I have racquet specs for Mardy Fish (held his racquet today)

[ChiefAce]

Mardy is using a 28 inch racket that weighs in at 13 oz. (366 grams). Grip size is 4 1/2 in. and head size is 95sq. in. String pattern is 18 by 20 with a poly in the mains and babolat gut in the crosses. He uses 6 powerpads. His name is painted on the frame at the 6 o'clock position. The racquet doesn't have the PWS system that Wilson rackets have, but when compared to the stock 300g it was clear that this was a wilson mold.


So basically this is a 6.1 pro staff stretch that was discontinued a few years ago (red and yellow model). Dunlop is making this for him without the PWS on the sides of the frame. Hope that helps solve any mystery surrounding his racket. Tension I'm not sure about, but the strings were pretty tight, and the grip appeared to be custom.


I may actually have a chance to hit with it later and if I do I'll give a full report. The swing weight on this thing must be rediculous though.


Same racquet basically as the old 6.1 classic stretch 28 inch. All Dunlop did was match the weight of the old frame with an extremely similar mold. All that is missing is the PWS system. You can email me at tour_atp@hotmail.com if you want the full story.


The string in the mains was Big Banger, and he used one tournagrip on his handle.

 

[Morpheus]

So, his is endorsed by Dunlop but uses a Wilson. When are the cosmetics applied? Could he be getting rackets from Wilson, which are later "painted" by Dunlop or others? Just curious because it seems like it would be tough for one manufacturer to duplicate another's racket. Even if they had the original mold, there may be differences.

How did you come to "hold" Mardy's racket?

 

[PureCarlosMoyaDrive]

I want to know also how you'll get to hit with it as well. What was the balance on it?

Actually, the 6.1 stretch (my friend has one) is only 27.5 inches, so this is even bigger. Dunlop probably bought the mold, cut out the pws, and then put their own materials or whatever and Fish has weighted it up. Any idea what poly it was? Polymono? Luxilon?

 

[Morpheus]

Maybe its the original 6.1; wasn't that 28"? Not sure about power holes, though.

 

[jackcrawford]

I have racquet specs for mardy fish

When Safin was signed with Dunlop and was using an obviously pure black Head Prestige, Head sued Dunlop and prevailed so that the result was that Safin went back to Head since he couln't play with anything Dunlop had available.
If this is a Wilson mold, Dunlop must be compensating them for it, or else they have copied it closely enough to please Fish and avoid Copyright problems.

 

[ChiefAce]

This is not the hyper carbon stretch 27.5 inch, this is the 6.1 stretch that was introduced about 5 years ago and is 28 inches long. I'm not sure on the balance point, but just by picking it up it seemed obvious that lead was applied under the head guard.


The answer to how Dunlop is doing this is simple, Wilson discontinued the frame and once they did this Dunlop purchased the mold from them.

 

[bcaz]

I have a 28 inch Wilson PS 6.1 Stretch, 18x20, in my closet. I bought it back in '99-'00 and played with it for about a year or so.

 

[Morpheus]

ChiefAce,

If you still have access to the racket, why don't you post a picture next to the stretch 6.1 (if you have one) or maybe Bcaz can post a picture of his 6.1. It would be interesting to see the two side by side.

How close is the paint job to the real Dunlop?

Are there any other marks that would distinguish the racket from the real Dunlop?

How do you know it is Mardy's? Is his name on it. Did he give it to you directly? Is this thing new or did he use it?

 

[Kevin T]

Must be an easy mould to get, as Wilson, Slazenger, MegaAge, Klipper and Cayman basically produce a racquet that is essentially the Pro Staff 6.1 Classic in various weights,balances,etc.

 

[brijoel]

Must be an easy mould to get, as Wilson, Slazenger, MegaAge, Klipper and Cayman basically produce a racquet that is essentially the Pro Staff 6.1 Classic in various weights,balances,etc.

yea particularly megage. i used to have one and it played almost identical to a prostaff just with more weight....which i really liked actually. hehe.

 

[ChiefAce]

I would post a picture of the frame, but I don't have a digital camera.

 

[Morpheus]

Is this the racket?


http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/photos/imagepages/2003-08-25/200308251061838326916.html

(I couldn't get the picture to post, so try this link). It looks like a long Dunlop 300g.

 

[ChiefAce]

That is definitely the frame. If you look right by the 6 o'clock position of the racket you can see it says something. On one side of the frame are the letters -M FISHE- on the other side I can't remember but it was something different.

 

[Morpheus]

M FISHE

Why the incorrect spelling?

 

[kreative]

was the racquet beam rounded like the classic 6.1?

 

[brianz0rz]

everything he said was correct. my cousins his coach and i was sent one of his racquets. the tension was 65 i believe and you can tell that they are his racquets because his full name is spelt out on the throat.

 

[kreative]

brianz0rz: is mardy's frame rounded beam like the classic 6.1? could you perhaps take some pics and post them? would be very interesting. i could take some of my 6.1 stretch for comparison.

 

[chrisab508]

2 questions:

1. what are powerpads

2. How do all you guys (well some of you) have all these pros racquets, and some of you even hold their racquets (like in this post)?

 

[@wright]

We have some insiders on the forum. By this I mean stringers and friends of stringers(FOS's). We also have a few people who claim to know a pro or know a pro's cousin, best friend, etc...Powerpads are little pieces of leather stuck in between the grommet and string where the string loops through to lessen the angle that the string goes back into the next grommet, creating a more solid feel and enhanced durability for natural gut users.

 

[chrisab508]

pretty thorough answer, thanks. I thought maybe they were vibration dampeners, but wasn't sure.

 

[@wright]

They could serve part of the same function as a vibe dampener, which is providing for a more solid feel.

 

[Morpheus]

Why do you suppose the racket has "M FISHE" on it instead of Mardy Fish? Is this a nickname or just a forged racket?

If this post is for real, then this mystery should be "solvalbe."

 

[Hewittfan22]

NO way mardy fish definetely uses Dunlop 300g i also got to hold his racquet it was definetly a dunlop racuqet

 

[Morpheus]

The paint jobs are very good. I think if you look closely at some Fish photos (see below), and compare his 2001 Wilson stick to his current "300g" and the real 300g, you might see some differences (check out the throat area above the grip).

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

The irony is that his 2001 Wilson was probably also a paintjob.