.
 
Strike Vs honeymoon hit a bump today. Or possibly even ended (but I would need one more such bump for confirmation of an ill-advised Vegas wedding type of a situation)…

Was drilling with my coach today and just missing some of my spots. Too often. Halfway in, went to the bag to yank out a Fedora and was immediately at home, hitting those spots I’d been missing, thinking less, just swinging and pleased.

A lot of this may come down to grip shape. I’m just so used to the 82.

Anyway, no major announcement, other than confirmation that the good ol’ Heads still rule my roost for now.
Of course, my horse.
 
Strike Vs honeymoon hit a bump today. Or possibly even ended (but I would need one more such bump for confirmation of an ill-advised Vegas wedding type of a situation)…

Was drilling with my coach today and just missing some of my spots. Too often. Halfway in, went to the bag to yank out a Fedora and was immediately at home, hitting those spots I’d been missing, thinking less, just swinging and pleased.

A lot of this may come down to grip shape. I’m just so used to the 82.

Anyway, no major announcement, other than confirmation that the good ol’ Heads still rule my roost for now.
The TK82 is by far my favorite, and home for me too. I wish I could pallet all of my frames with that shape.
 
Happy holiday hitting Holics

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I played today, and you would have had a heart attack if you saw me on court:

Bag: Wilson
Racket: Babolat
Strings: Tecnifibre
Grip: Head
Shirt: Adidas
Shorts: New Balance
Shoes: Asics

Bag: Wilson
Racket: Head TGT
Strings: Babloat gut + poly
Grip: Head
Shirt: Asics
Shorts: whatever
Shoes: Asics
 
Not exactly the right place, but interesting racket stuff going on opposite of kyrios/djoker. Mies is still using blade v6 cosmetic, and Erler was switching to a higher tension gravity while returning.
Switching tension for returning is interesting. Is it Maxime cressy who does that in singles?
 
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Makes sense. Serving with low tension is pretty amazing. Returning is a bit trickier but not bad. At the pro level thats probably a different story.
 
Thinning out the collection even more. This morning I gave the '23 GPro a final test run. It has always been a stellar frame for me but never truly main frame worthy for me due to the headsize/shape and 18x20. Right now I'm trying to only keep frames that I could go straight into a match with, without even thinking about it. Still love this frame but others I have are even better.

The BP16 survived. It's quite different to the other rackets I own but the Blade Pro is of course really good as we all know by now. Got it freshly strung now with ALU Rough which really maximizes its performance. At least for three or four hours, so let's see...

TGT334.2 stood the test too, but I'll need to make a choice between it and the retail MP-L, as they're the same frame anyway. Slight difference in layup and weight distribution though. Retail feels a bit more rigid/stable/stiff. TGT is slightly softer, whippier. A bit less powerful I feel like, but that could just be me. And the TGT is full gloss of course... I'll have to set up a side by side test with the same string setup.
 
Strike Vs honeymoon hit a bump today. Or possibly even ended (but I would need one more such bump for confirmation of an ill-advised Vegas wedding type of a situation)…

Was drilling with my coach today and just missing some of my spots. Too often. Halfway in, went to the bag to yank out a Fedora and was immediately at home, hitting those spots I’d been missing, thinking less, just swinging and pleased.

A lot of this may come down to grip shape. I’m just so used to the 82.

Anyway, no major announcement, other than confirmation that the good ol’ Heads still rule my roost for now.
I had a short affair with that sexy racket aka the PSVS but reverted to Head also.

With all the Bab love going around I took my PA23's to the court yesterday intending to hit them but never got around to it. I feel the temptation to purchase an Origin growing. @Power Player @tim-ay have me believing that this racket will actively coach me and that I just might be able to give up costly weekly lessons. Seriously though, there is something to having a monstrous swing weight the forces you to swing relaxed.
 
I had a short affair with that sexy racket aka the PSVS but reverted to Head also.

With all the Bab love going around I took my PA23's to the court yesterday intending to hit them but never got around to it. I feel the temptation to purchase an Origin growing. @Power Player @tim-ay have me believing that this racket will actively coach me and that I just might be able to give up costly weekly lessons. Seriously though, there is something to having a monstrous swing weight the forces you to swing relaxed.

