Ultimate racquet of choice - tournament players and/or coaches

smithie said:
Haha nice plug! Which version of the VCore 95 are you using?
P.s. new picture as suggested!
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Newest. I like it but i wish it was slightly more stable. Other than that no issues for me i think. Customizing is Maybe a bit tricky because adding mass wakes up the stringbed quite a lot and sometimes the launch boost is a little surprising. Ye - its a spin/control frame for sure. I just got head prestige tour so i will check how good is Heads 95” :)
 
Getting closer to another round between the Whiteout and the „missing puzzle” :)
But for now, introduction of a whiteout, the foam filled hybrid of a Blade and Vcore ? Or „sized down” speed mp ? :)

 
Last slot:
Percept 100D vs Head Prestige MP vs Head Prestige Tour vs Solinco Whiteout 18x20 :)


Have you tried Head’s racquet Finder ? :p its rather simple but in my case it showed actually my favourite heads racquet lol. Is tennis that simple ?
 
Here is my full list of racquets:

1. Tecnifibre Tfight 305 ISO 18x19

2. Head Prestige Pro
3. Yonex Percept 97D

4. Tecnifibre TF40 16x19
5. Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ISO 16x19 (already out)

6. Head Radical Pro
7. Diadem Elevate Tour

8. Yonex Vcore 98 Tour
9. Yonex Percept 97H (already out)

10. Missing puzzle - Head Prestige MP / Head Prestige Tour / Yonex Percept 100D / Solinco Whiteout 18x20
11. Solinco Whiteout 16x19

12. Head Speed Pro (already out)
13. Head Gravity Pro

14. Yonex Vcore 95 16x20
 
which racquet do you think will enter my tournament of racquets? LAST SLOT.
GRINDER'S are you there?????? :)

1. Solinco Whiteout 18x20
2. Head Prestige Tour
3. Head Prestige MP
4. Yonex Percept 100D

now briefly about those racquets and my initial thoughts:
Head Prestige Tour - closest racquet to my ex Angell TC95 16x19. More traditional, more linear response (good) but still quite versatile (you can mix up your style and give different balls to the opponent). The sweet spot is amazingly well defined. Addictive and fun to play with. BUT ---- it's not as easy to hit clean.
Head Prestige MP - 18x19 pattern!! thinner beam than the Tour. 99" - more forgiving headsize. it is more spin friendly than the Tour but the sweet spot is a bit more muted which can be good or bad (i can use stiff strings to bring up the feel a bit towards what I think I would prefer lol). The ball travels more up-down but still with very connected "Prestige like" response.
Yonex Percept 100D - another 18x19 pattern! this one is stiffer in response than the Prestige MP. So the feel and response is more direct, more linear, closer to Prestige Tour. The power level is the biggest. We have Karue Sell as a leader of Percept 100D movement ^^ We've seen Agassi testing it for fun. So there is something interesting already behind this stick.
Solinco Whiteout 18x20 - this i haven't tried yet. I really like the Whiteout 16x19 for it's all around performance but the feel could be improved. Almost every reviewer who tested both whiteouts prefer the 18x20 version so this is also quite exciting. More "focused" version of a Speed Pro could be what I am looking for.
 
galapagos said:
which racquet do you think will enter my tournament of racquets? LAST SLOT.
GRINDER'S are you there?????? :)

1. Solinco Whiteout 18x20
2. Head Prestige Tour
3. Head Prestige MP
4. Yonex Percept 100D

now briefly about those racquets and my initial thoughts:
Head Prestige Tour - closest racquet to my ex Angell TC95 16x19. More traditional, more linear response (good) but still quite versatile (you can mix up your style and give different balls to the opponent). The sweet spot is amazingly well defined. Addictive and fun to play with. BUT ---- it's not as easy to hit clean.
Head Prestige MP - 18x19 pattern!! thinner beam than the Tour. 99" - more forgiving headsize. it is more spin friendly than the Tour but the sweet spot is a bit more muted which can be good or bad (i can use stiff strings to bring up the feel a bit towards what I think I would prefer lol). The ball travels more up-down but still with very connected "Prestige like" response.
Yonex Percept 100D - another 18x19 pattern! this one is stiffer in response than the Prestige MP. So the feel and response is more direct, more linear, closer to Prestige Tour. The power level is the biggest. We have Karue Sell as a leader of Percept 100D movement ^^ We've seen Agassi testing it for fun. So there is something interesting already behind this stick.
Solinco Whiteout 18x20 - this i haven't tried yet. I really like the Whiteout 16x19 for it's all around performance but the feel could be improved. Almost every reviewer who tested both whiteouts prefer the 18x20 version so this is also quite exciting. More "focused" version of a Speed Pro could be what I am looking for.
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1/4 of my work here is done xd

next - Percept 100D!
 
