The Story of How I Tamed the Beast

onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
When the all-black Wilson RF97 was first announced, after one look at the photos of it online, I knew I had to get one. I was already happy using my Yonex 95D, but this new Wilson racquet was right up my aestetic alley.

I couldn't wait to receive it in the mail so that I could try it. I started thinking about what strings to put in it. I was hoping that I would like playing with it so that I could switch to it. I loved my Yonex 95D but was not a fan of how it looked. It was like Honda Civic with an aftermarket turbo and glittery racing stripes painted on. Sure it could go fast, but looking at it was like staring directly into the sun-- it burned my eyes.

Finally, the day had arrived. I frantically ripped open the box and carefully pulled out my new black Wilson RF97 Auto. It looked perfect. The weight was just like the trusted PS85 that I used for years. I couldn't wait to string it up.

Little did I know, I was about to begin a long, deep spiral of disappointment...

I took all the self-restraint I could muster to make myself slow down and carefully string the RF97 Auto. I wanted it to be perfect.
I messaged everyone that might be able to play and raced to the court.

2019 August.
RPM Blast 17g : 55 / 53 lbs.
Overflowing with excitement, I tried to be calm and I opened the new can of balls. It felt... muted?! And a bit stiff. And also underpowered at the same time, but this could have been from my lack of connection to the racquet. After I couple hours I couldn't stand it. I tried again a few more times. Same thing. How could it be... so bad?! "Okay....", I told myself. "I just have to be patient. Let's try another string setup."

I wanted a bit more power. I cut out the strings and tried again.

2019 August.
Volkl Cyclone 18g,
main: 55 lbs
cross: 53 lbs.
Not it was a rocket launcher without control. A little softer and better feel, though. Hmm. Maybe I just need to increase the tension.

2019 September.
Volkl Cyclone 18g,
main: 58
cross: 56 lbs
A bit more feel but not enough spin and control. I felt a bit like the old Wilson Profile racquet with synthetic gut strings. Sure, I could hit it hard but it went in a straight line without much spin or control.

I was beginning to accept that perhaps the RF97 just wasn't a good fit for me or that I just didn't like it. Nevertheless, I still loved how it looked and would keep it as part of my collection. Deep down, though, I was a bit disappointed and I wasn't ready to return to my Yonex 95D yet.

To be continuted.
 
C

Chairman3

Hall of Fame
Shaped poly main, syngut cross at 52 or 53 (can't remember), that's what I did and it was perfect.
Power, spin, durability, feel
 
Grafil Injection

Grafil Injection

Hall of Fame
An opponent who's RF97 I've tried a few times has it strung with Blast 16L I believe, at 56lbs. The RF97 is a very open string-bed, so a thicker poly might help.
 
TennisHound

TennisHound

Legend
“Tamed” the Beast or “Taming” the Beast…

I know on my RFs I replaced the leather with a synthetic grip and used 17ga strings. With everything, mine was right at 12.3rd strung around 4-5pts HL
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Part 2.

I wasn't ready to return to my Yonex 95D, but I was getting impatient so I went back to my 95D.

Everything instantly felt better. Control, precision, feel, touch, spin, maneuverability.
I continued using my 95D for several months.

The one day when I was cleaning out my closet I saw my reel of Volkl Cyclone 16g yellow. I normally use the black 17g or 16g but had purchased the yellow version one time bc TW was out of the black version at that time. It was surprisingly stiffer and felt worse than the black version. I even felt a tinge of tennis elbow coming! So after using it once in my 95D awhile back, I vowed to never use it again.

But that Tuesday afternoon in 2020 May, I found myself gazing at the yellow reel. Seemed like such a waste. I had even considered giving it away at one point.

Lightbulb.
Hmm. Why not try it in the RF97 but at a lower?

2020May.
Volkl Cyclone 16g Yellow
Main: 50 lbs
Cross: 48 lbs
I had a booking with a 5.0 friend and decided to give the RF97 another try.

Much to my surprise, this stiff, thick string actually felt better! I was getting more spin, which translated to more control. The feel was also slightly better. We played some
tiebreaks and it was pretty close. This might work for me!

The realiry hit me the next day,... I felt a little soreness in my elbow. Deal breaker! I've never had tennis elbow and have absolutely zero tolerance of even risking going down that road of pain.

Back to my 95D, but I knew its days were numbered bc grommets were no longer made for it and I was down to my last spare grommet.

Well at least I experienced a glimmer of hope for the RF97. Could there be some string setup/combo out there that could make the RF97 work for me? The candle of hope was dim but not extinguished yet...

To be continued.
 
