First Racquet Journey Help as a New Player

eremes

New User
I started playing tennis last October and purchased the Prince Phantom 290X without any research and grew accustomed to playing with the frame with Head Velocity 16 at 51lbs. I usually play 1-2x a week and just recently started feeling confident in hitting my Eastern FH and 2HBH without pushing the ball with my FH Volleys being my weakest shot. I've been doing a lot of research in purchasing my first "big boy" racquet and gravitated to the Yonex frames with the requirement to find a racquet that's easy to use for a beginner/intermediate player like myself.

I demo'd the EZ 100 & 98, Vcore 98, Percept 100, Wilson Blade V9 100 & 98, Clash 98, and Shift 99 and felt out of all the racquets I demo'd the EZ 98 felt the best at the time. So after a few more months of research I finally pulled the trigger and purchased the Ezone 98 (2024) strung with Volkl V Square and Lux Alu Power at 48lbs (purchased from the classified section so this was the prestrung configuration). I had two hitting sessions with this new frame and something felt really off (I demo'd the EZ98 back in March 2024). My groundstrokes that were consistently going in when I strike the ball were flying out too long with the EZ98, but my flat serve on the ad side felt powerful and my FH volleys felt crisp and stable. I didn't think a new frame would affect my entire gameplay so drastically, but could it be just the string set up that's too advance for my current level? I'm just wondering maybe I'm just not used to the frame yet and I need more time to dial in, but the question is for a player like myself should I look for a racquet that complements my current playstyle or should I learn to conform and grow to my new racquet instead? Appreciate any insight or similar experience regarding this.
 

ChanterRacquet

Professional
STRINGS can affect your game drastically. Cut them out and restring with your usual so you can scientifically differentiate the frame from the strings.

Nothing worse than trying to control the ball with dead strings.
 

JediMindTrick

Hall of Fame
You wasted your money, the EZone 98 is not more of a "big boy" racquet compared to the Prince Phantom 290X, in fact the Phantom has more control, the EZone has more power. Go back to the Phantom because at this stage you need more control, not more power.
 

gino

Legend
youre in a developmental stage as a player, id recommend you stick with the same frame as long as possible (ideally 2-5 years) so you can remove that variable from your improvement journey. if youre going to commit to the EZ, do it now and dont look back. whatever you do, dont become a serial racquet switcher in your early playing days, that will be a distraction to building up your mechanics and footwork, which should be your first priorities
 
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J D

Semi-Pro
Head velocity is a really low powered dead string. Restring your Ezone 98 with it and you will have much more control.

However, expect that everything will still be different. You’re going from a low powered light frame to a significantly heavier frame with more power. This may or may not be the best move for your game at this point.

I’m a big proponent of using the frame you play best with right now, within reason. The Prince 290X is a big boy racquet and actually more demanding than the Ezone in a lot of ways. Without seeing you play with each frame, no one here can make any recommendations except to say they are both top level frames and either one should be more than good enough for you for the time being.

FWIW, low powered frames often help hide flaws in technique in beginners. If getting better is your main goal, the Ezone is no where near too powerful for someone with solid technique.
 

eremes

New User
I'm going to get my EZ98 restrung today to the same setup as my PP290X. I just remembered from my hitting session last night that my FH is having more issues with the racquet face opening a few degrees too open vs my BH which feels more controllable and predictable. It could definitely be a technique issue, but the weight might also have something to do with it. It's only a few grams difference, but I do feel more fatigued by the end of my hitting session which may also result in sloppier form for my FH.
 

J D

Semi-Pro
If both frames are on spec, which is highly doubtful, then the Ezone is 15+ grams heavier than the Prince. That’s a lot in reference to tennis racquets. Even though they have similar swingweights, they will swing differently on each stroke because of the differences in weight, balance, and polarization.

You will definitely feel the extra 15 grams over a long session, but most people have no trouble adjusting to this amount of extra weight pretty quickly.
 
