As a followup:
I am a 4.0-4.5 all courter. Years ago I was a 5.0 aggressive baseline. I switched to the youtek rad mp w/ babolat tonic 16 strung at 56 in mid september from the aerogel 300. I was playing fine with it and felt it had better touch/feel but had trouble against players at my level or above who hit a heavy ball. I particularly have had issues with the return of serve but was serving well with it.
As a result, I experimented with lead and settled on 3 grams of lead at 3 and 9 and another 3 under the top of the handle. However, I was not entirely happy with it. Resulting in total weight of 11.7 ounces.
Last night, I was the only guy at my drill and play lesson so I hit with the pro one on one. I was a little slow getting around on the ball and still got pushed around a bit. The pro was demoing the Youtek Prestige MP.
He let me hit with it and I was much more consistent on my groundies against him. My balls didn't land short and I was able to maintain sustained rallies although I had to work a bit harder to generate pace. It felt more natural.
My volleys were also very consistent, still had putaway power and I reacted faster at net. It also felt more natural.
On serves, I did not generate as much pop but again was more consistent.
Overheads were easier to get in position and were also more consistent but din't have the same oomph.
I asked him to give me some very soft balls because that is where I sometimes have trouble and I couldn't hit them out but had enough pace.
The pro's comments to me were that it was by far the most consistent and best I had ever hit. He felt that the stick was more suited to me than the RAD because I was extremely consistent and he felt the loss of power was negligible although I had to work hard to generate pace and keep up with him. Of course, I was using cheap demo synthetic string. The pro said that I should keep in mind that the difference in string is why the stick felt stiffer and the Prestige would have more pop and be much easier on my arm if I was using my Tonic.
He stated that although I am in my late 40s, I have a long swing and so the Prestige MP would still be better for me.
I should point out when I went back to hitting w/ the Rad during the same session, although I generated more pop, I felt less in control
After playing last night, my shoulder was sore as well as my forearm. My shoulder has been sore all day. Can this be attributed to a) I was hitting against a pro for an hour and a half and I am not used to this (It has been years) and/or the b)the demo string was stiff or is it the frame being too heavy and having to do the work?
What are your thoughts regarding making the switch?
I am a 4.0-4.5 all courter. Years ago I was a 5.0 aggressive baseline. I switched to the youtek rad mp w/ babolat tonic 16 strung at 56 in mid september from the aerogel 300. I was playing fine with it and felt it had better touch/feel but had trouble against players at my level or above who hit a heavy ball. I particularly have had issues with the return of serve but was serving well with it.
As a result, I experimented with lead and settled on 3 grams of lead at 3 and 9 and another 3 under the top of the handle. However, I was not entirely happy with it. Resulting in total weight of 11.7 ounces.
Last night, I was the only guy at my drill and play lesson so I hit with the pro one on one. I was a little slow getting around on the ball and still got pushed around a bit. The pro was demoing the Youtek Prestige MP.
He let me hit with it and I was much more consistent on my groundies against him. My balls didn't land short and I was able to maintain sustained rallies although I had to work a bit harder to generate pace. It felt more natural.
My volleys were also very consistent, still had putaway power and I reacted faster at net. It also felt more natural.
On serves, I did not generate as much pop but again was more consistent.
Overheads were easier to get in position and were also more consistent but din't have the same oomph.
I asked him to give me some very soft balls because that is where I sometimes have trouble and I couldn't hit them out but had enough pace.
The pro's comments to me were that it was by far the most consistent and best I had ever hit. He felt that the stick was more suited to me than the RAD because I was extremely consistent and he felt the loss of power was negligible although I had to work hard to generate pace and keep up with him. Of course, I was using cheap demo synthetic string. The pro said that I should keep in mind that the difference in string is why the stick felt stiffer and the Prestige would have more pop and be much easier on my arm if I was using my Tonic.
He stated that although I am in my late 40s, I have a long swing and so the Prestige MP would still be better for me.
I should point out when I went back to hitting w/ the Rad during the same session, although I generated more pop, I felt less in control
After playing last night, my shoulder was sore as well as my forearm. My shoulder has been sore all day. Can this be attributed to a) I was hitting against a pro for an hour and a half and I am not used to this (It has been years) and/or the b)the demo string was stiff or is it the frame being too heavy and having to do the work?
What are your thoughts regarding making the switch?
soo much feel with that stick!
