How old is "too old" of a racquet?

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NotSoProStaff

New User
I was just curious what people think is "too old" of a racquet. I have two PS97 v11.0 which are coming up on 10 years old now. I also have 2021 Pure Drives, but wanted to try going back to the PS97's.
I wanted to ask how much people think racquet technology has improved in the last decade and when people decide to switch racquets. I'm sure people keep their favorite racquet over 20 years, but how different are those from the new models now?
If you have a racquet you like, do you always demo/upgrade when new versions come out?
 
There was a lot of buzz last year about degradation of frames and 'needing' to buy new ones every couple of years, but it seemed to be overblown marketing more than anything else. I have a really bad habit of buying new rackets constantly and honeymooning with them, and have to get them delivered to work so my partner doesn't give me that "really? another one?" look.

I don't think racquet technology really makes much difference, but what has come a really long way is string tech. I have a Microgel Radical Pro still in the racquet bag from nearly 20 years ago that I think would get a lot of love if it launched today with a new paint job. A fresh bumper/grommets and a modern poly and this thing would play like a dream.
 
Wasn't really marketing, a bunch of PHD forum members in industrial engineering materials wrote about it on here, after about 2-3 years of hitting a racket has degraded, a decade or so in the closet, same thing. In case the forums are a "boogey-man" type place where you don't believe things here, Ian Westerman or men is it on one of his hour long podcasts got in a discussion about James Blake and how he used a racket all through juniors and into being a pro and when the company (Head maybe?) sponsored him they could NOT replicate the rackets he had uses for so many years because they had degraded, they literally couldn't give him the degraded feel he was used to despite making pro stocks. He just dealt with it and adjusted.
 
FuzzyYellowBalls said:
Wasn't really marketing, a bunch of PHD forum members in industrial engineering materials wrote about it on here, after about 2-3 years of hitting a racket has degraded, a decade or so in the closet, same thing. In case the forums are a "boogey-man" type place where you don't believe things here, Ian Westerman or men is it on one of his hour long podcasts got in a discussion about James Blake and how he used a racket all through juniors and into being a pro and when the company (Head maybe?) sponsored him they could NOT replicate the rackets he had uses for so many years because they had degraded, they literally couldn't give him the degraded feel he was used to despite making pro stocks. He just dealt with it and adjusted.
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the phds wrote specifically that racquets degrade unplayed in the closet over 10 years as much as if they had been played with and repeatedly restrung over 2-3 years?
 
I think the best way to find out from a technology point of view is to test your V11 PS97 with the current V14 and see what you think.
How racquets have improved or not improved depends on the silo.
One interesting comparison is the Volkl C10 which was such a great racquet and ahead of its time 26 years ago that still today it has superb feel and comfort. On the other hand Volkl’s progression from say the Super G 10 325 through to the V Sense, V Feel, V Sense and now Vostra 10 320 has been questionable.
I think other brands like Yonex go through peaks and troughs and back up again. I think the V Core Tour G and HG were master pieces as was the DR and then they went down hill. I think the current E Zone is a good one and so is the Percept H, which is a very good racquet.
Pro staff wise I think the current 315g frame with a 335sw ( or thereabouts ) is a good one. If I was going to get a PS I would get it and my second choice would be the 18/20 Ultra Pro customised or if I could get a H19 I would get it.
 
FuzzyYellowBalls said:
Wasn't really marketing, a bunch of PHD forum members in industrial engineering materials wrote about it on here, after about 2-3 years of hitting a racket has degraded, a decade or so in the closet, same thing. In case the forums are a "boogey-man" type place where you don't believe things here, Ian Westerman or men is it on one of his hour long podcasts got in a discussion about James Blake and how he used a racket all through juniors and into being a pro and when the company (Head maybe?) sponsored him they could NOT replicate the rackets he had uses for so many years because they had degraded, they literally couldn't give him the degraded feel he was used to despite making pro stocks. He just dealt with it and adjusted.
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I think degradation is misuse of the term since it has negative connotation in it. I'd suggest a word like "change" instead of it. I like a racquet which has become flexible over time/use.
 
