"Too heavy?" "Too light?" Meet the Relative Racket Finder

[ohplease]

"Center Of Percussion!!!!" Good grief! I'm a tennis player; not a dad-gum [size=-2][Hard "G"][/size] ENGINEER.

Just to blow your minds, I'm hereby changing C.O.P. to "Coefficient of Pi." (Which won't help me any more than the other meaning....) Holy Cow!

Okay, ohplease. Sometime in the next few months I need to go through the whole DEMO process again. (Ugh!!!)

My racket has been discontinued ... and it wasn't all that popular in the first place ... so there are not large stockpiles of it in store rooms anywhere. I've arrived at some sticks I should demo based BOTH on the "old KK method" (Not at all scientific; just trial and error.) and the "ohplease method."

I'll keep you posted....

- KK

Tell you what KK, let's give it a shot - you tell me what you're looking for in a new frame - and we'll see what the applet says. Just for kicks. Include a couple of parameters, but nothing too specific.

 

[vin]

"Center Of Percussion!!!!" Good grief! I'm a tennis player; not a dad-gum [SIZE=-2][Hard "G"][/SIZE] ENGINEER.

Just to blow your minds, I'm hereby changing C.O.P. to "Coefficient of Pi." (Which won't help me any more than the other meaning....) Holy Cow!

I think it can be helpful. If you know you hit high in the stringbed, wouldn't it make sense to try and find rackets with a higher COP?

 

[Kaptain Karl]

Tell you what KK, let's give it a shot - you tell me what you're looking for in a new frame - and we'll see what the applet says. Just for kicks. Include a couple of parameters, but nothing too specific.

Well, okay.

Here are the specs for my current stick. And see the "BUT" at the end....

Head Size: 100 sq. in. / 645 sq. cm.
Length: 27.5 inches
Strung Weight: 10.3oz / 292g
Balance: 2 pts Head Heavy
Swingweight: 315
Stiffness: 66
Beam Width: 17.5-25 mm
Power Level: Low-Medium
Swing Speed: Moderate-Fast
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 18 Crosses

But ... I've added quite a bit of lead (mostly on the hoop by the throat; but also a bit around the top of the grip and the upper hoop between 9:30 and 2:00) to this racket, which kinda shoots a lot of the above stats, huh? It's now about 11.9oz and 3 points Head Heavy.

Since I've modified this thing so much, it's hardly a V-Con 17 anymore. But I really like how it plays ... so Yonex discontinued it. (It's a plot. I know it.)

Seriously, over the last six months I've been paying attention to different players and their preferences, so I have a list of about ten sticks to "try" and find a replacement. (I anticipated the dropping of the 17.) But your formula may truncate my search. I'm hopeful....

What I like about my racket now is ... everything. I'm 200 lbs and 6'2". I play an All Court game, with an emphasis on Attack the Net. I have a big serve using Slice, Kick and Flat. I hit all strokes off both wings equally comfortably.

What made me "lead up" was, it seemed like I was asking too much of the racket when going for a BIG crosscourt FH or BH; the ball just ... sprayed. Now that I've leaded up, I can nail those shots. (And -- thankfully -- the added weight seems not to have hampered my ability to go for the wide angled serve ... a specialty.)

I "used to be" very easily pleased by Head or Wilson. Four years ago -- when looking for this racket -- I finally gave up on them; they all seemed TOO head light. I've never ever hit with a Prince I liked. I'm leaning toward Pro Kennex or Dunlop....

"TMI"??? Sorry.

- KK

 

[TennisAsAlways]

I think it can be helpful. If you know you hit high in the stringbed, wouldn't it make sense to try and find rackets with a higher COP?

It would only make sense if one wanted to better avoid impulse reaction.

It's all a misconception; that is, a lot of people (Or should I say, most people who I've encountered who mentions about the C.O.P.) think that the center of percussion is the point along the frame that puts the most power in shots. That is not true! The A.C.O.R. with the highest rebound point is the point that generates the most pace.

Good day now. 8)

 

[ohplease]

Well, okay.

Here are the specs for my current stick. And see the "BUT" at the end....