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J D

Semi-Pro
I will add one thing that may help your EZ forehand (and Ezone experience overall). Most people (including myself) find the EZ 98 plays and feels a lot better with just a little extra weight in the head. Just an inch of racquet head protective tape (or Gorilla tape) at 10 and 2 o’clock make a big difference with control, power, and stability since the SW is so low relative to its weight.
 

hadoken

Professional
This sorta makes sense. The Prince 290x is very low powered flexy frame and strung at 51lbs - I would say that's a decent tension...so going to a more powerful Ezone is just not going to solve anything. I am not sure why you even switched frames other than wanting to do so.

The Ezone 98 is a fantastic frame but in your case I don't see the point of changing if you were doing fine. And yes going from 290g to 305g is a decent jump up.
 

eremes

New User
I will add one thing that may help your EZ forehand (and Ezone experience overall). Most people (including myself) find the EZ 98 plays and feels a lot better with just a little extra weight in the head. Just an inch of racquet head protective tape (or Gorilla tape) at 10 and 2 o’clock make a big difference with control, power, and stability since the SW is so low relative to its weight.
I will give this a try - if I recall correctly the demo I got from TW was for Multifilament Strings and everything else was stock and the experience when I was demoing it felt just right. I will know more after I pick up my racquet from my stringer and have my hitting session next Monday.
 

eremes

New User
This sorta makes sense. The Prince 290x is very low powered flexy frame and strung at 51lbs - I would say that's a decent tension...so going to a more powerful Ezone is just not going to solve anything. I am not sure why you even switched frames other than wanting to do so.

The Ezone 98 is a fantastic frame but in your case I don't see the point of changing if you were doing fine. And yes going from 290g to 305g is a decent jump up.

The reasoning for the new frame is more to treat myself for staying with tennis for a year now. I'm mostly playing for social and health reasons and not looking to play competitively any time soon (unless you count friendly competitive sets on who's picking up the dinner tab next). :laughing:
 

AmericanTwist

Professional
The 290 100x will give you much more spin. If you find it to offer too much spin string higher. When i was using the TT 100L (260 but really it is 285-290 static) with a 16x19 pattern, I strung it at 58 lbs with syn gut with kevlar wrap. This frame offered baller spin. I craved more control on the returns as I originally strung it at 53 lbs.

Iga used the TT100 290 with great success. That frame stiffness was 65ra.

The ezone is also a fine frame, and is used by many current pros. This frame won't give you as much spin as the Prince but you can go with a hybrid poly set-up. This is also more powerful than your prince (65ra > 59ra).
 

eremes

New User
The 290 100x will give you much more spin. If you find it to offer too much spin string higher. When i was using the TT 100L (260 but really it is 285-290 static) with a 16x19 pattern, I strung it at 58 lbs with syn gut with kevlar wrap. This frame offered baller spin. I craved more control on the returns as I originally strung it at 53 lbs.

Iga used the TT100 290 with great success. That frame stiffness was 65ra.

The ezone is also a fine frame, and is used by many current pros. This frame won't give you as much spin as the Prince but you can go with a hybrid poly set-up. This is also more powerful than your prince (65ra > 59ra).
I honestly had no issues with my current PP290x setup - when I play against bigger hitters I did feel the racquet to be a bit unforgiving if I miss the sweet-spot and my FH volleys felt the similar (possibly a technique issue). When I first broke my strings (Velocity 16) I had a friend recommended me the Solinco Hyper-G since he had a reel of it, but I remember it didn't feel right and I got it restrung again with the Velocity 16 after a few hitting sessions.

There has to be a way to tame the raw power of the EZ98 and I'm hoping going back to the Velocity 16 will possibly fix it. I have mixed feelings about demo'ing racquets and feel that a week isn't enough time to determine if the racquet is suited for me since currently I can only hit 1-2x a week. I might be on the side of just adjusting to the racquet after purchase vs. finding the right racquet for me via the demo program.
 

eremes

New User
Strings were the answer - I'm happy to report that everything is back to normal after I restrung my racquet with Velocity 16 at 50lbs! FH, BH, and serves are back on point and as an added bonus my volley game felt more stable and my confidence is off the charts during tonight's hitting session vs. my PP290X. Appreciate everyone's insight! :)
 
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