FuzzyYellowBalls said:
Wasn't really marketing, a bunch of PHD forum members in industrial engineering materials wrote about it on here, after about 2-3 years of hitting a racket has degraded, a decade or so in the closet, same thing. In case the forums are a "boogey-man" type place where you don't believe things here, Ian Westerman or men is it on one of his hour long podcasts got in a discussion about James Blake and how he used a racket all through juniors and into being a pro and when the company (Head maybe?) sponsored him they could NOT replicate the rackets he had uses for so many years because they had degraded, they literally couldn't give him the degraded feel he was used to despite making pro stocks. He just dealt with it and adjusted.
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I don't mean that degradation was only a marketing thing, but that the buzz at the time came from marketing because Roger talked about needing a new frame each year in his RF01 hype videos. The level of degradation and it's impact on playability would be almost non-existent at rec level, right? At least compared to regular wear and tear from scuffing your racquet on the court on low balls. The difference between people who play 5 hours each day and string twice a week vs rec players should be night and day.

Similar to the James Blake story, there was another one about someone getting new racquets strung and restrung dozens of times to soften them up before using them.
 
tele said:
the phds wrote specifically that racquets degrade unplayed in the closet over 10 years as much as if they had been played with and repeatedly restrung over 2-3 years?
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Not as much, just degraded. You'd need them to call you on the phone probably to answer questions, the stuff they wrote about was way over my head, something about graphite though, it has a shelf life and the material they use to bind everything together, in my cave man head I will use the word "resin" or some such. It's funny though when people look for older rackets because they love or loved them just not knowing they won't be the same thing they remember, even if they are unused.
 
jxs653 said:
I think degradation is misuse of the term since it has negative connotation in it. I'd suggest a word like "change" instead of it. I like a racquet which has become flexible over time/use.
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Well, ok, you can call it a change, it will be a change in the performance of the graphite etc. that is designed to perform a certain way in relation to hitting the ball. Not really making a stiff racket flexible so all of a sudden a person loves a pure drive despite hating stiff rackets. It's not the flex that changes in fact the designed flex, maybe in a Shift with that patent tech where it flexes two ways would not work as well anymore.

I'm pretty sure a player would be better off with a flexible stick off the shelf instead of trying to change a racket in to being more flexible by using it.
 
Cayenne321 said:
I don't mean that degradation was only a marketing thing, but that the buzz at the time came from marketing because Roger talked about needing a new frame each year in his RF01 hype videos. The level of degradation and it's impact on playability would be almost non-existent at rec level, right? At least compared to regular wear and tear from scuffing your racquet on the court on low balls. The difference between people who play 5 hours each day and string twice a week vs rec players should be night and day.

Similar to the James Blake story, there was another one about someone getting new racquets strung and restrung dozens of times to soften them up before using them.
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"Roger" that. Hehe, dad joke.

Everything is nonexistant at rec level, really, weighting up rackets, changing rackets. I often write in my racket reviews here that it isn't a match winning change or solution to try the plus or the 98 versus the 100 etc. It's a forum though, but even OP question is irrelevant in rec play.

I've had opponents use 4 rackets against me in a match recently, two occasions, didn't help their chances at winning, but it was as if I was playing a forum member in real life :) .
 
I have some fairly new Wilson's and Volkls. But in my bag is an older Wilson Hyper Pro Staff Stretch 5.0, that plays just as good.
Effortless control. Think of the money that I could have saved, if I didn't change racquets every few year, for nothing!!
 
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I have noticed a difference in power between a brand new racquet and ones I’ve played with for 300-400 hours which have gone through 25-30 stringjobs. But I keep playing with the old racquets usually as the difference in power is not enough to make it hard to play with them. Maybe a bit of pace goes down on the first serve and that can result in less service winners and aces. You’ll notice it only if you hit with them side-by-side with the same stringjob using the same racquet model and if the difference in playing hours is more than 300-400 hours. I’ve done this experiment many times as I tend to stick with one racquet model for many years, play daily, string often and buy new racquets every couple of years to replace older ones.

I bet the guys who say there is no change in racquets after many years of play haven’t gone through this kind of side-by-side comparison comparing a new one with a very old one while using identical stringjobs. There is a very definite decrease in power, but each player has to decide if it affects their game enough for them to discard the old racquet or if they can keep playing with it.
 
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Say Chi Sin Lo said:
It's not.
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I don't have any plans to get new pro staffs, just got me curious generally how people felt about changes in racquet tech over the last decade or "changes/degradation" to racquet over a 10 year period. Also just how frequently people like to test out new models. Any changes to my own racquet over time, I'm not a good enough player to notice unless it was literally crumbling and falling apart haha.
 
since i don't have a degree in material science, i can only state that from my own experience i would be using a frame 15-16 years old right now if my shoulder could handle the weight. i have a friend who is a racquet collector who frequently gives me vintage frames to string, which i then usually take out for a hit. my utr/ntrp notwithstanding, i cannot detect any discernable difference between a vintage stick and one of my circa 2021 frames (the newest ones i have).

i have no doubt james blake can feel things in a racquet that i cannot; obviously, individual feel comes into play here.
 
