I played with both the BP 16x19 and the UP 16x19 last night.
Started off with the BP and played best-of-12 games of tennis. Impressions are in the BP thread.
The UP 16x19 was excellent. I picked it up straight from the bag going into the second match of the night (another best-of-12). Felt plush, had great control, and feel, and I was immediately comfortable. It had great excess to spin, a slightly higher launch angle than the UT 18x20 (from memory - I will play them back-to-back next time I'm hitting to get the direct comparison), and plenty of power (mine is modified). I broke my opponents' serve straight away and it gave me great confidence that I could do it again (perform well on returns).
I then served and could place the ball well. The serves had very good power and movement. The first serves were penetrating and seemed to move well after the bounce (my opponent had several air swings because the ball seemed to skid past where he expected it to be), and the second serves had great movement and kick to them, and seemed to give him difficulties. In fact, as the night progressed and my first serves became less affective, solely due to my lack of fitness and match play (my lower back was getting tired and I couldn't put as much into them), my second serve kept me in the match and gave me confidence and comfort when serving that I will not be broken. I was able to move the ball around the service box and use well-placed slice and kick serves to constantly keep my opponent/ opponents guessing (when playing both singles and doubles).
On the groundstrokes, I could hit a full array of shots and vary the spin and degree of loop on my shots. I still need to work on my topspin lobs, but that will come with more time with the racquet, but angles and defensive shots were dialed in, as was the transition between flat and more spin loaded shots. I felt I could utilize the racquet to impart different amounts of spin to vary both the depth of my shots and the amount of movement off the court once my shots landed in my opponents' court, thereby keeping them on their toes.
For whatever reason, I was not comfortable on my BH side tonight (a problem I have when I haven't played much, no matter what racquet I use), therefore, I sliced more than coming over the ball. But whenever I did come over my BH, the shot was good. Therefore, this was more of an issue of my confidence in that shot and my willingness to use it in a match situation, rather than any fault of the racquet.
Where I will need more time with the racquet is on shots that needed absolute thread the needle precision. This is where, naturally, the UT 18x20 was better. From memory, the UT 18x20 had better control and precision from the get-go, but a bit less power and a slightly lower launch angle.
I am pretty confident that I could use them interchangeably in the same match, depending on what was needed.
The UP 16x19 is a brilliant racquet that made me look forward to the next time we will go into battle together.
I am also looking forward to playing the UT and UP back-to-back for a direct and immediate comparison (not relying on what the UT felt like from memory and with different strings and tensions).
To be continued...
