Head Genesis 660

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Does anyone have any experience hitting with one of these? I remeber using it for awhile back in high school (a couple of months or so) between the Wilson Profile 3.6 and my Pro Staff 6.0's.

I remember it being Head's response to the Wilson Profile line.... Where as Wilson had the "Dual Taper", Head had the "Double Power Wedge".

i remeber it hitting very solidly on flat serves and volleys. It has a pretty dense string pattern, though. great for control, but not very good at generating spin... which was also limited by the large lip of the wide body frame... lots of shank-tastic shots when trying to really come up the back of the ball!
 
I used one for awhile - switched to it from the Wilson PS 4.5 wide beam. I couldn't keep a low volley in the court with the Wilson (although I *loved* how it vaporized high volleys). A little less umph than the Wilson, but very forgiving. They came out with a Trysys 720 that was the next generation of this - sort of a blue metallic paint vs. black. Endgame on how it hit: much more like a narrow-beam racquet in the sweetspot, but more forgiving when it got outside the sweetspot due to the widebody. It was a good racket.
 

python

Semi-Pro
It was fairly popular back in the day. Quite powerful yet controllable due to the stringbed. I hit a pretty flat ball back then and it worked well for me. Serving was tremendous.
 

goran_ace

Hall of Fame
I played with one for several months as a junior just for fun. I basically used it just for doubles in high school matches where I rarely hit a ground stroke. It was so easy to generate pace on the serve with it and volleying was cake because the racket was so big and so stable (it had decent touch at the net too). It almost didn't seem fair to use it sometimes.
 

jim haxton

New User
I still use the old 660, never been able to find a good replacement that felt as solid. I started out with the Tony Trabert C-6 back in the late 70's or early 80's.
Still looking for backups for my 660's, maybe I'm just too old to change!
 

Cam

New User
I hit with one of these and also change up with Genesis IDS and a Trisys racquets. All "Made in Austria" versions. I'm a rookie and these racquets work great for me though I must say, the older "non" IDS version Genesis is my favorite. Here's a few of mine...

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Cam

New User
My previous post is not exactly a review, I know. I can't discribe all the technical nuances of a racquets play. For me a racquet works great when I can consistantly controll how I hit with it. The old Head Genesis 660's do this for me. So that's this rookies "review"!
 

NLBwell

Legend
Yes, Head's super powerful racket to compete with the Wilson Profiles and Yamaha Secrets. I demoed one once on the rooftop court of the old Gart Brothers store in Denver. Half-volleyed a fairly hard-hit shot at my feet at the baseline. Put it WAY over the fence, off the roof, and watched the ball fly down the 6 or 8 stories down into the street. Fortunately didn't hit any cars.

That's a powerful racket.
 

coachrick

Hall of Fame
You'd be hard-pressed to find one that's not soft in the top of the hoop and/or some shape other than the original oval. The 600s weren't too bad, the 660s were worse and the 720s were terrible for 'breathing' while being strung--sometimes assuming the shape of the last 'breath'. That wasn't helped any by the high tensions and Kevlar strings players used trying to harness the power.
 

TnTBigman

Professional
Wow. This brings back some memories as a junior. The Genesis was quite powerful. It was the "it" racquet of the senior players in my day. The hand-me-down I got was the "Orion". Really good racquet as well. I hated the "Dominion" version. The beam thickness was not uniform at the 3 and 9 position, and I believe the string pattern was wider than the others in the line. Not to mention lighter. Felt unstable andd like a trampoline.
 

canadad

Semi-Pro
That racquet was so powerful. I was a very small 14 year old and I can remember crushing the ball. Great memories, my friends and I loved that whole line.
 

forthegame

Hall of Fame
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I currently play with one of these now and again, I take it these are similar to the Genesis?

There is something about it that means I'll never sell it. I like to use it indoors cos we seem to click more for some reason. Very nice indeed!
 

MAXXply

Hall of Fame
The only place I ever saw these being used seemed to be in the instruction pages of TENNIS magazine back in the day... Dennis van der Meer would be using one, pictured in his regular instruction articles, and he'd look the business too, top to toe in his adidas "ATP Line" gear...
 

Hominator

Hall of Fame
The only place I ever saw these being used seemed to be in the instruction pages of TENNIS magazine back in the day... Dennis van der Meer would be using one, pictured in his regular instruction articles, and he'd look the business too, top to toe in his adidas "ATP Line" gear...

...and Stan Smith with his CTS Approach 90 :)

Good times...
 

raging

Professional
The only place I ever saw these being used seemed to be in the instruction pages of TENNIS magazine back in the day... Dennis van der Meer would be using one, pictured in his regular instruction articles, and he'd look the business too, top to toe in his adidas "ATP Line" gear...

these do bring back some memories...ex aussie pros(later teaching Pros...coming from sydney you would know of them...included John Cooper(ex davis cup), Kim Warwick and Mark Edmondson. The whole series was very powerful, eventually most moved back to the prestige.
For coaching and doubles the discovery 660 was a nice racket...
 