Once you realize TK82 is different than all the other brands, its really hard to unsee/unfeel lol

I think we should all get origins out of fear they will never make another iteration haha ive thought about sending one to CTR and asking him to do it in the 2008 APD cosmetic
 
I had a short affair with that sexy racket aka the PSVS but reverted to Head also.

With all the Bab love going around I took my PA23's to the court yesterday intending to hit them but never got around to it. I feel the temptation to purchase an Origin growing. @Power Player @tim-ay have me believing that this racket will actively coach me and that I just might be able to give up costly weekly lessons. Seriously though, there is something to having a monstrous swing weight the forces you to swing relaxed.
Head is home. I went to the court today with Prestiges in one compartment and my Pro Lites (Fedoras) in the other. Wanted to focus a bit. And happily did so in a good session. Ok ok so one of the Prestiges in the Prestige compartment was the 57a recently acquired and it was amazing for the five minutes I gave it, yet it’s a 57a, more difficult than my others, and the grip is an 82S which bothered me more in those 5 minutes than I wish so I think I may have to do a pallet switch. But anyway it’s a side/pleasure frame. The TGTs and Fedoras are the business and I just love them. They’ve been steadily my two favorite and most trusted frames for a couple years now. I really shouldn’t play with anything but these two. It’s hard being dumb.
 
Long time no TTW , hope everyone is doing well and staying financially responsible

haven't played much tennis at all recently aside from a really fun doubles tourney with @naturalexponent over the summer. otherwise getting a nice part time gig as a coach at my old academy so I'll hopefully get reaquainted with testing some frames.

the new ezones are definitely piquing my interest
 
Long time no TTW , hope everyone is doing well and staying financially responsible

haven't played much tennis at all recently aside from a really fun doubles tourney with @naturalexponent over the summer. otherwise getting a nice part time gig as a coach at my old academy so I'll hopefully get reaquainted with testing some frames.

the new ezones are definitely piquing my interest
doing well as can be post total knee replacement. hope you are doing well too
 
hope the recovery is going smoothly! I only know one person that's undergone knee replacement but from what I gathered its one of the toughest recoveries but worth it long term
I'm really trying to stay positive with the recovery. I hear stories of people getting off the walker in 2 weeks. I'm almost a month and a half post surgery and still using the walker and not completely off the narcotics. The range of motion is tough with the swelling (swelling better today) and my muscles are asleep. Thank you and currently....being responsible in my tennis spending but finding other "holic" things to enjoy. (face palm)
 
I had a short affair with that sexy racket aka the PSVS but reverted to Head also.

With all the Bab love going around I took my PA23's to the court yesterday intending to hit them but never got around to it. I feel the temptation to purchase an Origin growing. @Power Player @tim-ay have me believing that this racket will actively coach me and that I just might be able to give up costly weekly lessons. Seriously though, there is something to having a monstrous swing weight the forces you to swing relaxed.
Origin is a blast. It’s a Babolat pro stock racquet basically. Easier to use than a blade pro, at least me to. The blade pro is my pt57a, just the best feel and fun to hit with, but the origin is just a more forgiving frame, even with the high SW. Incredibly solid.

My other came in 2.5 grams lighter, and the sw is 350. I can easily match it to my first if I want, but I’m favoring the one with the 360 SW. Don’t ask me to explain why, I cannot.

There is nothing like the feeling of putting that much weight on the ball at speed. I really thought it would be a fun novelty frame and I’d be back to my trusty APDs, but the Origin has really grabbed me for now. You can find new ones for $205 shipped on the Bay, total steal at that price.
 
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I could not sleep, so I got up at 5am to cook some bread and to mod "the ex", I know It might sound weird (she already has some silicone, this sounds weird too lol), but I wanted to try the bottle cap extention method, I guess thanks to @tim-ay and It was so Easy and fast, added only 3grams of static weight and 10 SW points...Diadem Elevate Lite is now calling
 
So what am I doing wrong? I haven’t put in a lots of time with my PD swirly, just used in a few hitting sessions sparingly. And it’s because every time i hit with it, i am unimpressed with the holy grail of PDs. I have it strung with Pure Rush @50lbs. Added a little weight around 12 to bring up SW to 324. It feels quick enough thru the air and not very substantial. On contact, it’s more brittle compared to anything I have. Even compared to C100 which is a firm frame, there is no pocket and feel is blah. Maybe PR was a bad choice and it needs a more plush string. Maybe O-toro, Enso Pro, Hit Pro??
 
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