What is Tommy Haas’ tennis racquet? For you one-handed backhand lovers or fans of good tennis technique and all-round skills, Haas is a great guy to watch. Although he is retired, he has just announced that he is taking part in the exhibition tournament Bett1 Aces in Berlin. It will be interesting to see him battling the young guns there. He is a great grass-court player, so I think his best chances are on that stage of the tournament. Haas is old-school and his racquet is old-school too (see the video below for more info). Sadly, he suffered from injuries …
PT57A
There is lot of talk on tennis forums and among racquetholics and tennis nerds that the “holy grail” of racquets is the Head Pro Tour 630, known as PT57A in pro stock lingo. Is it really magic? As I wrote in a previous post, I recently acquired a PT57A XL in a iPrestige MP paint job and it’s the first HEAD Pro Tour 630 I’m playing in extended form. This particular racquet is from a now-retired grand slam finalist and has a molded handle (L4) and weighs 358 grams strung with a balance of 32 cm. Needless to say, this …
After a period where few “player” racquets saw the light of day, we’ve suddenly been fortunate to see the Wilson Ultra Tour and the Dunlop Srixon Revo CX 2.0 Tour released. Will other brands follow? Traditional player racquets are usually heavier, thin-beamed, flexible and low-powered. It’s all about control and comfort. Modern racquets on the other hand are stiffer and lighter to maximize swing speeds, spin and power. After quite a long trend of pretty much only modern tennis racquets being released, it’s really nice to see two high quality racquets such as the Wilson Ultra Tour (which I review …
It’s time for the HEAD Radical to get the Graphene Touch update. A few pics have been leaked on the tennis forums and I’m curious to hear what you think about them. I’m a fan of the HEAD Radical series, all the way from the first editions (PT57B) that most racquetholics calls the “Bumblebee”, to the famous “Zebra”, the “Candycane”, the Liquidmetal Tour I use now, all the way to the IG Radical Pro, which for many was the last great Radical racquet. Others would argue that the first Graphene edition, the HEAD Graphene Radical Pro, was a worthy and …
Any of you readers who play around or use vintage tennis racquets from time to time? It can be great fun and sometimes it’s also beneficial to your game. There are many “old but gold” tennis racquets out there. I don’t mean wooden racquets here, but racquets from the 80s and onward. As some of you loyal readers know, one of the most popular racquets on the ATP tour is more than 20 years old – the HEAD Pro Tour 630 (or 280 in the US). Now it is called PT57A and is used by Andy Murray, Gilles Simon and many …
As so many of you readers understand all too well…when you’ve started playing around with different racquets, strings and setups – it becomes a never-ending quest. Or perhaps journey is a better word – because at different points in the journey you need to stop and stick with a stick. Right now, that stick is the Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ATP Ltd for me. I use the 16/19 string pattern, but if you prefer a lower launch angle and better directional control, there is also a 18/20 model. What I like about this racquet is the feel. The sweet spot is …
So. The racquetaholic never sleeps. That’s why I have two new frames to test out at home: the Tecnifibre Tfight 315 ATP Ltd. The model itself is not new, but from 2013 and the specs make a lot of racquet fans drool with its customizable weight, silicone already injected in the handle and low stiffness rating. People “in the know” call it a poor man’s PT57AÂ and that’s why I’m keen to try it out in tomorrow’s hitting session. As with all more interesting racquets – there is a huge thread on this one at the Tennis Warehouse Forum where customizations, …
A few months ago I stopped my racquet search (for the time being, you racquetaholics know exactly what I’m talking about) to go back to a racquet I used to play on and off years ago – the Head Pro Tour 630. The Pro Tour 630, or PT630, or PT57A as it’s called in its pro stock mould form, was created in 1995 and marketed heavily by Thomas Muster and Gustav Kuerten among others. It’s a 95 inch control racquet with a distinctive flex (usually measured as an RA rating) and after Muster’s and Guga’s victories, it’s still popular today …
I’ve sold almost all my racquets and kept “only” five of them to focus more on my game. It’s simply too difficult to keep switching racquets and still play consistently. So, I’ve decided to have two different racquet setups, just in case the switching bug hits me again. My main racquet will be the Head TGK 231.3 (Youtek Radical MP paint job and IG Radical MP paint job). I managed to get two that have belonged to Marin Cilic and they fit me almost perfectly. With the 16×19 string pattern you get a little more spin than the 18×20 and the …