Martin B.

New User
Didn't spend much time looking at the video, but it doesn't look like you're using your body very much. A lot of arm in it. Turn your torso to help generate power. You don't have to do a loop (WTA style I believe). That is how I was taught as well, but I am trying to transition to a more ATP style with a shorter backswing.
It`s like a lazy forehand i do when we don`t play points. When im playing a match i put some body into it, actually also using too much force and too fast swing from low to high that i frame the ball but i`ve already said it in the previous posts. This racket definitely doesn`t need you to force it, it does things itself especially when you flatten the shot it. But let`s come back to the cross court forehand topic. I am pretty sure some of the guys including me probably are never gonna be that good at doing it like Federer does it because think about it... when he does it his wrist is super laggy and loose which leads to a very whippy motion which for topspin generation is amazing and i`d say the only way to generate topspin with eastern forehand or extreme eastern which is actually a lot better and easier but the thing is the possibility of you framing the ball with this technique is so much higher than just using Nadal-like crosscourt forehand technique. The thing is the racket is too heavy for that and i don`t like the idea of having my shoulder hurt. For now I feel the racket very light and i have the strength needed to control it. Maybe i should film myself when i play points and post a video of a point here or at least of a forehand :) . Please keep going guys, its interesting.
 

Dansan

Semi-Pro
Took the leather grips off of mine and added synthetic. A great deal less stress on my wrist and it made the overall weight a bit less. Became much easier to serve. Not sure this will solve your issue but it made a big difference with my frames. Have 7 and they all have synthetic grips with Wilson pro over grips.

I swapped the leather grip on mine with a babolat skin feel synthetic grip, added a small amount of lead at 12 to get it a bit more head heavy. I really didn't like how head light it was, all the weight was in the handle and throat just making my mechanics feel awkward. It's probably more like 3/4 pts HL now, and the weight is down just slightly because that leather grip weighed a lot.

Doing this really made a difference for me and changed the balance, I love the way it feels now. Swings more like a pendulum. I have settled on using gosen og sheep micro 16g syngut mains at 59 lbs with red code wax 17g cross at 55.5 lbs. It's a poor mans champions choice that lasts longer. Why is the RF such an addictive frame?
 

Martin B.

New User
I swapped the leather grip on mine with a babolat skin feel synthetic grip, added a small amount of lead at 12 to get it a bit more head heavy. I really didn't like how head light it was, all the weight was in the handle and throat just making my mechanics feel awkward. It's probably more like 3/4 pts HL now, and the weight is down just slightly because that leather grip weighed a lot.

Doing this really made a difference for me and changed the balance, I love the way it feels now. Swings more like a pendulum. I have settled on using gosen og sheep micro 16g syngut mains at 59 lbs with red code wax 17g cross at 55.5 lbs. It's a poor mans champions choice that lasts longer. Why is the RF such an addictive frame?
Honestly, why in the world do people buy this racket and try to make it so much more head heavy for the price of weight loss ? The racket is heavy enough and has an easy access to power.Changing this beauty's balance in such way.... isn't it going to become less skill based and hard to keep the balls from going out?
 

USPTARF97

Hall of Fame
Honestly, why in the world do people buy this racket and try to make it so much more head heavy for the price of weight loss ? The racket is heavy enough and has an easy access to power.Changing this beauty's balance in such way.... isn't it going to become less skill based and hard to keep the balls from going out?

Roger Federer has weight at 12 o’clock on that frame if that tells you anything. Taking some of the weight off of the handle by removing the leather grip and replacing it with synthetic has made my RF97’s a bit easier to serve with and more maneuverable at the net. By decreasing the weight at the handle it increases the racquet head speed through the arch of the swing. With a Pro Over grip and the synthetic grip it is also more comfortable i.e. easier on the wrist/elbow. It’s all about preference and you don’t have to play with the specs exactly as they come to find what is best suited for ones game.
 
