Aslan Karatsev has shocked the tennis world with his extraordinary season in 2021. But what is Karatsev’s racquet?
The 27-year-old from Vladikavkaz in Russia reached the semi-finals in the Australian Open, won the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai, and reached the final in the ATP 250 in Serbia after defeating no other than Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. He has seemingly come from nowhere and showed that he has the game and grit to become a consistent force in the game. But what is Karatsev’s racquet?
Karatsev’s Racquet
It looks like a Prestige Pro or MP if you just look at the paint job, but as you know, with pro players, it’s rarely as easy as that.
How do you find out?
- If you’re really nuts about racquets you can study the racquet mold in the pics and pick up a few things.
- Some stringers on the tour are happy to volunteer pro racquet specs.
- You can sometimes buy pro racquets or find pro specs on eBay, Stringforum and prostocktennis, and other websites.
- You can weed through the discussion on talk tennis forums.
- Or you can just read Tennisnerd! :D
How much attention should you pay to pro-player specs?
Not too much, frankly. It’s interesting to know and as a bonafide tennis nerd, I find it fascinating. However, I never take the information into account to what racquet I should play with. Just because we play with Karatsev’s racquet, doesn’t mean we’ll play even remotely close to Karatsev.
I receive emails from people who think that the reason a certain player is so successful is partly to do with the racquet and if he used that racquet he would have to stop worrying about racquets because he uses “the best one”.
It doesn’t work like that. You need the racquet that works best for your game and level. And there is no BEST racquet. Sure, it pays off to put some time and effort into finding the right racquet for you but beware of falling into the rabbit hole of racquet specs and put the time into working on your game and playing tennis instead.
Most rec players, including myself, struggle with consistency and footwork most of all. Those are the biggest areas of improvement for 90% of all club players in my opinion.
Okay, that was a tangent.
Back to Karatsev’s racquet.
If you’re into tennis racquets, you can tell by the pictures that this is not the mold of a regular Prestige that you can buy from Tennis Warehouse. Looking at the throat, the thickness of the beam you see that it more closely resembles the old HEAD Pro Tour mold or the PT57A that it’s called in pro stock terminology.
I have already mentioned the specs in my post “Who is Aslan Karatsev” where HEAD racquet expert on TW forums Dr325i listed Karatsev’s racquet specs as:
Mold/Layup: PT57A2
String pattern: 18?20
Weight: 340g strung
Balance: 32 cm / 6 pts HL
Swing weight strung: 340
String: Head Hawk 1.25
These are relatively light and user-friendly specs compared to some of the older pros using the PT57A like Haas, Murray, and Simon to name a few.
If you want a racquet similar to this, but don’t want to pay the high price that PT57As usually go for – go for the HEAD Pro Tour 2.0. It’s the same mold, but a bit stiffer for more free power.
If you want a similar racquet to Karatsev but more forgiveness, you should check out the HEAD Prestige MP, which is the racquet I am mainly using myself alongside the HEAD Pro Tour 2.0.
Karatsev’s racquet is not forgiving, but if you are a player that hits the ball as clean as hard as him, it’s about control and then the HEAD Pro Tour mold is still going strong in 202 1! 25 years or so after its release.
2 comments
Fun and well-written article.
Thank you for sharing
Well written article and great advice!!
Still hoping they release the 630/A2 lay up, with ‘spiralfibres’ if not Twaron….painted sparkly claret (like the 600 classic. They aren’t THAT far away from doing it, I hope.
Played with a PT630, reweighted and balanced to be 342g strung, 335 approx SW and 5pts Head Light. Rather nice stick, a rare ‘feeling’ frame. Gorgeous. Perhaps a 293.2 is the closest in some ways, but not in others….also a 2.0 in some ways but not others….also a well spec’d 57b has similarities.
However, pro’s and cons with everything and 100% fact that footwork, preparation timing and consistency are important to work on.
Also, sometimes you just need to ‘be kinder to yourself’, little steps, often. One day you will.play someone who hits a great ball and you cannot go with them. BUT, this doesn’t mean your technique is bad, OR that you aren’t good enough, it just means you aren’t used to that ball speed, your prep timing and mental decision making need to speed up.
So, don’t think you are less. Just immerse yourself in their speed every chance you get. Praise before pessimism. Go with them. Catch up.
Little steps, often.
Great article Jonas.