Head Size: 100 sq. in. / 645 sq. cm.
Length: 27.5 inches
Strung Weight: 10.3oz / 292g
Balance: 2 pts Head Heavy
Swingweight: 315
Stiffness: 66
Beam Width: 17.5-25 mm
Power Level: Low-Medium
Swing Speed: Moderate-Fast
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 18 Crosses

But ... I've added quite a bit of lead (mostly on the hoop by the throat; but also a bit around the top of the grip and the upper hoop between 9:30 and 2:00) to this racket, which kinda shoots a lot of the above stats, huh? It's now about 11.9oz and 3 points Head Heavy.

Since I've modified this thing so much, it's hardly a V-Con 17 anymore. But I really like how it plays ... so Yonex discontinued it. (It's a plot. I know it.)

Seriously, over the last six months I've been paying attention to different players and their preferences, so I have a list of about ten sticks to "try" and find a replacement. (I anticipated the dropping of the 17.) But your formula may truncate my search. I'm hopeful....

What I like about my racket now is ... everything. I'm 200 lbs and 6'2". I play an All Court game, with an emphasis on Attack the Net. I have a big serve using Slice, Kick and Flat. I hit all strokes off both wings equally comfortably.

What made me "lead up" was, it seemed like I was asking too much of the racket when going for a BIG crosscourt FH or BH; the ball just ... sprayed. Now that I've leaded up, I can nail those shots. (And -- thankfully -- the added weight seems not to have hampered my ability to go for the wide angled serve ... a specialty.)

I "used to be" very easily pleased by Head or Wilson. Four years ago -- when looking for this racket -- I finally gave up on them; they all seemed TOO head light. I've never ever hit with a Prince I liked. I'm leaning toward Pro Kennex or Dunlop....

"TMI"??? Sorry.

- KK

The most important part of what you just said was 12 oz, and 3 points head heavy. There are NO stock rackets that are like that.

But, let's say you tell the applet you want your range to be taken from sticks that are no lighter than 320 grams, no more than 4 points headlight (any less than that and you have nothing to sample from). Then you remove the bounds on COP (because you obviously like a high sweetspot) and swingweight (because that doesn't seem to bother you). I'll trim the list by eye for 1) prince rackets and 2) dense patterned frames, as the vcon-17 is anything but that

From most mass to least, that results in:

fxp radical tour
ki5
ki5x
instinct tour
7g
ki15 pse
ki10 pse
aeropro drive
warrior os
core 1 no. 10
aeropro drive plus

my personal opinion would trim that down further to:

ki5x
instinct tour*
7g
ki15 pse
ki10 pse*
core 1 no. 10
aeropro drive plus

*'s merit special attention for your crazy spec.

...and a whole lot of lead tape

 

[Kaptain Karl]

ki5x
instinct tour*
7g
ki15 pse
ki10 pse*
core 1 no. 10
aeropro drive plus

*'s merit special attention for your crazy spec.

...and a whole lot of lead tape

Very interesting! Here are the frames I thought I ought to consider -- based on my non-scientific observations. There are notable commonalities....

*ProKennex Kinetic Pro 7G MP
Dunlop M-Fil 200 Plus
Dunlop M-Fil 200 Plus
*Pro Kennex Core 1 No. 10
*Pro Kennex Ki 10 PSE
*Pro Kennex Ki15 PSE
Yonex MP-Tour 1 MP

- KK

 

[Midlife crisis]

The A.C.O.R. with the highest rebound point is the point that generates the most pace.

And the location of that changes depending on the type of shot you are hitting.

 

[lanky]

Ohplease Ive just read all this thread and you deserve to be congratulated on an excellent job.One of the most interesting posts recently in my humble opinion.there are many views/opinions on this board but little quantifiable data(facts?)emerges.I notice certain posters believe themselves to be different from the average + or - 1SD -unlikely but quite possible.Even if they are a lot better than average Im sure they will regress to the mean as they get older!(but perhaps not the mean for their age)Even impossibly regress to the dark side of the mean and have to use a granny stick !Like it or not most of us lie within a normal distribution about the mean ,the majority of our peers use an average racquet because of this.The manufacturers produce a lot of average racquets knowing this .Certain posters egNBMJ appear to state this but in a different way..I believe an average player should play with an average racquet and thankyou for defining and selecting these racquets.PS average racquet means a racquet within the parameters defined-not an averagely good racquet (e.g. not a good racquet.).It is a good racquet for an average player.

 

[TennisAsAlways]

And the location of that changes depending on the type of shot you are hitting.

Dependant upon any of the shot's translational and or rotational movements, if any.