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Martin B.

New User
Roger Federer has weight at 12 o’clock on that frame if that tells you anything. Taking some of the weight off of the handle by removing the leather grip and replacing it with synthetic has made my RF97’s a bit easier to serve with and more maneuverable at the net. By decreasing the weight at the handle it increases the racquet head speed through the arch of the swing. With a Pro Over grip and the synthetic grip it is also more comfortable i.e. easier on the wrist/elbow. It’s all about preference and you don’t have to play pwith the specs exactly as they come to find what is best suited for ones game.
He has 3g. Not a big difference. And also be didn't remove weight from inside the handle. He put silicone. How does it become more manueverable at 4pts hl. ..i have had a 289g racket which was 4 pts hl and i use two overgrips above the main grip just to make it heavier and more headlight. It is 334g now and way more manueverable. It is the Wilson ncode six one 95 Team. And it feels still that at 334g it's so light that it isn't able to take strong balls like the RF97 does due to its weight mainly and last due to its stiffness.
 

USPTARF97

Hall of Fame
He has 3g. Not a big difference. And also be didn't remove weight from inside the handle. He put silicone. How does it become more manueverable at 4pts hl. ..i have had a 289g racket which was 4 pts hl and i use two overgrips above the main grip just to make it heavier and more headlight. It is 334g now and way more manueverable. It is the Wilson ncode six one 95 Team. And it feels still that at 334g it's so light that it isn't able to take strong balls like the RF97 does due to its weight mainly and last due to its stiffness.

Taking overall weight off of the frame makes it a more maneuverable and it is much easier to serve. The subtle changes I make with the RF97 make it play different. If you haven’t tried that and are convinced the stock specs are the holy grail you should give it a try. 3g, for me, makes a tremendous difference in how the frame plays.
*Take 6” of 1/4 lead tape and put on each side of the hoop at 12’ o’clock and let us know if that feels different. That’s 3g.
*Then add two 6” strips under the Overwrap on two sides of the grip the next time out.
You will get an idea of how 3g in different places on the frame can make a big difference. No harm done, take the lead back off after testing.
 
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Martin B.

New User
Taking overall weight off of the frame makes it a more maneuverable and it is much easier to serve. The subtle changes I make with the RF97 make it play different. If you haven’t tried that and are convinced the stock specs are the holy grail you should give it a try. 3g, for me, makes a tremendous difference in how the frame plays.
*Take 6” of 1/4 lead tape and put on each side of the hoop at 12’ o’clock and let us know if that feels different. That’s 3g.
*Then add two 6” strips under the Overwrap on two sides of the grip the next time out.
You will get an idea of how 3g in different places on the frame can make a big difference. No harm done, take the lead back off after testing.
I am curious to try that. But in no way i meant to say that 3g doesn`t make a difference :) Even 1g does make a huge difference, i`ve seen it.
 

USPTARF97

Hall of Fame
I am curious to try that. But in no way i meant to say that 3g doesn`t make a difference :) Even 1g does make a huge difference, i`ve seen it.

Agreed, so taking a leather grip off and replacing it with a much lighter synthetic grip brings about some different results.
 

Martin B.

New User
Agreed, so taking a leather grip off and replacing it with a much lighter synthetic grip brings about some different results.
I`ts close to the end of the season in Bulgaria. We still have temperatures around 25C degrees but maybe past second half of November things will change. I remember one year we had close to 30C in December ! It was 2014. So i`m more likely to try it out next season :) . But if i do i`ll reply to your post in this thread. Hopefully by that time i would have already moved to Ireland so seasons will finish earlier there too unless i go to indoors.
 

Alexh22

Professional
I was about to get the black and white version also because of the sale but kind of overspent because i really like the simplicity of the all black one. By the way even though many people report problems with the paintjob i don`t encounter any. On Wilson`s site you can see reviews with attatched pictures of rackets (used only for 10 matches) on which the paint has chipped a lot. You think it could be due to someone trying to make an anti advertisementl ?
In all fairness the new Wilson rubberized paint is really cheap and it wears off at the throat because of being held by hand between points. I have seen worse on a ps97s.
 