landcookie said:
Are you going to try the Ezone 100 like Murray :sneaky:
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Already tried. I have the video so i guess the timing would be perfect haha. Surprisingly I like it more than the ezone 98 but the jump in power and feel is huge from other frames so i didnt really think about the switch. Most stable and powerful frame I tried so far (in stock form). The juice is serious with it :p
 
galapagos said:
Already tried. I have the video so i guess the timing would be perfect haha. Surprisingly I like it more than the ezone 98 but the jump in power and feel is huge from other frames so i didnt really think about the switch. Most stable and powerful frame I tried so far (in stock form). The juice is serious with it :p
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Imagine how powerful Murrays' heavily customized Ezones would be o_O

He still didn't win much matches or improved his game since he switched to Yonex.
I think he better switched to a frame with a slightly bigger headsize than his old PT57As 16x19 like the Prestige Pro 16x19 or MPL (that he also demoed earlier).
 
galapagos said:
which racquet do you think will enter my tournament of racquets? LAST SLOT.
GRINDER'S are you there?????? :)

1. Solinco Whiteout 18x20
2. Head Prestige Tour
3. Head Prestige MP
4. Yonex Percept 100D

now briefly about those racquets and my initial thoughts:
Head Prestige Tour - closest racquet to my ex Angell TC95 16x19. More traditional, more linear response (good) but still quite versatile (you can mix up your style and give different balls to the opponent). The sweet spot is amazingly well defined. Addictive and fun to play with. BUT ---- it's not as easy to hit clean.
Head Prestige MP - 18x19 pattern!! thinner beam than the Tour. 99" - more forgiving headsize. it is more spin friendly than the Tour but the sweet spot is a bit more muted which can be good or bad (i can use stiff strings to bring up the feel a bit towards what I think I would prefer lol). The ball travels more up-down but still with very connected "Prestige like" response.
Yonex Percept 100D - another 18x19 pattern! this one is stiffer in response than the Prestige MP. So the feel and response is more direct, more linear, closer to Prestige Tour. The power level is the biggest. We have Karue Sell as a leader of Percept 100D movement ^^ We've seen Agassi testing it for fun. So there is something interesting already behind this stick.
Solinco Whiteout 18x20 - this i haven't tried yet. I really like the Whiteout 16x19 for it's all around performance but the feel could be improved. Almost every reviewer who tested both whiteouts prefer the 18x20 version so this is also quite exciting. More "focused" version of a Speed Pro could be what I am looking for.
Click to expand...
Since I switched to it 2 months ago, my vote's for the Prestige MP haha. I agree that it's a bit muted (strung w/ confidential 1.20 at 50 lbs) but that's solved by skipping the dampener. With a dampener, it was very hard to gauge where on the stringbed I struck the ball unless I framed it. You just hear a kind of thud and there the shot goes. Spectacular plow-through, it does not wobble. Anyway, I'm biased bc of my usage but would like to see more feedback on it.
 
pgh10-4 said:
Since I switched to it 2 months ago, my vote's for the Prestige MP haha. I agree that it's a bit muted (strung w/ confidential 1.20 at 50 lbs) but that's solved by skipping the dampener. With a dampener, it was very hard to gauge where on the stringbed I struck the ball unless I framed it. You just hear a kind of thud and there the shot goes. Spectacular plow-through, it does not wobble. Anyway, I'm biased bc of my usage but would like to see more feedback on it.
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I am hitting with it today for 1h. If I get enough footage I will drop it just after the 100D :)
My initial thoughts are that I would try adding leather grip to increase not only feel/feedback but also to get a bit more HL setup. Do you customize yours in any way?
 
Gee said:
Imagine how powerful Murrays' heavily customized Ezones would be o_O

He still didn't win much matches or improved his game since he switched to Yonex.
I think he better switched to a frame with a slightly bigger headsize than his old PT57As 16x19 like the Prestige Pro 16x19 or MPL (that he also demoed earlier).
Click to expand...
Ye, i am following his story with great interest. Can a switch like that work for his game style and habbits? I am thinking. What If I am doomed as well? Will I play my best with 95” frames ?
I agree that this switch sounds like a bit too extreme move. Djokovic made the switch dropped one cross string, lowered the specs and still called it as a huge change in a pro tennis. Ezone100 is like changing the sport hahaha
Havent tried pt57a 16x19 but i can say that mp-L is quite interesting ! So is the MP version
 
