Racquet for Juniors

[tennisfanforlife]

Currently my son is going to turn 11 soon and using Babolat pure drive lite with Bi phase 16 strings at 58 tension on it.

I am planning to buy new racquets and stick with bi phase. I am considering the below racquets that offers enough power and which is not going to hurt their arm:

Head Graphene XT prestige S
Head Graphene XT Speed MPA
Head Graphene XT Radical MPA
Head Graphene XT Speed s
Head Graphene XT Radical s

Any advice would be good.

Thanks

 

[NetNinja68]

My daughter was just offered sponsorship by HEAD. She recently turned 11 and was playing with the PD lite and loves the Rad lite. The swingweight is perfect and the feel is far superior to the PDL. I added lead to the handle for a more even balance which brought the static weight up to around 10.4 oz with a 305 swingweight.

 

[n8dawg6]

Speed S is the way to go.

 

[Imago]

Stay where you are or change to PDL French Open. At least until he turns 12.

 

[tennisfanforlife]

I have ordered to demo yesterday for Prestige S, Speed S, Radical S and Radical MP. Unfortunately i did not order the Radical lite because of maximum frames that you can demo. From a power stand point which of these racquet match up to PDL?

 

[tennisfanforlife]

My daughter was just offered sponsorship by HEAD. She recently turned 11 and was playing with the PD lite and loves the Rad lite. The swingweight is perfect and the feel is far superior to the PDL. I added lead to the handle for a more even balance which brought the static weight up to around 10.4 oz with a 305 swingweight.

Does this not become more like a Rad S spec?

 

[NetNinja68]

Very similar. The Lite is a little stiffer than the S which just felt better to her.

 

[Oz_Rocket]

If your son is going to be playing a lot of tennis, particularly best of 3 set matches, then seriously consider the REV or Lite versions.

Sure with the S versions his groundies will feel great during a quick hit but unless he is very strong for his age then serving with that same racquet after a few sets will be a chore.

 

[NetNinja68]

This is spot on and the same went for my daughter with the Speed S. Ground strokes and serves were great for the first 30 minutes and then her arm began to fatigue, slowing down her swing and resulting in a lot of miss-hits.

 

[NetNinja68]

Try adding about .5 ounces to the handle of the RL and let him swing away. Overall (static) racquet weight is much less a factor than swing weight for juniors! A 10.5 oz stick with a 302 swing weight will be considerably more manageable than a 9.5 oz stick with a 320 swing weight in the hands of most 11 yr olds.

 

[NetNinja68]

I have ordered to demo yesterday for Prestige S, Speed S, Radical S and Radical MP. Unfortunately i did not order the Radical lite because of maximum frames that you can demo. From a power stand point which of these racquet match up to PDL?

The Radical S - equal or a little less power due to flex, but has better feel.
Speed S - has more power
Prestige S - probably too demanding
Radical MP - has more power

 

[Oz_Rocket]

Try adding about .5 ounces to the handle of the RL and let him swing away. Overall (static) racquet weight is much less a factor than swing weight for juniors! A 10.5 oz stick with a 302 swing weight will be considerably more manageable than a 9.5 oz stick with a 320 swing weight in the hands of most 11 yr olds.

Very true! My son uses a Graphene Speed Rev with a swingweight of about 300 and the S version is about 320 for that frame. Just noticed the Radical XT is the opposite with the Lite version having a higher swing weight than the S.

The thing I also like about the Speed Rev is the stiffness is only 62.

 

[n8dawg6]

The thing I also like about the Speed Rev is the stiffness is only 62.

interesting aside here ... those graphene speeds all come from the same mold. pro is 18x20, others a very open 16x19. the S has a little more flex than the MP, the MP a little more flex than the Pro. the Pro is the stiffest of them all (string pattern doesnt help) and rev is flexiest. theyre removing weight/graphite from some part of the frame and whatever is removed also removes some stiffness from the frame.

 

[Imago]

GXT Rad S feels like under 60.

 

[tennisfanforlife]

Thanks all for you suggestions. Unfortunately i did not order the demo for Rad Rev Graphene XT. The reason being he has been using PD Lite with 10.1 strung weight for a long time and i thought he could handle little more weight on the racquet.

By looking at the specs at two different sites, i am little confused.

TW:
Rad XT S - Weight 10.4 / Stiffness 60 / swingweight 301 / Balance 4 pts HL
Rad XT lite - 9.7 / 63 / 330 / 6 Pts HH

TE:
Rad XT S - 10.4 / 58 / 309 / 8 Pts HL
Rad XT Lite - 9.7 / 56 / 309 / Even balance

Which one is true on stiffness, swingweight and Balance?

 

[tennisfanforlife]

The Radical S - equal or a little less power due to flex, but has better feel.
Speed S - has more power
Prestige S - probably too demanding
Radical MP - has more power

Thanks..Considering Rad S...How about the spin? Can he get more spin than pure drive lite?