Diary of a Racketaholic

flyhome said:
Throat and 3/9 look pretty similar, at 12 It Is thinner, around 22mm i think.
303g, 293sw, 32,2 balance. And yes it should be a 98, i was comparing with the Prince Tour 98 which is more oval...
These 2 prostocks look so great that I should keep it there and Watch them, but @JGads would probably come to Italy to kill me
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Thats a perfect spec, is it already weighted up or is that stock? I had to lead mine to get there. I think 4 or 5 total grams at 3 and 9 were needed. Yours I would play as is.
 
Power Player said:
Thats a perfect spec, is it already weighted up or is that stock? I had to lead mine to get there. I think 4 or 5 total grams at 3 and 9 were needed. Yours I would play as is.
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There was some putty in the handle, 4,5 g, have to check under the bumber, but they have never been strung...an approx TW measurament says 12,5, so I wanna check if there is any lead and customize to my liking.

Added 1 gram at 3 and 1 at 9 of putty, Just for a measurament and counternbalanced and i can easily go up to 310g, 31,8 297..but as said, wanna check if there Is any lead at 12 first
 
lazywombat said:
Quick question. I've just seen at a rec tournament a 50 yo 4.5 guy using some old "granny stick" (112 inch head, 265g unstrung) dismantle guys 20 years younger using Blades and Ezones with specs fairly close to lower range of ATP. Granny sticks here are popular with 60-70 yo crowd, but it was first time I've seen it being used by younger player with fairly good technique in such an efficient way. Is it common where you play? Are "granny sticks" wrongly overlooked by majority of amateurs?

The only racquet remotely close to that spec, that my pro shop has for demo, is Gravity Team (only 104 inch though). I think I'm gonna try it and find out for myself
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This happens every day
 
flyhome said:
There was some putty in the handle, 4,5 g, have to check under the bumber, but they have never been strung...an approx TW measurament says 12,5, so I wanna check if there is any lead and customize to my liking.

Added 1 gram at 3 and 1 at 9 of putty, Just for a measurament and counternbalanced and i can easily go up to 310g, 31,8 297..but as said, wanna check if there Is any lead at 12 first
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Here’s my stock specs. So I actually added 8 grams at 3 and 9. Glad I wrote this stuff down.

297 grams 279 sw 315mm balance 12.2 twistweight

Current situation as I made this poast.

 
Power Player said:
Here’s my stock specs. So I actually added 8 grams at 3 and 9. Glad I wrote this stuff down.

297 grams 279 sw 315mm balance 12.2 twistweight

Current situation as I made this poast.

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Wow, so you’re playing it at a 310ish swingweight strung? Has enough backbone?
 
The single most lusted after piece of equipment in my entire tennis history, just the thing consistently remarked over or asked about, more than any racquet or shoe, is my Nike bag. (Navy/red but I’ve had/have all 3 colors but my lava edition zipper has gone funky and is a storage bag) … If Nike still released these, they would sell a million of them. Remains the sharpest ever looking bag that most people would snatch up unthinkingly. Like Definehers. But Nike doesn’t care about tennis. They are more into making middle aged golfers happy, or giving kits the color of cloudy urine or jackets with holes in them to poor ol’ Sinner who I’m convinced they must hate.
 
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lazywombat said:
Quick question. I've just seen at a rec tournament a 50 yo 4.5 guy using some old "granny stick" (112 inch head, 265g unstrung) dismantle guys 20 years younger using Blades and Ezones with specs fairly close to lower range of ATP. Granny sticks here are popular with 60-70 yo crowd, but it was first time I've seen it being used by younger player with fairly good technique in such an efficient way. Is it common where you play? Are "granny sticks" wrongly overlooked by majority of amateurs?

The only racquet remotely close to that spec, that my pro shop has for demo, is Gravity Team (only 104 inch though). I think I'm gonna try it and find out for myself
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I have a good buddy on my 5.0 team, early 20s who was using a Gravity Team 104 until the last year or so. He’d absolutely destroy the ball but had to swing out of his shoes every ball. Certainly a lot of pros and cons.

