Racquet for clay
- Thread starter Roberto
- Start date
dincuss
Hall of Fame
Im guessing your not a pro,
and im guessing your clay season goes from spring-fall, am i right?
Pro's would probably keep it the same, instead change their string tension.
for sure..ideally, you would want to play with a racquet with a swingweight that works on all surfaces, but you need a racquet that will provide enough 'weight of shot' to pierce/penetrate the court on the clay. that doesnt necessarily mean a high swingweight racquet..it means a well designed racquet that coupled w. your good technique will allow your ball to pierce the court....and allow you to put the balls away you should be putting away on the clay. you do have slightly more time on clay to setup, but balls are coming fast today at advanced levels no matter the surface. I was able to accomplish this with a racquet weighing about 11.5 ounces (Modded Becker11Light)..i'm a 5.0.
nickynu
Semi-Pro
Disclaimer : The talk tennis community do endorse the use of non volkl rackets also.
What are you swinging at the moment
Ps one of the best claycourters I know uses a K6-1 team and rips it with topspin. Its about you not the racket but really we need to know your style of play, fitness level, current racket, ETC
What are you swinging at the moment
Ps one of the best claycourters I know uses a K6-1 team and rips it with topspin. Its about you not the racket but really we need to know your style of play, fitness level, current racket, ETC
I play with a K-Blade-98 with some modification (lead at 3 & 9 + leather grip). I play a base-line/ allround game. I do not exactly know why I feel more comfortable on clay with a heavier racquet. I feel that I have more time to prepare for the shot and maby I can handle a heavier racquet better on clay than on indoor carpet. I also feel that the extra weight makes it easier to hit heavy penetrating shots on clay. On hard courts and indoor carpets I can hit those shots more easily with a slightly lighter racquet - i believe it is because I can more easily play a counter-pounching game on those courts...
...so I will be adding some more lead at 3 and 9 and also 6 for clay season...
...maby it's just in my head ?
nickynu
Semi-Pro
No thats interesting although your racket is kind of a mid range weight already and I see what you mean re having more time to set up a heavier stick on clay and theres definately some merit in that.
Ive always found however that the heavy stick is more sluggish however, which means you cant get the racket head speed that will really take advantage of the surface by utilising heavy heavy topspin. As the most effective style of clay-play is the attritional long rallies you need topspin to control your opponents shots and allow you height over the net to provide a margin of safety for your own, without this you are handicapping yourself a little I feel.
Also its more difficult to hit winners even with the plow-through of the heavy stick on clay so its likely just to be a tiring way of playing which with the longer rallys means difficult times deep in the 3rd set.
Let us know how you go with the lead, personally I wouldnt do it - but we are all different which is the beauty of it (Moya and Nadal on clay, seem to do ok with relatively light rackets though).
Ive always found however that the heavy stick is more sluggish however, which means you cant get the racket head speed that will really take advantage of the surface by utilising heavy heavy topspin. As the most effective style of clay-play is the attritional long rallies you need topspin to control your opponents shots and allow you height over the net to provide a margin of safety for your own, without this you are handicapping yourself a little I feel.
Also its more difficult to hit winners even with the plow-through of the heavy stick on clay so its likely just to be a tiring way of playing which with the longer rallys means difficult times deep in the 3rd set.
Let us know how you go with the lead, personally I wouldnt do it - but we are all different which is the beauty of it (Moya and Nadal on clay, seem to do ok with relatively light rackets though).
Steve Huff
G.O.A.T.
Roberto, a year ago, I'd say stay with one racket all the time. But, I bought a couple of PK 10g PSE's. I had been using the PK ki5. The 10's were a little more head heavy, and I was finding my self just a little late on my forehands. I went back to the ki5. But, when we play on clay, I decided to try the 10's again. On clay, I was usually early on my shots. It worked out well. My groundies were great with the 10's on clay. The drawback: Volleys. The ground doesn't come into play so much when you take the ball in the air. The rackets play differently. I just haven't been making as solid of contact on volleys as I'd like. I get used to it as the match goes on, but sometimes that's not good enough. I'll probably stay with this strategy for this season, but who knows, maybe not after that.
I'm playing on clay again with 10 gr heavier racquet and it seems to work for me again this season. I do not have any problems to get enough topspin nickunu...just heavier shots that I don't have time to hit on carpet/fast courts...and Steve Huff...I see your point about the volleys, but who needs volleys on clay when You can "outgrind" your opponent with heavy groundies ??
JediMindTrick
Hall of Fame
Surely the APD has to be the best clay racquet.