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galapagos said:
I am hitting with it today for 1h. If I get enough footage I will drop it just after the 100D :)
My initial thoughts are that I would try adding leather grip to increase not only feel/feedback but also to get a bit more HL setup. Do you customize yours in any way?
Click to expand...
My only customization was swapping in leather grips. The ones I used were made by Tourna (was not impressed by the quality) which added about 7 grams. Some improvement in responsiveness but still too muted with a dampener. The maneuverability is surprisingly good for a 330+ SW frame, even with the default synthetic grips so adding leather wasn't too drastic of a change. I didn't add any lead, even to counter balance the leather, as it's already pretty stable. I'm planning on restringing w/ 4G soft 1.25, same tension to see how it plays with a round poly w/ similar stiffness as confidential. Enjoying this racket quite a bit, easier to play with compared with my CX200 Tour 18x20's and C10 Pros.
 
galapagos said:
Ye, i am following his story with great interest. Can a switch like that work for his game style and habbits? I am thinking. What If I am doomed as well? Will I play my best with 95” frames ?
I agree that this switch sounds like a bit too extreme move. Djokovic made the switch dropped one cross string, lowered the specs and still called it as a huge change in a pro tennis. Ezone100 is like changing the sport hahaha
Havent tried pt57a 16x19 but i can say that mp-L is quite interesting ! So is the MP version
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is a good question.

Currently I also have that kind of dilemma as I switched from Prince Phantom 100x 18x20 to the Head Prestige Pro Auxetic 1.0 a few month ago.

From those practice matches I learned that it doesn't make much difference between these two frames.

I noticed I can hit through with more confidence with the Head PP than the P100x 18x20 as it is lower powered. Besides it is also a bit more precise and maneuverable because of the smaller headsize but on the other hand a little more demanding as well. For instance I sometimes mishit with the Head PP while the ball still lands within the lines by accident. Maybe I'm just a bit spoiled by the huge sweetspot of the Phantom.

It also depends on the surface which one I would prefer. In that way I think I'll prefer the bigger sweetspot of the Prince Phantom on clay. I used to play on artificial grass courts where ball bounces stay rather low.

Finally I think I enjoy the Prestige Pro more because it is just a more exciting frame and I feel I play a better quality tennis with it.
 
Gee said:
Yeah, that is a good question.

Currently I also have that kind of dilemma as I switched from Prince Phantom 100x 18x20 to the Head Prestige Pro Auxetic 1.0 a few month ago.

From those practice matches I learned that it doesn't make much difference between these two frames.

I noticed I can hit through with more confidence with the Head PP than the P100x 18x20 as it is lower powered. Besides it is also a bit more precise and maneuverable because of the smaller headsize but on the other hand a little more demanding as well. For instance I sometimes mishit with the Head PP while the ball still lands within the lines by accident. Maybe I'm just a bit spoiled by the huge sweetspot of the Phantom.

It also depends on the surface which one I would prefer. In that way I think I'll prefer the bigger sweetspot of the Prince Phantom on clay. I used to play on artificial grass courts where ball bounces stay rather low.

Finally I think I enjoy the Prestige Pro more because it is just a more exciting frame and I feel I play a better quality tennis with it.
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it is a great frame for sure but from my experience you have to accelerate your wrist quite well everytime. it's not the best on defense so you have to stay on the gas and make sure to be the attacking side. and then it shines the best because it provides the feel and control needed for those aggresive whips. Those who don't have that weapons can use the touch to place the ball deep or play with tight angles. I prefer to hit more through the court as playing with angles is in my head a more "risky" shot and I overall play high % tennis.
funny fact: there are few frames that gave me best topspin. in my top 5 there would be IG prestige MP 18x20. for some reason it worked with my forehand amazingly well. low sw, high static weight and low balance point is quite good on my forehand usually....this IG prestige mp even had some mass at the handle. +5g I think.
 
pgh10-4 said:
My only customization was swapping in leather grips. The ones I used were made by Tourna (was not impressed by the quality) which added about 7 grams. Some improvement in responsiveness but still too muted with a dampener. The maneuverability is surprisingly good for a 330+ SW frame, even with the default synthetic grips so adding leather wasn't too drastic of a change. I didn't add any lead, even to counter balance the leather, as it's already pretty stable. I'm planning on restringing w/ 4G soft 1.25, same tension to see how it plays with a round poly w/ similar stiffness as confidential. Enjoying this racket quite a bit, easier to play with compared with my CX200 Tour 18x20's and C10 Pros.
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this is exactly what I would do with the MP! I have a feeling that Solinco Tour Bite could work well in that frame as it's soooo comfy that you can put everything in it.
also - i tried this frame with hawk touch and although the feel was very very muted it worked with that frame quite well (better than head lynx tour). I had more feel and spin with hawk touch because the pocketing and dwell time increased A LOT and I could really make the string work for me. You should try it, With lynx tour the launch angle increases and it's harder to hit flat with spin.
 