His string durability was horrendous, but played great. He’s transitioned to more traditional frames now and has found he can play through the court more and gets more for free using more of his body. Was interesting, though.
 
kvan said:
I have a good buddy on my 5.0 team, early 20s who was using a Gravity Team 104 until the last year or so. He’d absolutely destroy the ball but had to swing out of his shoes every ball. Certainly a lot of pros and cons.

His string durability was horrendous, but played great. He’s transitioned to more traditional frames now and has found he can play through the court more and gets more for free using more of his body. Was interesting, though.
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Mate of mine plays the Gravity Team L. I've added some weight to his frame, around the same weight as the Team.
Quite fun to play with honestly.
 
Power Player said:
No that was the stock specs. I modded it with 8 grams at 3 and 9. It’s at 293 sw with the lead.
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Just checked, there Is lead from10 to 2 approx 5 grams under the grommets, at this point same specs as yours without custom weight SW and TW. How Is your TW with lead 3/9?
 
@Power Player second hit today, man i wasn't serving like that since I was playing with the PT161XL, my opponent, he knows me very well, told me that before I said anything, slicing Is great, the feel Is very good, it's responsive but in a good way...but it's a boom Stick, very powerfull, I missed a few putaway shots by miles, I need to dial in the Power, because Is very fun to play with and I was controlling the points but missing too much. higher trajectory thatnM100, heavy ball, I think I need to go higher with the tention of 1kg and probably same tention for M and C. If I can dial in the power, It could be a great stick. Which string do you use? The racquet Is stable even with low TW, don't feel the needs to remove the weight at 12 to move to 3/9
 
flyhome said:
@Power Player second hit today, man i wasn't serving like that since I was playing with the PT161XL, my opponent, he knows me very well, told me that before I said anything, slicing Is great, the feel Is very good, it's responsive but in a good way...but it's a boom Stick, very powerfull, I missed a few putaway shots by miles, I need to dial in the Power, because Is very fun to play with and I was controlling the points but missing too much. higher trajectory thatnM100, heavy ball, I think I need to go higher with the tention of 1kg and probably same tention for M and C. If I can dial in the power, It could be a great stick. Which string do you use? The racquet Is stable even with low TW, don't feel the needs to remove the weight at 12 to move to 3/9
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I have been using a setup for Tour Sniper mains and a gosen G Tour yellow in both the Learner and the Defyer. Used this setup now since February. It's quite good.

The good news is the Defyer 98 has a similar connection to the ball and a bit more comfort. So if you find the Learner to be too powerful over time, you will have an option. I am personally not sure which frame is better for me yet, it may take some time. They are both so good. The Learner really is a cannon, but it can be controlled, which is the beauty of it. It just takes some time to get used to it. The bonus is that you can keep the ball deep easily with low effort as long as you keep the tip speed up to control the ball.

But yeah, this G Tour string is incredible. I ran out of Tour sniper so I will have to figure out which main to try next. I want to see if the Gtour is giving me all the great feel or if its a combo of both strings. Tour Sniper on it's own never gave me this level of crisp feedback ,so I am guessing its the combo of both that is just special.

Really looking forward to that red Lux string Wilson should be releasing later this year. It sounds promising.
 
Power Player said:
I have been using a setup for Tour Sniper mains and a gosen G Tour yellow in both the Learner and the Defyer. Used this setup now since February. It's quite good.

The good news is the Defyer 98 has a similar connection to the ball and a bit more comfort. So if you find the Learner to be too powerful over time, you will have an option. I am personally not sure which frame is better for me yet, it may take some time. They are both so good. The Learner really is a cannon, but it can be controlled, which is the beauty of it. It just takes some time to get used to it. The bonus is that you can keep the ball deep easily with low effort as long as you keep the tip speed up to control the ball.

But yeah, this G Tour string is incredible. I ran out of Tour sniper so I will have to figure out which main to try next. I want to see if the Gtour is giving me all the great feel or if its a combo of both strings. Tour Sniper on it's own never gave me this level of crisp feedback ,so I am guessing its the combo of both that is just special.

Really looking forward to that red Lux string Wilson should be releasing later this year. It sounds promising.
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Thanks, my main is the ND M100, don't need another lower powered frame, let's see if I can dial in the Power with string setup and/or maybe reducing balance point with 2gr in the throat and 1 in handle and see if It slows It down a bit. As string,s never tested Sniper, I could maybe go with either TB or Confidential, ProX 125/Flash, or higher the tention on the Prince XR and see I can learn how to control this boom stick.
 
