Nordicdots Tennis Racquets - Model99

T

Trip

Legend
Apparently Swedish company Nordicdots, who make racquet sports clothing and padel and pickleball paddles, are planning to release tennis racquets in the coming months.

The first racquet will be "Model99" – not sure if that is just the name for the prototype, or if it will persist into retail.

Media
Click to zoom on photos.
Photos show prototype grommets and headguards; production versions will be normal full-coverage plastic.

Vd2Sf9O.jpg
9rw5uM2.jpg
rEPXI0I.jpg
Bp5iZex.jpg
w8FloEL.jpg


Unstrung Spec
Static Weight: 300g
Head Size: 99"
Head Shape: Conventional lower, blending into mild isometric upper
Beam: 23mm constant hybrid-box
String Pattern: 16x20, 8 throat mains, progressive upper bed density
Balance: 31.8cm (strung: ~32.8 strung)
Swing Weight: 295 (strung: prob mid-upper 320's w/ full-bed 1.20-1.25 poly)
Twist Weight: 13.75 (strung: ~mid-upper 14's)
RA: 65 (strung: 62-63 -ish)
Colors: Glossy Black and Glossy Gray

Thoughts
- Overall: looks like the offspring of an EZone 98, Percept 100/D, Shift 99 and a bit of Speed and Blade Pro thrown in.
- Pattern: 16x20 is usually always awesome; love the 8 throat mains for extra flat control; encouraging on the density and control focused towards the upper hoop, where most newer-school technique makes contact now (makes sense)
- Beam: 23mm constant in 99" will hopefully still feel fast, even for one-handers
- Balance Point: nice middle-ground for 2-handers and 1-handers, and 300g layup allows for easily making it more head-light without being too heavy
- RA/Flex: I like the 65RA decision. Potentially a perfect balance of "thud factor" for easier defense/counter-attack vs pocketing/dwell for attacking/control.
- Feel: Hopefully as direct/raw as possible, though with only a 300g layup I'm sure it will be dampened to some extent
- Glossy Paint: YES, YES, YES!

Looks like a potentially promising release. I will for sure try and get my hands on one.

Curious as to everyone else's thoughts. Discuss!
 
Last edited:
Release it expected for early September. It's already in production (ongoing).
I'm super interested in this one! String spacing at the top-bottom part seems semi-tight which could work great for me.
Let's hope the price will be realistic.

* To my eyes, the shape looks like something between Boom and Toalson Forty Love
 

Nordicdots tennis rackets

A couple of Nordicdot tennis rackets have showed up on instagram and youtube lately. I've noticed they have released some "eco" strings, but getting into the tennis racket business seems a bold move. No news about specs or price range at this point, only some short clips of a black and a white...
tt.tennis-warehouse.com tt.tennis-warehouse.com
 
longtimelurker said:

Nordicdots tennis rackets

A couple of Nordicdot tennis rackets have showed up on instagram and youtube lately. I've noticed they have released some "eco" strings, but getting into the tennis racket business seems a bold move. No news about specs or price range at this point, only some short clips of a black and a white...
tt.tennis-warehouse.com tt.tennis-warehouse.com
Click to expand...
Woops. Missed that. Sorry for the double post, essentially.
 
Leen said:
At least it is something a little more unique and not just another Pure drive clone like all the other small brands. *cough* Diadem, Solinco, STIGA *cough*
Click to expand...
Blackout is set at a more reasonable price tag they the Nova and the Supreme. Otherwise, why not go for the "safe" Pure Drive option? Even though the Nova v2 and v3 are foam filled
 
Leen said:
At least it is something a little more unique and not just another Pure drive clone like all the other small brands. *cough* Diadem, Solinco, STIGA *cough*
Click to expand...
To Diadem and Solinco's credit, at least they have a 98" mold in the Elevate and WhiteOut (21.7mm constant D-beam – could be the same exact mold, seeing as how they both probably use YMA Univers as they're OEM, along with Prince).
 
