Geez, all my rackets.....

[LeeD]

Hi everyone, I just had a revelation today, after playing the past two weeks rotating thru almost all my different rackets.
They all play great! They serve hard, they hit strong groundies, great volleys, all mishit when I lapse in concentration, and all hit shots capable of top 4.5 levels.
1. 10 oz, 308 sw stock DunlopAero500.
2. 11 oz, 320 sw leaded as above.
3. 12,4 oz Mfil 200, 344 SW.
4. 11 oz, 320 SW leaded Bio3T.
5. 11 oz, 320SW stock 4DAero300's.
Didn't use my 12.8 oz Aero200 or my MGRadOS lately.

I"m the limiting factor in my tennis game, not any of my rackets.

 

[looseleftie]

I like your final comment Lee, too many players feel the racquet wil solve all their on court problems..

Must admit, I do like looking at getting other racquets though!! I'm at 6 at present, not a lot, broke many more in my younger days regreatably.. Man, I wish I held onto my Dunlop 200 Max pro, I loved that racquet, now im the Biomimetic 200, love it, still not as much power on serves as i would like, bit of tape may help there.

 

[mikeler]

While the rackets may not be limiting my game, I'm blaming the strings for all my recent woes on court.

 

[TroutSc]

Surely there's a over grip and dampener combo in their that's a game changer for you.

 

[kingcheetah]

I"m the limiting factor in my tennis game, not any of my rackets.

I think we all can/should adopt this as the official motto of TT.

 

[blip]

LeeD, do you change your swing or stroke with the different rackets?

I haven't employed this yet, but I'm thinking of using different rackets for different players. Probably not the best to do since I should be dictating, but perhaps a different racket from my bag will give me more of an advantage?

I have never had 2 of the same rackets in my bag so when a string breaks its play on with what I brought. I love it! Maybe I just get bored sometimes.

 

[LeeD]

Only first serve, everything else is the same.
First serve, I shorten my motion with the heavier rackets, which are possibly too heavy for a 148 lbs weakling like myself.
That's why, for me, the 308 SW racket can serve as fast, or faster, than the 344 SW racket.
Holding down near the buttcap, it makes the light racket feel heavy, and the heavy racket easy to swing.

 

[torpantennis]

Nice! I got back to my first ever racquet, from 8 years ago, light 102 sq.in. Yonex. Had been using IG Prestige MP, modded and unmodded.

I didn't change anything in swing. I serve better, play more consistent. Light racquet actually forces to keep technique good and the stroke full. Otherwise the ball would not travel past the service box. But it's relatively easy to swing, so keeping the stroke full is easy.

I now feel the heavier racquets, for 3.0-4.5 players, are lazy man's sticks. The weight enables to NOT use full swing, but still keep the ball deep. The weight also adds control, so poor technique is covered by the racquet. Player is not required to develop control in the strokes, which is bad for the development.

 

[TennisCJC]

I am between LeeD and the other "the racket doesn't matter" and the guys who change 4 times a year in search of the magic wand.

I demo before I buy. I buy 2 or 3 and customize to my spec. Then, I swing 'em for a couple of years until I get the bug for some new toys. The shortest period I have used a racket in recent memory is 1 year and the longest is 4 years.

LeeD, I don't see how you use such different specs interchangeably. I like to get 2 or 3 I like with the exact specs and then maybe tweak tension and that's it. To have a different weight, balance, SW, or beam size on each frame would drive me crazy.

 

[TennisCJC]

Nice! I got back to my first ever racquet, from 8 years ago, light 102 sq.in. Yonex. Had been using IG Prestige MP, modded and unmodded.

I didn't change anything in swing. I serve better, play more consistent. Light racquet actually forces to keep technique good and the stroke full. Otherwise the ball would not travel past the service box. But it's relatively easy to swing, so keeping the stroke full is easy.

I now feel the heavier racquets, for 3.0-4.5 players, are lazy man's sticks. The weight enables to NOT use full swing, but still keep the ball deep. The weight also adds control, so poor technique is covered by the racquet. Player is not required to develop control in the strokes, which is bad for the development.

I am of the exact opposite thought. I personally think heavier rackets are much better to play with but you have to use good technique to weld them. You will be late if not focusing on good strokes with a nice contact point. To me, the concept of compensating for lack of mass by swinging the racket faster is a no go. On overheads, volleys, returns of serve, slices, lobs, and defensive gets with squash type shots, you are not striving for maximum or near maximum swing speed and a light racket is really at a disadvantage on all these shots. That leaves serves and sitters where you want to maximize swing speed. If I have time to setup and push up the swing speed, I still prefer a racket with good mass and it generates easy power with a fast but controlled swing. I don't have to red line my swing to get good thump.

