What Is The Real Racquet under Courier's ''Stars & Stripes" pj

[ProStaffFanatic]

I had an 85 sq inch Stars & Stripes years ago and then sold it. The throat was slightly different and the frame was also slightly thicker. I think 18mm.

I tried hitting with it and it felt stiffer and more powerful than a St. Vincent or other prostaff. I think if poly had been around, I might have liked it more.

I still have 3 of them. Used to have 4, but back in the day I had anger issues - let's just leave it at that LOL

Still love the feel of them. But at ~370gr strung, it's way to heavy for me today (and for the modern game also). It just destroys my arm if I go "all out" with them for more then 30 minutes.

 

[onehandbh]

I still have 3 of them. Used to have 4, but back in the day I had anger issues - let's just leave it at that LOL

Still love the feel of them. But at ~370gr strung, it's way to heavy for me today (and for the modern game also). It just destroys my arm if I go "all out" with them for more then 30 minutes.

Did you try stringing them with synthetic gut or maybe a poly/synthgut hybrid?

I've slowly worked my way down in total weight. Used to use the PS85 for years. Around 36x g strung weight.
Now I'm down to 338-341g strung weight (including overgrip) and using a contemporary racquet (blade pro 18x20 and PA98). A little heavier than stock b/c I put in a leather grip and added a couple grams to the head of the PA98.

 

[ProStaffFanatic]

Did you try stringing them with synthetic gut or maybe a poly/synthgut hybrid?

I've slowly worked my way down in total weight. Used to use the PS85 for years. Around 36x g strung weight.
Now I'm down to 338-341g strung weight (including overgrip) and using a contemporary racquet (blade pro 18x20 and PA98). A little heavier than stock b/c I put in a leather grip and added a couple grams to the head of the PA98.

Yeah, I've only just recently moved to a co-poly (lux element).
When I started playing again, with 6.6, I used a syn gut and later on moved to multi (head RIP control). And not even that high tension, it was about 23/24.

It was just too demanding. Been a while since I took them to court again. Have been tempted to, now that my arm is healed and trained up a bit again... But was afraid to get hurt again mid season.
I plan on giving it a swing again over the winter, for old times' sake and kicks and giggles.

 

[onehandbh]

Yeah, I've only just recently moved to a co-poly (lux element).
When I started playing again, with 6.6, I used a syn gut and later on moved to multi (head RIP control). And not even that high tension, it was about 23/24.

It was just too demanding. Been a while since I took them to court again. Have been tempted to, now that my arm is healed and trained up a bit again... But was afraid to get hurt again mid season.
I plan on giving it a swing again over the winter, for old times' sake and kicks and giggles.

One of my friends swears by the flexbar for tennis elbow. It seems to make sense because it forces you to use the opposite direction muscles that we use in tennis. (you twist in opposite directions).

Playing only once a week for a long time, my previously, larger right forearm has now shrunk to the same size as my left forearm. (more or less).

 

[ProStaffFanatic]

One of my friends swears by the flexbar for tennis elbow. It seems to make sense because it forces you to use the opposite direction muscles that we use in tennis. (you twist in opposite directions).

Playing only once a week for a long time, my previously, larger right forearm has now shrunk to the same size as my left forearm. (more or less).

Yeah, I have a theraband flexbar and use it in my workout / maintenance routine regularly. It indeed works very well to strengthen those tendons... But the problem wasn't tennis elbow though. It was just general muscle sore, primarily in the forearm, and general rotator cuff issues. Rotator cuff is a weak spot for me. Had surgery ~15 years ago there for heavy calcification resulting in narrowing of the opening which was damaging my supraspinatus tendon, leading to pretty much permanent inflammation thereof. And as I wasn't playing at that point, and left tennis completely behind me, never bothered to train it back up properly again.

I was fine and pain free for everyday life stuff. When I started playing again with the 6.6 it as good as immediately flared up again... Had plenty of shots, physio and workout to strengthen and stabilize it again.
It's fine enough now, but I still have to be careful and make sure to allow the shoulder to rest after intense playing. If in a tournament I need to play matches day after day, I can't do it without starting up ibuprofen. Not ideal....

