Racquet advice needed for intermediate

[mikecastle]

Glad to have this type of forum to ask help now that I needed.

I have played pretty active for few years now. I have won couple amateur tournaments and I’d really like to improve my game. I practise 3-5 times a week.

First I had Wilson Ultra 100 (303g) and now about 6 months I have played with Wilson Pro Staff 97. With pro staff I have much less issues with my shoulder, which is a good thing of course. So better racquet for me for sure.

Yet, I have also noticed that when I play I lack of stability and power unless I hit perfectly. I have tried 4 different types of strings but pretty much same issue with all of them. Now I have wilson revolve 16. Previous was some sort of hybrid strings 23/24 for better top spin.

My own conclusion is that either I have high level raquet for my skill level or I just need to practise more.. I don’t know and that is why I would like your advice.

Based on what I wrote, what raquet/raquets you would recommend me to try and what different types of strings I should try when I found the right raquet?

I’d appreciate any help. Thank you in advance

 

[Lorenn]

My own conclusion is that either I have high level racquet for my skill level or I just need to practice more.. I don’t know and that is why I would like your advice.

Advanced racquets tend to need a good swing and timing. Basically my guess is your timing is completely off, therefore you are miss hitting. I would likely reduce tension until you find proper timing with your new racquet. The other option is that you need to work on your swing. If that is not an option I would suggest moving back to a tweener racquet. From your description of issues these are the racquets I would look at...

Speed MP
Extreme Tour
Gravity Tour(might as well try Gravity Pro)
Radical 360+ when it comes out.
Yonex 97 Vcore Pro 310
Prince Textreme Tour 310

 

[Crimsonchen]

Advanced racquets tend to need a good swing and timing. Basically my guess is your timing is completely off, therefore you are miss hitting. I would likely reduce tension until you find proper timing with your new racquet. The other option is that you need to work on your swing. If that is not an option I would suggest moving back to a tweener racquet. From your description of issues these are the racquets I would look at...

Speed MP
Extreme Tour
Gravity Tour(might as well try Gravity Pro)
Radical 360+ when it comes out.
Yonex 97 Vcore Pro 310
Prince Textreme Tour 310

Those are some good points. The tough thing about tennis is that there are so many options for a playing set up. There are so many racquets, strings, tensions to choose from so you'll most likely need to take some time out to experiment. If you are looking for more racquet stability on the swing, try adding some lead tape to the 3 and 9 o'clock positions to see if that helps.

 

[Lorenn]

Those are some good points. The tough thing about tennis is that there are so many options for a playing set up. There are so many racquets, strings, tensions to choose from so you'll most likely need to take some time out to experiment. If you are looking for more racquet stability on the swing, try adding some lead tape to the 3 and 9 o'clock positions to see if that helps.

Really hard to guess if they shot toooo high or too low in this racquet choice. Lead is a good option as is reducing the tension. I would also explore options and see if a more forgiving frame is what you need. Players racquets really need a good full swing and great timing. You can kinda cheat by lowering tension and increasing plow.(or both) Head Velocity(plays ok and is affordable) string might help as well...just worried about throwing off your game before a match etc...Basically if you have some time off I would ponder a retooling of your fundamentals and racquet/string choices.

 

[mikecastle]

Hi! Thank you for your recommendations and the time you used to answer me.

By a tweener racket do you mean the pro versions of all these?

Speed MP
Extreme Tour
Gravity Tour(might as well try Gravity Pro)
Radical 360+ when it comes out.

I will try a few of these tomorrow when I go to practice again.

I 100% agree with you regarding improving my technique. Still, I feel like if I could get a little bit of help from updating my racquet it would probably make playing more fun meanwhile practicing.

I could also try the lead tape + reducing tension for my current pro staff 97 before updating the racquet. Are there any strings you would recommend me to try? And would 22 or 23 be a good tension?

 

[mhkeuns]

The Pro Staff 97’s are not the easiest rackets to use, so it will probably take some more practice. That said, you can also demo some 98” rackets (*maybe the Blade 98 18x20, Pure Strike 98, Ezone 98), or the tweeners (100”) rackets like the Pure Drive, Pure Aero, Head Extreme MP and other frames mentioned above). Also, you might want to play with some lead, use hybrid strings (*multi filament crosses) to soften up the feel and perhaps add a hint of more power.
There are many options, but I think if you can have someone watch your strokes and help you analyze what Is actually causing you to feel instability when hitting, that might be the place where you should start. If you know the root cause, it will be easier to find the remedy. You may just need some coaching, or you may not be actually using the best racket for your game.

 

[mikecastle]

Thank you mhkeuns for your reply!

I will start by trying Vcore, Blade and Head Speed MP. Let's see how these will feel. Also I'll try those hybrid strings that you recommened. Is there ny advice for what tension I should use for the strings?

I also have a coaching session every week so I am trying to improve my game by getting advice from the coach too. These replies are also very helpful so that I know where to start with racquets and stings.

 

[Lorenn]

I also have a coaching session every week so I am trying to improve my game by getting advice from the coach too. These replies are also very helpful so that I know where to start with racquets and stings.

I am sure other will have different suggestions. I would use head velocity string full bed to start or your old strings but reduce everything at least/about 1-2 kilos from your old setup. Then see if you feel an improvement. The other option is to add the suggested weight first...see if it improves what you feel is missing. The extra mass will improve power and stability. I am still wondering if the issue is you went too far or not far enough and should've ended up with the RF97 versus Prostaff. The racquets you are testing should help greatly in figuring it out Speed MP you can likely string at your same weight.

 

[Dartagnan64]

So it sounds like you are complaining about too small a sweet spot. And it sounds like you've experience arm issues from stiff frames. So ideally a racket with some arm friendly features but a generous sweetspot.

You could look at some arm friendly tweeners like Wilson Clash 100, Extreme Tour, Prince Textreme Tour 310, Blade v7 16x19, Yonex Ezone 100
You could look at some player's OS frames like Phantom 107G, POG 107, Microgel Radical OS, Blade 104.

 

[n8dawg6]

I also have a coaching session every week so I am trying to improve my game by getting advice from the coach too.

what racquet does your coach suggest?