Last edited:
A

AmericanTwist

Professional
OP how have you not tried poly/natural gut 54-57 lbs? or even syn gut/natural gut a few pounds higher? Opens up the string bed and gives you control and power. If you insist on full poly you can try the low 50s {ambient temps dependent on all).
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Part 3.

I had a few reels of Babolat VS Touch natural gut I had purchased from TW during one of their past sales. One set went into my 100+ year old wood racquet. A half set went into a gut/poly hybrid for my Japan Edition Hyper Prostaff 85.

Another half set left. Hmm... How about the RF97?

2020 August
Babolat VS Touch - 1.30mm, 60 lbs
Volk Cyclone - 1.25mm, 56.5 lbs

At this point I didn't hold out much hope, but this was the first time using gut in modern racquet in a long time. How was it? I can't say it was bad.

Even at a higher tension, this hybrid felt fairly soft and muted to me. Power was pretty good and decent spin but feel and feedback was still a bit too muted for me. You might have to take this with a grain of salt, though. I'm the guy that used a PS85 with synthetic gut at 65-67 lbs and a bare leather grip and no dampener for many years and loved it. I was addicted to the feel and feedback and never had wrist, elbow or shoulder problems.

At the net and on short balls near the service line I just couldn't quite control the ball and struggled to make adjustments with it. I'd occasionally hit some fantastic shots but I just couldn't deliver consistency with this setup.

I still had hope that there was some magical setup out there that would work for me on the RF97, but I was beginning to think this quest was like someone looking for a magical youtube instructional video to transform them from a 3.5 to 5.0 player.

To be continued.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Around this same time, I decided to get a Wilson Blade Pro 16x19. I picked an L2 grip to give it a try. I had been using L3 for the last few years. I was hoping that if I liked the Blade Pro then it could replace my Yonex 95D. Little did I know that grommets for the Blade Pro would become almost as difficult to get as 95D grommets, but that's another story. Also, the Blade Pro would end up being super string sensitive to me and difficult to find a good setup.

I had been playing around with different strings and tensions on my Blade Pro. The strings in it were currently very loose but for some reason I felt bad about cutting them out. So instead I decided to string up my RF97 again and use that instead. I decided to use Volkl Cyclone yellow again but at a slightly lower tension since I was about to play on clay.

2022 November.
Volkl Cyclone 16g (yellow)
49 / 47 lbs

On clay, it felt... surprisingly okay. Lots of spin and plough through. Serves didn't feel as powerful as my Blade Pro 16x19, but on clay it didn't matter as much.

Touch was not great but not horrible since I was mostly taking bigger cuts from further behind the baseline.

After a few more times with it on clay, I was beginning to like it even more.

Then I tried it on a hard court. Blah. Not as good. The weaker serves hurt me as I rely on my serve. Feel and touch also wasn't as good, but not horrible. Since I play mostly on hardcourts, I decided to go back to my Blade Pro again and then use the RF97 on clay sometimes.

Was this the fate of my RF97. Was it going to just be a clay mistress?

To be continued.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Fintft said:
I'll take BP 16x19 over RF97 myself.
Click to expand...
I've been using the BP 16x19 for the last 1+ years. I like it overall, but I bought it with L2 as an experiment and now I realize it is just too small for my backhand and I need an L3. Might put it up for sale later this year if I can find one in L3. There are some things the RF97 does better, though. (but then again, it might be due to the L3 grip vs L2)
 
Fintft

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
onehandbh said:
I've been using the BP 16x19 for the last 1+ years. I like it overall, but I bought it with L2 as an experiment and now I realize it is just too small for my backhand and I need an L3. Might put it up for sale later this year if I can find one in L3. There are some things the RF97 does better, though. (but then again, it might be due to the L3 grip vs L2)
Click to expand...
I went the opposite way from an L4 in BP/RF97A to L3 to Shift(which is thicker, it seems).
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Fintft said:
I went the opposite way from an L4 in BP/RF97A to L3 to Shift(which is thicker, it seems).
Click to expand...
I've slowly gone down in grip size over the years. From L5+ to L5 to L4 to L3. L2 is where i draw the line. Definitely play worse with L3 on my backhand. Just not stable enough on higher balls.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
2023 March.
A few months later I was hitting with a few friends who are a bit better than the usual mixed group I play with. My Blade Pro (and it's L2 grip) felt a bit erratic and I had a hard time with my backhand. I had brought my RF97 just in case a string broke and switched to it. Instantly everything felt better. Better depth, spin, control. Serves were still a bit more difficult than my Blade Pro, though. The extra 10 grams threw off my timing and my serve wasn't that great. Ground strokes and volleys were better, though.

