Juan Martin Del Potro is back on clay and won his first match against the erratic but often spectacular Dustin Brown. For racquet fans however, the biggest news is probably that he’s finally been “given” a paint job to endorse by Wilson. For a long time Del Potro used a Hyper Pro Staff 6.1 95 with a K-factor Six-One 95 paint job (yeah, slightly crazy) despite that the model was out of stock, which I’m sure felt very strange for Wilson to agree to. Now it seems he’s agreed to sport at least another paint job with something that looks like a Burn FST 95 but has PWS (Perimeter Weighting System) so it is very likely still his trusted Hyper Pro Staff 6.1 95 mold. But who knows? Only Wilson and Del Potro I guess and Wilson just tweeted this:
For all tennis nerds and racquetaholics, it’s obvious that a Burn FST 95
doesn’t have PWS technology. So 
there’s something else under the paint. The racquet manufacturers are persistent that pro players are using new models, despite a large group of people knowing for sure that it’s not true. They want to sell frames of course, but then it would be more fair to release the actual Del Potro racquet to the audience. However, I’m not sure it would benefit amateurs to swing a heavy mid-size racquet in their weekly matches so that’s where the conundrum lies.
Wilson Burn FST 95 Tennis Racquet
Since Babolat was sued for not being honest about their racquet endorsements, maybe the industry needs to simply be transparent around who plays what. Maybe the tweet above should have read: “Del Potro has made the switch to the cool Burn FST 95 paint”?
What are your thoughts about racquet endorsements and pro player racquets vs what you can buy in the shop?
Update: Prostringing uploaded some pictures of Del Potro’s new racquets on the Tennis Warehouse forum. Enjoy!
10 comments
I think you make excellent points regarding this misleading and unfortunately common marketing ploy. More pressure should be place on racket manufacturers to be more transparent. I support your efforts.
Thanks a lot! Appreciate the comment and support.
The Burn FST series are the stiffest racquets in existence at the moment. I can hardly imagine Del Potro, especially him, using this, as he just recovered from wrist injuries.
Nice investigative work! I think it might be an old prostaff model or perhaps even the prostaff 95s
Thanks! Yes, pretty sure it’s a Hyper Pro Staff 6.1 95 mould. One funny thing with Del Potro is that he only really liked the HPS 6.1 95 in a K-factor paint job (apparently the paint made it play differently) so, to Wilsons dismay, he played with those racquets until he didn’t have any left and Wilson managed to convince him to move into the Burn FST paint. And judging by his results this year, it’s working just fine for him.
I think its horrible that racquet manufacturers are allowed to deceive their customers like this.
I agree! That is partly the point of this website :)
Hi! Can you be sure that Del Potro’s racquet is Hyper Pro Staff 55? The one which stiffness is 68?
Not original 6.1 95?
Thanks
Hi,
Yes, it’s pretty much confirmed that Del Potro is using the Hyper Pro Staff 95 and not the Original Pro Staff 95. Cheers / Jonas
I think it’s absolutely disgusting how racquet companies do this. They absolutely shouldn’t be allowed and against the law to do so. Moreover, it’s absolutely not necessary. They could easily release the exact racket that the pros use and then release lighter versions just like they do with Federer’s racket (although they should be releasing a newer version with his update weight difference). They could release varied versions of his racquet all with his endorsing but for different levels of players and have his exact racquet there as well. In terms of releasing new rackets each year, just release new paint jobs by having the pros change paint jobs. People can buy the new paint jobs and have the new paint racket, but the ones with the older racket will still be having the same racket so its a win-win for everyone. In any case, these companies should be ashamed of themselves for lying and/or trickery. How can they be proud of themselves with sale methods like this? Absolutely disgusting behavior. If it wasn’t for people like yourself, all people trying to play high-level tennis would be lost in the dark and frustrated why injuries and lower level play occurs.
Yes, I agree and that is one of the reasons I started this website! :)