Help me choose a controllable power racket!

[pdparos78]

Probably because, considering the thread title, your info, video footage, etc. most of us, myself included, probably weren't thinking of yet another 97" control frame. Granted, the UP is a bit higher-powered than the 97P, but still, I wouldn't class it as a "controllable power racquet" at all. That would be more along the lines of most of my original list, especially stuff like the EZ98, etc.

Based on how this thread has gone, though, I think it's evident you actually seem more intent on a much smaller deviation away from what you're used to, ie. the most easily-maneuvered control frame that satisfies whatever baseline level of power and forgiveness that you think you need (which doesn't appear to be much), then augmented with swing weight and an explosive-enough string bed (gut hybrid, etc) – ie. an older-school style setup. Which is fine. If that's really what you want. And if that's the case, then we're back into the realm of the following:

- Babolat Strike 97, with a bit of hoop lead
- Dunlop CX 200 2024, with significant hoop lead
- Dunlop CX 200 Tour 16x19 2024, with moderate hoop lead
- Head Gravity Tour 98, with some handle weight
- Head Prestige MP or MP-L spec'd up
- Head Radical Pro, or MP w/ handle weight, either with a little bit of hoop lead
- Prince ATS Tour 95 or 98, maybe 100P w/ a tiny bit of hoop lead
- Solinco WhiteOut 18x20, with weight butt cap or leather, plus a tiny bit of hoop lead
- Tecnifibre TF40, whatever weight/pattern variant you like most
- Wilson Ultra Pro v4 16x19, with a fair amount of hoop lead
- Wilson Pro Staff 97 v14
- Yonex Percept 97, with a bit of hoop lead
- Yonex Percept 100D, with a tiny bit of lead at 12

Boutique:
- Angell TC, React or K7 - Whatever head, pattern and weight/balance class
- Heysil Tour 98 16x19

At the end of the day, for 4.0+/low-4.5-ish or higher singles on clay, I think you're ultimately going to end up wanting more general assistance and forgiveness from a frame, than a good portion of sub-21mm beamed, lower-powered <=100's can give you. As for whether that makes stuff like the Ultra Pro, your PG97, or similar, still appropriate enough, I guess you'll have to vet for yourself. From my view, it may depend on your journey. If most of your "competition" ends up consisting of a bit older-aged and/or older-school type players, wielding similar frames as to where you're coming from, you might not have much issue. Or, you may run into enough newer-school competition who, aside from being younger and/or more athletic, may be availing enough assistance from more tweener-ish frames, that it compels you to do so as well. Hard to tell right now. Either way, though, I think most here will be interested to see how it pans out, so do keep us updated!

That video is 12 months old. Last year, my childhood tennis partner of 25 years was still keeping up with me. Now i'm blasting him off the court 6-1. He was returning 1 out of 10 of my serves. The guys I used to play with, i'm not going to even consider anymore as its a waste of my time. Going forward, i'm going to see if my PG97 holds up against my futures ex-pro hitting partner. If not, i'll consider a further adjustment towards something even easier, or I just have to level up again in power, speed and skill which is what i'd actually prefer rather than expecting my racket to make me better. Either way, it's a very satisfying journey and obviously I appreciate everyones suggestions here. It can be a frustrating process to discover which racket will extract the very best out of you. It's time, money experiemenation and the risk of messing up your tennis progress as constant racket changes don't do your game any good. This is why I prefer to my adjustments to be gradual. The Solinco sounds like a logical next step up, but I suspect it's only slightly more powerful as my G97 how I have it set up now with the guy / poly. Also open to RF01, Aero 98 - I did test the RF01 on the wall of the pro shop and in that limited experience, it felt amazing. As chances come up to try things, I will, but I wont rush it and confuse myself too much. I've recently watched that Tennis Nerd video with Nicola Aracic, and that was interesting to see just how much people suffer with this process.

 

[pdparos78]

OK guys - here's a new clip from yesterday knocking about with a mate - bit older than me, but quite a skilled older player.
I'm using the PG97 here. I think it's making a big difference. I think my form has improved considerably?

