Andre Agassi’s Racquet

Andre Agassi is one of the real legends of tennis. With 8 grand slams and Olympic gold, he is a true Hall-of-Famer. But what was Andre Agassi’s racquet?

Agassi used a couple of different racquet setups during his career – all of them oversized. He started with the Prince Graphite Oversize, a heavy weapon with a 16×19 string pattern. Then played with Donnay Pro One OS. He moved over to HEAD in 1993 with the HEAD Radical Tour Trisys 260 OS. That racquet had a string pattern of 18×19, but he also used a quite unique 20×21 pattern for a few years before he went back to the 18×19 pattern.
(In 1993 he actually used all three string patterns at various times!)

Regarding strings, he started out with Prince ProBlend at 80 lbs. Then he moved to a hybrid of Ashaway Kevlar in the mains and Babolat VS Gut in the crosses. The last main on either side was actually gut and strung in the around the world pattern. Later on, he switched to Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power. When he moved over to poly strings, he commented that it “almost felt like cheating”.

Andre Agassi’s Racquet Specs

For grips, he started with a grip 4 for the Prince Oversize but later went to grip 3 for his HEAD racquets. His racquets customized over the years by Bosworth and later on by Jay Schweid and Ron Yu and then Roman Prokes, who helped Djokovic develop his frame. He used a leather grip with a Tourna overgrip.

His dampener is perhaps the most famous part of his setup – the rubber band. This was later also used by Andy Roddick for example.

Thanks to two collectors in Bob Quackenbush and Marco Moschella who own some of his actual racquets. The specs of his 20×21 were 363g strung with overgrip and a balance of 32.6 cm, which is around 5 pts headlight. The swing weight remains unknown, but it must have been very high.

HEAD Radical Tour Limited Edition

HEAD have released a couple of Andre Agassi limited racquets over the years. The most recent one was in 2018. I was lucky to get my hands on one of the 25-year anniversary limited edition box sets with the official Agassi autograph and took it for a play-test.

My strung specs with overgrip: 345g, 32 cm and a swing weight of 335. These are likely quite a bit lower than Agassi’s specs when he used the 18×19 string pattern Radical Tour.

According to sources, Agassi remained with the Radical Tour 260 Trisys Oversize in various paint jobs. The re-released racquet is supposed to be the Ti.Radical mold and not the original tour 260. If that is the case, it is probably due to the lack of Twin tube molds in the HEAD factory, or just because this mold and layup are a little bit easier to use and more forgiving than the original.

HEAD Radical Tour Limited Edition Specs

I took it out for a play-test and although I was never a huge fan of oversized racquets – I really enjoyed this one. Nice stability, a connected feel and good maneuverability for the weight and head size. You definitely get a nice amount of control with the 18×19 string pattern. It is one of those in-between patterns like the 16×20 which I really like. I especially enjoyed this frame on the slice and volleys. It could really knife the ball.

I used it with HEAD Lynx @53 lbs or 24 kg. I absolutely love vintage racquet cosmetics and this one is great. From what I have heard, Verdasco was testing this frame for a while when it came out and really enjoyed it. I can see why. It offered a nice blend of spin, control, some power, and comfort. It shows that also larger head sizes can play controlled with the right layup and string pattern.

Andre Agassi’s Racquet – Video

A video consisting of info about Agassi’s racquet and a review of the HEAD Radical Tour OS 25-year anniversary limited edition is coming very soon! Below are some pics of Agassi’s racquets and strings.