I have to post about this racquet. Anyone seriously looking for that blend of control, power, touch, and spin in a comfortable frame... the Gravity Pro is a must try. I've been a 4.5/5.0 player most of my life. At 48 I still play and hit with college level players. Although I still seem to have the strokes to hang with a lot of them the court movement these days isn't what it needs to be. I've always been an aggressive baseliner, controlling the point and hitting with power and spin is my game. Over the years I've played more doubles and developed a lot more touch, angles, etc. but I'm still perfectly happy ripping shots from both wings sending opponents side to side for better or worse until I hit a a winner or I miss.
Never had much in the way of TE issues, but it has popped up here and there and have always recovered quickly from it. The last few years I have some general soreness and new my time was limited unless I found something easier on my arm. I've always suffered somewhat from being a racketholic... always looking for a little more control or power or spin, etc. Recently my TE has gotten pretty bad with numbness in my ring and pinky finger which is bad. I've decided to forego poly strings and moved back to some multi-filaments... to my surprise it hasn't been a disaster. I was so hooked on the spin/grip and consistent strike/feel from poly strings that I thought no way a multi or syn gut would be a playable option for me again.
I've tried a lot of racquets over the years and usually stick with something for 1-2 years if I really like something. PS 6.0 95 was and still is to me one of the greatest racquets ever (for my game). Never got on with 85sq in version. I've gamed the Pure Drive, AeroPro+, Radical (Microgel, Graphene and XT), Hyper Pro Staff 6.0 (Europe version, why I sold them I'll never know), Dunlop Srixon CX 2.0, Dunlop 200g Muscle Weave and many others for extended periods over the years. I'm currently gaming the Dunlop CX200+ and experimenting with the Speed Pro 360, Yonex Vcore Pro 97 310 (tried 330, but too heavy). I like the CX200 tour 16x19, but it requires a lot of input and isn't so forgiving, but a great stick and easy on the arm, just a little short on power that I look for. CX200+ has good plow, good power/control, forgiving, but lacking on drop/touch shots (due to power). With a multifilament string, the CX200+ is pretty comfy and I keep gravitating back to it. Previously I was playing CX 2.0 weighted to 11.8 (8-9pts HL) which was great, but still bothering my arm a little even with natural gut/poly combo.
I have to say though that the Gravity Pro might be one of those classic racquets that we get nostalgic about for a long time to come. Got a demo this past weekend and it was strung with Wilson syn gut power 16ga. Normally I would hate that, but it actually played really well. I also normally don't gel with 18x20 patterns, but the spin on this GPro is very accessible to a surprising amount. Hit for 2.5 hours Sunday with crazy control and spin... really heavy balls that even the college players were remarking about. No live fire playing with serving and returns, but we were playing points off the ground, king of the hill drills, etc.. Was really impressed with the spin, easy depth and touch I had.
Tuesday I was excited to get out again. I played doubles and wondered about a honeymoon period or that I had a freak good day with it on Sunday. I barely finished the first set with it and was a little disappointed, crashing down to reality I thought. Couldn't get the same spin and control, power was lacking and things didn't go well so I switched to my CX200+ and played great. Returns were a problem (sluggish movmement), serve was okay but a bit erratic and I thought okay CX200+ is what I should stick with and was more manageable.
Didn't want to give up on the GPro completely so I restrung with Technifibre Multifeel 16ga at 51lbs. My TE has been getting better with the multis and I'm trying to back off a little when playing. Tonight it was more sore having played so much on Sunday and then playing on Tuesday. I know I should rest, ice, stretch, etc. but I love to play. Played doubles again tonight (Thursday) and was going to try the Vcore 97 again (strung with multi at 50lbs). Warm up with the Vcore I had pain right away. Still getting some vibration, racquet flutter, etc. even with the multi and it was bothering me. So I pulled the GPro after just a few minutes into the warmup and instant relief. The plow and comfort of this GPro frame is awesome, virtually no discomfort or pain. I also noticed with the multi feel string instead of the syn gut I had better pop, control/spin was back, feel was excellent. I proceeded to play great... even better than the first outing. Serves had very nice pop on flat and great spin on second serves to the point where it didn't matter if I hit a first or second serve... my opponents struggled to even get the return back in the court. Groundstrokes and volleys were awesome, topspin lobs, you name it I was coming up with shots and hitting them, it was really fun. I still missed some shots, especially on returns, but not so bad that I felt that I couldn't get better with this frame.
The demo racquet I have is 10.9oz unstrung. Strung it comes in at 11.7/11.8 and 7-8pts HL. I went from really liking, to doubting, to really considering switching over the last 6-7 hours of on court playing time I've had. It's definitely between this and the CX200+. For arm comfort alone I would pick the GPro hands down. With a fairly tender elbow I was able to play full out without hesitation, comfortably. And when we finished my arm felt good,
I would like to try the Tour, but I would end up weighting it up close to the GPro spec anyway. I'm trying to remain calm, I'm in the afterglow of a great night of playing great tennis. Maybe its' just coincidence and I'm playing well regardless of what I have in my hands. But even if I ultimately decide it's a little too unwieldy and go with the lighter CX200+... this is still a great racquet, of that I'm sure. The combo of things it does well is really impressive... and all while being super arm friendly. I forgot to mention that the large sweet spot on the GPro is such a great and unique thing in a player spec racquet. It's big part of what makes this racquet so fun. Normally players spec racquets can really penalize you outside the sweet spot. Miss the sweet spot and there is a severe lack of pace, depth, spin, etc... all of which lead to the dreaded sitter in the short court that your opponent can rip for a winner. It's hard to miss the sweet spot on this thing so you get the control of a player racquet, but forgiveness of a tweener... it's really nice. Instead of a week, short sitter you still get good depth and spin, etc. on much higher percentage of shots. Sweetspot is huge! Awesome offering from Head, super kudos on this one.
