Session 4 with the PD, this time strung with HyperG 1.20 at 24/23kg. And the remarkable thing is that this was one day after 2 hours of hardcore midday heat hitting. And my arm is still holding up a lot better than with the Blade before. But the biggest difference I notice is reduced systemic fatigue. Usually, with the Blade or 97p or similar racquet, my whole body would be so sore the next day after such an intense session that I would have to take 1-2 rest days. And even after this short rest I could still feel soreness slowly accumulating if I would continue with regular intense hitting sessions.
This systemic effect is extremely reduced with the PD so far. So the whole body is a lot less sore and fatigued. And the shoulder / arm (at least so far) is also less sore and strained. I switched to the Blade in between rallies just to compare and instantly felt that the 98L actually transfers a lot more vibration to my arm (due to the smaller sweetspot I suppose) and took a lot more energy from my body on every stroke. And that higher amount of effort I have to put into every stroke leads to this systemic soreness is my interpretation. Combined with the smaller head size of course which reduces forgiveness and makes you move more.
And the rallies develop differently. You could interpret this as a double-edged sword, cause the PD "has to be played aggressively" - otherwise it just won't work as well. Laying back and pushing balls back can work but it won't work well with the PD, at least not for me. So I have to be intense on every stroke which automatically leads to shorter rallies - which also reduces the overall strain on my body. With the Blade I still have to be intense on almost every stroke but the result often still is an endless rally and if I want to finish the point and attack it's still a lot more work than with the PD, especially on clay.
And even after lowering the tension to currently 20/19kg on the Blade, I don't feel the power has improved but actually only the trajectory and depth - making the Blade harder to control right now with this lowered tension. So with the Blade I now have easy depth and could get used to the low tension but my balls still wouldn't have nearly as much force as with the PD.
One thing I'm still fighting with is reacting correctly to pushers. Especially in the "advanced aged players" category I meet a lot(!) of pushers. Guys who have perfected the art of pushing, hitting balls back with seemingly 0 pace but 99% consistency. And against these guys I often(!) get short balls that a pro would instantly convert into a winner. And controlling these shots with the PD is currently my biggest weakness, even more if they start moon balling. In these situations I often feel insecure and the funny thing is that this always seems to lead to an unforced error. As if the PD has a "if you're not sure what you're doing next I won't help you out, sorry" sensor integrated
So when you watch me currently hit against these seasoned, much higher ranked "aged pushers", you always get the same picture: I dictate most of the rallies, I push them into corners and behind the baseline, they hit a short ball.....and then you see me either hitting the ball long or hit a nice drop shot winner. That's probably part of the reason why I hit so many drop shots with this racquet. On one hand they simply work remarkably well with the PD but on the other hand I'm often afraid of not being able to control the power on winners.
So the same way I slowly learn to "be intense from the baseline without overhitting" I have to find the same confidence when attacking short balls and finishing points. Always move my arm in sync with my body rotation - never overhit / swing too fast with the arm. Just like control racquets felt like forcing me to have clean technique the PD now forces me to stay calm - which I interpret as a good thing.
HyperG on the PD also felt a lot more comfortable than I would have imagined. This vibration dampening system seems to work better than probably any other tech I demoed so far on other racquets. And I still don't have the feeling that the PD "transfers vibrations I can't feel" which could slowly wreck my arm. I can feel tendons being irritated, yes - but still a lot less irritated than they have been after sessions with the same intensity hitting with the Blade.
And another thing I recognized is that the PD obviously "eats strings" as well - just like the Clash. As if this is a normal effect of power racquets. The grommets don't look big, as if the strings couldn't move much like on the Clash or other racquets with "spin grommets". But the main strings move out of place / get pulled apart a lot, mainly towards the outside of the frame. Notching happens also a lot earlier than with the Blade. My interpretation of this would be that the frame sends a lot of energy through these strings which then get pulled apart because they don't have "anywhere else to move" with these tiny grommet holes.
The tension loss (judging by my measurements so far) isn't the main issue but I assume the intensified notching will lead to strings breaking much earlier on the PD.
Which is also OK for me if the other aspects of the racquet continue to work as well as they currently do.
Also received two PD Team frames today:
#1 291g static weight, 282SW, 32cm balance
#2 291g static weight, 281SW, 32cm balance
So both heavier than specified, but still below my preferred weight which is OK, and both pretty close in specs.