JEDI MASTER

Professional
In all fairness the new Wilson rubberized paint is really cheap and it wears off at the throat because of being held by hand between points. I have seen worse on a ps97s.

I play 3x a week... I've had my red one since it's release...no issue of the paint wearing off...
 

Martin B.

New User
In all fairness the new Wilson rubberized paint is really cheap and it wears off at the throat because of being held by hand between points. I have seen worse on a ps97s.
I've played probably between 20-30 times with mine and still no issues. I think they have fixed that from Wilson or the people that have posted pictures on the reviews of the main Wilson site are playing with too long nails.
 
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Martin B.

New User
No problem with my red RF97A either. Red one actually feels better than the black to me, not sure why.
They say it`s les manuevarable and more head heavy feeling than the black one. I tend to believe that. I am loving the black one. I hate relying on the racket`s weight only and love smashing the ball with power on the forehand side.
 

Rally

Professional
They say it`s les manuevarable and more head heavy feeling than the black one. I tend to believe that. I am loving the black one. I hate relying on the racket`s weight only and love smashing the ball with power on the forehand side.
With Wilson's atrocious factory tolerances it's tough to tell for sure.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

Crashbaby

Semi-Pro
I tried a skin feel grip and it only dropped by 5 grams and changed the balance to 321mm. Federer plays at 324mm balance and 366 grams total weight last I read, so not as head light as most think. I would have to add weight at 12 to get to this balance even with the lighter grip. If you wanted any inkling of what Fed actually swings you would have to add weight to the top of this frame, there is no getting around that. Not saying Fed spec is usable for most of us. But the fact is not many people have ever swung an Rf97 at Rodgers true specs. Me included. :)
 

joah310

Professional
I recently bought the red RF97 for $7 at a thrift store and I am loving it right now. Tons of weight behind my shots. Out of curiosity, I modded a normal ps97 red one to similar specs to the rf97 and also am digging that. it's less crisp but the flex is nice. I think its an improvement over stock ps97, didn't quite like it.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
I recently bought the red RF97 for $7 at a thrift store and I am loving it right now. Tons of weight behind my shots. Out of curiosity, I modded a normal ps97 red one to similar specs to the rf97 and also am digging that. it's less crisp but the flex is nice. I think its an improvement over stock ps97, didn't quite like it.

Congrats on a great racquet and a great deal.
 

JackSockIsTheBest

Professional
n
Hello to everybody :giggle: ! This is my first post here. A week ago i bought a new racket and its the RF97 autograph Black edition. I bought it from Tennis warehouse Europe and it arrived in 4 days (I am from Bulgaria). I will upload some pictures of the racket so you can all see it :). Unstrung ; Throat ; Throat2 ; Strung; Strung with grip . I`ve used the ncode ncode six one 95 both Team and the 333grams version. I was playing with the heavier before transitioning to the RF97A. I`ve measured all specifications and it comes exactly at 9.5HL balance and 357grams strung. For now i`ve tried it only with Luxilon ALU power Rought on mains and Wilson sensation on crosses (25/24kg) and still i have played with it only for a week but i already can say that this racket feels amazing ! It also feels very manueverable for its weight. It is exactly 362 grams with the overgrip on. It makes me concentrate a lot more on the length of my strokes and proper technique. Serves are very accurate with it also.

Expect further updates and let me know your opinions if possible :) .
nice dude but i'm a babolat guy sorry (my bad)
 

Fairhit

Hall of Fame
Are they matched? If not, that would explain why they play differently.

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It seems that is a common opinion regardless of specs, I'd say there's more people that prefers the black and red one over the black one, even if they're matched.
 

braxeyez

New User
I have 2 red-blacks and 1 tuxedo. I tried the black one also but didn`t find it worthy of spending extra 200 euros.

