What is your one wish for the racquet industry going forward?

gino

Legend
Put the feel back in the racquets. So much muting tech now that the frames just don't feel good at all. Even the "arm killer" older Pure Drives feel 100X better than the new version which is muted and dead.

But for frames like Gravity, Speed, Blade..etc - there is no excuse for muting them this much. Even the new Prestige Pro suffers a bit from this, imo.

Has to be a way to make classic frames with some punch, I mean Volkl figure it out 25 years ago.

And yes, please bring back the epic Donnay-looking paint jobs.

But please stop muting all the racquets..its ridiculous

Totally agree man, that broad stroke of “let’s mute it” has been too common of an attribute to all flagship frames in the modern market. For some silos this makes sense, if someone has a long history of arm issues they should be able to go to a silo that can give them the muted/less raw reaction. I feel like this was an overcorrevtion in the industry, so hoping it’s just a phase
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
How about making a few racquet models with strung weights around 12 to 12.5 ozs also? Right now anyone wanting to play with a heavier midplus has to buy an older model or do their own customization. Babolat didn’t make a Tour version of either the Strike or Strike 97 in the latest Gen. Other companies also have few offerings in this range. There are still a few older advanced players kicking around who didn’t learn to play with lighter sticks.
 
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Trip

Legend
In order of importance:

1) More Feel - 1000000% in agreement with @Power Player -- PLEASE, for the love of god, increase feel/connectedness! Even if static weights have to rise a bit to do it, fine. People could do with some higher stock recoil weight anyways (which would also help boost comfort, in and of itself... imagine that!). Mainly though: with co-poly's finally starting to turn the corner on comfort, we don't need anywhere near as much of this muting "tech" nonsense as we did with the earlier-gen poly's (many of which felt more like string trimmer line than tennis string...). The good news is, OEMs are starting to clean up their layups, albeit slowly. Babolat has started to reverse course. Yonex is slowly starting to reverse course. Wilson is painfully slowly starting to reverse course. Head is still a victim of change for the sake of needless change (ex: Auxetic 2.0, mostly just removing feel if it's doing anything... hopefully, they'll get back on the path after Aux 2.0). But overall, we're getting there, hopefully.

2) Quality Control (QC) / Quality Assurance (QA) - No, I don't want a tennis racquet to have to cost $500, either. But don't tell me that you can't advertise an unstrung spec -- INCLUDING SWING WEIGHT -- and hit a way more reasonable standard of deviation. Of all OEMs, freaking Prince has been doing it (swing weight included) for a few generations now... and largely nailing it. So don't tell me it can't be done. Absolute nonsense. I mean, we're still at the point where whole groups of silos should just come with a sign "Mandatory retailer matching service required". This has to change for the better.

3) Full Glossy Paint Jobs - An absolute no-brainer. Across the board. Really, nothing more needs to be said here. You all saw the poll from a few months ago. Preferred unanimously by all ages, all backgrounds. There's simply no debate. All of you OEMs, just make it happen. Period. (Or yes, for the purists, you can make it "satin", or "dimpled", or whatever finish travels fastest through the air, but the point is - there needs to be higher-quality top-coating done on all frames, ala yesteryear)

Those are my big three for now. I would presume most would agree?
 
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sherpa

Rookie
I would like more open pattern string spacing in a 22mm 105 frame with a nice dark gloss paint job preferably black
 

gino

Legend
Noticing a ton of requests for gloss - which was the norm let’s say 10-15 years ago

Trying to think other than Wilson pro labs what frames have a glossy finish. Head prestige has half gloss. Babolat had the strike VS in the prior gen, current Aeros are glossy. Am I missing any others ?
 

Shroud

Talk Tennis Guru
I am a total outlier. Sadly I can’t just buy a stick. I have to buy light and add weight. Doable but I like stiff frames. All the stiff frames are 110” mostly. Said another way, there arent and 95” frames that are 70+ in stiffness and 250g. But I get it. The extra 4 racquets sold won’t exactly help the market.

So I suppose as long as they make lead, shockshield replacement grips and kevlar strings i can play till death, regardless of the racquets out there.
 

gino

Legend
A racket with Prestige feel and control.. easy pure drive power and spin with out a high swing weight or high static weight.. that doesn't hurt my hand, wrist, elbow or shoulder.
Foam filled would be a bonus..

I personally feel like the blade pro 16x19 is pretty close to this. Prestige feel is hard to replicate, the BP 16 doesn’t flex enough in the throat to be prestige-esque
 

lim

Professional
Better looking paintjobs i.e. yonex. Wilson and head get the award for most bland the past few years. The last good Prostaff pj was the 2015 red/black. The all black PS gets an exception but that scheme was basically a knock off of the ncodes. The red/white was really a goat pj.
 

dgf.

New User
I have a fervent hope that some company will invent a technology where we can adjust the tension after the strings have already been attached. Well, hoping doesn't cost a thing, does it? Hehe.
 

SpinToWin

Talk Tennis Guru
I’d like to see some more experimentation with tight string patterns. The Wilson S craze went way too far, but we have a few pros using 18x19 string patterns and Dimitrov using an 18x18. I think this is another avenue to add sth new and different to the market and would like to see it.

Otherwise I co-sign on the feel and glossy paint angle. The muting and matting of everything has gone too far.
 

HeavyHitter

Rookie
More grip sizes! L2 , L2.5 , L3, L3.5 would be amazing! Each brand has their unique grip shapes and I always find myself wanting something in between depending on the brand. Tecnifibre grips always feel half size too small, Babolat feels half size too big.
 

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
I have a fervent hope that some company will invent a technology where we can adjust the tension after the strings have already been attached. Well, hoping doesn't cost a thing, does it? Hehe.
You missed the McGregor Berglin Longstring. Strings went down into the handle. You inserted a knob and dialed in your desired tension.
 

