New Wilson Blades

K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
From the looks of TW-Europe, the Blades are being liquidated quickly-- the 98 18x20 is down to a few in grip size 4 only, the 104 is completely sold out, and the others are deeply discounted. We all know the new Blade line is coming soon, but does anyone have any idea for a specific release date? I haven't heard much with all of the Pro Staff talk as of late.
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
Blitzball said:
I don't know for sure, but in the past the Blades released around January.
Click to expand...

That timeline would make sense, I'm just confused because that means it'll be 3 and a half months until the new ones arrive... that's a long time without any offerings from one of Wilson's best selling lines.
 
Rafa4Ever

Rafa4Ever

Rookie
I've seen and held the new ones. They are a tiny bit heavier and the paintjob is a matte black with small amounts of neon green all over.
 
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Rafa4Ever

Rafa4Ever

Rookie
Just think of the current black and silver one with a matte black finish and the silver lettering replaced with neon green.
 
J

John Z.

Semi-Pro
kingcheetah said:
I had heard rumors the 93 was getting scrapped along with Wilson's other mid, the Pro Staff 90.
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Wow, that would be a mistake. plenty of players are still using mids, especially the 93s.

Wilson has been making the worst tennis balls for years now (by far the less durable of all); lets hope their sticks won't follow the same trend to mediocrity.
 
SpinToWin

SpinToWin

Talk Tennis Guru
John Z. said:
Wow, that would be a mistake. plenty of players are still using mids, especially the 93s.

Wilson has been making the worst tennis balls for years now (by far the less durable of all); lets hope their sticks won't follow the same trend to mediocrity.
Click to expand...

I find wilson balls to hold out quite well actually :shock:

The least durable for me are Dunlop, they go flat faster than I can take them out of the can :lol:
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
For me the Penn tennis balls have been the worst-- I have them break frequently... a problem I've never had with Wilsons.

I love the feel of mids, but I don't know how big the market of active players using them is. I have one friend that was using the Blade 93 for college tennis, and I know of ONE player using the Pro Staff 90 at my home club which is one of the biggest on the east coast... I see more aero pros, pure drives or juices on some courts than I do mids in the whole place.
 
J

John Z.

Semi-Pro
kingcheetah said:
I love the feel of mids, but I don't know how big the market of active players using them is. I have one friend that was using the Blade 93 for college tennis, and I know of ONE player using the Pro Staff 90 at my home club which is one of the biggest on the east coast... I see more aero pros, pure drives or juices on some courts than I do mids in the whole place.
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Now that both volkl and head are getting out of the market (for mids) i think there would be plenty of interest still for another solid blade 93. If wilson exit this market as well then it's pretty much over.
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
John Z. said:
Now that both volkl and head are getting out of the market (for mids) i think there would be plenty of interest still for another solid blade 93. If wilson exit this market as well then it's pretty much over.
Click to expand...

The other issue is that a lot of mid users are the "purists" and know more about the sport. They aren't as vulnerable to "technology" marketing and therefore won't be constantly upgrading... it's easier to sell new frames to a good chunk of the Juice/Pure Drive wielding crowd.
 
mhkeuns

mhkeuns

Hall of Fame
kingcheetah said:
For me the Penn tennis balls have been the worst-- I have them break frequently... a problem I've never had with Wilsons.

I love the feel of mids, but I don't know how big the market of active players using them is. I have one friend that was using the Blade 93 for college tennis, and I know of ONE player using the Pro Staff 90 at my home club which is one of the biggest on the east coast... I see more aero pros, pure drives or juices on some courts than I do mids in the whole place.
Click to expand...

Hmmm..., you mean the Penn balls I cracked weren't due to my powerful strokes? I cracked a couple of balls using the Ultra 2 and the Pure Strike Tour. I thought it was either my strokes or the powerful racquets I was using... It was neither... :oops:
 
S

sundaypunch

Hall of Fame
kingcheetah said:
The other issue is that a lot of mid users are the "purists" and know more about the sport. They aren't as vulnerable to "technology" marketing and therefore won't be constantly upgrading... it's easier to sell new frames to a good chunk of the Juice/Pure Drive wielding crowd.
Click to expand...

Either that, or that a lot of mid users are over 60, on a fixed income, and don't purchase many racquets.

I'm joking, but that is as likely as the above statement.
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
mhkeuns said:
Hmmm..., you mean the Penn balls I cracked weren't due to my powerful strokes? I cracked a couple of balls using the Ultra 2 and the Pure Strike Tour. I thought it was either my strokes or the powerful racquets I was using... It was neither... :oops:
Click to expand...

I didn't have it happen until this summer-- the first time was when I was hitting with a former all american... so I figured that must have been from him. Then I did it hitting with the best local high school player, but the balls were only 45 minutes old. Finally it happened when I was hitting around with a 3.5 after an hour, and I determined that the Penn balls have atrocious durability.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
kingcheetah said:
The Blade 104 isn't the racquet to worry about taking over the courts and/or being "detrimental to tennis"-- it's too flexy for the player that wants a racquet to do all the work.
Click to expand...

PLEASE Wilson can you increase the Stiffness on that racket to 70. That would be good
 
K

kingcheetah

Hall of Fame
It's definitely not a 1/2 inch difference from stock. Maybe a .25 or .3" tops. I don't see any reason to make the 104 stiffer-- what makes it unique is that it is the larger headsize with feel that is easy on the arm. I don't know if they should go BLX soft again, but I say keep the frame between 57 and 60 stiffness.
 
cocarrot

cocarrot

Rookie
kimguroo said:
I think Actual length of Blade 104 was closed to 27.25". I measured it a while ago. I don't know why willson listed as 27.5" racket:confused:
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FYI: I have two Blades 104 and both are exactly 27.5" (69.85cm).

This is perhaps all about the famous Wilson's QC issue..
 
cocarrot

cocarrot

Rookie
iceman_dl6 said:
No. It's the hoop compression when the racquet is strung. It's normal
Click to expand...

I don't buy it. My Blades 104 are exactly 27.5" strung. I have tried lots of different string setups, currently use full poly @46/44 and gut/poly @55/50 and both frames are still 27.5".

I suppose that there must have been a wrong batch of ~27.3" frames produced as lots of you guys have encountered the same problem with your B104s.
 
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