Hubi Hurkacz New Wilson Stick

Chairman3

Hall of Fame
Maybe an 18x19 Blade or whatever 18x19 mold Tsitsipas had been spotted with a few times.

Or is Hurkz a 16x19 guy, I thought he was 18x20?
 

lidoazndiabloboi

Hall of Fame
z31572250IH,Hubert-Hurkacz.jpg

Only pic I was able to find
 

fox

Professional
He used Prestige so would be reasonable to see H19. Don't see him using H22, too thick beam and not HL enough for him.
 

aus89

Hall of Fame
Playing soon against Ruud so will be interesting to see (but not Jan 1st yet for the contract to kick in)
 

aus89

Hall of Fame
No way he will be changing racquet manufacturers mid-tournament.

He will be playing with the Wilson January 1st or not imo.
I meant more for the clothes or the W stencil to appear on his frame - but hes decked out in Adidas and no W stencil on the Blade (not blacked out)
 

Mischko

Professional
Only logical racquet for Hubi would be RF 01 Pro or at least RF97A in a slightly lighter pro stock version like Dimitrov's, since he played with a 2019 Vcore Pro at 370sw

6.1 95 16x19 would also suit him really well

Those older and pro stock Blades are for fast rhs non stop bashing, with high sw, not sure he can adapt them to his measured redirecting holding counterpunching style

When I played with his old VCP 330g stock I found that it was difficult to really bash full power, it was basically a consistency racquet. I could easily hold deep balls in play in all kinds of rallys, but felt awkward when I really wanted to go for it, or attack with more initiative. I won a lot of matches with it, 15 or so in a row once, but by playing a waiting game with big serves, similar style like Hubi but 20x worse obviously

Blade v5 is the exact opposite in my experience, full fast swing only, lacking in that range and overall playability, I could never gel with that

But the new Pro has a huge range, he can create all kinds of plays, angles and spins with it, and it will take lead at 12 super easily with that massive stiff throat and lower hoop

Weird choice..
 

fox

Professional
I also thought about 6.1 95 or RF97, these would be perfect for him.

It's also quite interesting that Wilson and Babolat are losing so much pros which helps Yonex and Tecnifibre. Yes, Babolat has Alcaraz but that's it basically. Wilson does well on womens side, but on the mens it's no chance of winning anything soon.
 

yourtennisfit

Professional
Only logical racquet for Hubi would be RF 01 Pro or at least RF97A in a slightly lighter pro stock version like Dimitrov's, since he played with a 2019 Vcore Pro at 370sw

6.1 95 16x19 would also suit him really well

Those older and pro stock Blades are for fast rhs non stop bashing, with high sw, not sure he can adapt them to his measured redirecting holding counterpunching style

When I played with his old VCP 330g stock I found that it was difficult to really bash full power, it was basically a consistency racquet. I could easily hold deep balls in play in all kinds of rallys, but felt awkward when I really wanted to go for it, or attack with more initiative. I won a lot of matches with it, 15 or so in a row once, but by playing a waiting game with big serves, similar style like Hubi but 20x worse obviously

Blade v5 is the exact opposite in my experience, full fast swing only, lacking in that range and overall playability, I could never gel with that

But the new Pro has a huge range, he can create all kinds of plays, angles and spins with it, and it will take lead at 12 super easily with that massive stiff throat and lower hoop

Weird choice..

I don't know - the ProStaff has not so much in common with a Prestige/Vcore Pro style racket, that's why Wilson introduced H19
The proStaff is much stiffer and direct than also some of the Blades, that can be very control oriented

I guess if he wanted the most similar racket, he should have gone Ultra Pro/H19
So clearly he was looking for something different, and I like the Blade more for him than a 6.1 - the PSv13 is hardly played by anyone on tour
 

Mischko

Professional
2019 VCP is a stiff and very direct racquet, I think you mixed it up a bit. Gave me the only elbow injury I ever had when I played it with a stiff string for some 2 months. It's even difficult to string it above approx 23kg it becomes very brassy, lots of ringing

Not similar to Prestiges or H19 at all

Stiff, spinny, more open string pattern, easy depth and power

Pro Staffs are even stiffer for sure, but that particular VCP is in that same category
 

yourtennisfit

Professional
2019 VCP is a stiff and very direct racquet, I think you mixed it up a bit. Gave me the only elbow injury I ever had when I played it with a stiff string for some 2 months. It's even difficult to string it above approx 23kg it becomes very brassy, lots of ringing

