Prince Textreme Tour 95 Advice

[pavo26]

Greetings TW team,

I'm having a bit of a racquet dilemma. I currently use the Prince Textreme Tour 95, but wanted to get a little more free power. I've been experimenting with lead tape, but it's just not giving me the free power I was looking for. I just demoed the Wilson Burn 95 (a little hollow feeling) Wilson Burn FST 95 (SUPER stiff), Wilson Pro Staff 97 & Yonex Ezone DR 98 (both too powerful) without any luck (I am a 4.5/5.0 rated player).

I wanted your take on the Prince vs. the Head Graphene XT Prestige Pro. I love the control of the Prince, but wanted a bit more free power on my groundies, without giving up the control. Any thoughts/comparison advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[o0lunatik]

I know you're asking TW for some advice, but the community under Racquets could provide you with a alot of info to this. Why not try more powerful string setup with your TT95. It is an excellent racquet, prob the best 95 around ever.

 

[pavo26]

Thanks for the response. I probably should have added that I've tried a number of strings in the Prince. Volkl Cyclone (gauges 16-19), Solinco Tour Bite & Hyper G (various gauges), Luxilon ALU Power/Spin/Rough/Feel, Babolat RPM Blast & Tier One Fire Wire (various gauges). I even tried both a poly/gut hybrid & gut/poly mix.

My favorite to date has been the FireWire in an 18 gauge. I'm hoping to get the playtesters insight (I know Troy was on both) to see their thoughts/opinions between the two.

 

[TW Staff]

First up I would recommend you hit the Textreme Tour 100. It will offer some additional power with much of the Prince Tour feel you are already used to. Karly was on the playtest for both and noticed a bump in power with the 100 over the 95.

Have you tried the Yonex Duel G 97 310? I get more zip on my shots with that racquet and it has a more traditional feel to it compared to the DR 98 you mentioned. It should be an easier transition coming from the Tour 95 when compared to the DR 98.

The new Pure Strike 16x19 (Project One7) sits kinda between the Duel G 97 310 and DR 98 in terms of feel and should also give you a power boost without sacrificing much control.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Chris, TW

 

[smalahove]

As someone who played extensively with the TT95, I second Chris' recommendation for the DG97 (310).
Ime, the TT100P does offer more power than the TT95, but much closer to a Pure Drive in feel than the TT95.

 

[pavo26]

Thanks to Chris and all for the feedback! It really helps.

 

[Tommy Haas]

I replied to your other thread asking the same question, or maybe it was someone else. I suggested Dremeling off the grommets to effectively increase the head size's hitting surface.

It would be what a Textreme Tour 97 would probably feel like. Don't use a razor to trim the grommets down because it'll result in a sharp bevel and increase the chances of string shearing.