Hi everyone, I am kind of back. Haha. Have to play suuuuuuper carefully of course. Which is also super hard for me. Played twice with Jouke now. Was using my old Giga (Old Blue XL), but the tendon tore with this racquet, so I am really afraid of using it. Jouke had the 100D of his buddy with him, and I hit 5 minutes with it. Seems like the perfect racquet for my game, and now I have 4... I hope I can get how thick it looks. Feel-wise it reminds of my beloved Radical MP with Cyberflash. Just a great clicky feedback that tells you: "Great, you have nailed the sweet area!"
Second hit with Jouke ,he handed me his new Wilson racquet that is orange, the Python, or the Sloth or something. I kind of wanted to refuse, but yeah, he really wanted me to try it. It felt like a bad copy of a super plasticky VCore to me. Didn't like it at all. Maybe it was the string, it was ALU Power 125 grey. At 325 SW felt super unstable as well. I just hit it for 2 minutes and now I just wanna hit my 100Ds and nothing else. So, I am not really into holicing anymore as my short time on court has become too precious to me. Plus, I am really afraid to try different racquets with my vulnerable tendon. I want my wrist to learn and adapt to the 100D and just play with it. It has everything I want my racquet to have.
Will be playing some more tomorrow with my buddy from my team and see how it handles an LK3.4 ball. To me it feels superbly stable in stock form, havent measured the sw on the racquet I played. Strung with 4G Soft, and I just love it. I switched out the base grip for YY leather, as I just love a leather grip.
My goal is to play once a week and build some tennis muscle to maybe start playing for real by the end of the year. I can already roll in serves, but to really hit them will take some time, especially the kickers. But this is for next summer, I think.

I hope you all have a good time trying new stuff, even if it is not for me anymore, it is great you enjoy the time on court with whatever you hit!

I must say that at the moment, I am a bit afraid of going back to tennis more constantly as my life is already super full and I feel very satisfied with it. I lost almost 20 kilos in the last 5 months, just by eating better and doing the same 8 exercises every day. Feeling better than ever, and I am afraid that mixing in tennis with this, might just disturb the great flow I have right now. But we will see.
Maybe I can just play some small team in my village with LK20 players or something. I won't have to practice and can just play tennis without being exhausted. Haha.
 
Richard Pioline said:
Hi everyone, I am kind of back. Haha. Have to play suuuuuuper carefully of course. Which is also super hard for me. Played twice with Jouke now. Was using my old Giga (Old Blue XL), but the tendon tore with this racquet, so I am really afraid of using it. Jouke had the 100D of his buddy with him, and I hit 5 minutes with it. Seems like the perfect racquet for my game, and now I have 4... I hope I can get how thick it looks. Feel-wise it reminds of my beloved Radical MP with Cyberflash. Just a great clicky feedback that tells you: "Great, you have nailed the sweet area!"
Second hit with Jouke ,he handed me his new Wilson racquet that is orange, the Python, or the Sloth or something. I kind of wanted to refuse, but yeah, he really wanted me to try it. It felt like a bad copy of a super plasticky VCore to me. Didn't like it at all. Maybe it was the string, it was ALU Power 125 grey. At 325 SW felt super unstable as well. I just hit it for 2 minutes and now I just wanna hit my 100Ds and nothing else. So, I am not really into holicing anymore as my short time on court has become too precious to me. Plus, I am really afraid to try different racquets with my vulnerable tendon. I want my wrist to learn and adapt to the 100D and just play with it. It has everything I want my racquet to have.
Will be playing some more tomorrow with my buddy from my team and see how it handles an LK3.4 ball. To me it feels superbly stable in stock form, havent measured the sw on the racquet I played. Strung with 4G Soft, and I just love it. I switched out the base grip for YY leather, as I just love a leather grip.
My goal is to play once a week and build some tennis muscle to maybe start playing for real by the end of the year. I can already roll in serves, but to really hit them will take some time, especially the kickers. But this is for next summer, I think.

