mileslong
Professional
it just remains to be seen if this is just a short lived fling or marriage as far as our future together is concerned. im talking about the dunlop aerogel 100 i received today and played with tonight.
i was playing doubles tonight and we always play three sets and switch partners each set. i was a sub for someone and my racket came from UPS right before i had to leave to go play. i bought it used and it had head rip control 17 in it at an unknown tension.
i got there a tad late so i was only able to warm up for a short while and man, that AG100 had some major pop! i was sending the ball long quite a bit while warming up but noticed that it had a great feel and major spin potential. the strung was obvisouly strung very low as it kept moving a lot while i was hitting.
we then started the first set and i went back to my AG200 which was freshly strung with luxilon ace 18 gauge. i played great with it and it had nice control and feel. we won 7-5 and i held serve throughout.
then in the second set i decided to give the AG100 a try even with the powerful string setup. my new partner wanted me to stay with the AG200 but i told him sorry pal, this baby just flew in from europe and it needed to hit. wow, i served first and had 2 aces and 2 unhittable kick serves where they barely got a frame on the ball. they were like "what the hell"?
i have never hit bombs that big with any racket ever! i could hit flat, kicks, slices anywhere. they literally got about 3 points off of my serve the rest of the night. just a joy to serve with, that alone had me thinking about keeping that super powerful string setup for the serve alone.
we won the second set easily at 6-1. this racket was also great at the net, super manuverable with nice pop and super accurate. i also hit two great overheads which is one of my weakest parts of my game.
the third set was more of the same, we won 6-4 and again i never lost my serve all night, not even close, i never even went to duece once. i was able to control the power pretty well during these doubles matches. the backhand slice was awesome with this racket, you feel like you can place it anywhere on the court you wish.
after we were done one of the other guys and i stayed behind to just bang away from the baseline. i really wanted to see how i played with it against a hard hitter where i had to swing out and also how my backhand played with this small head size.
i framed a few here and there but they mainly stayed in. this racket offers so much spin you have to be careful not to find your self hitting with a big upswing like all those full western grip guys playing babolats do. the head is not made for that that type of game. this caused several of my frames. i was also trying to hit too much spin to control the considerable power. with a slightly lower powered setup i feel i will probably hit more through the ball more as i do with my AG200.
you want to hit flat with this racket but when you need that spin it is there bigtime. this is where it really plays different than the AG200. the AG200 has moderate spin but this AG100 is a spin monster. my kick serves were crazy due to the spin. when i flattened it out it just took off and was by my opponent. with some fine tuning to the strings and some more court time to get used to the slightly smaller head i think i can do some serious damage at my club with this stick.
i cant wait to try and get a singles match tomorrow. i was wanting to put in my lux string job to cut down the power a tad but im almost not wanting to wait now after seeing how i serve with this thing. the weight of the racket is light in comparison to the AG200 which made it great for doubles because it was so manuverable. i didnt get tired at all playing with this racket and yet it has anough bulk so it doesn't get pushed around by a heavy ball.
i play a lot of different rackets and have demoed almost everything and this is the most excited i have been about a racket in a long long time. i had a luke warm first impression with the AG200 which i now like a lot and is my main racket but this racket is the most fun racket i have ever played with. i just hope i can keep that focus long enough in a match to keep the framed shots down. my new two handed backhands werent as good as they are with the AG200 but they were close and the slice was better as were my overheads and volleys.
here is how it compares to the AG200 after the first two sets of hitting with it.
Serve - AG100 (simply awesome, no contest)
Forehand - Tie (small head size caused some framing but they mainly stayed in play and it was very accurate when hitting flush, great feel for both)
Backhand - AG200 I haven't pulled out the old one handed backhand with this yet and it appears to be a great racket for that. But the AG200 is the best racket i have ever hit for a two handed backhand.
Volleys - AG100, this racket is much more manuverable than the AG200 and it has more pop and placement is excellent.
Overhead - AG100. Not even close in my opinion, again due to its manuverability. The AG200 can feel a tad sluggish hitting overheads.
