Modern Stiff Frame Swingweights to match the pro player specs...

[bkr]

Hi All,

I know there are lot of discussions on these boards on the swingweights but I thought of collecting experiences customizing the modern stiff frames to pro specs in one thread for everyone's reference.

As most of the Tennis geeks are aware that most of current pro players are all playing with old pro stock flex frames with swingweights 350 and above with few exceptions.

I've been wondering what is the best swingweight for puredrive type frame for a high level junior player.I guess Roddic is one that comes to my mind with 350 plus SW but he was stringing around 70 plus to add control.Rafa is another at around 355SW on his Aeropro but we all know Rafa's game has so much spin so he is probably different from lot of other guys.

All the racquet manufacturers are driving towards stiff frames and in future we'll have junior champions yielding the stiff modren frames.Does this imply that high swingweights are not needed anymore to produce pro level heavy ball that current pros are hitting with flex frames with 350 plus swingweights?.We all have seen how big Berdych ( ofcourse his tech is the big reason) produces those big forehands with 370 plus SWs and McEnroe commenting about his easy power and Novak flicking the backhand for a winner with 360 sw.Is this all possible with modern frames? or Game is going to be played diffrently?.

Greatly appreciate any experiences on customizing the pure drive type frame to 340 plus swingweight as it seems 345SW and above greatly helps on serve and for hitting big shots when opportunities are presented in the real match situations.

Thank you

 

[movdqa]

I think that you can look to Tsonga on customizing stiff racquets. His lead setup looked like Federer's on the K90. Lots of lead between 10 and 2 - basically it looked like a polarized setup. I don't really see the difference in customizing stiff or flexible frames. You add mass for more power and stability.

It might be interesting to see what Ferrer is doing with his new Pure Drive. I imagine it might be a while before his new frames hit the gray market.

 

[bkr]

You are right that Tsonga and others have lot of lead at around 12 making even more polarized.I use Head Graphene Instinct MP 320 to 330sw ,12 oz with leather grip and lead at 12.But when i added more lead at 12 ball some balls are launching may be this due to Instinct wide open string bed even compared to AeroPro.But it sure helps to finish points and serve bigger with high SWs.

I've noticed loss of control by adding lead to stiff frames as there's already lot power on these stiff frames.

As you said it would be good to see Ferrer's specs after switching to Puredrive also strings plays a role as well.I think his strings Lux Original are really low powered so he might have adjusted his tension on the puredrive.

 

[Shroud]

Hi All,

I know there are lot of discussions on these boards on the swingweights but I thought of collecting experiences customizing the modern stiff frames to pro specs in one thread for everyone's reference.

As most of the Tennis geeks are aware that most of current pro players are all playing with old pro stock flex frames with swingweights 350 and above with few exceptions.

I've been wondering what is the best swingweight for puredrive type frame for a high level junior player.I guess Roddic is one that comes to my mind with 350 plus SW but he was stringing around 70 plus to add control.Rafa is another at around 355SW on his Aeropro but we all know Rafa's game has so much spin so he is probably different from lot of other guys.

All the racquet manufacturers are driving towards stiff frames and in future we'll have junior champions yielding the stiff modren frames.Does this imply that high swingweights are not needed anymore to produce pro level heavy ball that current pros are hitting with flex frames with 350 plus swingweights?.We all have seen how big Berdych ( ofcourse his tech is the big reason) produces those big forehands with 370 plus SWs and McEnroe commenting about his easy power and Novak flicking the backhand for a winner with 360 sw.Is this all possible with modern frames? or Game is going to be played diffrently?.

Greatly appreciate any experiences on customizing the pure drive type frame to 340 plus swingweight as it seems 345SW and above greatly helps on serve and for hitting big shots when opportunities are presented in the real match situations.

Thank you

My 2 cents is just jump in and do it. Lead at 12 as much as you can handle with weight in the handle to counterbalance.

Up at 400 sw and not going back. Racket is 70 ra and once i added the weight i started hitting a heavier ball. Polarization is key

 

[Shroud]

You are right that Tsonga and others have lot of lead at around 12 making even more polarized.I use Head Graphene Instinct MP 320 to 330sw ,12 oz with leather grip and lead at 12.But when i added more lead at 12 ball some balls are launching may be this due to Instinct wide open string bed even compared to AeroPro.But it sure helps to finish points and serve bigger with high SWs.

I've noticed loss of control by adding lead to stiff frames as there's already lot power on these stiff frames.

As you said it would be good to see Ferrer's specs after switching to Puredrive also strings plays a role as well.I think his strings Lux Original are really low powered so he might have adjusted his tension on the puredrive.

Imho if you are losing control you didnt go far enough! You may need to start with an ultra light racket to get where you need to go. And up the tension too

 

[Backhanded Compliment]

I resist the idea that a "Modern Frame" must be stiff... apparently a great deal of the best modern form of tennis is played with a more flexible frame. Are the frame manufacturers herding the game towards a more modern or simply a "Cheaper" frame to produce.

 

[bkr]

wow Shroud!! you are really at Berdych SW level.I remember you have been trying high SW but didn't know that you've settled at 400.

You are right easy to hit a heavy ball with high SWs ,just watching Novak vs Roger Aus open Semis highlights and you get the feeling sometimes ( atleast on TV) Novak is not generating high swingspeeds to hit the ball , may be it's not needed all the time at 360sw to hit a solid shot.

I have been messing around 340 to 355SW on Instinct,Graphene Radical pro and Blade 98 18*20 but I'm having difficulty to control the ball on stiffer frames when I polarize them too much may be I need to experiment with the strings even more.

 

[dgoran]

I second Backhand Compliment comment.
You might not realize this but most babolat pro stock racquets do not have as high RA (stiffness) as their retail counterparts.

LJubicic Pure Drive was as high RA as I saw over the years and still was under 70 (69 actually)

 

[bkr]

You are at 86/86 lbs that's really high.Looks like you are not using the big tension diff you used to use.It shouldn't matter to you as your Recoilweight is very high giving you all the comfort.

I did increase the Tension on my 16 yr sons racquet from 55/51 to 62/58lbs Solinco Hyper G but for some reason he didn't like the high Tension.May be he used to the low tensions.He uses Head Instinct 12oz , 330 SW.

He tried many racquets as I wanted him to add some control as he swings big on the forehand wing but so far he doesn't like any of them and kept going back to his Head Instinct.It seems his preference is a stiffer and open and big sweetspot ala puredrive type frame and it's not easy to add control with these specs plus high SW as well.Our next DEMO is Head Graphene XT speed MP or PRO even though PRO may be too dense a pattern for his flat hitting style. I know folks say dense is good for flat hitting but he plays well with Open string beds as he barely clears that net on the running forehands with Instinct.

 

[Irvin]

I'm starting to think there is so ideal swing weight. More important in my opinion is the balance and weight and there are very many different combination of weight that will give you identical balance. If you like the original balance but want more weight you can add all the weight you want at the balance point, all weight equally above and below the balance point or different weight above and below so the balance is counter balanced. All of the different locations probably give you a little different swing weight and/ot twist weight.

Higher inertia (swing weight and twist weight) makes the racket a little more sluggish. Sluggish meaning it is a little more harder to change the racket speed whether it be acceleration the racket at the beginning of your swing, changing the rotational axis in the hitting zone, stopping the racket at the end of your swing, or just controlling power and timing.

Finding your connect balance and weight is no more than finding what feels right holding the racket. Once you find that (IF YOU ADDED WEIGHT TO GET BALANCE AND WEIGHT) fining your swing may be easier. It is not one size fits all.