FuzzyYellowBalls said:
"Roger" that. Hehe, dad joke.

Everything is nonexistant at rec level, really, weighting up rackets, changing rackets. I often write in my racket reviews here that it isn't a match winning change or solution to try the plus or the 98 versus the 100 etc. It's a forum though, but even OP question is irrelevant in rec play.

I've had opponents use 4 rackets against me in a match recently, two occasions, didn't help their chances at winning, but it was as if I was playing a forum member in real life :) .
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Yep, I'll admit to doing that ha. It's embarrassing when I change my racquet mid-match 3 or 4 times to test out different strings/racquets, knowing it won't do me any good
 
NotSoProStaff said:
I don't have any plans to get new pro staffs, just got me curious generally how people felt about changes in racquet tech over the last decade or "changes/degradation" to racquet over a 10 year period. Also just how frequently people like to test out new models. Any changes to my racquet flex, I'm not a good enough player to notice unless it was literally crumbling and falling apart haha.
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one of my favorite finds from my racquet collector friend was a yonex rd7. again, if i had a shoulder strong enough to swing that thing repeatedly, i'd probably be comparing that to my stash of rqis frames.

the last time i switched sticks it was because i had to have something lighter, not because there was a piece of "new tech" i wanted to try.
 
vandre said:
one of my favorite finds from my racquet collector friend was a yonex rd7. again, if i had a shoulder strong enough to swing that thing repeatedly, i'd probably be comparing that to my stash of rqis frames.

the last time i switched sticks it was because i had to have something lighter, not because there was a piece of "new tech" i wanted to try.
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Yeah, when I demo racquets, it's usually something drastically different than what I currently have.

I've been looking at maybe a Yonex VCore 100, but it's not because of new technology in the racquet. Seeing something like "2G-NAMD FlexForce Graphite" doesn't mean anything to me. I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the latest model vs one generation back.
 
socallefty said:
Modern Racquets are typically lighter for more racquet head speed (RHS) from whippy, faster swings. Racquets are stiffer on average to have extra power. So, you then need poly strings to tame the power you get from the faster swing and the extra stiffness.

If you don’t want to play with poly, then you can go back to the more flexible, higher mass racquets and tame the power from the soft strings like gut along with using higher tension. The amount of 12 oz racquets with stiffness below 62-65 RA are very few compared to 20-30 years ago because of poly.
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Modern racquets also have more dampening technology built-in to increase comfort since many have higher stiffness than previous models. Some players complain that the feel is more muted although I am not the type to notice this. Also it seems like racquet companies have become better about making the sweet spot bigger with current models and maybe this makes it a bit easier to play with if you are prone to many off-center hits.
 
A friend (4.5 NTRP) used the Prince Mono for years. Because they had a unique feel, he never changed, and rotated through his 4 racquets for 10+ years. He wasn't a huge string breaker, but over 10 years those racquets were restrung a bunch of times, and were played with for a lot of hours. He never noticed any difference in them. He then found 3 New old-stock racquets, strung them up with his favorite strings, an the difference in feel and power of the used vs. New Old-Stock was massive. Anyone could tell how the old ones just felt soft. I don't know if the more modern racquets are more resistant to this "wear" but I there is certainly a difference between a fresh and used racquet.
 
If anyone here can notice the difference between a degraded racquet and non degraded, then they're most likely not on this messageboard. they're too busy in barcelona, munich, stuttgard, or rouen. Just play and enjoy the racquet regardless of age. If it breaks on you, then it's too old :)
 
I have a 35 year old Fischer vacuum ceramic, a 25 year old Yonex Rd7 a10 year old 1st gen head radical graphene and a brand spanking new Tecnifibre T-Fight 305s.

The Fischer still plays like new
The Yonex has “mellowed” but still has nice feel
The Heads felt Ok until about 6 months ago when I noticed that when the balls started to age they got a bit powerless, regardless of string.
The Tecnifibre shows what new technology can offer. So stable for the weight.
 