 

[torpantennis]

I am of the exact opposite thought. I personally think heavier rackets are much better to play with but you have to use good technique to weld them. You will be late if not focusing on good strokes with a nice contact point. To me, the concept of compensating for lack of mass by swinging the racket faster is a no go. On overheads, volleys, returns of serve, slices, lobs, and defensive gets with squash type shots, you are not striving for maximum or near maximum swing speed and a light racket is really at a disadvantage on all these shots. That leaves serves and sitters where you want to maximize swing speed. If I have time to setup and push up the swing speed, I still prefer a racket with good mass and it generates easy power with a fast but controlled swing. I don't have to red line my swing to get good thump.

Strange enough, I felt the same just 1 month ago. I have a long history of modding my racquets with lead tape. I felt a heavy spec of 360g/360SW was EASIEST to play with. Going lighter felt like too whippy, less control, and sweet spot felt so small. I loved the control and easy power that the heavy racquet provided.

Then I got a great new coach, who highlighted some of my technical flaws better than any other coach before. It felt difficult to make the changes with a heavy racquet, as it kinda swings on its own mass, so I decided to try my first racquet. Immediately, I could make the changes, and now I'm on a fast learning curve. I've never played as consistent as now with the improved technique. Game almost feels trivial compared to earlier, as my new coach is so good in focusing my thoughts on key factors where I have the most work to improve.

Last weekend, I played one of my best defensive play in any match. And this was with a 315g/310SW racquet. I was in a defensive slice god mode, and lobbed better than ever. The light racquet makes basic rally strokes so easy, I can concentrate on early preparation, good unit turn, and correct swing path. And most importantly, I can swing faster, which improves control due to added topspin. The open 16x19 pattern on a 102sq.in. head further improves spin. Now I don't need the heavy racquet to control the stroke, rather I can control the ball with my technique.

After a lot of practices with the improved technique, I now feel like the heavy racquet was cheating. It provided the control due to added mass, and enabled me to use bad technique, as even mishits stayed in. At least for me, that road was a dead end.

 

[Manus Domini]

LeeD, what if you're playing with a broken racquet without string? Is it still not your racquet's fault?

But, seriously, I like the attitude. It's something we should all remember.

 

[LeeD]

I do think a heavier racket is better for responding to the shots of a 5.0 or better player, talking a strong hitter.
BUT, since I'm a 4.0, I don't need to focus my returns based solely on strong hitters hitting into my court.
While YOU may be a 5.5 playing 22 year old Div1 singles players, I only see that ball maybe twice a year, max.
So what ball do I face the other 95% of my tennis? A slow moving 4.0 sitter ball. For that, I need a 12.5 oz racket?

 

[TennisCJC]

Strange enough, I felt the same just 1 month ago. I have a long history of modding my racquets with lead tape. I felt a heavy spec of 360g/360SW was EASIEST to play with. Going lighter felt like too whippy, less control, and sweet spot felt so small. I loved the control and easy power that the heavy racquet provided.

Then I got a great new coach, who highlighted some of my technical flaws better than any other coach before. It felt difficult to make the changes with a heavy racquet, as it kinda swings on its own mass, so I decided to try my first racquet. Immediately, I could make the changes, and now I'm on a fast learning curve. I've never played as consistent as now with the improved technique. Game almost feels trivial compared to earlier, as my new coach is so good in focusing my thoughts on key factors where I have the most work to improve.

Last weekend, I played one of my best defensive play in any match. And this was with a 315g/310SW racquet. I was in a defensive slice god mode, and lobbed better than ever. The light racquet makes basic rally strokes so easy, I can concentrate on early preparation, good unit turn, and correct swing path. And most importantly, I can swing faster, which improves control due to added topspin. The open 16x19 pattern on a 102sq.in. head further improves spin. Now I don't need the heavy racquet to control the stroke, rather I can control the ball with my technique.

After a lot of practices with the improved technique, I now feel like the heavy racquet was cheating. It provided the control due to added mass, and enabled me to use bad technique, as even mishits stayed in. At least for me, that road was a dead end.

Since I have paid attention to specs for say the last 10 years, I have never gone above approximately 338-340 SW. That is about my high end to handle. last 2.5 years, around approximately 332-335. I have tried going down below 330 but just don't like the feel any lower as I feel like I have to work harder to gen pace and also feel some instability when returning a good shot by my opponent. for me, it is a noticeable difference and I don't like the feel below 330SW. I also play lots of doubles and this SW seems to work well on volleys - low enough I can move it and high enough that good contact results in a crisp shot.