Not similar to Prestiges or H19 at all

Stiff, spinny, more open string pattern, easy depth and power

Pro Staffs are even stiffer for sure, but that particular VCP is in that same category

It's thin beam, 64RA unstrung (probably low 60 strung), I don't know how that is even close to Pro Staff
Both the Vcore Pro and Ultra Pro are clearly modelled towards Prestige users, such as Hubi was before
 

Mischko

Professional
Its strung stiffness is 65, and it was compared to RF97A in every sense when it was reviewed. And I would know as I switched to it after playing with RF97A for some 5+ years, it was very difficult to find a similar but lighter racquet

It was marketed by Yonex with spin, they quoted percentages, and presented graphs, how much more spin it has vs XY or whatever

Again, not a flexy racquet at all

Because of its stiffness and brassy feel Yonex had it on the market only for a year or so, then they reintroduced it but with VDM, Vibration Dampening Mesh, in the handle, wrapped around the hairpin. It got a new colourway, same design, but it was the same racquet. That's how the now infamous VDM got introduced
 

Hawks9451

Professional
Only logical racquet for Hubi would be RF 01 Pro or at least RF97A in a slightly lighter pro stock version like Dimitrov's, since he played with a 2019 Vcore Pro at 370sw

6.1 95 16x19 would also suit him really well

Those older and pro stock Blades are for fast rhs non stop bashing, with high sw, not sure he can adapt them to his measured redirecting holding counterpunching style

When I played with his old VCP 330g stock I found that it was difficult to really bash full power, it was basically a consistency racquet. I could easily hold deep balls in play in all kinds of rallys, but felt awkward when I really wanted to go for it, or attack with more initiative. I won a lot of matches with it, 15 or so in a row once, but by playing a waiting game with big serves, similar style like Hubi but 20x worse obviously

Blade v5 is the exact opposite in my experience, full fast swing only, lacking in that range and overall playability, I could never gel with that

But the new Pro has a huge range, he can create all kinds of plays, angles and spins with it, and it will take lead at 12 super easily with that massive stiff throat and lower hoop

Weird choice..
This is giving me deja vu. Did you post something similar regarding a pro racket switch in the past 5-6 months?
 
This doesn´t look good for Hubi. From what i´ve seen in recent highlights his groundstrokes lack power/penetration, the balls just sits there for his opponents to rip it.
There were moments vs Ruud when he looked really powerfull from the baseline and i think the problem shows mostly on pressure points ( like last game against Machac) so its nature is rather mental then technical or equipment wise imo
 

Mischko

Professional
Backhand is OK, but it's totally flat anyway. However his forehand is in serious trouble with the Blade. His previous VCP had easy spin, all kinds of loops and trajecories with very easy modulation, balls just dip as the should

But Blades 16x19 were always limited in that sense, they are flat power hitting racquets

When he goes for a flatter forehand, with more or less take back, it goes OK, but when he pronates his forearm and goes for some kind of brush, he hits anything between the bottom of the net and the back fence. When he gets the ball into the perfect sweet spot with acute brush then it goes OK, but he mishits so many. He's then forced to go for a very sharp brush for more control and those are then just slow floating balls

He's missing all kinds of spinny forehands, from sharp angles and low pick ups to cross court passing shots, looked pretty bad vs Ruud

Blade = flat, always has been, so no surprises there

His Tour bite/gut hybrid helps but can't save the day

It's easier to produce nicely centred brush on the second serve, much more energy in the swing too, those looked OK. He seems to have a bit more precision on serves with the Blade, but it's close
 

Bartobolas

New User
There were moments vs Ruud when he looked really powerfull from the baseline and i think the problem shows mostly on pressure points ( like last game against Machac) so its nature is rather mental then technical or equipment wise imo
Hubi and mental. I lost track of how many times I've uttered those words...
As a fellow Pole I rushed out to see him when he first played qualifiers here at the US Open and have been rooting for him ever since. But Hubi rarely doesn't disappoint. He could be playing brilliantly but in pressure situations, he sadly falls apart.
I was hoping the new coaching team will unlock something in him. Not sure the racquet switch is a good move though.

 
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