DarkSephiroth
Rookie
Got two new racquets this week: BLX Juice Pro & K 6.1 Tour 90.
I used to use a BLX Pro Open, with which I was experimenting string patterns , but the racquet lost its playability and is currently sent back to Wilson for a possible warranty replacement.
Here's the string patterns I had tried with my Pro Open in order of when I got them and how I rate them.
1. Pure NXT (63 lbs.)- 8.5/10, really liked it, good feel and playability.
2. Luxilon Adrenaline / Babolat Addiction (58 / 63 lbs.) - 6.5/10, good power, but not much feel, kind of stiff so I didn't like it as much. Also, it felt dead after 2 weeks of playing. (Approx. 16 hours of play)
3. Luxilon ALU Rough (58 lbs)- 9/10, really liked it, didn't get the feel like the NXT but I played amazing with it. About 2-3 weeks after, it started to fail me though (This may have been when my racket started to go, or just that Poly loses tension that fast).
4. Babolat VS Touch / Luxilon ALU Rough (63 / 58 lbs.)- 2.5/10, I had high hopes for this setup but I actually hated it! I had no feel, and all my shots just dumped into the net. (This could be due to the racket, and not the strings, so I am not sure I really got the right feel from it.)
4a. (Secondary racket)- I have a Babolat Aero Pro as a backup strung with Hurricane Pro Tour @ 58, and I like that as well. 8/10 or so.
As for my play style, I am a 25 year old 4.5-5.0 level player and the head tennis coach at the High School level, but I hit hard and flat in a more classic attacking style (one-handed backhand as well), not a heavy top spin oriented player like most of the current generation. For this reason, I figured I would like natural gut most and was utterly disappointed with what happened on my last string setup before I sent my Pro Open back to Wilson.
So, my main question is what people would recommend while keeping in mind everything above. My play style would seem to favor Natural Gut, but the only experience ($50 string job, too) ended up negative. On the other hand, the ALU Rough, which I thought wouldn't fit my game style at all, I absolutely loved!
For those of you who have played with natural gut, does the string have no power, and maybe the ALU rough on the crosses killed my feel, so I got the worst of both worlds? Or was it surely the racket..? Should I go out and try a complete Natural Gut string job? If I loved NXT, shouldn't I also like the VS touch?
I plan to use the Juice Pro as my main racket, and I am thinking of either doing a Gut/Poly Hybrid, or Pure ALU rough. As for the K 6.1 Tour 90, I plan to either do NXT, or a Gut/Poly Hybrid, or maybe even pure Gut since it's a feel racket. If I do Gut, I'm going to do VS Team, since that's the most highly reviewed Gut string I've seen so far.
I am open to suggestions and trying new things, since I'm still experimenting with all this. Suggestions?
Thanks!
I used to use a BLX Pro Open, with which I was experimenting string patterns , but the racquet lost its playability and is currently sent back to Wilson for a possible warranty replacement.
Here's the string patterns I had tried with my Pro Open in order of when I got them and how I rate them.
1. Pure NXT (63 lbs.)- 8.5/10, really liked it, good feel and playability.
2. Luxilon Adrenaline / Babolat Addiction (58 / 63 lbs.) - 6.5/10, good power, but not much feel, kind of stiff so I didn't like it as much. Also, it felt dead after 2 weeks of playing. (Approx. 16 hours of play)
3. Luxilon ALU Rough (58 lbs)- 9/10, really liked it, didn't get the feel like the NXT but I played amazing with it. About 2-3 weeks after, it started to fail me though (This may have been when my racket started to go, or just that Poly loses tension that fast).
4. Babolat VS Touch / Luxilon ALU Rough (63 / 58 lbs.)- 2.5/10, I had high hopes for this setup but I actually hated it! I had no feel, and all my shots just dumped into the net. (This could be due to the racket, and not the strings, so I am not sure I really got the right feel from it.)
4a. (Secondary racket)- I have a Babolat Aero Pro as a backup strung with Hurricane Pro Tour @ 58, and I like that as well. 8/10 or so.
As for my play style, I am a 25 year old 4.5-5.0 level player and the head tennis coach at the High School level, but I hit hard and flat in a more classic attacking style (one-handed backhand as well), not a heavy top spin oriented player like most of the current generation. For this reason, I figured I would like natural gut most and was utterly disappointed with what happened on my last string setup before I sent my Pro Open back to Wilson.
So, my main question is what people would recommend while keeping in mind everything above. My play style would seem to favor Natural Gut, but the only experience ($50 string job, too) ended up negative. On the other hand, the ALU Rough, which I thought wouldn't fit my game style at all, I absolutely loved!
For those of you who have played with natural gut, does the string have no power, and maybe the ALU rough on the crosses killed my feel, so I got the worst of both worlds? Or was it surely the racket..? Should I go out and try a complete Natural Gut string job? If I loved NXT, shouldn't I also like the VS touch?
I plan to use the Juice Pro as my main racket, and I am thinking of either doing a Gut/Poly Hybrid, or Pure ALU rough. As for the K 6.1 Tour 90, I plan to either do NXT, or a Gut/Poly Hybrid, or maybe even pure Gut since it's a feel racket. If I do Gut, I'm going to do VS Team, since that's the most highly reviewed Gut string I've seen so far.
I am open to suggestions and trying new things, since I'm still experimenting with all this. Suggestions?
Thanks!
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