galapagos said:
it is a great frame for sure but from my experience you have to accelerate your wrist quite well everytime. it's not the best on defense so you have to stay on the gas and make sure to be the attacking side. and then it shines the best because it provides the feel and control needed for those aggresive whips. Those who don't have that weapons can use the touch to place the ball deep or play with tight angles. I prefer to hit more through the court as playing with angles is in my head a more "risky" shot and I overall play high % tennis.
funny fact: there are few frames that gave me best topspin. in my top 5 there would be IG prestige MP 18x20. for some reason it worked with my forehand amazingly well. low sw, high static weight and low balance point is quite good on my forehand usually....this IG prestige mp even had some mass at the handle. +5g I think.
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You're right regarding defence. This is where a bigger more forgiving headsize (or even only more open string pattern) will definitely help.
At doubles I used to be on the attack and the Head PP works very well with my overheads and return of serves. Maybe I should play my allcourt singles game with my Phantoms or maybe try the MP-L or Prestige Pro 16x19.
 
galapagos said:
Memories with angell tc95

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Very recognizable as I owned all those Angells as well.

Agree that the feel of the foam filled Angells are one of the best.

I also played with the Wilson Ultra Tours for an year that have a great feel. Maybe I even enjoyed those ones even more than the Angells.

I only think it is such a hassle to customize them to my specs. That is an big advantage to Angell as they'll do that for you.

Besides I would still like have a bit more forgiveness. Maybe the 16x19 is an option but it is still an expensive one and hard to obtain as well.
 
Gee said:
Very recognizable as I owned all those Angells as well.

Agree that the feel of the foam filled Angells are one of the best.

I also played with the Wilson Ultra Tours for an year that have a great feel. Maybe I even enjoyed those ones even more than the Angells.

I only think it is such a hassle to customize them to my specs. That is an big advantage to Angell as they'll do that for you.

Besides I would still like have a bit more forgiveness. Maybe the 16x19 is an option but it is still an expensive one and hard to obtain as well.
Click to expand...
Ye, i really hate customizing…it can be a very frustrating process
 
Gee said:
You're right regarding defence. This is where a bigger more forgiving headsize (or even only more open string pattern) will definitely help.
At doubles I used to be on the attack and the Head PP works very well with my overheads and return of serves. Maybe I should play my allcourt singles game with my Phantoms or maybe try the MP-L or Prestige Pro 16x19.
Click to expand...
You know whats interesting about the Prestige Pro 16x19? In theory its a „perfect” frame for us. But so far all the reviews are telling that perhaps the frame is too anemic.
 
galapagos said:
You know whats interesting about the Prestige Pro 16x19? In theory its a „perfect” frame for us. But so far all the reviews are telling that perhaps the frame is too anemic.
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Yes perfect specs (98sq inch, 20mm, 16x19 with 8 mains into the bridge, 58RA strung).
I only would beef up the swingweight a bit by adding some lead at 10 and 2 and counterbalance with a leather grip.
However it is still a bit expensive or maybe I should just give myself a treat and buy one from my holiday pay. ;)
 
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Gee said:
Yes perfect specs (98sq inch, 20mm, 16x19 with 8 mains into the bridge, 58RA strung).
I only would beef up the swingweight a bit by adding some lead at 10 and 2 and counterbalance with a leather grip.
However it is still a bit expensive or maybe I should just give myself a treat and buy one from my holiday pay. ;)
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Yap. To be honest even on paper stock specs look perfect. I believe 325 sw ? Its basicly my tc95 (but with tighter spacing and more forgiving headsize). Delicious… :)

prestige MP-L is also interesting (performance) but totally different feel. And in stock form anemic. The sw should be higher in stock form because for the prestige the power lvl is just too low and makes the frame erratic. However customizing is quite easy and takes the mass well. Leather, some mass at 12 or 10&2 and its ready to go. I made the review of it and you can see the spin potential of this frame. The ball really dips down nicely and despite the higher launch and big spin potential the response is somehow more control oriented than with tc95. Mainly because the power of tc95 is also quite big where with the prestige you have to work for it.
So you really need to bring up the sw Otherwise this spin potential will push the ball to the net with every faster acceleration.
 
galapagos said:
Ye, i am following his story with great interest. Can a switch like that work for his game style and habbits? I am thinking. What If I am doomed as well? Will I play my best with 95” frames ?
I agree that this switch sounds like a bit too extreme move. Djokovic made the switch dropped one cross string, lowered the specs and still called it as a huge change in a pro tennis. Ezone100 is like changing the sport hahaha
Havent tried pt57a 16x19 but i can say that mp-L is quite interesting ! So is the MP version
Click to expand...
There isn't a large sample size of Murray matches post Ezone switch, but there is definitely more juice on his shots from the one's I have seen, a la match with Stan.