NotSoProStaff said:
I was just curious what people think is "too old" of a racquet. I have two PS97 v11.0 which are coming up on 10 years old now. I also have 2021 Pure Drives, but wanted to try going back to the PS97's.
I wanted to ask how much people think racquet technology has improved in the last decade and when people decide to switch racquets. I'm sure people keep their favorite racquet over 20 years, but how different are those from the new models now?
If you have a racquet you like, do you always demo/upgrade when new versions come out?
Click to expand...
If the racquet is not cracked and the grommets are in good condition, it will likely last longer than your tennis career.
Perhaps, just perhaps, a racquet that has undergone more than 100 string jobs may have changed enough from its original state to impact gameplay.
 
M

Post in thread 'How many people still play with rackets that are over 20 years old?'

I have and still use my Head Graphite Director (more than 30 years) as my primary racket today. Though, throughout the many years I have tried the newer and evolving rackets, my primary racket is still the racket of my choice.

Also in my arsenal of firepower, are my second choices of the Rossi, Head Elite Pros & Prestige Pros, PS85, RX23 and a few different Fischer Vacuum sticks. These were the ones that stayed on, the newer ones which came along into my life, ultimately stayed on temporarily only.

I still trot around with my 30+ year old Rossi racket bag when i go to the courts. Much to...
 
If you play 3 or 4 times a week and buy 2 rackets, after a couple of years, there is some slight degradation in the racket. You'll likely loose a bit of stiffness in the frame over time as materials break down. It is minor and I don't even notice it. You certainly can continue to play with frames for much longer and many do. New tech is way over hyped as changes as usually minor. I am sure your 10 year old rackets are good enough to play well. For me, I like the experience of trying new rackets and I usually change frames between 1 and 3 years. Sometimes I "upgrade" to the new model of the same frame and sometimes I try a totally new brand or model.
 
I expect manufacturers test retail rackets for 200-500hrs use, to ensure reasonable durability, and tailor the layups to perform optimally throughout that period rather than just the first few months.
 
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I purchased my head XRC in 1979 when I was 21 years old. Played for a few years, got married and pretty much put it in moth balls. Played with it once in a while. Retired last year and joined a local tennis club. I didn’t want to buy something right away so I picked it up same racket and strings, blue star I believe is what the strings are called. So I started playing with it again and it felt the same, played pretty well with it until I tore my meniscus. So I will use it until I get a new one this year.
 
BobL said:
I purchased my head XRC in 1979 when I was 21 years old. Played for a few years, got married and pretty much put it in moth balls. Played with it once in a while. Retired last year and joined a local tennis club. I didn’t want to buy something right away so I picked it up same racket and strings, blue star I believe is what the strings are called. So I started playing with it again and it felt the same, played pretty well with it until I tore my meniscus. So I will use it until I get a new one this year.
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You should at least change the string job as it would have lost a lot of tension. Once I took a 5-year break from tennis and when I came back, I felt that I had forgotten how to play due to the lack of control on the 1st day. My hitting partner told me to try playing again after changing to new strings and all the control problems disappeared overnight. While I was a bit rusty, it made a world of difference in remembering how to hit precisely again.
 
I have a Volkl C7 Comp 93 (released in the late 90s) in my rotation and hit just as well with it, if not better, than with my RF97. Poly hybrid strings help bring it up to speed with the slower courts and heavier/fluffier balls. I also bust out the Puma Boris Becker Winner, circa mid 80s Becker 1985 racquet, I got off the bay. It’s a beast 13oz lol
 
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NotSoProStaff said:
I was just curious what people think is "too old" of a racquet. I have two PS97 v11.0 which are coming up on 10 years old now. I also have 2021 Pure Drives, but wanted to try going back to the PS97's.
I wanted to ask how much people think racquet technology has improved in the last decade and when people decide to switch racquets. I'm sure people keep their favorite racquet over 20 years, but how different are those from the new models now?
If you have a racquet you like, do you always demo/upgrade when new versions come out?
Click to expand...

i dont think its so much "age" as it is "specs" are what matter when looking at racquets over time or across generations.

as long as a graphite racquet isnt abused or exposed to temp extremes, they dont degrade with age.

grommets and handles/pallets will degrade over time
 
Im curious why Tennis Warehouse dont do some scientific research about rackets wear same as they do about balls and strings performance drop.

They definitelly should try that - if they could prove frames really lose performance it would incresse their sales results

Of course theres a chance they did some research that showed only insignificant difference in rackets performance so they decided not to release it to the public ;)
 
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my Blade104 BLX 2013 has been lying idle for 12 years, as good as new.The difference with the Wilson Blade 104 v9 — 2024

Stiffness:64 versus 61
.Sabalenka Playsblade98 -2013
[th width="27.0718%"][/th]
 
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