More lead, more power, wrong racquet?

volley collie

New User
I've returned to tennis after 20 years and am demoing racquets (and gratefully devouring this site - thanks all).

The racquets I like are all around 11.50oz (Graphene Radical MP, Prince Graphite 100 and Tour 98 ESP) as are those I've yet to demo (Blade 98, Yonex IA 98). I know I'll be adding a lot of weight, potentially an ounce. But I don't want a rocket launcher. Should I be excluding the more powerful racquets on my list (eg. Blade and IA, supposing they prove to be) and considering ones that I'm not currently because they're underpowered as stock? (Pure Control Tour)

I can't demo heavier racquets as the shops near me in the UK only have lighter ones. I'm playing doubles and am an aggressive volleyer/angley dinker. I'm struggling to regain topspin groundstrokes, which is why I want more weight. (I know it's technique but I learnt mine with heavy wooden racquets).
 

SpinToWin

Talk Tennis Guru
The Pro Staff 95 is ideal for your purposes I'd say…
11.5 oz strung, very headlight and low powered which makes it highly customization friendly. Modded up it's a topspin monster playing insane angles and with deft touch at net. Mine are modded to 13 oz strung and they play insanely well.
 

volley collie

New User
I bought a used PS95 to demo it but sold it a week later. That was two months ago when I first started playing again. Since then I've been resistance training so I might have the strength for it - but I still won't have the skill! I'm looking at 98 and 100" heads.
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
I've enjoyed heavier racquets just about forever - yes, I played with wood frames as a kid, too. I've evolved from playing primarily serve and volley into more of an all-court game, which means I'll spend a little more time on the baseline, but I still go to net whenever I can.

My old 6.1 Classics weighed 12.8 oz. and were nicely stable around the net, but when I was redeveloping my ground strokes, I was much better off with a little less heft and much more flex in my racquet for better control. The Volkl C10 with a little lead tuning (12.5 oz., 10 pts. HL) was a very cozy fit until I went just slightly leaner with their Organix 10 325 (also lead tuned from 11.8 oz. stock to 12.4 oz. with some lead under my grip).

Moving to a mildly lighter alternative made it easier for me to produce more spin, especially when I tuned an O10 and tried it out. I just leaded the hoop with perhaps only a couple of grams to steady it up, but it was still quick enough to also "whup" on the ball and turn it well.

If you do a little tuning on the Ai 98, I'd expect it to be a real spin machine given its flex, but it should also be a little more steady with some added inertia. At 11.5 oz., that frame would be a little light and dead for me, but adding lead tape in moderate increments would be smart I think. If you only increase its heft just enough to make it a little more stable, you probably won't slow it down too much or make it too powerful with a lot of extra weight.
 

SpinToWin

Talk Tennis Guru
I bought a used PS95 to demo it but sold it a week later. That was two months ago when I first started playing again. Since then I've been resistance training so I might have the strength for it - but I still won't have the skill! I'm looking at 98 and 100" heads.

Did you customize the racquet? The Pro Staff gets one of the biggest personality changes when you customize it. It actually has a large sweetspot for its head size once you add lead in the head.

Anyhow back to the racquets. Some other racquets you could consider given your preferences:

-Pacific X Feel Tour
-Volkl Organix 10
-Tecnifibre T-Fight 315 Limited 16 Main
-Prince Classic Graphite 100
-Prince Tour 100 16x18
-Prince Tour Pro 100
 

Rozroz

G.O.A.T.
If you do a little tuning on the Ai 98, I'd expect it to be a real spin machine given its flex, but it should also be a little more steady with some added inertia. At 11.5 oz., that frame would be a little light and dead for me, but adding lead tape in moderate increments would be smart I think. If you only increase its heft just enough to make it a little more stable, you probably won't slow it down too much or make it too powerful with a lot of extra weight.

so what would you recommend at first?
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
I had some lead tape handy when I decided to tune my first O10 at a court with a backboard. I first added just a little 3/9 o'clock lead and then hit both some strokes against the wall and some serves. Once it seemed like the hoop was more steady and comfortable through the ball, I leaded the handle under my grip with probably about 0.5 oz. of 1/2" lead tape.

I was tuning by feel here instead of trying to use specific calculations. Since I wanted better hoop stability and didn't know how much counter-balancing that would require to keep the racquet head-light enough for me, I stabilized the head first. This also worked for me when I tuned a Yonex RQiS 1 Tour. That frame needed significantly more lead on the hoop to feel stable, so it took a couple of additions of lead to the handle to get its balance head-light enough for my liking.

Once I got the O10 feeling nice enough, I finished up and headed home. When I took out the scale and checked the new layout of the freshly tuned O10, it was only 0.1 oz. lighter than the C10's I was using at the time and the balance was within 1 point of my C10's, too.
 

volley collie

New User
Thank you both.

I didn't customise the PS95, it was obviously too demanding for me, the sweetspot. It was also quite old and well-worn, probably the strings too. It was only £30.

I'm a very rusty racquet behind the baseline and it was never my favourite part of town. I'll choose whatever helps my game with that weakness, as I'm instinctively good at net. So I'm looking for a lot stability, consistency and forgiveness. I'm drawn to control racquets but I'm flattering myself - I don't have the technique to rally deep without hitting far harder than I want to. Last week's POG was gorgeous but I landed short far too much.

I'll have a look at those suggestions.
 

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
I've returned to tennis after 20 years and am demoing racquets (and gratefully devouring this site - thanks all).

The racquets I like are all around 11.50oz (Graphene Radical MP, Prince Graphite 100 and Tour 98 ESP) as are those I've yet to demo (Blade 98, Yonex IA 98). I know I'll be adding a lot of weight, potentially an ounce. But I don't want a rocket launcher. Should I be excluding the more powerful racquets on my list (eg. Blade and IA, supposing they prove to be) and considering ones that I'm not currently because they're underpowered as stock? (Pure Control Tour)

I can't demo heavier racquets as the shops near me in the UK only have lighter ones. I'm playing doubles and am an aggressive volleyer/angley dinker. I'm struggling to regain topspin groundstrokes, which is why I want more weight. (I know it's technique but I learnt mine with heavy wooden racquets).

The Blade 104 is a very user-friendly racquet in terms of being soft and having easy access to spin, it is also pretty customization friendly.(I'm currently demoing the six one 95 18x20 as well because the blade has gotten more powerful with the ounce and a half of lead I've added, but we'll see if I end up switching.)
 
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