Let's Discuss - Wilson Ultra XP 125

[Kenny022593]

I strung the Ultra XP 125 today and as I was going about my business all I could think was, "What the hell was Wilson's thought process when engineering this frame." Duly nicknamed "the snowshoe," nothing seems to point to the racquet's $300 price tag. There are long draws from the final main to the first cross, every main string aside from the first three need to be double pulled, and if stringing two piece, which is not recommended, 44' of string needs to be used.

The design also looks like something inspired by Wilson's $15 Walmart racquets, and although a large sweet-spot is touted by press releases.... It's a 125 sq in frame... Of course it will have one!

I'm curious as to what everyone's thoughts about the design are. I haven't hit with it and don't know if I really want to. I think it won't be as arm friendly as traditionally designed oversized racquets because of the throat main strings all coming together at two points. Does anyone have any knowledge on this possibly saying otherwise?

Pictures:

 

[Nostradamus]

can Rafa benefit from such a frame ?

 

[n8dawg6]

looks like a spaceship to me

 

[PMChambers]

High power + high spin potential. These racquets are good, they keep 65+ out on court. This is designed for a 2' swing, not sure you could return a high powered serve with it, control is not the aim with this beast.
Most of the "Granny" sticks have a high price, not sure why maybe low sales or fact the people who play with these have the cash.
This has elements of some of the stuff that came out in the late 80's. FOXX had the through the bridge strings. Not sure about the lack of individual holes, probably makes it very open like O-ports. One interesting point is the center mains are shorter than the outer, which means the power consistency from center to outer could be more consistent. Which hints at a racquet for people who hit off center a lot. Federes backhand dream.
The beam width is thick for power but rhombus shape on the sides to hide the fact it's thick. Apple Air copied this to look thinner than actual is.
Colour white, good choice as the last thing you want to do is draw attention to yourself. "Hey everyone I have a 6" punch, it's moonball weather I can just feel it."

 

[v-verb]

I have some older Wilson 125 and 137 frames (and have strung them myself). This looks like a nightmare to string

 

[SpinToWin]

What a strange beast....

 

[maurorenard]

It looks a nightmare for stringers, but as a previous post points out it must give great power for off center hits. You gotta try it and let us know how it feels. Who knows, if it works perhaps they would include this technology in smaller frames.

 

[Fedinkum]

That is one ugly mother of all frames.

 

[ShahofTennis]

Looks like it belongs in J.K. Rowlings Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

 

[SpinToWin]

Will Wilson make a Star Wars version? You could even make it fly around the screen in the movie and nobody would bat an eye.

 

[rodracquet]

Think it will be instant collectable. Glad you guys think they are ugly so will have to wait for the deadstock sales to get one. Great looking and yes why not nickname the STORMTROOPER with all that black and white going on.

 

[rodracquet]

PS look out for the light sabre edition.....

 

[SpinToWin]

Think it will be instant collectable. Glad you guys think they are ugly so will have to wait for the deadstock sales to get one. Great looking and yes why not nickname the STORMTROOPER with all that black and white going on.

Perfect, it will have the same accuracy too

 

[mainandcrosses]

I second the 60+ club as they can afford it. Has the same hallow feeling as the Head ti si type racquets. I strung a 100ls version. Better color pattern though...

 

[rodracquet]

This new Wilson dawned on me as a close design of the SPIN RANGE in the e late 1980's early 1990's. This oversize version may in fact be mid 1990's called the BISQUS PRO. The main difference is the centre main strings circle the point at the throat in the Wilson.

 

[TennisHound]

fwiw, these are supposed to be very solid frames (shop owner told me this). Even so, who can understand the mind of a racquet company?

 

[TinTin 1]

It looks a nightmare for stringers, but as a previous post points out it must give great power for off center hits. You gotta try it and let us know how it feels. Who knows, if it works perhaps they would include this technology in smaller frames.

I wouldn't string it, even if it was my mothers racket

 

[TinTin 1]

The Ultra XP 100S is a beast. But it does not have this crazy system.

 

[scotus]

I strung the Ultra XP 125 today and as I was going about my business all I could think was, "What the hell was Wilson's thought process when engineering this frame." Duly nicknamed "the snowshoe," nothing seems to point to the racquet's $300 price tag. There are long draws from the final main to the first cross, every main string aside from the first three need to be double pulled, and if stringing two piece, which is not recommended, 44' of string needs to be used.

The design also looks like something inspired by Wilson's $15 Walmart racquets, and although a large sweet-spot is touted by press releases.... It's a 125 sq in frame... Of course it will have one!

I'm curious as to what everyone's thoughts about the design are. I haven't hit with it and don't know if I really want to. I think it won't be as arm friendly as traditionally designed oversized racquets because of the throat main strings all coming together at two points. Does anyone have any knowledge on this possibly saying otherwise?

