I got a few questions about Dan Evans racquet and since my old post didn’t have all the info, it was time for an update. What racquet does Dan Evans use?
I wrote about Dan Evans defeating Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday and I linked to my old post about his racquet. He has made some great strides since I wrote that post in 2017, but he hasn’t changed his racquets (although paint jobs have changed). So what racquet does Dan Evans use?
Dan Evans’ Racquet
Evans racquet is a Wilson Six One 95 nCode 18×20 (click the link for my classic racquet review). I really like this racquet a lot and use it myself from time to time. It’s great on the slice and at the net, especially, and seems like made for Evan’s game (or he has molded his game around it depending on how you see it). His racquet is painted like the recent Wilson Pro Labs version of the Six One 95 (click to check it out at Wilson.com – the only place you can buy it). The Pro Labs version is based on the Hyper Pro Staff 6.1 95 that Del Potro uses, but it’s not that far away from the nCode – just slightly different in feel.
Dan Evans strings his racquet with Luxilon Alu Power Rough 1.25 (link to Tennis Warehouse) and Wilson Natural Gut 1.30 in the crosses. He has a small amount of lead under the bumper at 12 o’clock to bring the strung weight up to 355 grams.
One curious thing about Evans’ racquet is that he is using a molded grip L4 (which is pretty big for his relatively small frame – body, not racquet), but he adds only a Tourna overgrip instead of the base grip. This means he will really feel the bevels of the grip, which most pros prefer, but the standard way of approaching it is to use a leather grip and an overgrip on a smaller grip size, but we’re all different and if it works for you – stick to it. His customizer adds glass silicone inside the handle.
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If Evans does only use an overgrip (two surely as one will give you blisters), that will get the grip size down to L3, and reduce the weight by about 6g compared to the typical Sublime base grip. Hence, his 6.1 will be about 326g and 10pt head-light, rather than the usual 12pt, unstrung. This highlights a gap I always wished Wilson had filled between the 6.1 Team (289g, 18×20) and normal 6.1 (332g, 18×20). I wish they had made a 6.1 18×20 around 310g, whereas they only produced the 18×16 6.1 95S, whose launch angle is just a bit too high.
I have added 14g to the handle and 6g to the hoop to get my 6.1 Team to 309g unstrung, and it plays pretty good, but I’d prefer more graphite to lead, overgrips and blu-tack.
P.S. I really don’t think it’s AluPower in the crosses. Looks like gut or Sensation to me, unless there is a clear version of AluPower. AP and Sensation is a very nice combo.
Good comments Tennis Lion.
Unsure regs the finished weight of Dan’s frames these days but you are totally correct regs grip size, weight reduction and balance point change. However leather grips can weigh between 12-24g depending which one. So who knows…..
Wilson did make a 313g 6.1 Pro Staff, I remember there being 3, top middle and bottom. But I doubted my memory even though I have tried the ‘middle’ one back in the day. Awesome volleying stick, best I ever tried in fact, no idea why I didn’t try and use one.
Just checked on the big auction site and it’s there alright.
Wilson Pro Staff BLX 6.1 95 313g.
There may have been other model years I cannot remember. Wilson probably feel this market space is now filled with the regular Pro Staff 97.
Yes, double checked. 63 RA, 313g, 7pts HL, 310SW and 16/19 string pattern. BLX 6.1 95.
Unfortunately not. Getting too nerdy here, but you have to be a little careful with the namings. The actual 6.1 95s never mention Pro-Staff in their name, and they use the rounded mold like Dan’s. Whereas, the Pro-Staff 6.1 95 BLX you mention is a Pro-Staff mold with a box-beam (and a graphite/kevlar layup). In that case the 6.1 is just referring to the flex on Wilson’s scale. The description on the Pro-Staff History page at Wilson.Com explains:
‘2010-2012: BLX Pro Staff Six.One (90”, 95”, 100”); BLX Six.One Tour; Six.One 95 BLX (different than BLX Pro Staff Six.One 95)’
And unfortunately, the Six One 95 BLX (a real 6.1 95 with rounded mold and just graphite or later graphite/basalt lay-ups) was only in the 332g version (in either 16×18 or 18×20).
I actually sometimes wonder if the Slazenger Pro Braided was the missing 310g 6.1 95, as it has a rounded beam.
Yes you are quite right, but in typical Wilson fashion they omit whole frame/ranges from their ‘history’ website, for example where is the Black BLX 90/95? Where is the Tour 95…amongst others.
I agree and know there is the BLX 95, regardless of names, no need to be careful I know which is the ‘classic’ oval beam and which is the ‘box’ original type frame. Wilson has done some strange things over the years.
I wasn’t meaning the 313g version of the Fed frame, it was a LONG time ago now, maybe nCode or maybe BLX, but I played a match once and one of the other guys was using a 6.1 95…. ‘classic’ beam if you will….aka what we are referring to. And it was an ‘im between’ weight. It wasn’t the 289g ‘Team’ and nor was it the 332g Full Sunday roast version.
I confess I cannot find one, nor a mention of one, but I held it and volleyed with it. No idea where it came from or what it was. But, I’ve known people with some really random Wilson frames, painted all manner of confusing ways.
It strikes me as odd that no-one seems to use the new standard Pro staff 97, that’s at ‘that’ in between weight and surely well customisable therefore. Yet, everyone is on blades or 95’s.
I am wondering if the pro labs 6.1 95 is 333g including the leather grip.
