Head PT113B Archives

Georgia is not a country famous for their tennis players, but they have some hope in 24-year-old Nikoloz Bashilashvili who qualified for his first ATP Tour final in Memphis. He ended up losing to Ryan Harrison in straight sets, but it was still a valuable trip for the #67 ranked Bashilashvili. But we’re not here to talk about travel, but about what racquet he’s swinging.

Well, I’m going to be honest and say I don’t know for sure. Bashilashvili started out with Wilson, played Prince only a few years ago and racquetholics have speculated about him using a TGT 312.1 which is a Head Prestige Rev Pro pro stock (93 inch, 16×19 and quite flexible), but looking at this picture you can see that the string pattern is 18×20 and it does look more like a 95-inch frame (although eyes can of course deceive you).

My guess would be that he uses the famous Head Pro Tour 630 / Head PT57A, but it doesn’t really look like that from this picture so maybe it’s the popular Djokovic pro stock mould PT113B, which is based on an old model called Head Ti/iRadical from early 2000.

I’m also intrigued by Balashvili’s white strings. Not many brands produce white strings. Can it be a set of Wilson Revolve? Please come up with your best guesses in the comment field dear tennis nerds!

What I do know is that Bashilashvili is sponsored by the same clothing brand as Fabio Fognini – Hydrogen. The skull-infested Italian brand also sponsors Jan-Lennard Struff and Simone Bolelli.

One of the players most prone to switch racquets on the ATP Tour is Spaniard, lefty, ball-basher, Fernando Verdasco. Most racquetholics usually hover around 3.0-4.5 NTRP rating, but Verdasco has been ranked as high as nr 7 in the rankings (in 2009).

It’s always a joy to watch Verdasco hit his forehand, but too often his head gets the better of him and he has had problems with his serve at times. Whether that’s due to his racquet, his mental ability or something else, remains to be said, however.

Verdasco was a long-time user of Tecnifibre racquets (previously called Major) but is currently using the same mold as Djokovic, a PT113B in a Head Graphene Touch Speed Pro paint job strung with Luxilon Alu Power and power pads. We will see how long his relationship with this racquet remains because not long ago he was using a Head Graphene Prestige Rev Pro (with, I’m sure, obscene amounts of lead tape to make it play more stable).

Here are Fernando Verdasco’s racquet specs:

Head size: 98 sq. in. / 630 sq. cm.
Length: 27 in. / 68.6 cm.
Strung weight: 12.1 oz. / 342 gr.
Strung balance: 317 mm
Stiffness: 59
Grip size: L2 (4 1/4)
Grip type: Head Synthetic Black + Overgrip
String pattern: 18 Mains / 20 Crosses
Paint: Graphene Speed PRO
Silicone: Yes
Lead: Yes
Pro stock code: PT113B1

Djokovic’s specs you will find in this post.

The specs and pic above is from the website prostocktennis.com where you can actually buy Fernando Verdasco’s actual racquet! If it’s still there that is.

What do you think of the new Head Speed Graphene Touch Pro paint job? Looks pretty nice to me.

Head PT113B

Nikoloz Bashilashvili’s Racquet

Fernando Verdasco Tennis Racquet