Unfortunately I think he needs more time to adjust (he could be retired by then!) as it totally changes the rhythm of his game. He's making a lot of uncharacteristic UE's and if I had to guess it looks like the result of the ball coming back a fraction quicker and he needs to play that .001 second quicker than he is used to.
 
Vcore 100 vs ezone 100. Tested like 1 year ago as I wanted to show them to aspiring pro female player. I took with me also tempo Iga 298 and yonex vcore 98 and head extreme mp. I guess if I took blade 98 it would be a complete „wta lineup” ?


Tempo, ezone 100 and vcore 100 were the most „special”. Out of those If I had to pick something it would be tempo or vcore 100. Most spin friendly with enough stability and feel.

Girl from the video liked tempo and vcore 98 the most. Something about the confidence from a smaller headsize and ball launch (coming from a radical mp)
 
galapagos said:
However…its prebuilt with not as much exciting specs so this is a bit problematic. 32.5 cm is my least preferred balance point.
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yourtennisfit said:
You can customize it to about every balance point pos
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galapagos said:
Not with this racquet. Its a part of custom line (foam filled) but no option to customize it through Angell.
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I understand that that particular model is a predefined version with a standard setup but you can configure it with your own setup (weight, grip shape and base grip, etc.) by the total custom configurator.
 
Gee said:
I understand that that particular model is a predefined version with a standard setup but you can configure it with your own setup (weight, grip shape and base grip, etc.) by the total custom configurator.
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Imo we are not given this option. I couldnt mod it
 
Gee said:
You still didn't got it. You can select the TC99 and other things like balance, weight, grip type, etc from the custom configurator like @yourtennisfit also mentioned.
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ahhh ok, now I see it. lol it's a little changed now. previously selecting any custom line angell automatically pushed towards specs selecting. OK SO THE EXCITEMENT IS BACK xd

1. 320g / 310mm

2. 320g / 305mm

3. 325g / 305 mm


hmm? :)
 
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Percept 100D review. compared it to radical mp and speed pro. I think Percept 100D is kinda somewhere in between those two :) maybe Tfight 305 is missing hmm :)

 
Prestige MP guys. I am telling you :) especially if you are usually playing with speed pro or gravity pro but want something slightly different yet within this range of frames :)
 
@galapagos
Hi galapagos,
I really enjoy this thread and you made me think about to try the Elevate 98, because it checks a lot of my preferred attributes.

But, how does the grip shape of Diadem rackets compare with the major brands?
Thanks in advance.
 
GermanBeast said:
@galapagos
Hi galapagos,
I really enjoy this thread and you made me think about to try the Elevate 98, because it checks a lot of my preferred attributes.

But, how does the grip shape of Diadem rackets compare with the major brands?
Thanks in advance.
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In stock form its quite close to Yonex from my experience (slightly bigger in feel). Kinda mix between Wilson and Yonex. But maybe its connected with the fact that their replacement grip is quite thick and heavy. When I replaced it with a leather the feel became much closer to Wilson. Anyway. I would still stick to the same grip size that you are using with any other brand.
Elevate is great! It was my main for a while coming from angell tc95 to prestige mp (now known as a pro) to TF40 and landing on Elevate. Elevate unfortunately was a bit unstable for me. While i was customizing it i found the perfect setup that i absolutely loved. It was perfect. But i got greedy i guess because i kept customizing and couldnt find the groove again even after recreating my beloved setup. Thats how Elevate tour eventually won it for me as its ready in stock form (However i do prefer the dwell time of the regular version). Elevate tour is in my tournament of racquets ! :)

Cheers!
Dan
 
Seems to be just a paint job update. TF40's have nice feel and good control. Just fairly low power-to-spec, like more control frames. Good for strong males, in or close to their physical prime, at a 4.5-ish level or higher, who like to play all-court attack. Or novelty rec hitting / dad doubles, if your really enjoy the frame that much. Much further outside that envelope, there are probably better choices.
 
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