The red one is my favourite, heavy and powerful.
 

Bal

Rookie
I recently bought an RF97A black from Tennis Point DE on grip size 4. The price of these seem to be dropping to an affordable price point recently.

I bought it unstrung and weighed it to check the variance, the scale read 345g with the plastic still on the grip, so already 5 grams or so out! Can’t imagine the plastic is adding those extra 5 grams? I bought this not to replace my current rackets, the v7 Blade 98 18x20, but to use on the odd occasion as a backup. I moved from the Prostaff 97s 2016 as the balance was horrible. I’m planning to string with Hyper-G at 50lbs and will also protect the bumper guard with protector tape and an overgrip so no doubt I expect it to be pushing 355+ grams. Good job I’ve been lifting weights during lockdown!

I used to play with the PS85 Original in my college days(now safely stored away in my loft) so thought I would buy what is probably the last iteration of the Pro Staff that Federer will use until he eventually retires, so it will become a modern day classic for sure.
 

Caly

New User
I recently bought an RF97A black from Tennis Point DE on grip size 4. The price of these seem to be dropping to an affordable price point recently.

I bought it unstrung and weighed it to check the variance, the scale read 345g with the plastic still on the grip, so already 5 grams or so out! Can’t imagine the plastic is adding those extra 5 grams? I bought this not to replace my current rackets, the v7 Blade 98 18x20, but to use on the odd occasion as a backup. I moved from the Prostaff 97s 2016 as the balance was horrible. I’m planning to string with Hyper-G at 50lbs and will also protect the bumper guard with protector tape and an overgrip so no doubt I expect it to be pushing 355+ grams. Good job I’ve been lifting weights during lockdown!

I used to play with the PS85 Original in my college days(now safely stored away in my loft) so thought I would buy what is probably the last iteration of the Pro Staff that Federer will use until he eventually retires, so it will become a modern day classic for sure.
I just picked up a couple of these on sale as well. The plastic and cardboard was about 2.5 grams. The bigger concern for me was the balance, it was about 10mm more head heavy than the wilson spec
 
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I recently bought an RF97A black from Tennis Point DE on grip size 4. The price of these seem to be dropping to an affordable price point recently.

I bought it unstrung and weighed it to check the variance, the scale read 345g with the plastic still on the grip, so already 5 grams or so out! Can’t imagine the plastic is adding those extra 5 grams? I bought this not to replace my current rackets, the v7 Blade 98 18x20, but to use on the odd occasion as a backup. I moved from the Prostaff 97s 2016 as the balance was horrible. I’m planning to string with Hyper-G at 50lbs and will also protect the bumper guard with protector tape and an overgrip so no doubt I expect it to be pushing 355+ grams. Good job I’ve been lifting weights during lockdown!

I used to play with the PS85 Original in my college days(now safely stored away in my loft) so thought I would buy what is probably the last iteration of the Pro Staff that Federer will use until he eventually retires, so it will become a modern day classic for sure.
Probably more like 365+.
 
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Bal

Rookie
Apologies if this has been answered already in another post/thread, but does anyone own an RF97A Black where it has the Swiss cross in red in the throat area? The version I have does not have this but has a white cross at 12 O'clock. On the TW US site, the image of the throat shows the red cross. Wondering if anyone has some information on this and how can I tell what year my racket was manufactured?

Found the thread where this has kind of been answered i.e. especially around the red Swiss cross:
 
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DC74

New User
I love this racket too, but I've got to ask because I feel inadequate, how in the world do you play with this in real matches? If I do a singles tournament I will play 4-7 hours of singles in a day, then more the next (of course just one more match for finals etc.), I tried using a 330 gram Vcorepro for this and there is no way. My serve just gets pedestrian compared to the potential in the last couple hours. I have successfully used the RF in doubles, great for that.
Maybe weather is a factor, can get to 100 degrees where I am, in the afternoon. (36-37 Celsius).

