Wilson balls: Championship vs Grand Slam

[SystemicAnomaly]

Which ball is better of these budget/recreational offerings from Wilson? Let me preface the rest of this post by stating that one of my favorite balls is the Wilson US Open ball (either XD or regular duty). The Wilson Championship balls are vastly inferior to the USO balls. The Championship balls from Penn, Dunlop and Prince all seem to be noticeably better than the Championship balls from Wilson.

Is it possible that the Wilson Grand Slam ball is even worse that the Wilson Champ balls -- or are they equally bad? Feedback please on the following balls -- Compare & Contrast

~ Wilson Championship Extra Duty
~ Wilson Championship Regular Duty
~ Wilson Grand Slam (All Court felt)

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

How about this (substandard?) ball compared to the others listed above:

~ Wilson Profile (All Court felt)
.

 

[OHBH]

Which ball is better of these budget/recreational offerings from Wilson? Let me preface the rest of this post by stating that one of my favorite balls is the Wilson US Open ball (either XD or regular duty). The Wilson Championship balls are vastly inferior to the USO balls. The Championship balls from Penn, Dunlop and Prince all seem to be noticeably better than the Championship balls from Wilson.

Is it possible that the Wilson Grand Slam ball is even worse that the Wilson Champ balls -- or are they equally bad? Feedback please on the following balls -- Compare & Contrast

~ Wilson Championship Extra Duty
~ Wilson Championship Regular Duty
~ Wilson Grand Slam (All Court felt)

I actually think that the wilson us open balls are worse than all the others, with the exception of the wilson profile balls which are hardly even worth calling tennis balls. Every time i play with the us open balls them the felt goes to crap in 15 minutes. Championship extra duty is the way to go imo. Just buy some dunlops

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

^ I suspect that you are one of those players who hit a lot of low, skidding groundstrokes (and serves) -- either flat or with underspin. When playing with players who hit with topspin on a most (or a majority) of their shots, the felt on the US Open XD balls is just fine -- even after 3 sets. However, whenever we hit with someone who hits a lot of low, skidding shots, the balls get noticeably fluffy by the start of the 2nd set. Of course the pros hardly ever see this problem cuz they are using 6 balls and they are switched out after 9 games.

If you are using the XD balls, then try the regular duty balls to see if the problem disappears or is minimized. If you are not the one hitting a ton of low, skidding shots/serves, then don't use the USO balls when playing against players who hit in this manner.

Aside from the felt issue for some players, the USO balls are far superior to the other balls listed in every other manner -- better bounce, more consistent, better quality control and improved longevity. I have not used the Profile balls but both the Championship balls and the Grand Slam balls feel like rocks (even when the ambient temp is 60-80F). The bounce of these balls is substandard and the quality control seems to be rather poor.

Case in point... I recently opened 2 brand new cans of Grand Slam balls. They felt very hard and did not bounce very high even tho' the temp was about 70F. I pulled 3 USO balls from my bag that had been opened for more than a week and already had 3 sets on them. The bounce on the USO balls was at least 20% higher than the new Grand Slam balls -- and the USO balls did not feel like rocks and the felt was just fine.

NOTE: I am not interested in a critique of USO balls at all. I am looking for a comparison of the budget balls I listed above.

 

[OHBH]

^ I suspect that you are one of those players who hit a lot of low, skidding groundstrokes (and serves) -- either flat or with underspin. When playing with players who hit with topspin on a most (or a majority) of their shots, the felt on the US Open XD balls is just fine -- even after 3 sets. However, whenever we hit with someone who hits a lot of low, skidding shots, the balls get noticeably fluffy by the start of the 2nd set. Of course the pros hardly ever see this problem cuz they are using 6 balls and they are switched out after 9 games.

If you are using the XD balls, then try the regular duty balls to see if the problem disappears or is minimized. If you are not the one hitting a ton of low, skidding shots/serves, then don't use the USO balls when playing against players who hit in this manner.

Aside from the felt issue for some players, the USO balls are far superior to the other balls listed in every other manner -- better bounce, more consistent, better quality control and improved longevity. I have not used the Profile balls but both the Championship balls and the Grand Slam balls feel like rocks (even when the ambient temp is 60-80F). The bounce of these balls is substandard and the quality control seems to be rather poor.

Case in point... I recently opened 2 brand new cans of Grand Slam balls. They felt very hard and did not bounce very high even tho' the temp was about 70F. I pulled 3 USO balls from my bag that had been opened for more than a week and already had 3 sets on them. The bounce on the USO balls was at least 20% higher than the new Grand Slam balls -- and the USO balls did not feel like rocks and the felt was just fine.

NOTE: I am not interested in a critique of USO balls at all. I am looking for a comparison of the budget balls I listed above.

Well it sounds like you don't like the championship or grand slam balls already so I definitely wouldn't get the profile balls as they are even worse in all departments. Less bounce, poor felt etc. Regular duty or extra duty is more of a personal preference imo. The reason I don't like the US open balls is the just about the same reasons you listed but opposite. My serves and groundstrokes have a lot of topspin and tend to jump of the court but once US open balls felt gets rough up they bounce more into the opponents strikezone, sometimes even taking odd bounces that lead to frames.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

^ Thanks for the feedback. Not having used the Profile balls (which cost about the same as the Grand Slams balls), I'll accept your word that it is a substandard ball.

I have already experienced for myself that the bounce of the Grand Slam ball is significantly lower than that of the USO ball. You have indicated that the USO ball is worse than the Grand Slam (and Championship) ball. This puzzles me since a new Grand Slam ball should have a reduced bounce height on your groundstrokes and kick serves from the very start.

What I am after in this thread is how the Wilson Championship balls compare to the Wilson Grand Slam ball. Not really interested info on any other balls.

 

[OHBH]

The grand slam ball feels a lot lighter and tougher to control but a similar bounce to the championship balls. Felt is pretty close to the regular duty championship ball. And I actually do agree with you that the US open balls have better bounce out of the can but because of the felt the bounces become unpredictable which is what bothers me, especially on certain shots. ?Simply can't tell when the will kick up or skid with the appropriate spin.

 

[Ramon]

The Profile ball is definitely a substandard ball. I think it keeps its bounce ok, but the felt wears off very fast. I haven't hit with the Grand Slam balls that much, but the few times I've hit with them (when someone else brought them) they felt very similar to the Championship balls. I use regular felt because I play mostly on green clay.

 

[pub]

Usually, balls with the name "Championship" are cheap balls.

 

[Arzivu]

Usually, balls with the name "Championship" are cheap balls.

Right but they are usually softer. Some may prefer them if they have sensitive arms.