Customization

How can you get more out of your racquet? Well, there are several ways to do that. Let’s look at a couple. Most players answer the question: How can you get more out of your racquet? with: Let’s buy a new one! Buying a new racquet is fun, don’t get me wrong. I’ve done this on MULTIPLE occasions, which is how I became (kind of) “the tennis nerd”. I think the the reason I feel somewhat confident in writing about this topic is because in my quest for “the perfect racquet” (which doesn’t exist, sadly) – I’ve done all the …

In my review of Monfils racquet, the Artengo TR 960 Control Tour, I called it a platform racquet. But what is a platform racquet? A platform racquet has the same idea as pro stock racquets in the way that you get a racquet at a lower specification (meaning weight/swing weight/balance), that you then customize to your desired specs. The pros get their favorite mold and layup and then that racquet is then customized by the manufacturer or a professional customizer. In terms of retail racquets, this is rare, because most players are not into customizing. And if you don’t customize …

There are many ways of adding weight to your racquet. You can use lead, tungsten or copper tape, use specific trapdoors, silicone, blu-tack.. I have received some samples of new ways of adding weight to your racquet (applies to both tennis and pickleball). One is the new Katana Sports copper tape, which is a lead-free alternative to lead tape. There is also the traditional lead tape, whether you use Gamma or Tourna (or some other brand). You can also use tungsten tape if you want to add weight in the racquet head. For adding weight to the racquet handle, you can …

I’m generally always happy when the mailman rings the door. Today I received my Wilson Custom tennis racquets and they look great. Around 6 weeks back I designed a bunch of different Wilson Custom tennis racquets and asked my followers/subscribers to choose. In the end, this is what they chose, a Sweden (or Boca Juniors) inspired Clash 98 (my elbow says thank you very much) and a Porsche-inspired Pro Staff RF97 Autograph designed by my son Aiden (who loves cars). I had no idea what to expect from the paint job, but I opened the box I was instantly relieved. …

Wilson has now announced that you can customize your Pro Staff. Previously, the Pro Staff racquets were not available for a custom paint, but that has now changed. You can customize your Pro Staff via this link. There are a few pros that share how they would customize their Pro Staffs on the page, including Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Gael Monfils. Federer will however return to play in Doha with the current retail paint job V13 Pro Staff RF97A. You can check out the latest version of the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph V13 at Wilson.com. If you buy …

I get a lot of questions about racquet swing weights. How do you measure it? Is it important? What swing weight should you use? There is obviously not an easy answer to this. Like all things in tennis, it’s a personal thing. If you are interested in the racquet swing weights that the pros use, you check out this page. I have also created a video comparing typical swing weights between ATP and WTA racquets if you want to know more about the differences of upcoming pros and retired pros among both men and women. I sometimes discuss the somewhat “unexplored” …