Leen said:
Yea was going to joke, that the other half is Blade clones. lol
Click to expand...
To be fair, every company has cloned the Pure Drive. Even all the big companies. Especially when it first came out, really no one was using 100" anything, let along stiff and powerful.
Regardless, good luck to Nordic Dots. Price point is important here.
I would never pay retail for almost any frame these days. But with smaller companies like Diadem, you can get frames new for basically 50% off. So I think these smaller frames are more desireable at a $160-180 prince point than the $240+ they all seem to want these days.

I'm glad Dunlop and Prince are sticking to their <$200 price points
 
the upper hoop is gonna be a real hard sell to the average consumer. they better have some endorsement plans, bc that thing looks wild
 
Trip said:
How so, @gino? Genuinely curious.
Click to expand...

Tough market segment right ? Like being more specific you have the ezone 98/100, vcore 98, boom, and other yonex offerings that are essentially direct substitutes for this consumer good. Most people will auto go with the more reputable brand, especially if they are looking at more squared off upper hoops. I just think if you’re going to be a late entrant to the market with a beam/hoop design like this one, you have to have endorsement support. Otherwise there’s too many viable/reputable substitutes in the market. Esp with yonex pouring millions into player endorsements
 
gino said:
Tough market segment right ? Like being more specific you have the ezone 98/100, vcore 98, boom, and other yonex offerings that are essentially direct substitutes for this consumer good. Most people will auto go with the more reputable brand, especially if they are looking at more squared off upper hoops. I just think if you’re going to be a late entrant to the market with a beam/hoop design like this one, you have to have endorsement support. Otherwise there’s too many viable/reputable substitutes in the market. Esp with yonex pouring millions into player endorsements
Click to expand...
I gotcha. I see where you're coming from. You may be right. Jonas (TennisNerd) eluded to much of that in his preview video. I'll be mainly interested in how fast/whippy is actually feels (for a 23mm 99 at mid-upper 320's swing weight, jury is out) and also string bed consistency – ie. if they've actually managed to make it feel nice and uniform, or if it has hot spots and/or inconsistencies to it. We'll see...
 
Trip said:
I gotcha. I see where you're coming from. You may be right. Jonas (TennisNerd) eluded to much of that in his preview video. I'll be mainly interested in how fast/whippy is actually feels (for a 23mm 99 at mid-upper 320's swing weight, jury is out) and also string bed consistency – ie. if they've actually managed to make it feel nice and uniform, or if it has hot spots and/or inconsistencies to it. We'll see...
Click to expand...

on paper, specs are great. i really hope they succeed, we need more players in the market to make the big ones think twice
 
Chairman3 said:
It's literally a shift 99 clone, how is that unique?

Probably a rejected Wilson Shift prototype, honestly.
Click to expand...
I think the stiffness and that horizontal flex spin tech is the biggest thing that makes a shift a shift. But who knows at this stage
 
Chairman3 said:
It's literally a shift 99 clone, how is that unique?

Probably a rejected Wilson Shift prototype, honestly.
Click to expand...
There are some similarities: 99", beam width and cross-section profile, number of mains and crosses

But there are differences, too: drill pattern, hoop shape, likely the layup and mass distribution.

So if anything I'd call it "inspired by", less so a full blown rip. But, I digress. I see your point.
 
Trip said:
There are some similarities: 99", beam width and cross-section profile, number of mains and crosses

But there are differences, too: drill pattern, hoop shape, likely the layup and mass distribution.

So if anything I'd call it "inspired by", less so a full blown rip. But, I digress. I see your point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, my point was it was probably an early prototype for Wilson and they decided to keep the uniformity in the hoop shape across their lines and dismissed it.
My understanding is racquet companies don't always develop frames from the ground-up, in-house.
 
Chairman3 said:
Yeah, my point was it was probably an early prototype for Wilson and they decided to keep the uniformity in the hoop shape across their lines and dismissed it.
My understanding is racquet companies don't always develop frames from the ground-up, in-house.
Click to expand...
Indeed. And perhaps most of the design was somewhat "turn key", ready to go, offered by whatever contract manufacturing/design firm may be the main "go to" in the industry (or one of them), and could have certainly just offered Nordicdots a "catalog" of choices, they picked one, and them bam. "New" product. When, in fact, it could have (read: did) come from the same lineage as the Shift, or anything else, really. I wouldn't put it past something like that from being the case. Just as plausible as anything else, really.
 