 

[mmazzinin1]

Pk 7G

 

[pdparos78]

Probably because, considering the thread title, your info, video footage, etc. most of us, myself included, probably weren't thinking of yet another 97" control frame. Granted, the UP is a bit higher-powered than the 97P, but still, I wouldn't class it as a "controllable power racquet" at all. That would be more along the lines of most of my original list, especially stuff like the EZ98, etc.

Based on how this thread has gone, though, I think it's evident you actually seem more intent on a much smaller deviation away from what you're used to, ie. the most easily-maneuvered control frame that satisfies whatever baseline level of power and forgiveness that you think you need (which doesn't appear to be much), then augmented with swing weight and an explosive-enough string bed (gut hybrid, etc) – ie. an older-school style setup. Which is fine. If that's really what you want. And if that's the case, then we're back into the realm of the following:

- Babolat Strike 97, with a bit of hoop lead
- Dunlop CX 200 2024, with significant hoop lead
- Dunlop CX 200 Tour 16x19 2024, with moderate hoop lead
- Head Gravity Tour 98, with some handle weight
- Head Prestige MP or MP-L spec'd up
- Head Radical Pro, or MP w/ handle weight, either with a little bit of hoop lead
- Prince ATS Tour 95 or 98, maybe 100P w/ a tiny bit of hoop lead
- Solinco WhiteOut 18x20, with weight butt cap or leather, plus a tiny bit of hoop lead
- Tecnifibre TF40, whatever weight/pattern variant you like most
- Wilson Ultra Pro v4 16x19, with a fair amount of hoop lead
- Wilson Pro Staff 97 v14
- Yonex Percept 97, with a bit of hoop lead
- Yonex Percept 100D, with a tiny bit of lead at 12

Boutique:
- Angell TC, React or K7 - Whatever head, pattern and weight/balance class
- Heysil Tour 98 16x19

At the end of the day, for 4.0+/low-4.5-ish or higher singles on clay, I think you're ultimately going to end up wanting more general assistance and forgiveness from a frame, than a good portion of sub-21mm beamed, lower-powered <=100's can give you. As for whether that makes stuff like the Ultra Pro, your PG97, or similar, still appropriate enough, I guess you'll have to vet for yourself. From my view, it may depend on your journey. If most of your "competition" ends up consisting of a bit older-aged and/or older-school type players, wielding similar frames as to where you're coming from, you might not have much issue. Or, you may run into enough newer-school competition who, aside from being younger and/or more athletic, may be availing enough assistance from more tweener-ish frames, that it compels you to do so as well. Hard to tell right now. Either way, though, I think most here will be interested to see how it pans out, so do keep us updated!

I managed to get my hands some demos (RF01, Pure Aero 98 and an ATS Tour 98) and I had a hit with one with my friend who’s in the video but i’ll need have a hit with someone much stronger to properly gauge, but this I do know, my Graphite 97 requires a lot more work to do what the above demos can do very easily, so it’s been a bit of a wake up call. Don’t get me wrong. I do like my racket a lot but if I want to pick up the pace and keep up with very heavy hitters, I can’t stay with what I have as I will break down - maybe not as badly as I was with the K90 or 97p but enough to leave myself open to attacks.

So my thoughts on the demos:

First up the RF01, the lightest of the bunch, 320g stock with an overgrip and dampener. I wouldn’t really call this a very fair assessment of the racket as the strings were done and loose - but it did have quite a bit of power as to be expected with such low tension, but a tiny bit less forgiving than the other two rackets - quite a brassy feel like everyone describes and even with a dampener it still makes quite a bit of noise but loads of feedback. This racket really suited my place style the most however I would want to try it again with it strung with gut / poly hybrid at 52lbs. I would probably want to customize slightly, but only after a better string job.

The Pure Aero 98 at stock 327 grams strung with an overgrip and dampener had loads of power as to be expected depth on the forehand was super easy although I had to adjust my backhand to get that working on this racket, it wasn’t as natural as how it was hitting the backhand with the RF 01. It was the easier depth of all the rackets on the forehand side and loads of spin.

The Prince ATS Tour 98 was the heaviest of the light at 330g strung with overgrip and dampener, and it was a lot more sluggish to bring around, but it had lots of stability and power, but a little less forgiving than the Aero. I need to spend more time with this one, although I have this a test on the hittng wall and it felt the best of the bunch just earlier, but the hitting wall isn't tennis reality.