Anyway I am fit, 200 pounds/90 kilos 6'4", I mean I doubt I am lacking the strength or average strength of a tennis player. So, how do you go so long with a stick that heavy?

I also ask for research, because the 4.5, 5.0 and open players I hit with stick with 11 oz - 11.3 oz, which I guess is about 310 grams to 320 grams.
With a racket this heavy you can let it do more of the work providing the power and give your arm a break. It's ability to plow through is a great benefit that lighter rackets do not possess. When hit right, you'll feel like you didn't really put all that much effort into a great shot. I have one and love it!
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
With a racket this heavy you can let it do more of the work providing the power and give your arm a break. It's ability to plow through is a great benefit that lighter rackets do not possess. When hit right, you'll feel like you didn't really put all that much effort into a great shot. I have one and love it!

You use your larger muscles to get into position to leverage the weight.
 

DC74

New User
Nice setup. I may try it :) I started playing with a loose wrist when I switched to this racket not only to save my shoulder but because I think that's the proper way. I am getting some huge spin compared to my 18x20 ncodes. What I find hard on my shoulder is backhand slice volleys above chest hight. Any suggestions? My height is 173cm.
Funny I have an NCode Six One 95 that is pretty similar to the RF97 that I normally use that has the more open string pattern and much better on a backhand slice. My opinion is to either work on timing the shot where it is more in your zone catching it on the rise or back up let it drop more so you can get full power on your backhand slice, keeping it low. Between the two it's better to catch in on the rise if you can. A above chest high slice seems like it would be an unnatural position to be in and cause a severe loss of power.
 

Bal

Rookie
Not sure if anyone has suspect paint work on their 2016 Black RF97A. I have played three sessions with mine, and the gloss paint at 3 and 9 o’clock is starting to pickup marks only from framing the ball.
 

USPTARF97

Hall of Fame
Not sure if anyone has suspect paint work on their 2016 Black RF97A. I have played three sessions with mine, and the gloss paint at 3 and 9 o’clock is starting to pickup marks only from framing the ball.

If it ever comes out of your hand and slides across the court it will shave a great deal of the paint off of one side. That being said if you are easy on your frame it will last for awhile.
 

SlvrDragon50

Semi-Pro
If it ever comes out of your hand and slides across the court it will shave a great deal of the paint off of one side. That being said if you are easy on your frame it will last for awhile.
That's the one thing keeping me from buying these nicer paint job racquets. No paint job is safe in my hands [emoji28]

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 
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Bal

Rookie
If it ever comes out of your hand and slides across the court it will shave a great deal of the paint off of one side. That being said if you are easy on your frame it will last for awhile.
Have quite a loose grip when playing with this racket, but hasn't left my hand during play. I will keep an eye on the paintwork and report back. Good job I have bought two frames with the intention of keeping one never to be used. I usually play with the Blade V7 18x20 tail weighted with 8 grams of lead on the handle.
 

USPTARF97

Hall of Fame
Have quite a loose grip when playing with this racket, but hasn't left my hand during play. I will keep an eye on the paintwork and report back. Good job I have bought two frames with the intention of keeping one never to be used. I usually play with the Blade V7 18x20 tail weighted with 8 grams of lead on the handle.

Doesn’t take much to knock the velvet paint off.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Mine has some scuffing here and there but I've never noticed it before. Racquets are meant for playing with and there's wear and tear over time. I still love the 2016 paint job.

If it bothered me a lot, I'd hit it with a Sharpie.
 

Bal

Rookie
Mine has some scuffing here and there but I've never noticed it before. Racquets are meant for playing with and there's wear and tear over time. I still love the 2016 paint job.

If it bothered me a lot, I'd hit it with a Sharpie.
Agree, and I have done that Sharpie trick with my previous 2016 97s :)
 
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