OTOH, had an MRI scan couple weeks ago and in it looked pretty fine, so there is much much improvement. Weirdly enough though, they saw signs of trauma on the humeral head which was somewhat consistent with trauma resulting from a dislocated shoulder. But that never happened... Other types of damage typically seen from dislocation also wasn't present. They asked me if I fell on it or if some object fell on my shoulder or something, but I can't remember any such event. If fell once at home a year or two, three ago and perhaps my shoulder did receive some type of shock then, but it's not like I had pain or something so didn't make any of it at the time... But it's the only instance I remember. Very weird. Anyhow, the hurt I have now in my shoulder at times, seems to be resulting from that trauma while the rotator cuff seems just fine

I'm playing masters championship this weekend and then the competition season is over. So I'm scheduled for another shot and physio after that to fix this last thing and hopefully then I can finally play tennis free of worry and pain afterwards


And THEN I'll break out the 6.6's again and hopefully not mess it all up again LOL

 

[onehandbh]

Yeah, I have a theraband flexbar and use it in my workout / maintenance routine regularly. It indeed works very well to strengthen those tendons... But the problem wasn't tennis elbow though. It was just general muscle sore, primarily in the forearm, and general rotator cuff issues. Rotator cuff is a weak spot for me. Had surgery ~15 years ago there for heavy calcification resulting in narrowing of the opening which was damaging my supraspinatus tendon, leading to pretty much permanent inflammation thereof. And as I wasn't playing at that point, and left tennis completely behind me, never bothered to train it back up properly again.

I was fine and pain free for everyday life stuff. When I started playing again with the 6.6 it as good as immediately flared up again... Had plenty of shots, physio and workout to strengthen and stabilize it again.
It's fine enough now, but I still have to be careful and make sure to allow the shoulder to rest after intense playing. If in a tournament I need to play matches day after day, I can't do it without starting up ibuprofen. Not ideal....

OTOH, had an MRI scan couple weeks ago and in it looked pretty fine, so there is much much improvement. Weirdly enough though, they saw signs of trauma on the humeral head which was somewhat consistent with trauma resulting from a dislocated shoulder. But that never happened... Other types of damage typically seen from dislocation also wasn't present. They asked me if I fell on it or if some object fell on my shoulder or something, but I can't remember any such event. If fell once at home a year or two, three ago and perhaps my shoulder did receive some type of shock then, but it's not like I had pain or something so didn't make any of it at the time... But it's the only instance I remember. Very weird. Anyhow, the hurt I have now in my shoulder at times, seems to be resulting from that trauma while the rotator cuff seems just fine

I'm playing masters championship this weekend and then the competition season is over. So I'm scheduled for another shot and physio after that to fix this last thing and hopefully then I can finally play tennis free of worry and pain afterwards


And THEN I'll break out the 6.6's again and hopefully not mess it all up again LOL

Is it the weight of the 6.6 that bothers your shoulder?

For some reason, I can't serve well at all with the RF97A even though I loved serving with the PS85.

Your story is reminder for me to do more rotator cuff exercises. I do a minimal amount at the moment.

 

[ProStaffFanatic]

Is it the weight of the 6.6 that bothers your shoulder?
For some reason, I can't serve well at all with the RF97A even though I loved serving with the PS85.

Well, tbh, it's perhaps hard to tell.... There's a lot of factors at play here.
Doctor and physio certainly advised me to go for a lighter, less demanding, racket.

And it is also true that after switching to the v14 light @290gr unstrung, I had far less pain overall and could play for much longer at a time.

At the same time.... by that point I also already had several shots, some physio and workouts. I also went serving with a basket of balls and a camera and changed my toss to be more to the right which also puts less stress on my shoulder.

Spec wise, the difference between these frames is quite significant...
~320gr strung vs ~370
stiffness about 68 on the v14L vs about 73 on the 6.6
Balance wise the 6.6 is very headlight also. Much of the weight is in the handle, whereas the v14L is pretty evenly balanced.

I would assume it was a combination of everything. Weight, stiffness and an untrained arm / shoulder.

Over the past year I've gradually been adding weight to the V14s also as my arm / shoulder got trained up again. I'm at 302gr unstrung now. DC was so kind to help me out with the customizing and matching. There's 4-5gr of silicon in the buttcap, so that also helps heaps as shock absorber.

Your story is reminder for me to do more rotator cuff exercises. I do a minimal amount at the moment.

Always a good idea. Once that rotator cuff starts giving problems, it takes quite some time to fix it.....
Prevention is key here. Plenty of good exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home. Just 5 to 10 minutes a day will already make a world of difference.
All you need is a couple of weights (even a simple water bottle will do in fact), a rubber band and you're good to go for at least 5 different types of exercises.

 

[onehandbh]

Spec wise, the difference between these frames is quite significant...
~320gr strung vs ~370
stiffness about 68 on the v14L vs about 73 on the 6.6
Balance wise the 6.6 is very headlight also. Much of the weight is in the handle, whereas the v14L is pretty evenly balanced.

One of the reasons it has taken me so long to get used to going down in weight is that the balance of my old racquets were like yours -- very head light. I added a leather grip, which changed the balance a lot on my lighter racquets, but then I found it needing more weight in the head so I added a couple grams. Now I prefer a more polarized setup and full poly.