Virginia

Hall of Fame
I bought one of these (second hand on our local auction site) for my daughter around 3 years ago - she loves it!
 

lchien

New User
Genesis 660

I still have two of these I use for my main rackets 2-3 times per week.
I have looked a few times and I can't seem to find a racket that I like better - it has a great balance for volleys and powerful yet reasonably controllable on groundies. I like the weight and balance for serving.

I'm sure by now the carbon fibers might be getting mushy altho I can't find anything about that in the internet on how rackets age with use...

I bought my first Genesis 660 ( I think the butt label said S/N 200) after using a Head Director for a few years. Then I bought a Genesis IDS 660 to back it up but it wasn't the same racket. I eventually bought the second one from a tennis friend whose wife had got it but didn't play with it so it was practically new.

There's quite a few on **** (popular web auction site), some looking quite tired, yet the prices seem to be exorbitant for a 25+ year old racket. Are they that much in demand?
 
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vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
I still have two of these I use for my main rackets 2-3 times per week.
I have looked a few times and I can't seem to find a racket that I like better - it has a great balance for volleys and powerful yet reasonably controllable on groundies. I like the weight and balance for serving.

I'm sure by now the carbon fibers might be getting mushy altho I can't find anything about that in the internet on how rackets age with use...

I bought my first Genesis 660 ( I think the butt label said S/N 200) after using a Head Director for a few years. Then I bought a Genesis IDS 660 to back it up but it wasn't the same racket. I eventually bought the second one from a tennis friend whose wife had got it but didn't play with it so it was practically new.

There's quite a few on **** (popular web auction site), some looking quite tired, yet the prices seem to be exorbitant for a 25+ year old racket. Are they that much in demand?

The Genesis came out in early 1990. So it is only 20 years going to be 21 in a few months. It was part of HEAD's second wave of wider widedody racquets. It came in three head sizes 600, 660, and 720.
 

pshulam

Hall of Fame
There's quite a few on **** (popular web auction site), some looking quite tired, yet the prices seem to be exorbitant for a 25+ year old racket. Are they that much in demand?
I got one in 7.5 condition for $4 from C-list. The racquet seems head-heavy to me and powerful. It took a while to adjust.
 

Cloned_Spud

New User
Wow, the Polaris 660 Master was my old racket, still have 3 in the garage!

Genesis was the stiffest of the range back then that had the "Double Power Wedge" where the beam was thick at the top, tapers a little then wide again at the throat.

The Elite, used by Mayotte, Muster & Mancini and others had this same profile but was much thinner.

Ivanisevic was using the Prestige which was a constant beam

(Must dig out the 92 Head Tennis catalogue out of the loft to check!)
 

speedysteve

Legend
Waking this one up...

I still play with a few of these Head series. I still have a 720 Vision I bought in 1990 for about 700SEK (Sweden) (pretty basic club level racquet I think - constant wide beam).
I haven't used it for years but got interested in these again and picked up a few for beer money.
First an Atlantis 720 - power wedge jobbie. Then I got a couple of Genesis 660's that I am using to test various string options with.

Here is one during a restring with Babolat RPM blast - Not a string that lasted long for me... I'm on Head Rip control at the moment.
6 points headlight weighted as I like it - I don't think they are head heavy out of the box - perhaps neutral - as I use a big grip, to get that all my racquets end up head light - but that's how I like them... That and 350g.

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I am going to try some hybrid variations on these next but will def give the Atlantis 720 another go too.
 
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v-verb

Hall of Fame
i have a Head Jazz 660 made in Austria. Part of the series I think.

Rescued from the junk shed at our club where it sat for over 10 years. Paid $15 as a donation to the club. Plays great - even with the strings that were on it since 2004.

The stringbed is 16 x 19 with a very open spacing. I can poke my little finger through the bed. Pics to follow
 

speedysteve

Legend
So thread crapping and going all quiet aside...

Here's a old link to what purports for be a Head Genesis forsale that Arthur Ashe played with - I wonder if he liked it?

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions...-sports-memorabilia-cards-n08146/lot.147.html

Hard to tell if it is a Genesis in the photo for the cover of Sporting life / on a stamp - anyone know if it was?
It does have the strange marking on the frame edge that is similar but I wonder about the beam thickness.

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Then there is a painting of Mr Ashe with what looks very much like a Genesis but perhaps even bigger than a 720!

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Me, I beat a guy last night with my Head Genesis 6-1, 6-2 in a British Tennis League match. He was using a Head Youtek Graphene :) I've also taken on Babolat Pro / pure drives and won in this round...
My racquet came from a charity shop, £3
 
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d-quik

Hall of Fame
I bought one of these for mom back in the late '90s. She's still using it.

Heh.
I bought one of these (second hand on our local auction site) for my daughter around 3 years ago - she loves it!
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I currently play with one of these now and again, I take it these are similar to the Genesis?

There is something about it that means I'll never sell it. I like to use it indoors cos we seem to click more for some reason. Very nice indeed!
Which modern frames have comparable (approximate) stiffness/flex compared to the Genesis or discovery 660?
 
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