Wilson posted this image of Grigor Dimitrov with the caption “Hanging out with @GrigorDimitrov today in Monte Carlo! Something new coming soon”. What is coming from Wilson?
//If you want to know what racquets and strings the rest of the ATP tour players use, check out this post.//
As most of you loyal readers know, Dimitrov has been back and forth on the racquet front and has now gone back to the smaller head size with is Wilson Pro Staff 93S (93-inch pro staff racquet with a 18×17 string pattern while he’s endorsing the Wilson Pro Staff 97S
.
The most logical guess is that Wilson will release not only the Burn line and the Blade line with Countervail technology but also the Pro Staff series. Since they have made an effort into lining up their paint jobs, I think this makes all the sense in the world. On the other hand, I don’t think they will launch his racquet as the 93-inch he’s actually using but try to get similar specs but label it Wilson Pro Staff 97S Countervail.
This moves us to the topic whether the mid-size racquets have a place in modern tennis. Dimitrov is one of the few players still using a racquet smaller than 95 square inches (95 inches is still a very popular head size on tour: Wawrinka, Djokovic, Murray etc) but you don’t see a lot of mid-size racquets. Robin Haase is still using a 89.5 inch racquets with his Prestige 600 Classic, but do you know any other players?
What do you think about mid-size racquets place in modern tennis where pace and spin is increasing every year?
[socialpoll id=”2437769″]
3 comments
It is true that mid size frames are definitely more demanding and there are reasons why Federer switched to a 97 sq in from a 90 sq in, but that being look at frames like the volkl pb10 mid, Becker 11 mid, dnx 10 mid, head youtek prestige mid and despite their smaller head size provide an excellent combination of power, spin, control and plowthrough. The pb10 mid is simply outstanding imo and while there is a clear trend towards lighter, stiffer (with some exceptions thankfully), bigger head frames this frame was a best seller until it got discontinued.
Agree about the Volkl PB 10 Mid – was my racquet of choice some years ago! You can definitely play great tennis also with a midsize racquet…Robin Haase still uses his HEAD Prestige Classic 600…Cheers / Jonas
Thank you. I was amazed about how stable it was against more powerful frames and also against heavy spin. It is true it’s not as powerful as some other mids and has to be strung lower (for a control poly) or at mid tension for gut/ comparable multi but the control and pin point accuracy on serves, volleys and groundstrokes is outstanding esp if ones timing is on. Despite the high static weight i found it easy to swing and to me this ranks right up there amongst the best frames ever released. I use about 4 grams of lead in my yellow/black version but none in the all black version.