Is pro-racket talk not so much fun anymore?

[jarko111]

Seems like everyone either has a boring-looking Blade or a boring-looking Ezone.

It used to be so much fun to come in here and not have a clue what was under a new paint job.

Pretty much everyone with Head is using a similar spec.

I think 2009-2017 was a great time and so much diversity in racquets. I miss all the Prince players because I was astounded how many of them even with ports were playing with something else under the paint. Also the Wilson Juice players. What fun it was to talk about steams and htour/ntour and right when Venus and Serena went to the 104 frames.
It almost feels like racket companies are not even that interested in razzle dazzling us anymore.
Thoughts? Is pro-racket talk not as fun as it used to be?

 

[bobeeto]

Graphite rackets have also become so good across the board from every brand, so there’s going to be less and less need for pros to have exclusive frames apart from paint jobs

 

[Automatix]

Seems like everyone either has a boring-looking Blade or a boring-looking Ezone.

It used to be so much fun to come in here and not have a clue what was under a new paint job.

Pretty much everyone with Head is using a similar spec.

I think 2009-2017 was a great time and so much diversity in racquets. I miss all the Prince players because I was astounded how many of them even with ports were playing with something else under the paint. Also the Wilson Juice players. What fun it was to talk about steams and htour/ntour and right when Venus and Serena went to the 104 frames.
It almost feels like racket companies are not even that interested in razzle dazzling us anymore.
Thoughts? Is pro-racket talk not as fun as it used to be?

I don't know man, I enjoy the occasional Yunlop here and there...

Also it's funny when Babolat pjs frames which have woofers which were abandoned quite a while ago...

 

[optic yellow]

I don't know man, I enjoy the occasional Yunlop here and there...

Also it's funny when Babolat pjs frames which have woofers which were abandoned quite a while ago...

Can you explain both of these pictures for someone who has no idea about the subject?

 

[kunos]

Can you explain both of these pictures for someone who has no idea about the subject?

In the first picture the racket is painted to look as a dunlop and has dunlop logo on the strings.. but it is clearly a Yonex frame.
The player signed a contract with Dunlop but couldn't really adapt to the racket so keeps playing a Yonex.

 

[onehandbh]

In the first picture the racket is painted to look as a dunlop and has dunlop logo on the strings.. but it is clearly a Yonex frame.
The player signed a contract with Dunlop but couldn't really adapt to the racket so keeps playing a Yonex.

Who is the player?

 

[peRFecto]

Who is the player?

Alycia Parks

 

[Chairman3]

You don't enjoy the endless...
"Alacaraz isn't using a stock Pure Aero VS" threads

Or the often under appreciated..

"We need Head to release Djokovic's actual racquet NOW, they'll make billion$"

 

[aus89]

Retail racquets (and pro stocks as well) have generally coalesced into a pretty tight area of generally accepted player racquets so yeah its generally a bit dull now, occasionally you get a pro using something mildly interesting like Lehecka with the 6.1 95 or Nishikori's new Tour 100 without PWS mystery racquet but it's mainly pretty bog standard stuff.

 

[dr. godmode]

Head players still keep things interesting but that’s about it

 

[bobeeto]

I don't know man, I enjoy the occasional Yunlop here and there...

Also it's funny when Babolat pjs frames which have woofers which were abandoned quite a while ago...

Woz with the babolat play buttcap… why?

 

[Zodd]

Yunlop

haha!

That has to be the easiest to spot PJ in history

 

[artdeco]

A lot of the female 'Blade' players are actually using Steams.
A lot of the current Radical paint job players are using the pre-360+ model.
Cuevas is using 360+ Radical in 18x20 which isn't commercially available.
Dimitrov is always using some totally random thing.

 

[Cerdany]

The reason is that a lot of players are sponsored by Yonex and Yonex is boring as hell.

 

[K1Y]

I find it much more interesting when we start to hunt for the specs, but most of the time thats too hard to find.

 

[bobeeto]

The reason is that a lot of players are sponsored by Yonex and Yonex is boring as hell.

As if Babolat is any different

 

[TennisHound]

Can you explain both of these pictures for someone who has no idea about the subject?

Pretty self explanatory

 

[gino]

I don't really disagree with the OP, but I would play opposing advocate by saying that there are some convo exceptions within the modern "pro frame racket banter" that provide some excitement

Such as:

• The evolution of player affinities for various "modern molds" that still get painted over
  • Coco Speed Pro painted Boom
  • Musetti Extreme Tour painted Boom
• Legacy layups
  • Some rumors Coco uses a PT57 layup in Speed Pro mold, that's a really fun combo. Would like to see others do something similar
• Headsize trends
  • We've seen headsize steadily rise for about 90 years, but seems like we've reached an optimal headsize range (97-100?)
• The old graphite frames that refuse to die:
  • Wilson 6.1 95 is still floating around with Evans, Opelka, RBA, & more
  • PT57 & old head molds - Borna Gojo uses some sort of midsize HEAD, that's awesome
• What big 3 mold/layup/etc sticks on tour for years to come?
  • RF97: shockingly hardly any pro tour support. Dimitrov with his custom pattern only guy that comes to mind (ofc)
  • Aero Origin mold: not sure who's actually using this one. Maybe someone can chime in, but aero 100 spec is surely going to stick over the years
  • Novak's custom mold: don't think anyone has used this. Maybe @dr325i or @vsbabolat could weigh in there
• Newish player's frames that emerge from junior ranks: there has to be a swell of pure strikes on the way. Hell, even Yuvan Nandal who played in the boy's US Open draw was wielding a Pure Strike VS. Would be awesome to see that painted as something else in 5-10 years. Both are soft & relative thin beam frames. Newer PS97 & post-2014 radical/speed/prestige molds sticking will be interesting to monitor. Yonex VC95 painted as a Babolat in 10 years would be hilarious

 

[optic yellow]

Pretty self explanatory

I get the first one now thanks to @kunos but not the second.