How come so few pros use powerful racquets like del potro?

D

Djokovicfan

Professional
I feel like many pros have enough control to successfully use a power racquet. But the only player ive heard of that uses a powerful racquet is del potro.
 
This is a really good pj for this iteration. Glad they offered it as a part of the first wave pro lab racquets.
 
Look at TWU which rackets are objective powerful. And nearly all pros usw lead so even more Power than the retail versions.
 
What is your definition of a powerful racquet? Players that swing fast find heavier racquets to be more powerful (Force = Mass X Acceleration) while player that swing relatively slower find lighter weight, stiffer, thicker beam racquets to be more powerful because their swing speed increases appreciably with lighter weight and stiffer, thicker beams give more energy back to the ball for the same swing which they need.

Also at the end of the day, you need both power and control in tennis as you need to keep the ball in the court - everyone is always looking for the perfect balance of that for their game.
 
I think now that we have more intel into high profile players frames and string setups it is becoming clear that a lot of the top players have actually had deceptively powerful setups, but they achieve the power in different ways depending on the preferences of the player that are more subtle than just using powerful hybrid style frames, although those are also being judiciously used more and more in the last twenty years (Nadal, Ljubicic, Roddick , Tsonga, Fognini, Ruud, Paul, Mannarino, Lopez)

One example is how many players we have discovered are stringing with a very low tension which is obviously one of the most effective ways to turn your racquet into a flame thrower in terms of adding power and ball pocketing / spin potential.
 
Subway Tennis said:
I think now that we have more intel into high profile players frames and string setups it is becoming clear that a lot of the top players have actually had deceptively powerful setups, but they achieve the power in different ways depending on the preferences of the player that are more subtle than just using powerful hybrid style frames, although those are also being judiciously used more and more in the last twenty years (Nadal, Ljubicic, Roddick , Tsonga, Fognini, Ruud, Paul, Mannarino, Lopez)

One example is how many players we have discovered are stringing with a very low tension which is obviously one of the most effective ways to turn your racquet into a flame thrower in terms of adding power and ball pocketing / spin potential.
Click to expand...

Yeah exactly. One of the first guys specs I remember reading - when I was getting back into the game after a long layoff - was Carlos Moya. Mind blown.
 
Subway Tennis said:
I think now that we have more intel into high profile players frames and string setups it is becoming clear that a lot of the top players have actually had deceptively powerful setups, but they achieve the power in different ways depending on the preferences of the player that are more subtle than just using powerful hybrid style frames, although those are also being judiciously used more and more in the last twenty years (Nadal, Ljubicic, Roddick , Tsonga, Fognini, Ruud, Paul, Mannarino, Lopez)

One example is how many players we have discovered are stringing with a very low tension which is obviously one of the most effective ways to turn your racquet into a flame thrower in terms of adding power and ball pocketing / spin potential.
Click to expand...
And another thing with the low tension of modern players is the lighter setups that are almost stock maybe some weight or at least matching racquets to the same weight specs are the major changes, besides grip being changed is the top player as compared to in the past with heavy racquets, is the ability using faster swing speeds then in past becuse of using said lighter setups. The speed is necessary for a lower poundage string to get its top performance in power, most low tension strings need.
 
Djokovicfan said:
I feel like many pros have enough control to successfully use a power racquet. But the only player ive heard of that uses a powerful racquet is del potro.
Click to expand...
LOL DelPo racquet was underpowered hence it weighed over 370s both static and sw.
Powerful racquets you are talking Nishikori's Burn model @ 95 inches and PK Destiny descendants called Babolat.
Recently Yonex Ezone and Willy Blade versions are replacing the PD as power racquets and many use them.

If Willy made the Blade 100 with 18x20, they should have a winner for like the Yonex offerings they are the
most used racquets these days as almost 20% of the tour is using Blades.
 
DariaGT said:
LOL DelPo racquet was underpowered hence it weighed over 370s both static and sw.
Powerful racquets you are talking Nishikori's Burn model @ 95 inches and ProKennex Destiny descendants called Babolat.
Recently Yonex Ezone and Wilson Blade versions are replacing the PD as power racquets and many use them.

If Wilson made the Blade 100 with 18x20, they should have a winner for like the Yonex offerings they are the
most used racquets these days as almost 20% of the tour is using Blades.
Click to expand...
I thought that Wilson made an 18 x 20 in the new RW Shift lineup with the 300 gram and 320 gram models?
 
I still remember Lubicic, when he went from Babolat Pure Drive to Head, spent a week or so at Head testing all their options, and ended up picking the Extreme, which was basically the Head version of the Pure Drive. He said he liked the easy power, and of course he was clearly one of the physically stronger guys on Tour. Interestingly, he, Fognini, Nadal, all bumped up their SW to about 360.
 
That old Extreme was better for OHBH than any Babolat PD


Casey 1988 said:
I thought that Wilson made an 18 x 20 in the new RW Shift lineup with the 300 gram and 320 gram models?
Click to expand...
I dont know of any 100 inch blades with 18x20???
There is no Gravity competitor from Willy far as I know.
 
Raizu said:
They do.
Click to expand...
Yes good for having more 98 square inch head in 18 x 20 for better players or those liking a 98 square inch head over a 100 square inch head. Now in what head size most rec/casual players use, a 100 square inch racquet when looking at offerings from Wilson, none of these 100 square inch heads are an 18 x 20, the closest for 100 square inch head are 16 x 19 string patterns in a multiple models, a 16 x 20 string pattern in 2 of the 3 classic reissue models that are bigger heads in a 110 & 103 square inch size that are also long in length from a 27 inch being 27.5 inch or 27.27 in a 103 square inch head, or for final 100 square inch head are one rather odd 18 x 16 string pattern in the Burn models.
 
Last edited:
I believe there is a misconception calling Delpo racquet “a powerful frame”
I wish you could play with his racquet and generate any pace with it or even putting the ball over the net
 
blackfrido said:
I believe there is a misconception calling Delpo racquet “a powerful frame”
I wish you could play with his racquet and generate any pace with it or even putting the ball over the net
Click to expand...
Delpo Specs made it just safer than swinging an axe to try and chop an anvil
 
blackfrido said:
I believe there is a misconception calling Delpo racquet “a powerful frame”
I wish you could play with his racquet and generate any pace with it or even putting the ball over the net
Click to expand...
Yeah, i remember reading that his Pro Staff's were that soft when he had no choice but to get some more from Wilson (after not wanting to get rid of any of his old frames because he liked them so much), that Wilson had a lot of trouble being able to make some soft and flexible enough to match the specs of the old frames he was using.
 
I don't know nowadays, but Delpo used a hevily control oriented frame. I recall that by 2018 or so he was not switching to new frames since the new models had become so flexible that he was used to them and did not like the new ones. So, that adds even more to the low-powered control-oriented type of frame he likes.
 
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