Pictures:

A nice stringing machine you've got there.

 

[eelhc]

What's the theory behind fanout patterns? Is it that the strings are more parallel to the ground when the racquet is dropped for a groundstroke? Any technical proof why this is better?

 

[PSC85]

Didn't head come out with something similar before too? Ti.s7?

 

[teachingprotx]

All these rackets with the go thru the bridge stringing look like a complete nightmare freak out but they are just as easy as stringing a regular one.
But it is quite intimidating if you've never strung one. Same emotion the first time you string a wooden stick..

 

[teachingprotx]

Or a racquetball or squash racket. My worst racket experience is the Babolat pure control 2015. I've jacked that racket up more times than I care to admit . For every 5 I've strung I've mutilated 1

 

[Wes]

My worst racket experience is the Babolat pure control 2015. I've jacked that racket up more times than I care to admit . For every 5 I've strung I've mutilated 1

I haven't needed to string one of these yet. What is/are the issue(s) particular to this frame?

 

[teachingprotx]

No issues but my brain shuts down when stringing the last two mains. The pattern calls for the easy skip one then string and skip one then string. I always want to not skip.. You'll see it when it's on the rack and looking down on it .. It's begging you not to skip....... For me anyway

 

[RafaBabolat]

I've seen the 100s. I actually thought is was the regular Ultra with a custom paint job, b/c i didn't know about this racket until a few weeks ago. It looks funky, with the sharp bridge, but its a solid racket with plowthrough.

 

[Wes]

I first saw the various Ultra XP models in the Wilson store at the 2014 US Open (might have been 2015, but my memory is thinking it was 2014) and that's the ONLY place I've seen them.

They aren't even displayed on Wilson's own site.
Did they discontinue them already?

 

[Bender]

I strung the Ultra XP 125 today and as I was going about my business all I could think was, "What the hell was Wilson's thought process when engineering this frame." Duly nicknamed "the snowshoe," nothing seems to point to the racquet's $300 price tag. There are long draws from the final main to the first cross, every main string aside from the first three need to be double pulled, and if stringing two piece, which is not recommended, 44' of string needs to be used.

The design also looks like something inspired by Wilson's $15 Walmart racquets, and although a large sweet-spot is touted by press releases.... It's a 125 sq in frame... Of course it will have one!

I'm curious as to what everyone's thoughts about the design are. I haven't hit with it and don't know if I really want to. I think it won't be as arm friendly as traditionally designed oversized racquets because of the throat main strings all coming together at two points. Does anyone have any knowledge on this possibly saying otherwise?

Pictures:

It's as if Lamborghini designed the frame and looked to the Aventador and the Reventon for design cues.

 

[TinTin 1]

I first saw the various Ultra XP models in the Wilson store at the 2014 US Open (might have been 2015, but my memory is thinking it was 2014) and that's the ONLY place I've seen them.

They aren't even displayed on Wilson's own site.
Did they discontinue them already?

They are not discontinued. It came out 4th quarter last year. But it is a specialty store item. Not for Internet sales so TW cannot stock them. I am sure that will change over time but they wanted to give store owners something exclusive.

 

[RafaBabolat]

Cool. My coach has one, it looks like a premium racket with that paintjob

 

[Chadillac]

I can ask if they started a 2nd batch. From what they said, they will do a 2nd batch if they sold well. I picked up 9 100s (i get them almost half price), incase they didnt do a 2nd batch. Great racket

 

[tennisnut09]

I can ask if they started a 2nd batch. From what they said, they will do a 2nd batch if they sold well. I picked up 9 100s (i get them almost half price), incase they didnt do a 2nd batch. Great racket[/QUOTE
What string do you have on them? I demoed it and broke the string twice. I believe they have spin effect on it.

 

[tennisnut09]

What string do you have on them? I demoed it and broke the string twice. I believe they have spin effect on it.

 

[Chadillac]

Im using 16g ripspin (have a reel) for my mains at 55lbs.

Im using syn gut in my crosses at 58lbs. One has prince syn gut with duraflex, one has babolat fine play and one has tourna quasi gut armor, all 16g.

Did you break a main or a cross? Also where did it break? Spin rackets will break the string (especially poly) if you hit too high on the racket.

Spin effect hybrid is a 17/16ga, you could also look into spin duo, its a 16/15ga. Or just mix and match if you got extra string laying around.

What string do you have on them? I demoed it and broke the string twice. I believe they have spin effect on it.

 

[tennisnut09]

Im using 16g ripspin (have a reel) for my mains at 55lbs.

Im using syn gut in my crosses at 58lbs. One has prince syn gut with duraflex, one has babolat fine play and one has tourna quasi gut armor, all 16g.

Did you break a main or a cross? Also where did it break? Spin rackets will break the string (especially poly) if you hit too high on the racket.