I should reconsider the Ezone 98 again. I dismissed it too early. I played with a UTR7+ the other day and he was using the Yonex. We did a quick racket swap for a few minutes and handed him my G97. He said you have to work a lot harder with my racket and he was right.

 

[Trip]

@pdparos78 - Nice update.

He said you have to work a lot harder with my racket and he was right.

Like many here (myself included), it may take you some learning via trial by fire (which is often the best way), plus leveling up your skill set, to realize that the best strategy is often learning how to control a more powerful frame, versus having to figure out how to power a more controlled frame. At least if your goal is being the most competitive, you want as much free power and forgiveness as you can still control. I mean, why wouldn't you?

And just based on your feedback of those three demo's, sound like the EZ98 is exactly the type of stick you should look at next, especially the new 2025, which is supposedly more forgiving over more of the face area than the outgoing 2022, as well as softer on impact and more comfortable overall.

Interested to hear your next updates, as you get time.

 

[pdparos78]

Little update — Ok, so after a journey of re trialling the PG97 with gut hybrid, only to realise, that while it was very nice, it wasn't enough. I switched to a Head Graphene XT Speed MP also with gut hybrid. I'm not sure but I think this racket gave me golfers elbow. After investigating further and analysing via video my biomechanics on my serve, I discovered that my right shoulder instability and joint capsule laxity where causing me to avoid involved my shoulder fully in the kinetic chain, and the energy would flow from my hips, straight to my elbow as subconcious compensatory effect. I also found that on my forehand, my arm didn't want to wrap across my body and I was turning my torso to avoid internal adduction (due to pain). I've been working on shoulder mobility and strength and resting the arm. I came back recently and started with a really good coach to correct my technique which has really helped ease the load on my arm.

Here's a little clip, where i'm now trialling a PS97 v14. I know I know, why am I using another difficult to use control racket that offers no help! I found that with the Speed MP, I gave it a chance for a few months, but I couldn't control the damn thing. Soon as I put the PS97 in my hand, I felt at home again. I'm putting the ball where I want and closer to the lines than I could with the Speed. Anyhoo. Here's how it's looking for far. Still got pain in my elbow so im playing a lot less to let it recover so only doing 1-2 sessions a week with the coach only. My goal is to fix the shoulder (even if it's with revisionary surgery) and to perfect my biomechanics. If the PS97 doesn't work out for me in competition, rackets on my list to try include: T Fight 305 S, Speed Pro, Extreme Pro, Gravity Pro, Nordic Dots 99.

 

[gfwp]

Little update — Ok, so after a journey of re trialling the PG97 with gut hybrid, only to realise, that while it was very nice, it wasn't enough. I switched to a Head Graphene XT Speed MP also with gut hybrid. I'm not sure but I think this racket gave me golfers elbow. After investigating further and analysing via video my biomechanics on my serve, I discovered that my right shoulder instability and joint capsule laxity where causing me to avoid involved my shoulder fully in the kinetic chain, and the energy would flow from my hips, straight to my elbow as subconcious compensatory effect. I also found that on my forehand, my arm didn't want to wrap across my body and I was turning my torso to avoid internal adduction (due to pain). I've been working on shoulder mobility and strength and resting the arm. I came back recently and started with a really good coach to correct my technique which has really helped ease the load on my arm.

Here's a little clip, where i'm now trialling a PS97 v14. I know I know, why am I using another difficult to use control racket that offers no help! I found that with the Speed MP, I gave it a chance for a few months, but I couldn't control the damn thing. Soon as I put the PS97 in my hand, I felt at home again. I'm putting the ball where I want and closer to the lines than I could with the Speed. Anyhoo. Here's how it's looking for far. Still got pain in my elbow so im playing a lot less to let it recover so only doing 1-2 sessions a week with the coach only. My goal is to fix the shoulder (even if it's with revisionary surgery) and to perfect my biomechanics. If the PS97 doesn't work out for me in competition, rackets on my list to try include: T Fight 305 S, Speed Pro, Extreme Pro, Gravity Pro, Nordic Dots 99.

Test PS X. Same control and sensation as PS 97 with more power

 

[pdparos78]

Test PS X. Same control and sensation as PS 97 with more power

yes also this!