I'm going to go ahead and put my lux ace 18 in this baby if for no other reason than to keep the strings from moving all over the place, that makes me crazy. but now i don't want to tame down the power too much because of the bombs i can hit with the serves.
i will update this after my singles match tomorrow.
i was playing doubles tonight and we always play three sets and switch partners each set. i was a sub for someone and my racket came from UPS right before i had to leave to go play. i bought it used and it had head rip control 17 in it at an unknown tension.
i got there a tad late so i was only able to warm up for a short while and man, that AG100 had some major pop! i was sending the ball long quite a bit while warming up but noticed that it had a great feel and major spin potential. the strung was obvisouly strung very low as it kept moving a lot while i was hitting.
we then started the first set and i went back to my AG200 which was freshly strung with luxilon ace 18 gauge. i played great with it and it had nice control and feel. we won 7-5 and i held serve throughout.
then in the second set i decided to give the AG100 a try even with the powerful string setup. my new partner wanted me to stay with the AG200 but i told him sorry pal, this baby just flew in from europe and it needed to hit. wow, i served first and had 2 aces and 2 unhittable kick serves where they barely got a frame on the ball. they were like "what the hell"?
i have never hit bombs that big with any racket ever! i could hit flat, kicks, slices anywhere. they literally got about 3 points off of my serve the rest of the night. just a joy to serve with, that alone had me thinking about keeping that super powerful string setup for the serve alone.
we won the second set easily at 6-1. this racket was also great at the net, super manuverable with nice pop and super accurate. i also hit two great overheads which is one of my weakest parts of my game.
the third set was more of the same, we won 6-4 and again i never lost my serve all night, not even close, i never even went to duece once. i was able to control the power pretty well during these doubles matches. the backhand slice was awesome with this racket, you feel like you can place it anywhere on the court you wish.
after we were done one of the other guys and i stayed behind to just bang away from the baseline. i really wanted to see how i played with it against a hard hitter where i had to swing out and also how my backhand played with this small head size.
i framed a few here and there but they mainly stayed in. this racket offers so much spin you have to be careful not to find your self hitting with a big upswing like all those full western grip guys playing babolats do. the head is not made for that that type of game. this caused several of my frames. i was also trying to hit too much spin to control the considerable power. with a slightly lower powered setup i feel i will probably hit more through the ball more as i do with my AG200.
you want to hit flat with this racket but when you need that spin it is there bigtime. this is where it really plays different than the AG200. the AG200 has moderate spin but this AG100 is a spin monster. my kick serves were crazy due to the spin. when i flattened it out it just took off and was by my opponent. with some fine tuning to the strings and some more court time to get used to the slightly smaller head i think i can do some serious damage at my club with this stick.
i cant wait to try and get a singles match tomorrow. i was wanting to put in my lux string job to cut down the power a tad but im almost not wanting to wait now after seeing how i serve with this thing. the weight of the racket is light in comparison to the AG200 which made it great for doubles because it was so manuverable. i didnt get tired at all playing with this racket and yet it has anough bulk so it doesn't get pushed around by a heavy ball.
i play a lot of different rackets and have demoed almost everything and this is the most excited i have been about a racket in a long long time. i had a luke warm first impression with the AG200 which i now like a lot and is my main racket but this racket is the most fun racket i have ever played with. i just hope i can keep that focus long enough in a match to keep the framed shots down. my new two handed backhands werent as good as they are with the AG200 but they were close and the slice was better as were my overheads and volleys.
here is how it compares to the AG200 after the first two sets of hitting with it.
Serve - AG100 (simply awesome, no contest)
Forehand - Tie (small head size caused some framing but they mainly stayed in play and it was very accurate when hitting flush, great feel for both)
Backhand - AG200 I haven't pulled out the old one handed backhand with this yet and it appears to be a great racket for that. But the AG200 is the best racket i have ever hit for a two handed backhand.
Volleys - AG100, this racket is much more manuverable than the AG200 and it has more pop and placement is excellent.
Overhead - AG100. Not even close in my opinion, again due to its manuverability. The AG200 can feel a tad sluggish hitting overheads.
I'm going to go ahead and put my lux ace 18 in this baby if for no other reason than to keep the strings from moving all over the place, that makes me crazy. but now i don't want to tame down the power too much because of the bombs i can hit with the serves.
i will update this after my singles match tomorrow.
).
