KProStaff88 FIRST Impression/Review

J

jetlee2k

Banned
hi Guys..

Here is my first impression/observation base on my skills, style of play & feel. I do not speak for any other person or for any of Wilson interests so before you read on consider this is my own opinion.. I am no tennis racquet expert or reviewer in anyway..

Some background.. I'm a super fit 38 year old Asian Male that play competitive 6.0/open level. My style of play is 1HBH with all court attack. I consider my strokes are similar or trying to be as close as Federer strokes. My current racquets are K90 that is leaded up to 392g, hybrid setup with 9-12pts head light. I also play with PS St. Vincent and Feder Ncod90 (limited edition version) all with modify to 9-12pts head light and up to 392g.. Enough said.. here is the review.

I played 2 set of doubles and rally about 20mins with the new stock KPS88 racquet. It's strung with VSTouch 16 main @49lb and Luxilon BB Rough Cross @46lb. One white wilson Pro overgrip, with Wilson logo Dampener.

KPS88 Brand new with plastic & paper= 356g
KPS88 Brand new with plastic & Paper & string = 372g
KPS88 Brand new with string, wilson overgrip, Wilson logo Dampener = 378g TOTAL

My overall impression about this racquet is very similar to Prostaff St. Vincent BUT it's flexier and feel more like K90 feel.. It is less tolerance than a K90 and head heavy.. I feel it more than 6pts or so..

Serve. 9/10. I hit more aces today than I usually play with K90.. I think I missed 2-3 first serve per set. Lots of power, nasty spin and kick..

Volley 8.5/10. The racquet feels great with lots of control cutting thru the ball on air BUT if you play with PS St. Vincent, you don't feel the crisp feel or stiffness of St. Vincent.. beside that it's great. I think this contribute part of being 6pts head light.

Slice.. 10/10.. Yup.. nasty slice low and hard.. Feels great with lots of power and control. My backhand slice practically died as soon as it hit the ground with lots of power.

Forehand. 8/10.. lots of power and feel but my setup is late with faster pace shots. This is part of being 6pts head heavy.. but when I have time to setup the shot.. the opponent had no chance.. I mean to go right at the guy in the baseline to see if he can get it and 9/10 times it's a winner... So lots of power and spin.

Backhand 9/10.. this is similar to the forehand but with lots more pace and control.. some of the shots and hit late I can recover with a flick of the wrist and the ball came back with control and power..

Return of serve.. 7/10 this is the area that I feel this racquet needs some improvement.. I think the swing weight & the 6pts head heavy contribute to the return of serve. I missed more shots that i normally would.. My setup is somehow always late on the return of serve which does not happen to me with the K90 & St. Vincent.

Touch/Feel. 8/10.. The racquet has nice feel but not as crisp as St. Vincent or soft touch as K90.. This mainly contribute to the 6pts headlight..


Overhead 9/10.. lots of power and snap thru the wrist.. The head heavy made it alittle bit tougher to get the racquet above the ball..

Overall of the racquet.. I would give it an 8+/10.. This is an improvement over the St. Vincent in part of power and spin but little less feel & control. This racquet more suite for a modern game b/c of the spin potention..It has the same feel & flex as K90 but somehow it's difference in the stroke production.. I don't know how to explain it but I felt like my stroke setup is not as clean as K90.. May be b/c of the 6pt head heavy..

This racquet would need some modification to be great.. I would try to make it 9pt head light. Tomorrow I will replace the wilson leather by a heavier fairway leather grip so hopefully it will makes it better.. I will write another follow up tomorrow.. Here is some pictures for your viewing..



 
Jetlee2k - thanks from me too.

I appreciate your comparisons to a SV, but how do you compare the kPS88 to the Chinese PS85s.

I know to some, I'm probably delving into subtleties.......but that's what us tech geeks do. ;)
 
I just calculated base on TW Swing weight calculator.. it's 359g.

I only play with PS St Vincent so I can't compare the kPS88 to the Taiwan or chinese model..
 
jetlee2k said:
I just calculated base on TW Swing weight calculator.. it's 359g.

I only play with PS St Vincent so I can't compare the kPS88 to the Taiwan or chinese model..
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but with such a heavy frame and a small head, the addition of strings should just change the balance to perhaps 7 pts hl instead of 6?

I'm quite confident that for the lighter AK90, it will change the balance to 6 pts hl after being strung.