Chairman3 said:
It's literally a shift 99 clone, how is that unique?

Probably a rejected Wilson Shift prototype, honestly.
Click to expand...

I don't get those entire clone points, they are all pretty lazy and wrong takes imo

Of course, there is about every beam/weight/balance combination out there and to every concept of racket, I will find you a name of an existing racket. And surely, the most popular concepts get somehow copied - as in every other industry.
But this is a pretty unique racket in about every way - there simply is no 99 sq inch racket with a partially isometric form, 16x20 pattern and these specs. Closest is a Shift, yes - but that clunky piece of carbon fiber is a totally different shape and concept.
 
When we look at racquets we need to realise that manh add actually made in st sand factories, just in different "rooms". An excellent example is the Pure Drive, it's a development/evolution of the Pro Kennex Destiny that first came out in the late 80s-90s.

This is also done in other sports like squash and badminton as well. The Racquet "molds" are in many cases owned by the factory and not the "brand" who supplies the paint job and marketing. The molds are the expensive part of the process in terms of creating, maintaining and replacing as they have a finite life span and are worth tens of thousands of dollars each.
 
yourtennisfit said:
Closest is a Shift, yes - but that clunky piece of carbon fiber is a totally different shape and concept.
Click to expand...
Hence why I said it is an early prototype of the Shift that Wilson didn't want.

A 99, 16x20, throat is very similar, weight, balance, mid 60s flex, also, in general, how racquet development works.

My takes may be lazy but you could also say the same about Occam and his razor...:unsure:
 
Agree..the 99 inch Head size segment has enormous potential as there is only a very few OEM competing in that segment..I can see why they decide on the 99 to capture that potential as the 100 inch segment is bloated.
Impo...The Prestige mpl will be hard to beat..
 
Unfortunately marketing doesn't directly correlate to market acceptance..
Always a chance of an less expensive organic viral result to a broader audience is certainly possible.. Challenges today include less disposable income competing with necessity spending..
Key to any start up is immediate cash flow.. which is required to pay off short and long term debt..
Sustainability is required to achieve a positive balance sheet..
 
I wish them the best, largely because I'm super into their clothing but it's always nice to see a new player in the game. However, it's hard for me not to look at these two racquet designs and say "Solinco did that already"
 
Those grommets look home made..
Not sure its the Wise put a name on something that looks like that..
Image is everything... especially if you don't have one..
Well I guess those grommets is an image...
 
A_Instead said:
Those grommets look home made..
Not sure its the Wise put a name on something that looks like that..
Image is everything... especially if you don't have one..
Well I guess those grommets is an image...
Click to expand...
It's a prototype and it's a common practice until string spacing is settled.
Drill pattern can be altered at whim. Dimitrov switched so often that he had those on his frame...
 
Highly curious about this frame. As I just wrote to @maksp in a PM, mainly curious to see how fast it is through the air and if the string bed is consistent enough. The shape seems smartly done – isometric in the place that counts the most: up around 10 & 2, to widen the spin/swiping window, enlarge the sweet spot and reduce shanks, plus highest amount of string density (smallest cell size) located further up the string bed, for the most amount of control/precision in the exact place we tend to hit most often (with newer school technique, anyways). Kind of a no-brainer design in my eyes. But, like everything, I bet it has its limitations. I'll be keen to see first feedback.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

konstantinos kalfountzos
Nordicdots tennis rackets
Replies
46
Views
4K
Trip
T
R
Vantage Racquets, Post Your Specs.
2 3
Replies
123
Views
13K
kostak
K
2ManyAces
Donnay X-Duals
Replies
49
Views
16K
vivace
V
D
Demo week: Blade 100 V9 vs Pur Aero 100 2023 vs Speed MP 2024
Replies
11
Views
2K
dilshan
D
TennisHound
Dunlop Srixon Revo CV 3.0 F Tour
Replies
13
Views
4K
Vapix
V
Back
Top