I hope you all have a good time trying new stuff, even if it is not for me anymore, it is great you enjoy the time on court with whatever you hit!

I must say that at the moment, I am a bit afraid of going back to tennis more constantly as my life is already super full and I feel very satisfied with it. I lost almost 20 kilos in the last 5 months, just by eating better and doing the same 8 exercises every day. Feeling better than ever, and I am afraid that mixing in tennis with this, might just disturb the great flow I have right now. But we will see.
Maybe I can just play some small team in my village with LK20 players or something. I won't have to practice and can just play tennis without being exhausted. Haha.
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What 8 exercises are you doing?
 
Seth said:
What 8 exercises are you doing?
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Ha, super hard to explain. Very simple core, back and upper body stuff that JGads' physio from Warsaw gave me, and some that my old physio in Berlin gave me. I think it is very individual, as I ride my bike so much, I really need to build core and upper body. Legs not so much really. I do some stretches for the legs. I started with 10 reps once. Now I am at 50 reps, 3x for every exercise. It feels so good.
I also wanna go swimming more. Today I swam 1200meters and I would love to do this twice or thrice a week. It just feels amazing, you are so done and tired after, but nothing hurts.
 
flyhome said:
Thanks, my main is the ND M100, don't need another lower powered frame, let's see if I can dial in the Power with string setup and/or maybe reducing balance point with 2gr in the throat and 1 in handle and see if It slows It down a bit. As string,s never tested Sniper, I could maybe go with either TB or Confidential, ProX 125/Flash, or higher the tention on the Prince XR and see I can learn how to control this boom stick.
Click to expand...
This is why I love the Learner, because it has the power you need but it's controllable once you dial it in. It also feels a lot better than a yonex or bab, imo.

I think your string choices are solid. You can string a little higher since the pattern is open and the tension drops a bit more aggressively. If you like TB, Sniper is a similar string, but a little more comfortable. Flash is a great cross too.
 
Verdi said:
Around the world and… Back to blade.

Same as it ever was.
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Holicism is a flat circle.

I’m playing a Blade with a Multi/Poly setup and loving it. I wish I was playing with gut poly but good gracious has gut gotten expensive.

I did go full Blade yolo and have a couple kblade prostocks coming to me in glossy v8 paint. So the holic bug is still strong even though I’ve narrowed my focus.
 
EggSalad said:
Holicism is a flat circle.

I’m playing a Blade with a Multi/Poly setup and loving it. I wish I was playing with gut poly but good gracious has gut gotten expensive.

I did go full Blade yolo and have a couple kblade prostocks coming to me in glossy v8 paint. So the holic bug is still strong even though I’ve narrowed my focus.
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What multi and poly?
 
veelium said:
What multi and poly?
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Currently:
Multi: Dunlop Iconic All
Poly: Hyper G Round

I absolutely love how the Dunlop multi plays but it does not have a long string bed life. I’m going to experiment with Velocity and maybe a Tecnifibre multi to see if I can get the same playability with a little longer life.
 
EggSalad said:
Currently:
Multi: Dunlop Iconic All
Poly: Hyper G Round

I absolutely love how the Dunlop multi plays but it does not have a long string bed life. I’m going to experiment with Velocity and maybe a Tecnifibre multi to see if I can get the same playability with a little longer life.
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Tecnifibre multis are always good to try although they tend to break rather quickly.
Haven't tried the Dunlop, I've had a set a Iconic Speed lying around for ages awaiting trial.
The non-gut/non-poly mains thread has a lot of info if you are looking to holic in that direction.
 
Took out Prince Phantom o3 100 this week. The super thin beam with the oports makes it feel amazing to swing even though it's a 100 headsize.
Suprisingly stable for a Phantom, the 97 I've tried some years back felt too soft and unstable but this doesn't have this issue.
Old string jobs of Origin (RPM soft predecessor) mains crossed with some cheap soft poly (either isospeed baseline or pp cyber power).
Comfy stuff and feels quite nice.
 
After a brief summer fling with an old Head Radical 102 oversized frame, I’m back home to PK land and my BAP. I do have a new Q+Tour 305 16x19 incoming to battle the BAP. I’m hoping double the magic beans gives me a little more for free compared to BAP’s dual chambers. We shall see.
 