After returning from a 3 week vacation, I decided to restring my RF97 using my reel of Isospeed Greyfire I got from @J011yroger
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
2023 May.
RF97 Auto
Volk Cyclone 16g Yellow, 50 lbs
Isospeed Greyfire 16g, 48 lbs

Again on a hard court. Felt a little like the full bed of Cyclone 16g but a bit more spin and control. So far I have played three times with it. Dropshots and touch? Meh. But on almost everything else, it is better than my blade pro and even my Yonex 95D.

Groundstrokes:
This is where the RF97 with this string combo shines. It just seems be able to absorb and neutralize heavy shots really well. All I have to do is coil, relax and let it rip. Predictable, effortless power and spin. I can't ask for more. The lauch angle is a bit high but the extra spin pulls it down. Hitting long is not a problem. Stretched out wide? No problem. Low, short balls? Just buggy whip with a reverse forehand. I'm really amazed at how much spin I can get. Almost feels like a more stable version of the aeropro series. My topspin onehander feels so stable -- even on shoulder high balls. What I am pleased with the most is that I am able to hit with better depth on a more consistent basis with this setup.

Volleys & overheads:
It's a wall. All I need to do is set the racquet in front of me with a short punch. I haven't quite figured out how to hit good dropshots and angled volleys yet because it does have a bit more muted feel, but hopefully it's just a matter of time before I figure it out. On high volleys, it's pretty awesome. So easy. Solid.

Serves:
Kick serves are so effortless. The weight probably does a lot of the work. Just need to get into a loaded trophy position and unwind. Really good net clearance. Flatter serves are getting there. I can't quite hit as hard as my Blade Pro yet, but it might be just a matter of time and timing. A lot of serves hitting several feet up on the ball back wall without much effort. I the last time I hit with @Injured Again, he said I was able to do the same thing with the Blade Pro (18x20), so maybe this is just my biased imagination. Precision and accuracy isn't quite there yet. This is most likely due to my inconsistent toss and only serving once a week (I play once a week only).

So far on hard courts, it has felt good. Can't wait to try it on red clay next.

I know the RF97 is supposedly pretty stiff, but it feels like it absorbs a lot of shock and strung around 50 lbs, it feels very comfortable to me. Forgot to mention that I am using the all black version that was released a couple years ago. Not sure if they have changed with each version.

Might end up selling my blade pros. The one thing I like about the blade pro is that it is more polarized.

*I grew up using fairly heavy racquets so I don't mind the weight. It don't get more tired from it at all. Only my legs eventually get tired, but that is from running around on the court. I think my Blade Pro with a leather grip is the lightest racquet I have used (about 325g unstrung).
 
I

Injured Again

Hall of Fame
Those courts we played on are the gritty, lower bouncing ones and it takes a pretty decently struck serve to reach the back wall (21 feet behind the baseline) on the bounce. Yours were hitting 2-3 feet up so that shows gou were hitting them well.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
Injured Again said:
Those courts we played on are the gritty, lower bouncing ones and it takes a pretty decently struck serve to reach the back wall (21 feet behind the baseline) on the bounce. Yours were hitting 2-3 feet up so that shows gou were hitting them well.
Click to expand...
Thus far I have only used it on slow courts in warm, humid weather. Can't wait to try the RF97 in cold weather this coming winter. Will sell a few of my racquets to pay for another RF97. Might get a Pro Staff 97 instead and add weight to make it more polarized. I wonder how the stiffness of the PS97 (66) vs RF97 (68) will be.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
I am at about the 11 hour mark with this string combo. Still playable and only the mains are noticeably notched and can still slide on the Isospeed crosses. Tension is getting slightly lower, though. Usually, way before the 10 hour mark, with a full poly stringbed, my mains and crosses would have already notched quite a bit and the strings would all be locked in place by the notches. RF97 still playing well.

Went for a crazy swinging dropshot from the baseline a few days ago in doubles. I was standing a few feet behind the service line and took a huge chopping cut to get as much slice as possible. Incoming ball was a topspin groundstroke. The ball barely cleared the net and then bounced back and almost hit the net. Sort of a lucky shot. I usually can't get it that close to the net.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
After couple more sessions and I finally decided to cut them out. Mains pretty notched and was getting a bit unpredictable on first serves.

I've been liking my RF97A v11 so much that I just pulled the trigger on another one on the used market. I will soon have two.
 
onehandbh

onehandbh

G.O.A.T.
The beast has been resting the last few weeks.

On a whim, I tried using my 95D again. Darn it! I still seem to play better with it -- even after only using it a few times in the last two years. Better serves, more control, better touch shots, better returns.
 
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