Don’t you miss the big Russian bear and his thunder groundstrokes? I do too. But what was Marat Safin’s tennis racquet?
During most of his career, Marat Safin’s tennis racquet was the legendary HEAD Prestige Classic 600 (HEAD pro stock code PT10), but on the Champions Tour, he has been using the HEAD pro stock model called TGT 292.1 which is the pro stock version of the HEAD IG Prestige Mid
.
In fact, Safin really changed to the Microgel Prestige Mid
(tgk 237.1) in his last year on tour (from 2008-2009 when he retired) with the following specs: Weight: 359 g Balance: 32.3 cm, 353 SW. Sounds like a massive beast to swing, but he 89.5 sq inch head size makes it quite fast through the air. And whip it Safin could! He was always entertaining to watch with a big, yet varied game and a massive temper that could explode at any time.
Marat Safin’s racquet – video
The HEAD Microgel Prestige Mid that Safin used in his last years on tour was a bit stiffer than the buttery HEAD Prestige Classic 600 that was also used by Goran Ivanisevic and Robin Haase to name two players.
I owned the pro stock version of the Microgel Prestige Mid a while ago, but likely not the Safin personal racquets. I did enjoy playing with it, but it didn’t quite match up to the performance of the Prestige Classic 600 or even the IG Prestige Mid. My favorite midsize pro stock is the PT10. With some lead tape in the hoop to bring up the swing weight, it is a beast on the court. The only issue in today’s game is that it is not very forgiving.
Marat Safin retired in November 2009 and judging by how well some older players have done on the tour (Roger Federer comes to mind), this was way too soon!
What do you think of Marat Safin and his game? Please comment below!
4 comments
He was my favorite player back in the day :). Any ideas on what strings he used and at what tension ? Thanks again for your articles !
Much appreciated !
Paul
Thanks Paul! Safin used Lux Big Banger Rough in the mains and Babolat VS Touch natural gut in the crosses. He strung them quite high, 27/28 kg.
My favorite was watching all the upclose photos of Agassi using a “liquidmetal” and it was so obviously a paint job over a graphite frame.
Kind of why I respect Yonex so much. Can’t fake a square head!
Cleaned out some old stuff and came across some bags back from the playing days. Several i-prestige pros and 3 IG 30’s. Couldn’t resist to take the IG for a spin, dropped some 19g hyper G in the 18/20 and it was sweeeet!
For a one- handed bh you’ll be hard pressed to find a better head size. The only nemesis as the game got faster when returning the 100mph+ the 100 head size gets you the extra return. In rallies with some of my students it’s so superior. I can give them the ball they like and control the speed they can handle. You can always whip one when needed.