Be interesting to get a grip 4, drop the size using a Wilson feather undergrip and then slap on the overgrip to effectively downsize a grip 4 to a 3.5, rather than uosize the 3 to 3.5. that could take maybe 10g off the handle and drop the static finished weight to around 340g and balance point more 6/7pts.
Shame they chose the hyper carbon not the nCode, perhaps. I don’t know. Never really used these models.
Yes, the pro braided sits right in that slot, and probably not by accident either.
That Tecnifibre Medvedev frame might sit in that spot too, as a modern take??
I’ll stick with what I use….for now. Leave the 6.1’s to Dan and DelPo lol
You are correct though I did initially misread the specs from the auction site.
I knew people that swore by that Slazenger frame. Didn’t Paul Angell make it/mod the PS mould? Perhaps Angel still make it, or a variant…..they have a braided range.
Off memory the black and white pro braided was the one raved about, the ‘harlequin’ paint job if memory serves me.
It’s odd, I mean, you can drop the static weight of the 332g by swapping out the heavy leather grip. I had a leather grip on my nCode tour 90’s weigh 22g. I kid you not. I was stunned when I took them all off, one of the leather grips was about 8g heavier yet looked identical.
22g off the 332 brings it to 310g, add the feather undergrip brings it to 317g ISH.
OR
Take the 289g ‘Team’ version of the 95 and slap on the leather grip and if you use a heavy leather grip/brand…that would take it up to 310g easy.
Whether the frames are the same lay up, I have NO idea. No idea the RA difference or lay up difference between the 332 and 289.
I mean, I have an allegedly 289g Ti Radical MP, with Cap Grommets added, it’s finished strung weight is 342g.
Has anyone ‘spec’d UP’ a 289 6.1 95?
A bit of leather and lead go a long way, lol
….if the lay up/RA are suitable
I have been trying the up-weighted Team experiment for the last month, and I think it could work. I bought a Grip 2 of the red version from Tennis-Point, which came close to spec being 303g strung and almost even balance. I’ve added 1.5 overgrips (+10g), 4g blu-tack in the handle, and 3g at 4 and 8 for stability. This has created a 320g strung frame (so akin to starting with a 306g unstrung), balanced at 4pt HL. The SW feels about 325, but still very manoeuvrable. Sweet-spot is quite small though. Feels almost as good as my 6.1 95S in the sweetspot, but there’s no heft outside the centre.
What I wonder is whether manufacturers actually do the same? I.e. all versions of a frame (same mold) have the same amount of graphite, just the heavy version have strategically positioned lead (or something else) dotted around the frame. Or do heavy versions actually have thicker (more layers) of graphite? And how much does foam filling (like the PS97) add to the weight? I’m hoping someone like Jonas can saw into the PWS on a heavy frame one day so we can see what’s in there!
Well that’s quite hard to answer.
Firstly, I saw a scientific video somewhere that explains you cannot possibly make Fed’s weight, SW,no specs from an RF97. Therefore ‘his’ frames are customs, but, that’s no different to ‘someone’ using a PT57 Head frame. It’s a mold. However, the same video showed how he could get the Fed specs off a standard PS97. Who knows, they have a different central drill.pattern these days I think with the V13.
I can give you my only hands on opinion, and that is, I have a pro stock and a retail version of the same frame. The retail rocks about 320g unstrung. It’s being strung probably this week…..so I haven’t done a like for like per say. The Pro stock was 350g strung finished.
I took the strings out, took off all the lead and grips and whatever and it was 285-290g unstrung and ungripped.
I sincerely doubt there is any deficiency in material quantities and quality.
I have no inside knowledge how base retail pin’s are adjusted to ‘make spec’….lead or metal hidden between the unfinished pin is an option, or weights on the pin under the pallette…..but how they affect or correct SW or balance I don’t know because simply pumping in slow rising foam and hanging head down could affect the feel not just the SW.
Judging by one major manufacturing brand, the balance points and static weights were so far out, I’ve absolutely no idea.
Didn’t the old Prestige Pro and Prestige S share an identical mold? One light and one heavy, retail wise….several PS 97 weight variant too.
I don’t know.
My guess is sometimes the material lay ups are stiffer on some (usually the lighter one) but in other cases it’s possible for them to be the same frame I guess.
Over to someone who knows better….
Actually I did once smack some of my old frames through an X Ray machine.
Interesting bars in some places on the frame handle.
Where as the generation 1 frames were just solid and no metal showed up. Having said that, the two gen 1 frames were about 10g apart. And later on years later I found out one of the leather grips was way heavier than the other and the frames were actually very close.
Shocking. Put me off the brand for life and I love some of their frames too. Shame.
Top advice for anyone serious, strip your frames bare, no grip no strings, hell even change out the grommets as not all grommets weigh the same either. Start from there. Build them to match.
Unless you are better specced and use Head or whoever uses pallets. Then you can start from the pin.
Not all grip 3’s are the same. Not even from.the same.manufacturer, on the same frame. Measure your preferred grip sizes with tape, dont trust what the buttcap says.
I have blx six one 95 since 2010 and weighs 355 strung and tacky over grips not customised oval beam Specification says 333gr Play’s like 9 points headlight Since than I played with many newer models but nothing compares to this. Maybe n code box beam 95 comes close weight 350gr not customised and feels like 6 points hl I find basalt oval beams racquets most occurred on ground strokes and serve only Dunlop aerogel had better slices