I’ll post this review a couple places since folks seem to want to hear about this frame.
First some preliminaries for context: 4.5 senior, all court player here. Play a lot of senior tournaments. Home surface is har-tru but play hard court tournaments occasionally. Racket for the last year has been the K 6.1 95 16x18 with some lead at 3 and 9 to take it up to 12.4 total. 12 months previous to that was on the K90, no lead, 12.6 total static weight. So I like heavy, head light frames in the 340-345 SW zone. Also did a 3 week test with the Yonex Tour G 330 (Wawrinka) in June, really liked it but didn’t switch over.
First 3-4 hits the setup was a full bed of Alu Power 17g at 52. Last 3 hits the setup was Silverstring 17g mains @ 51, Gosen syn gut 18g crosses @ 55. Frame was 12.4 strung. Then I took the leather grip off and put on a Hydrosorb plus Tournagrip. That probably puts it back to 12.4 although I didn’t weigh it again.
I agree with a lot of the reviews so far that despite the specs, this stick is harder to pull through than the K90 or the 6.1 95 family. But there are benefits…
Sweet spot – definitely bigger than the 90 and noticeable. Slightly bigger than the 6.1 95. And the bigger sweetspot provides benefits in addition to feel. Seems like a very consistent sweet spot to me also.
Serves – serves very well if you have the strength to get it moving. Sweetspot helps on serves. Seems to kick the ball higher than the 95 or 90. When I caught it right, ballspeed was higher than my previous 2 Wilson’s and usually my opponent was late, error wide, hello free point. I’m reasonably strong but not strong like younger guys. For a strong 4.5 or up who has young man’s strength, I would think you would absolutely serve lights out with this frame; kickers, flat, slice, you name it. Plus the stronger guys could probably kick the ball very high off the serve, moreso than previous Wilson’s.
Forehand - for some reason, and I agree with most other reviewers, I was late on the FH occasionally and it would always sail long when late. I could always “flip” the 90 or 95 late, when I realized I was going to be late, and actually hit a very good, deep, spinny shot. You can’t be late with this one on the FH side. The frame seems to play at a higher SW than it’s specs. You definitely have to get it moving early. However, on the positive side, when I got time, planted the feet and was early, there was more ballspeed and spin on the crosscourt FH than the 90 or 95. Produced errors consistently when I hit my best FH. Also the more I adjust to this fame, I’m not late nearly as much. I won a bunch more points on crosscourt FHs than the predecessors.
Backhand – my default BHs are 1-hand slice and flat. I really don’t have a 1-hand topspin BH. But I might soon, seriously. For some reason this fame really drops into the slot and wants to crush a topspin BH. Flat and slice are very good though too. Overall I think this frame hits a heavier ball with a little more ballspeed than the 90 or 95, all other things being equal, which they never are. There is not as much a tendency to be late on the BH wing, but a hard, deep ball in the corner can get behind you where there’s too much weight to move to hit a defensive shot. But again I’m already adjusting to that. You have to be early. Again, I could always recover with the 90 or 95 by retreating and making a hard shoulder turn and producing a good, deep defensive ball to stay in a point. Can’t make that shot with this frame yet. It just doesn’t come through as fast despite the specs. But for someone who has a 5.0 level 1H topspin BH (I don’t), you gotta hit with this frame. You might be able to hit crosscourt BH winners at will.
Volleys – rock solid. Maybe slightly less maneuverable than the 90 or 95, need more time to tell. But when you have time and stick a volley, it ain’t coming back. Very good block return and volley frame. I play a lot of Dubs too and I think this will play Dubs just as well as my previous 2 Wilson’s. But for Dubs only guys, I don’t think this is the ticket. And here’s something very specific: when facing a fast serve, sometimes I don’t have enough time on the FH to get to SW grip and hit the topspin drive. With the RF97A I was able to hit the Conti FH slice deeper and harder than my other Wilson’s for sure. A nice option to have against big servers.
Bottom Line – this is definitely an all-court attacker’s stick imo. I’m already quickly adjusting to the shots I couldn’t hit initially. My limited match results are better so far, although it is early. Exactly what I was looking for. Maybe 2-4 more points won in a close set against a strong opponent, which changes the match result, if that holds true over time. I had one match for example where 5 BH approaches off short balls didn’t come back. Opponent netted all 5 passing shots due to heaviness of my ball. Normally I’d have to make 1-2 volleys to finish that type of point on har-tru. Priceless, if that holds true over time. I have 2 tournaments coming up, results don’t lie. That will give me the answer. But I’m trying to get ahold of a 2nd frame asap for sure.
You can really hurt an opponent with this stick. You can win a point or gain a big advantage with 1 good ball. You can go from defense to offense quickly. I think the market for this frame is actually pretty limited. But for a 4.5 all-court player and above who is strong and already playing a heavy frame, say 12.2 or more, this might be your holy grail. Pure Drive and APD guys will not be switching to this one. But this is contra-Babolat that an all court player needs to beat the highly skilled players wielding a Babolat, who may not have as much variety in their game. That's a matchup I get a lot.
Another specific pattern I can attest to – you’re in a rally, you hit a deep, heavy forehand to the opponents BH. He floats the reply a little bit. You can decide to come in late with this stick with confidence and then crush that awkward first volley even from behind the service line, with total confidence. Point’s either over then or worst case, 1 more easy volley.
which I've corrected - so hope that didn't spoil the read too much.