Anyway, 359g sw.... :shock:. Think my arms will fall off just after a couple of hits.

mawashi
 
mawashi said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but with such a heavy frame and a small head, the addition of strings should just change the balance to perhaps 7 pts hl instead of 6?

I'm quite confident that for the lighter AK90, it will change the balance to 6 pts hl after being strung.

Anyway, 359g sw.... :shock:. Think my arms will fall off just after a couple of hits.

mawashi
Click to expand...

heh, i'm sure swinging an ol' plank would be better...:)
 
It's interesting that the throat grommets are 3 individual plastic pieces... similar to many older racquets.
 
Thanks for the great review Jet; looks like nothing compares to the feel of the Original St Vincent's; wonder whether Pete might miss his old sticks.....
 
Is there a short list from Wilson to let certain people try new unreleased rackets?

Thanks for the review, I suspected that this racket would be a great serve/volley/slice racket.
 
awesome review jetlee2k...question, when do you use the k90 and when do you use the st vincent? do you u just switch off between the two when you feel like it?
 
Nice review Jet! It seems like the only weakness is the return of serve. I can live with that considering the high scores you gave it in all the other areas. Can't wait to get one for myself.
 
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For those that might want a lower swingweight, couldnt you simply trim the headguard with a razorblade just leaving the grommet strip in the middle? I did this with an i.prestive mid and then placed lead at 3 and 9. This allowed me to remove weight from the racquet and concentrate it at 3 and 9. This ended up giving me a lower swingweight and a more stable racquet. I then just used some electrical tape or head tape on the top to protect the frame.

ANy thoughts on this?
 
Tigerarp1, I posted that a while back. One could definitely cut the head guard completely off, which will result in a more HL balance. Not sure how much that would effect the SW.
 
VGP said:
The specs are right in my desired range.....now gotta go for the feel.
Click to expand...

Except that it was supposed to be 12.9 oz? I suppose strings, dampener, OG, leather, make a difference, but I would still say it is 0.2 oz over spec.
 
Jet, thanks for the review. I've had my heart set on this frame for a while, and now I've got my brain keen on it as well. This frame appears to cater to attackers. I am impressed that you gave the frame such good scores given it's 6pts hl. Where will you be adding lead, in the handle only? much thanks..
 
Well, the K90 headguards weigh 1/2oz. SO if by trimming them completely only leaving the grommets... maybe you can remove 1/2 to 3/4 oz. In my experience.... removing even 1/2oz of lead from the 12o-clock position will significantly lower the swingweight.

This would then allow people to build up the weight distribution exactly how they wanted to and keep the swingweight managable.
 
Here is a thought, I'm surprised racquet companies don't manufacture headguards and grommets in different weights. This will allow the consumers to have greater freedom in customizing their frames.
 
By the way, what grip size do you use?

Also, do you know when this will be releasing and whether there will be a new K90.

And thanx for the review!
 
Hate to be the negative guy here, but it sounds like my 6.0 85s are "game improvement" racs. compared to this beast. If a fit, 6.0 is late on his returns, I won't be able to play with this thing. I think this is really short sighted of Wilson. I'm not usually a "play with the appropriate gear for your level" type of guy, but this thing sounds ridiculous. Sounds truly like a MINIMUM 5.0+ frame. I won't be going near this thing. Also, if the feel is lacking like the K90, what's the point. Whatever, just my opinion.
 
sureshs said:
Except that it was supposed to be 12.9 oz? I suppose strings, dampener, OG, leather, make a difference, but I would still say it is 0.2 oz over spec.
Click to expand...

Well, a "naked" frame is supposed to be 12.9 oz. But I don't play naked.

My PS85s that I'm using at the moment are at 13.1 oz and 6 pts head light.....

.....natural gut/syn gut hybrid, dampener, overgrip, lead.......

....not I'm interested in the feel of the kPS88 since it seems the flex (and obviously the headsize is) might be different than the Chinese PS85s that I'm using ATM.
 
stevewcosta said:
Hate to be the negative guy here, but it sounds like my 6.0 85s are "game improvement" racs. compared to this beast. If a fit, 6.0 is late on his returns, I won't be able to play with this thing. I think this is really short sighted of Wilson. I'm not usually a "play with the appropriate gear for your level" type of guy, but this thing sounds ridiculous. Sounds truly like a MINIMUM 5.0+ frame. I won't be going near this thing. Also, if the feel is lacking like the K90, what's the point. Whatever, just my opinion.
Click to expand...