Power Player said:
This is why I love the Learner, because it has the power you need but it's controllable once you dial it in. It also feels a lot better than a yonex or bab, imo.

I think your string choices are solid. You can string a little higher since the pattern is open and the tension drops a bit more aggressively. If you like TB, Sniper is a similar string, but a little more comfortable. Flash is a great cross too.
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Another hour on court, this time only serves, comparing the M100 vs The Learner's.
On the Power level, It takes a lot of effort with the M100 to go close (not the same level) to the Learner's, which is Better on slice and kick too, precision is Better on the M100, but the The Learner's is precise enough for my taste.

Expected result
 
Anyone seen The Odyssey yet? When Penelope asked all the suitors to string the bow I was hoping one dude would be like “what tension?!” and another guy going “I feel like it should be low like mid-40s!” And then Telemachus saying “you guys this is natty gut not poly JFC”
 
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TwinCinema said:
Anyone seen The Odyssey yet? When Penelope asked all the suitors to string the bow I was hoping one dude would be like “what tension?!” and another guy going “I feel like it should be low like mid-40s!” And then Telemechus saying “you guys this is natty gut not poly JFC”
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And please, 2 knots ATW
 
I have never been a fan of lead at 3 and 9, but with the White Shame it plays sooooo well. Hahaha. When I wanted to guillotine it on Friday, it came back with a boom. I preferred it over the True Karue (100D). But we will see when I get stronger and hopefully less frightened and having less feels in the wrist.
The White Shame becomes such a great flat hitter now with this lead. I can see why the Learner is good with this set up as well. It seems like the launch is lower as well. Don't know if that is true, but to me it seems like it. I have the feeling I can control it so well now.
 
I think I've broken through this past week as my skills are the best ever and that includes my high school and college days. I've been playing with a phalanx of frames - Wilson ultra tour v2 97 18x20, Blade v8 18x20, Dunlop Cx 200 Tour 18x20. All these frames are such great player frames. Dialing in the string selection and tension has been a long exercise as I tend to use strings that hold their tension well.

Currently hitting with MSV Focus hex 1.23 and Volkl v-square 1.20 with Forten and Prince Nylon, I will add Ultra cable to the mix, but the square strings bite the ball really hard, sometimes too hard.

Bottom line is don't give up too easily on that shiny new frame. Maybe you guys can still play with it over time with different strings and tension and as your techniques improve or devolve as the case may be lol.
 
EggSalad said:
Holicism is a flat circle.

I’m playing a Blade with a Multi/Poly setup and loving it. I wish I was playing with gut poly but good gracious has gut gotten expensive.

I did go full Blade yolo and have a couple kblade prostocks coming to me in glossy v8 paint. So the holic bug is still strong even though I’ve narrowed my focus.
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Let's not get onto the topic of how expensive gut has become. It is too infuriating.

I will say I'm glad to have the PA98 and the PD Swirly around so I don't mind hitting with poly, but I miss my Blades and PC Swirly.
 
ryushen21 said:
Let's not get onto the topic of how expensive gut has become. It is too infuriating.

I will say I'm glad to have the PA98 and the PD Swirly around so I don't mind hitting with poly, but I miss my Blades and PC Swirly.
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I played gut poly since 2022 and finally left it behind for full poly. Just can’t justify the prices anymore
 
Kozzy said:
I'm on a full multi experiment for the moment (Velocity MLT Power), and I like it. It's getting better every time I hit.
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How would you compare it to gut? I have just broken my gut x 4g in my White Shame. But gut is just so expensive, even though I must say I really liked it! And especially my arm really likes it. I might try one with gut x 4G and one with Velocity x 4G tomorrow.
 
JGads said:
The racquet that sounds like the one Wilson should really release.
Click to expand...

Once I get the D100 I will be able to compare it to the Learner, but I suspect you may like the D100 more if it is similar to the D98. The Learner has more power than the 98 and a little less comfort. Feel is similar, both are very connected.

I'll be able to compare more to the D98 after tonight, as I have almost 3 hours of tennis booked this evening and I'm just bringing those 2 frames.

Thinking about trying Lynx tour mains next with the Gtour crosses in the D98, since I'm about out of Tour Sniper.
 
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