Perhaps a change of Racquet has everything to do with her improved results but Eugenie Bouchard has
switched to a Yonex Vcore SV 100.
Her racquet history:
- 2009 – 2011: Wilson KBlade Team
- 2011 – 2012: Wilson BLX Blade Pink
- 2012 – 2013: Wilson Steam 99
- 2013 – 2015: Babolat Aero Pro
- 2015 – 2015: Babolat Aero Pro Pink
- 2016 – 2017: Babolat Pure Aero
- 2017 – 2017: Babolat Pure Drive
- 2017 – 2018: Head XT Graphene Radical
- 2018 – 2018: Babolat Pure Aero
- 2018 – 2018: Wilson Ultra (100 or Tour)
- 2018 : Yonex SV 100 or SV 98
She made it to the second round of Wimbledon losing (6-4, 7-5) to Australian A Barty...one of here better efforts since her Petra Kvitova hangover from the 2014 Wimbledon final (Bouchard actually player fine but Kvitova could do no wrong on that day...it happens) . It has been about 3 months since she
committed to the racquet at the Miami Open.
At the Rogers Cup, last year, she was consistently missing lines and over hitting with her Babolat. There is a fine line with equipment at the highest levels.
My Racquet Journey:
After a long absence (over a decade) from tennis, I began to play about once a week and borrowed a Babolat Control Tour for a month (October 2016) leading to a rotator cuff strain. Over the winter, I became a student/addict of these forums and chose my perfect string/racquet combination in the form of the Wilson PS 97 strung with Yonex Poly Tour Pro (June 2017 purchase). After a week of play, there was a beautiful 2 week window where it felt like that combination could do no wrong from the baseline (To protect my shoulder, I "second served" everything...yes, even the first serve
). I stayed with this combination up to September but with increasing knowledge (these forums) about the dangers of dead poly and Shapovalov's amazing US Open run, I picked up an entry level factory-strung Vcore SV (Team) at a clearout. Compared to the Vcore SV 95 loaner, it was much lighter but shared some of the same traits. Poor man's Shapovalov, anyone ?
The racquet came with factory strung nylon but cutting them out and replacing them with Head Velocity strings ultimately transformed the racquet. The racquet was weighted up to 11.4 oz (from 10.5 oz) by a combination mostly weight in the grip area (Wilson Overgrip, 10 gm Blutak in the butt cap area and 4.5 gm lead strip 6.5" up from the butt (that
MgI/R thing).
I will eventually revisit the potential of the PS97 after cutting out the YPTP strings and putting Velocity multifilament in it. My shoulder is finally healed from the failed "first time" experiment with polyester strings and almost everytime I swing the Vcore...I smile. I liked it so much I bought a second one and customized it like the first. I am in heaven