I got some questions about the 16-year-old tennis sensation, Mirra Andreeva’s racquet. So let’s get into it.
Mirra Andreeva’s racquet
Mirra Andreeva is one to watch. She is in the third round of Wimbledon at the time of writing. She has a record of 61-12 in matches and, at age 16 has already won six ITF titles. Does this mean she will be an automatic number one in the world in a few years? No, it depends on so many factors, but at the moment, she is the most exciting up-and-coming player on the WTA Tour.
I had a conversation with Christoper Clarey a while back, where he talked about so many female players using the Wilson Blade. This is in part correct because there are players that use the actual Blade like Aryna Sabalenka, for example. But many players that use what looks like a Blade, play with a popular pro stock racquet on the WTA Tour, the Wilson Steam 100 BLX mold.
There are many players using this racquet, but to mention a few superstars we have Emma Raducanu, Paula Badosa and Beatrice Haddad Maia.
This is also Mirra Andreeva’s racquet.
Why is this pro stock racquet mold so popular?
Well, as a pro player getting signed to a particular brand, there are not a million options unless you already have a frame that they can’t paint to look like the latest cosmetic. Wilson offer a bunch of pro stock molds to their players, but there are many retail racquet options you don’t see often or at all on the pro tours like the Clash or Shift, for example.
Many players use a Blade pro stock or a so-called H22 or Blade Pro. There are of course different versions of the Pro Staff 97 too, Dimitrov uses on style of Pro Staff with an 18×17 string pattern and Ons Jabeur uses a regular 97 customized to her specs. The H22 is more popular among men as the swing weight is higher. The Steam 100 BLX is a more powerful, Pure Drive-style racquet and that is why we see it frequently on the WTA Tour. The way you can tell on this particular model is that the four center mains have a white grommet strip.
Strings and customization
The pic above might not clearly show it, but the white grommets are there, so the mold is the Steam 100 BLX. Mirra also has four strips of lead tape at 12’o clock on the racquet face. And she strings her racquets with a full bed of Luxilon 4G (could be 4G Soft). We see many Blade players use 4G in some combination. It is one of Luxilon/Wilson’s best strings, but it’s a firm one so some players feel the need to hybrid the string with natural gut to create a softer feel. We see that with Alex De Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov, and Stefanos Tsitsipas (although recently, he has been going back to a full bed of 4G again).
I don’t know Mirra Andreeva’s racquet specs or string tension, so if you do, let me know in the comments or via Instagram.
No matter what gear she uses, she is an exciting player to watch with loads of potential to become a star on the WTA tour. Time will tell.