SpinToWin

Talk Tennis Guru
Wouldn’t be hard to make a racket with 16x20 and 16x19 In the same racket. Make it 16x20 and if people want 16x19 they can skip the top cross?
not really, that doesn’t change the string spacing which is one of the reasons to have different amounts of crosses.
 
Best wish is to stop raising the prices with these "limited runs" and "special editions". Fed and wilson really milked the Laver cup paintjobs, as well as babolat and the VS line. It flopped in their face when they were only selling the original pure drive vs in pairs, then realized months later it wasn't selling, and had to allow individual racquets to be sold.

Keep racquets at $199 and see how much tennis will grow. Until then, it'll remain a country club sport. Then you wonder why the USTA can't make slam champions
 

AndrewUtz

Semi-Pro
I miss the carbon fiber and wood grain and different textures we used to see on racquets in the early 00’s like the prince triple threat and dunlop muscle weave. and for christs sake BRING BACK GLOSS.
 

heavyD

Professional
Extendable handle so you can go 27.75/27.5/27.25 etc.
Puma did this decades back with the Becker racquets. Outside of the fact that I never gelled with the racquet, the screw would always move so the length would change on you. As for the topic gloss paint and better qc would be at the top of my wish list.
 

Boredsurfer

Semi-Pro
INTERCHANGABLE PALLETS! Really - is it so hard? They are literally wedges of plastic. Shops could remove/replace easily with a heat gun. Also this would allow for different shapes if needed for further customization. Also sell lead or tungsten weights in pre weighted strips.... again - how hard would that be? sheesh.
 

leng jai

Rookie
Noticing a ton of requests for gloss - which was the norm let’s say 10-15 years ago

Trying to think other than Wilson pro labs what frames have a glossy finish. Head prestige has half gloss. Babolat had the strike VS in the prior gen, current Aeros are glossy. Am I missing any others ?

The matte black parts of the 2023 Prestige look terrible, I have no idea what they were doing there.
 

gino

Legend
I miss the carbon fiber and wood grain and different textures we used to see on racquets in the early 00’s like the prince triple threat and dunlop muscle weave. and for christs sake BRING BACK GLOSS.
Hyper pro staff had a peek of graphite as well; such a nice cosmetic touch
 

AndrewUtz

Semi-Pro
Hyper pro staff had a peek of graphite as well; such a nice cosmetic touch
With the early 00’s trends being in full swing everywhere else I wonder who will be the first to bring it back to racquets. I really wish head would stop doing the simple color blocking they do and bring it back to like the flexpoint/liquidmetal/intelligence series. or like i mentioned previously i love the dunlop muscle weave series or the prince triple threat bandit!! also more gradient/fade transitions between colors instead of straight cutoffs.
 

kevin qmto

Hall of Fame
They look great - bring back Yamaha racquets
Technically they totally could come back. I guess they’re just waiting for a client to cut them a 7 figure check to start production back up.

That’s kind of what a small paintball company once told me when I asked if they still had all the tools and patents to create the paintball guns they used to make 15 years ago. Their rep (who’s also the CEO) said they could start production on Tuesday if I wrote him a 200k check that cleared lol.
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
Technically they totally could come back. I guess they’re just waiting for a client to cut them a 7 figure check to start production back up.

That’s kind of what a small paintball company once told me when I asked if they still had all the tools and patents to create the paintball guns they used to make 15 years ago. Their rep (who’s also the CEO) said they could start production on Tuesday if I wrote him a 200k check that cleared lol.
Yes I would like to see a more diverse racquet industry and even some interesting collaborations between companies in different fields joining up and even connecting with artistic designers.
Imagine having Swarovski putting their designs to a racquet or a famous car designer like Pininfarina being an inspiration to something special. We need some fantasia in the tennis racquet industry rather than the same companies making mediocre and safe designs,
I think it’s a shame that Dahcor couid not get things to take off - I know the price was up there but if they could have partnered with someone, we’ll who knows maybe things could have been different. Sometimes you have to start off in the top end market and then build from there.
 
Puma did this decades back with the Becker racquets. Outside of the fact that I never gelled with the racquet, the screw would always move so the length would change on you. As for the topic gloss paint and better qc would be at the top of my wish list.
The Puma could only reduce it's length i.e. be made shorter than 27", rather than being capable of being extended to say 28".
I always wished it was the other way around with mine.
 
I think more brands should play around with powerful 18x20s or 18x19s in <=98s. Solinco did it with the WO and Tec did it with the TFight 305. For example, I would love for Wilson to bring back the 6.1 95 as a 98 or for Yonex to make an Ezone Tour with a denser pattern.
 

gino

Legend
I think more brands should play around with powerful 18x20s or 18x19s in <=98s. Solinco did it with the WO and Tec did it with the TFight 305. For example, I would love for Wilson to bring back the 6.1 95 as a 98 or for Yonex to make an Ezone Tour with a denser pattern.

its so weird to that the 6.1 95 came back as a 100, but not a 97/98

i think it would have been more successful in that 96-99 window
 

esm

Legend
Imagine having Swarovski putting their designs to a racquet or a famous car designer like Pininfarina being an inspiration to something specia
Oh yeah. Swarovski design to have their stone as weights at certain areas of the hoop and handle areas for customisations.
Pininfarina design to have add-ons (body kits) to enhance aerodynamic of a racquet and maybe some built-in neon lights inside the butt cap too. lol.
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
Oh yeah. Swarovski design to have their stone as weights at certain areas of the hoop and handle areas for customisations.
Pininfarina design to have add-ons (body kits) to enhance aerodynamic of a racquet and maybe some built-in neon lights inside the butt cap too. lol.
That neon light idea in the butt cap is a great idea.
 
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