Federer's Laver Cup racquet

[Vlasta]

Hi! Did anyone notice that Fed's racquet for the Laver Cup has a red butt cap like the regular Pro Staff v13, and a brown leather grip? Is that a new model? The RF97 has a flat black butt and a black leather grip. Did I miss anything?

https://flic.kr/p/2nNu9Sn

 

[Rally]

Hi! Did anyone notice that Fed's racquet for the Laver Cup has a red butt cap like the regular Pro Staff v13, and a brown leather grip? Is that a new model? The RF97 has a flat black butt and a black leather grip. Did I miss anything?

https://flic.kr/p/2nNu9Sn

Roger's racquets for practically his entire career have been customized by P1. One of the things they do is give him a custom handle and a non-stock leather grip on it.

 

[Rosstour]

Hoping it's a Farewell Edition, that would be cool

 

[Ten_nuts]

This RF97 looks pretty much the same as the RF97 v11, the best version of RF97 in my opinion.

 

[Lavs]

Nope. It is v13. You see gloss @ 12

 

[wangs78]

This RF97 looks pretty much the same as the RF97 v11, the best version of RF97 in my opinion.

Yes, my guess is Roger still uses the V11, which was the original *all black* RF97 and was what he used to win AO17, Wimby17 and AO18. That model has a red buttcap. Wilson has probably put the v13 paintjob onto his racquets though.

 

[topspn]

Haha yeah he needs a new racquet for retirment

 

[Geoff]

Roger's racquets for practically his entire career have been customized by P1. One of the things they do is give him a custom handle and a non-stock leather grip on it.

Also P1 has stated (I believe Ron Yu posted himself on Talk Tennis - I could never find that post though!) that they use whatever butt caps they have at the time or whatever Wilson sends them. Federer's racquets are not always using the same butt caps as the retail version. They seem to be a version behind. I don't think its intentional. Only P1 knows the true answer!

 

[racketspec]

They’re his usual rackets. For a number of years he’s always had ‘special‘ buttcaps. Special as in without a trap door and isn’t the same as the blade or pro staff buttcaps. They became red in colour to match the other buttcaps in the range at the time of the v12 paint and just haven’t been updated since.

 

[Vlasta]

Thanks for the replies, everybody. Yes, I agree, this is one of the most beautiful racquets ever made, that colour is beautiful, though I wish it wasn't so prone to chipping and scratching. So basically, even the RF version is not Roger's exact spec, since he has it additionally customised. I didn't know that. I've checked P1's website in the meantime, and they also say he's always used Babolat VS natural gut in the mains, which was surprising, always thought he used Wilson Natural Gut that's in the Champion's Choice string pack. Can't wait to see the gold/copper version that's supposed to come out soon.