The poll: How close are "stock" pro racquets to the retail version?

[Too Poor for Grass]

I realize that this is a somewhat=tired question, but I wish to understand the consensus by poll rather than another endless thread of bickering.

The Question is this: How close are the "stock" frames used by the professionals to the retail frames available to you and me. In other words, before the pros perform any customization themselves (tape, silicone, weights, lengthening, shortening, grip, etc), how close are their "stock" racquets to what we buy?

 

[Marshredder]

It really depends on which pro... Federer is heavily rumoured to have been using an almost stock K90 for the past couple of years, and Nadals is only 12g off, but then you have people like Murray and Djockovic who aren't even using the same racquet they advertise.

 

[supineAnimation]

There was a lengthy discussion about this in the "We Are All Suckers!!!" thread (among many others) if you care to check it out, but the first responder here is right: it's not a monolithic issue. There are truly custom builds, a lot of the pro stocks are simply newly-produced versions of older models and some are the same as the retail versions with professional customizations. But I do believe that there is a good deal of exaggeration that sometimes seems to suggest that pro stocks are constructed using super-high quality materials while the retail sticks are made out of taffy and cardboard.

 

[80'stennis]

The main concern for me is whether the sticks we buy retail won't last a reasonable amount of time because of lack of materials quality. If the pros get better quality materials in their sticks that makes some sense since they put so many more rough miles on them. Most of the other stuff -- feel, weight, etc -- is so subjective. Afterall, the pros just found what works for them, as should we.

 

[raiden031]

Common sense would dictate that in at least 90% of cases, the pros are using retail versions of racquets. However the trick is they are often using older models with paintjobs to look like newer racquets. It just doesn't make sense that pros would typically have custom-built racquets because that would seem rather expensive with little real benefits. Maybe top guys like Fed and Nadal would do something like that, but the majority of pros probably wouldn't.

I laugh when people say the pros have custom-built racquets that are significantly heavier than the retail racquets, because no club players would be able to use the pro's version of the racquet. If that were the case, then why even make a retail racquet and advertise it as recommended for 5.0+, such that only like 1% of players would want to use it anyways.

 

[raiden031]

The main concern for me is whether the sticks we buy retail won't last a reasonable amount of time because of lack of materials quality. If the pros get better quality materials in their sticks that makes some sense since they put so many more rough miles on them. Most of the other stuff -- feel, weight, etc -- is so subjective. Afterall, the pros just found what works for them, as should we.

Considering the average pro carries like 8 racquets in their bag at a time, I don't think they get nearly the amount of play per racquet as a serious rec. player. It makes little sense to build their racquets with special materials.

 

[80'stennis]

^^^Well, I'm hoping you're right. But the pros restring each frame I would think much more often than even the more serious recreational tournament player. Additionally, they consistently hit the ball a good deal harder so that's more frame abuse. But unless a pro's going to chime in here, it's all speculation anyway.

 

[raiden031]

^^^Well, I'm hoping you're right. But the pros restring each frame I would think much more often than even the more serious recreational tournament player. Additionally, they consistently hit the ball a good deal harder so that's more frame abuse. But unless a pro's going to chime in here, it's all speculation anyway.

Yeah I agree they string a lot, as that's well documented info.

 

[stoo]

But I do believe that there is a good deal of exaggeration that sometimes seems to suggest that pro stocks are constructed using super-high quality materials while the retail sticks are made out of taffy and cardboard.

I thought they were the main ingredients in Aerogel.