This might be seen as nonsense news to many of you, but it is always fun to speculate before the last Grand Slam of the year. After losing a poor final to Djokovic in Cincinnati, Federer is practicing with his old racquet (paint job) at the US Open. Why?
A nice video of Federer practising with his “old racquet” at the US Open was released and made me wonder why he is hitting with his old paint job (the racquet should be the same) and not the new one with the white sides. Okay, this is a practice session and might not have a huge significance, but Wilson cannot be happy that Federer is practicing with his old racquet when they are trying to sell the new one
. Especially since there is a lot of people watching his practices, as well as filming them.
Below you have a great video from his practice session uploaded by Love Tennis. See below.
Federer is practising with his old racquet at the US Open – Why?
There could be a couple of reasons why Federer is practising with his old racquet at the US Open. One of them could be that there was an issue receiving the right batch of racquets from Wilson. This sounds unlikely however, since every time Federer enters a court is a fantastic marketing opportunity for his sponsors Wilson, Uniqlo and Nike.
Another reason is that Federer is testing a new racquet. He has done some tweaks to his current setup and those are not yet available in the latest paint job, but instead blacked-out.
The third reason could be that Federer feels that the paint job somehow alters the feel and performance of his racquet, and he wants to go back to the old paint job. Remember how Juan Martin Del Potro refused to change his Hyper-Pro Staff in k-Factor paint? He only had a couple of frames and years passed before he moved over to the Wilson Burn FST 95
paint job.
A fourth possible reason could be that Federer is superstitious and since he got all his recent Grand slams with the other paint job, he wants to see if that works better than the new one did at Wimbledon for example.
Definitely a topic for an unhealthy discussion :) Start your speculation engines in the comments below!
12 comments
Love the video Janas, could watch it all day..
Yeah, it is a great one!
Probably reason number three. Even if it is all psychological, probably the right thing for him to do. Bet he plays games with the old paint job also…
Went to Cincinnati in person to watch the Federer vs Djokovic match, was surprised by how far away Federer was from his peak.
It was disappointing to see the Federer vs Goffin semifinal too – Federer had played 2 matches the previous day and was obviously tired
Still, I’m happy to see Djokovic win a historic match in person
Nice to see Cincinnati live! But yes, Federer was far from his best. Lets see how he does in the US Open…
Any way you could do a report on Taylor Fritz’s new racquet that he is using at the U.S. Open. It looks like it could be the new limited edition radical but Im not quite sure. Thanks.
Hi Nick,
Yes, it is a limited edition Radical paint job. Think it is his old setup under the paint job. Cheers / J
Its not the old racquet, if you look closely the two white sections have been blacked out but are slightly glossier paint than the rest of the frame. He must have decided that he doesn’t like the white sections.
I think I know where Roger’s skunk racquets have gone – de Minaur is using them! Or perhaps they painted over his Blade Steam 99’s so that *somebody* would be playing with the new cosmetic!
I was looking at a dark cast replay – on closer inspection I think that de Minaur’s racquet is still Blade green cosmetic. You can scrap my previous comment Jonas!
hello Jonas, i am totally intrigued about your website and your videos and Malta in general. very interesting stuff. i get more enjoyment watching you play than professional tennis, by far. i like your technique and am trying to emulate your shots, im no where your level tho. i couldn’t say enough to show how much i enjoy everything you do, for me and us tennis nerds out there. i would love to visit Malta and play tennis with you. i would be all the better a person from it. but im sure lots of people say this. anyhow i know this dosent have anything to do with this particular thread, but i just wanted you to know. thanks so much and keep up the great work, i really enjoyed the videos from Spain with Luis and Karl, get stuff. Nick B
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the very nice comment! If you are in Malta, I am up for a hit for sure. Just let me know.
Cheers / Jonas