Spin effect hybrid is a 17/16ga, you could also look into spin duo, its a 16/15ga. Or just mix and match if you got extra string laying around.

The main broke twice on the upper part of the racket. The main was/I believe multi.

 

[Chadillac]

The main broke twice on the upper part of the racket. The main was/I believe multi.

Do the other mains (aligned with the cross) also show wear? Or did you shatter it?

 

[tennisnut09]

Do the other mains (aligned with the cross) also show wear? Or did you shatter it?

My demos both had Wilson spin effect strings and they had multi in the main. I think there were sign of wear on the multi/main when I had them.

 

[Chadillac]

My demos both had Wilson spin effect strings and they had multi in the main. I think there were sign of wear on the multi/main when I had them.

Sounds like they put it in backwards, the poly goes on the main. Otherwise you have a hard cross digging into a soft main.

I miscut my last set (penny pincher, trying to save a nickels worth of string) and had to put my poly in the crosses. It broke today. I fed balls for an hour an half yesterday with it and got like an hour out of it while actually hitting.

The other way and im getting at least a week. My crosses turned into 22gauge and all the color wears off, but it doesnt break for some reason.

 

[Irvin]

I strung one of the the Wilson Ultra XP 125 rackets today and the customer requested a hybrid. What a joke of a racket. @jim e just wondering how does the USRSA say this piece of junk should be strung two piece?

 

[anubis]

Ugh that looks like a nightmare to string. I imagine taking a full cut at the ball and launching it into the next zip code.

It's the "homerun derby" frame

 

[WarrenMP]

you have to charge atleast $150 to string that racquet.

 

[Irvin]

you have to charge atleast $150 to string that racquet.

I wish. LOL I charged him $15

 

[jim e]

Delete

 

[Irvin]

@jim e I doubt it is a Walmart racket at $300. LOL I pretty much did the stringing right but the mains did not skip 12H when I got it so I did not skip it either, and 12H was a shared hole. I messed up some Forten Nylon stringing the mains. I centered the string on each side and quickly realized that would not work so I used a starting clamp on 1LM and tensioned 2RM. Then pretty much completed the racket as you said except I used poly crosses. Not really hard to string but very wierd to say the least. Weaving the crosses with poly at the bottom where the mains are only about 1/8" apart was a bummer but doable. Thanks Jim.

 

[Irvin]

you have to charge atleast $150 to string that racquet.

Another point is you only tension 8 mains from the head only 2 at a time. Then you have 18 crosses. Not really as hard a racket to string as one may think.

 

[jim e]

Looks like in the picture in earlier post shows shared hole at 12 like @Irvin strung it, where USRSA pattern says to skip main at 12 and 13 is the shared hole.

BTW @Irvin, did you by chance increase tension on those double pulls, or just tension as normal, as I know tension would be lost I would assume a good amount by those double pulls on those main strings. Seems like those instructions to double pull, that a stringer can place string under the lower bridge and tension at throat, clamp at throat, then go around the lower bridge up to top, pull and clamp and eliminate the double pulling. Would that not be possible?

 

[PBODY99]

The Prince Ring times 2.
While I have Wilson Outer Limits (137 sq in 29"L) & a 125 Wilson Rollers, this frame just seems like a bit much.

 

[Bobs tennis]

A few months ago I went in an entirely different direction on my racket size. I had moved up to what I'd call the super oversize (Q30-120 sq) mostly and tried other large frames mostly all 16x19 strung and even tried the big bubba. I borrowed a friends Head microgel 107sq which is 18x19 strung and ended picking up one of my own. Point is, I'm really second guessing the whole super head size racket. With the 107 i'm in so much more control. I'm now wondering if there is a limit to how big is really useful. I know some very good players are using really big frames and initially it felt good but when I stepped back I was surprised. Have any others gone up in size like this Wilson frame then found reasonable large was better...

 

[SpinToWin]

Please, somebody tell me how this oddity hits lol

 

[ARNICOLINI]

Strung up one of these today! It really was not too bad. I had the stringing instructions from Wilson and the only issue was around a typo in the instructions. Jim E has the correct ones above, but I used the one from Wilson the customer brought me. Lesson learned! Listen to @jim e

The customer brought it unstrung to me, and I was following along the instructions and doing it one piece. The instructions for the main only say to skip 5,7,9,11 but should have added 12 to that list. Need to skip 12 too so that it can be the last main, and be shared.

I used a starting clamp on the 1 Left main and tied it off last.

For the mains on the ending on the lower bridge,I clamped off above the top bridge. Then weaved the next main, pulled tension but clamped the next main just above the top bridge. Released tension, then pulled that same main again. Not sure if this is what was meant as double pulling above, but that is how I did it.

A brake was also helpful for those mains on the lower bridge to keep them where they should be with how I clamped and tensioned it.

I have the instructions from wilson scanned if anyone else wants them. Else use Jim E's instructions above, they are spot on!