Well, I assume he's playing against 6.0's. If you're playing dudes that slap them in at 120+ mph then being quick on the return is necessary.....

(not that every 6.0's got a big serve and that sub 6.0's don't have big serves - I'm just generalizing)
 
it will probably swing too heavy, and i don`t know why Wilson made it this way, i am glad i have 4 ps85 left. But i will probably buy it...
 
I just came back from 2hr hitting session with my wife today. My wife is a solid 5.0+ player so it's a good chance for me to test drive with the new fairway grip.

I replace the original Wilson leather grip with a brand new black, long version of Fairway grip. I intended to use the long version so it has extra weight in the handle.

KPS88 with Fairway long leather grip weighted 382g

WOOOW.. anything is better now.. The volley i will give it a 9.5.. , Forehand, backhand now is 9.5.. Return of serve is a 9.. touch/feel is a 9.5.. I meant everything is much better than the stock one.. I still think this is not optimal improvement of it yet.. I would try another test this evening.. I put full string savers in and add 3-5 gram just above the grip (like sampras setup)..

During 2hrs hitting, I switch back & forth between my custom K90 & St. Vincent to see the difference.. All my custom K90/St. Vincent racquets are modified up to 392g with hybrid setup.

St. Vincent definitely the stiffest and best for volley, slice but lack of power, spin and very little forgiven
K90/KPS88 has the same flex but I feel the KPS88 gives more power & spin.. My wife said my ground strokes with the KPS88 come like a bullet when she's volley at the net. My slice and groundies are heavy with nasty spin when she's at the baseline.
K90 is the most foregiven racquet of all three but less feel that Kps88.

The KPS88 is great at the net i would put it 9.99/10 compare to the St. Vincent.. You got to take this in account that this is 10g lighter than my normal setup so I will try my setup later today and report it back..

Overall, as I expected last night, Fairway grip replacement improve KPS88 in many areas.. I guess it's now 9pt head light..

In term of maneuver ability.. this is I think same or better than K90.. It cut thru the air faster and easier than K90.. Yes.. I had trouble last night returning serve was b/c of alittle head heavy.. My ground strokes were setup nicely and crushing the ball upfront with the modification today.

I think testing a new racquet is difficult b/c there are so many variables.. I play with my custom setup for over 2 years and get use to the feel of it already so just for 1-2 hrs of hitting will not give the new racquet a fair & accurate report for it.. I expect my custom setup for KPS88 would make this one a great racquet.. .. I have to play with it at least 1 week & compete with it to see the actual result.

Anyway.. this is a serious racquet for player with good foundation, technical strokes. I feel it can improve your game further with this racquet.. It's easy for maneuvering ability by actually playing with it than reading the specs and swing weight..
 
Jetlee, no offense and I know you are an excellent 6.0 player but just putting 4g extra weight in the handle and your overall game improved with this frame is overreaching a bit.
the frame volleyed that much better for you and it returned serve that much better just by putting 4g of weight on the handle:confused:
 
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Pro_Tour_630 said:
Jetlee, no offense and I know you are an excellent 6.0 player but just putting 4g extra weight in the handle and your overall game improved with this frame is overreaching a bit.
the frame volleyed that much better for you and it returned serve that much better just by putting 4g of weight on the handle:confused:
Click to expand...

I am guessing the opponent droped from 6.0 male to a 5.0 female, thus a hand gun becomes a AK47. :)
 
VGP said:
Well, a "naked" frame is supposed to be 12.9 oz. But I don't play naked.

My PS85s that I'm using at the moment are at 13.1 oz and 6 pts head light.....

.....natural gut/syn gut hybrid, dampener, overgrip, lead.......

....not I'm interested in the feel of the kPS88 since it seems the flex (and obviously the headsize is) might be different than the Chinese PS85s that I'm using ATM.
Click to expand...

Is naked = unstrung in your parlance? Because the spec is 12.3 unstrung.
 
Pro_Tour_630 said:
Jetlee, no offense and I know you are an excellent 6.0 player but just putting 4g extra weight in the handle and your overall game improved with this frame is overreaching a bit.
the frame volleyed that much better for you and it returned serve that much better just by putting 4g of weight on the handle:confused:
Click to expand...

I was about to say the same ....... also, no offense to jetlee
 
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