Racquet Snobs Unite

[cork_screw]

Go on tennis warehouse and 80% of all the comments under the review section mostly start off with praise like "Best racquet in the world!!!"
"Can't Beat this, improved my strokes and now i'm beating 5.0 players even though i'm only 3.0"

When I go through those comments I try to focus on the negative reviews to give me a real sense of the scope of the racquet's positive points as well as its shortcomings. So I decided to create this thread that will hopefully stay for a while XX (BTW, that's my new emoticon for cross my fingers).

So pitch out some well known racquets and just pitch out a few things that was the deal breaker for you as to why you might not be using it now, and if you are, how it could be improved. Unload all your gripes no matter how small. I will start things off with a few. Try to list known racquets and be very critical, try to avoid using knissel neon star from batch 0641ab made only 20 units in from july to august circa 1993, that won't help the majority of us who seek honest hard feedback. And if it's repeat material that's widely known, so be it. Make note of it for good measure. Here we go. List as many as you want.

Yonex RDX 500 - Dead spot on upper hoop. Racquet flexes too much when returning hard flat low angled balls. Excellent slices btw

Volkl DNX 10 - Overly sensitive racquet. Slices tend to float

Pro Staff 85 (China / Chicago / St Vincent) Excellent Volley sticks great groundstrokes, but doesn't provide the same topspin potential as the Prostaff (modern china, which isn't as sweet a stick to volley with as the others)

 

[meowmix]

TT Warrior. Great on volleys and slicing, and provides loads of spin, but I can't find enough power, nor can I hit flat.

 

[autumn_leaf]

ps 85 - i definitely couldn't handle this racquet. can't say it was the frames fault just mine. to anyone lured by this frame by all the talk on this board you have been warned. for high intermediate to advanced players only.
it swings like a club. very dense racquet (lot of weight in small space) small sweet spot that is to expected and not forgiving. these are all things that you should not delude yourself in thinking you can handle this racquet.

head tis6- old racquet, but i think head made so many of them that you can still find it new. OS racquet, too light, got pushed around, and gave me arm pains.

yonex ti50 standard- heard a lot of bad things about this racquet like it being too head light, ill pocketing effects, and the inability to get good kick and slice serves. none of these were true for me though.
faults for me was that it still got pushed around at net even though mine weighed 12.5 oz (maybe it was too head light) and really dead upper hoop. on long rallies where i end up having to reach for balls it would hit the upper hoop and then drop, this is the same when hitting a volleying on the upper hoop. the ball would literally drop dead even if i was 1 ft away from the net the ball would not make it over and drop ~6 inches in front of me.

maxply mcenroe - felt really stiff and light. didn't like the leather grip.

 

[Robbie_1988]

nCode n-Six One Tour 90 - horribly flimsy and felt weird and "hollow". Especially noticeable when going from hitting with the PS 6.0 85 for a few weeks. I still use the n-Six One though but have it leaded up with two layers of 4 inch lead tape at 3 & 9 o'clock to make it feel more solid.

 

[plasma]

n code n tour, massive spin potential but no plough thru.

 

[forehand2theface]

k blade 98-
cons: odd balance, dead in hoop, a little stiff
pros: good feel, control, good on serves

 

[tennisfreak15347]

Kblade98- lighter than I expected, but only a little bit, and a little too much swingweight for a semi-light racquet ( the cons of a heavy racquet with the cons of a lighter racquet)

 

[Lejanius]

Head Liquidmetal Radical MP:
I love the weight of this racquet, I feel like I have a lot of control and can place the ball almost anywhere, however I am switching because I personally cannot generate enough pace and spin without letting it rip every shot. I find balls hit in mid court to be very difficult to hit with this stick, I end up pushing the ball back or hitting long. I hit with a moderate amount of topspin. Good racquet if you like a weighty solid stick that is stiff and need control, not so great if you hit with tons of topspin or need to generate a lot of your own pace.

I am switching to the Yonex RDS 002 Tour and in the meantime I found a brand new Wilson Ncode six one 95 on the cheap on a discount rack I am going to abuse for fun until I decide to sell it.

 

[the wise wizard]

kblade tour: i think its a little light and just isnt great on returns. plus its a bit powerful.

yonex rds 001: it feels like you get overpowered with this stick easily, and is just way too stiff