Pro Staff 97 v13 vs v14 - explain the TW specs please.

[JesseP]

Tennis Warehouse racquet comparison tool lists the specs of the Pro Staff 97 v13 and v14. The v14 supposedly has a swing weight of 332 whereas it is 321 for the v13.

However, they list the two racquets as having the same static weight, length and balance point.

How is is possible that they have a different swing weight? Does this mean that there is more weight near 12 o'clock on the v14 whereas the v13 has more weight on the rest of the hoop (but still above the balance point)?. I.e. the v14 is more polarised (weight at 12 and in handle but less it lower hoop)?

If someone could explain this to me, I'd appreciate it. Sorry if it is a rather amateurish question, I've played for a long time, but only recently been interested in specs.

Also, I understand that tennis warehouse test several racquets and take an average spec? Is this not the case for static weight? Seems unlikely that the average of v13 and v14 would both be perfectly on Wilson quoted spec...

P.S. Perhaps the the swing weight of 332 for v13 is a typo? It is the same as the static weight string in grams.

 

[Mischko]

You mean sw for v14 is 332 is a typo?

If the numbers are correct then yes, the v14 will be more polarized, more weight at 3&9 too. This still doesn't mean that it's a noticeably polarized frame - it really isn't, I played with it. It means that v13 is a depolarized frame with a light tip and sides, which is exactly what I thought when I tried it a couple of times

Also - I don't think that you'll get 332sw on a v14 without paying extra for racquet matching. Just buying one without measuring would produce more like 320sw, but that's just a feel, I don't have any proof. Wilson is well known to have horrible quality control, so if you buy 3 racquets their specs will often vary wildly, and when you match them with lead tape to be the same you'll end up with three 320g frames or something like that

I suggest aiming for a sw of 296-298 unstrung, add 30 sw points with strings, and from 328sw you can easily mod it a bit if you want

v14 is more demanding than v13, which is easier to play with precisely because of the light head and stiffness. v14 need nice fast long swings

 

[Sardines]

Or it's just the bad QC from Wilson? When I played with the PS85 that weren't St Vincent, I had difficulty finding matched sticks. Same for the 6.1 90, 6.1 95, RF97A v1 and 2. The specs were +/- 6g weight, and even balance is about 0.5cm out of spec.
The RF97A is technically the same racquet, but the QC gives different play characteristics from the same model, which is nonsense.
I had to pay for 3 matched racquets for the RF97A V1, and then to find 2 of V2 (all black) to match V1, took going through 15 sticks in the stock to find 1 and had to wait for the next shipment to get the other.
That's why I tried the SV98+, liked it enough, and went to look for more. Next 3 came out of a batch of 4 tested, and later, during the clearance sale, 2 out of 4 fit the specs of the original.

 

[dr. godmode]

Tennis Warehouse racquet comparison tool lists the specs of the Pro Staff 97 v13 and v14. The v14 supposedly has a swing weight of 332 whereas it is 321 for the v13.

However, they list the two racquets as having the same static weight, length and balance point.

How is is possible that they have a different swing weight? Does this mean that there is more weight near 12 o'clock on the v14 whereas the v13 has more weight on the rest of the hoop (but still above the balance point)?. I.e. the v14 is more polarised (weight at 12 and in handle but less it lower hoop)?

If someone could explain this to me, I'd appreciate it. Sorry if it is a rather amateurish question, I've played for a long time, but only recently been interested in specs.

Also, I understand that tennis warehouse test several racquets and take an average spec? Is this not the case for static weight? Seems unlikely that the average of v13 and v14 would both be perfectly on Wilson quoted spec...

P.S. Perhaps the the swing weight of 332 for v13 is a typo? It is the same as the static weight string in grams.

My v14 had SW of 326 strung with 1.25mm poly (TW uses 1.30mm poly for these tests).

I think they usually have a sample of 3-7 racquets and if they have smaller samples they usually note that.

It’s physically possible for two racquets to have the same balance and weight with different swing weights. You are correct about the key factor being polarization. The further away the mass is distributed from the balance point, the more polarized the racquet is and the higher swingweight you’ll have for a given spec. I have videos on my YouTube channel that discuss this with concrete examples.

I see your suspicion about weight and BP being perfectly on spec and that’s all I have to say about that. My PS and PSX did come perfectly on spec for weight and balance for what it’s worth.

 

[tazz]

Consensus is that v14 is more polarized (more weight towards handle and hoop) than the v13. From personal experience: The v14 has more plow through and weight behind the balls whereas the v13 is pretty anemic, although easier to handle.

Nevertheless, I don't trust TW's measurements. Neither here nor on reddit and all other platforms do players repeatedly report a targeted SW of 330g strung. From a statistics point of view I question TW's measurements of the v14:

1) We see way more owners reporting a SW of 320g strung (underspec) than 340g strung (overspec). Assuming there is no bias in reporting (e.g. owners of underspec racquets tend to report more often), I guess the true mean is closer to 320g than 330g.
2) 6 to 7 racquets is not even close to being enough to get a reasonable mean for SW. Additionally, if those 6 to 7 racquets came from the same overspec batch, TW's measurements are biased.
3) Measuring strung is pretty stupid, because you'll introduce a range of variables (e.g. gauge of string and QC of the string manufacturer) others have to control for if they want to reproduce the measurements. I guess SW is measured strung, because string pattern density influences drag and a 16x19 should move faster than a 18x20. But racquets are closed when swinging therefore drag from string patterns should matter that much.

To improve SW, I urge TW to report standard errors for their measurements to give an indication what the range for SW could be.

In general, it would be cool, if manufacturers report targeted SW and RCW.

 

[thecatch33]

Consensus is that v14 is more polarized (more weight towards handle and hoop) than the v13. From personal experience: The v14 has more plow through and weight behind the balls whereas the v13 is pretty anemic, although easier to handle.

Nevertheless, I don't trust TW's measurements. Neither here nor on reddit and all other platforms do players repeatedly report a targeted SW of 330g strung. From a statistics point of view I question TW's measurements of the v14:

1) We see way more owners reporting a SW of 320g strung (underspec) than 340g strung (overspec). Assuming there is no bias in reporting (e.g. owners of underspec racquets tend to report more often), I guess the true mean is closer to 320g than 330g.
2) 6 to 7 racquets is not even close to being enough to get a reasonable mean for SW. Additionally, if those 6 to 7 racquets came from the same overspec batch, TW's measurements are biased.
3) Measuring strung is pretty stupid, because you'll introduce a range of variables (e.g. gauge of string and QC of the string manufacturer) others have to control for if they want to reproduce the measurements. I guess SW is measured strung, because string pattern density influences drag and a 16x19 should move faster than a 18x20. But racquets are closed when swinging therefore drag from string patterns should matter that much.

To improve SW, I urge TW to report standard errors for their measurements to give an indication what the range for SW could be.

In general, it would be cool, if manufacturers report targeted SW and RCW.

Your criticisms are valid, but your blame is misplaced. The issue is not TW, it’s the manufacturers who refuse to even give a target SW because God forbid they need to institute some proper QC.