Friday, July 30, 2004
I THINK I'M IN LOVE.
Here's the story: I need a new racket. I realized this even when I thought just one of my pair was cracked, but now I know they both are. I thought I'd stay loyal to Yonex, even though the frame I've used for the past several years -- the Super RQ 1000 Long -- is many generations past. The 1000 is the "Big Yonie," the frame Monica Seles used for quite a while. It's huge -- 130 square inches -- but relatively light. I love it for its stability, and for the way that huge face lets me put spin on my serve. It isn't quite as maneuverable as I'd like, though, and so I saw this shopping expedition as an opportunity to try out its lighter successor, the Ultimum Ti 2000. The fact that this racket is a beautiful metallic green helped a bit, too. I'm very shallow.
The trouble is, even the successor is a few generations old. I finally found the racket on eBay, and I bid as high as necessary to win it. It was a 4 1/4, a grip size or two too small, but I figured I could build it up. (The building-up was rather comical, but I'll skip that part.)
I had never tried a really light racket before, and I was surprised. It was too light. My forehand, whippy and topspinny, was great, and my serve was fine, but my flatter backhand seemed to go nowhere. The volley was the worst part -- any passing shot threatened to knock that toothpick of a racket out of my hand.
What now? I thought of continuing with my current frame. I couldn't find any online, new or used, but it just so happened that my tennis shop had one or two -- at $279 each. No, thanks.
I did some research, still mainly in the Yonex product line, and found that the company has pretty much abandoned the huge-and-light-but-suitable-for-pros niche. I dug a little more, though, and found that the Yonex MP-2i seemed to fit the bill. Shallow me again: I wouldn't have given this frame a second thought if it were still red and black, but the new yellow-and-gray cosmetics seemed appealing enough. Speaking of looks, this is Anna Kournikova's racket. So what? Well, so my game is sort of like Anna's. Really. My boobs are getting to be about the same size, too, but that's another story.
The aforementioned local tennis shop didn't seem to carry this model, but a demo was readily available from Tennis Warehouse's convenient try-by-mail program. A couple of vacations got in the way of my taking advantage of this program,but eventually the UPS guy arrived with my would-be new Yonex. It was the old red-and-black version, but how it played was my concern. The shipping charges made it cost-effective for me to pick one other racket, and this was a bit of a lark. I only had eyes for the MP-2i, but I labored to come up with a second choice and settled on whatever Head racket Sebastian Grosjean uses.
It turns out that the French clone of Mikael Pernfors uses the i.Prestige MP (a frame on the opposite track in the battle between red and yellow cosmetics). I thought that was what I was asking for, but I ended up with the Liquidmetal Prestige MP. I don't think it's that far removed, but it's one of the top choices of male touring pros, players who don't need any extra power and might as well be using a heavy old wood racket.
I actually liked the Head racket better than the Yonex, but neither was anywhere close to light enough, big enough or powerful enough to succeed the Super RQ 1000.
I did a little more Internet research and reluctantly decided that maybe I needed to swallow my pride and go down the recreational-player path on the fork that Yonex created when it stopped making my racket. The Muscle Power series didn't work, and so maybe I should try the V-Con series. The V-Con 30, at 117 square inches, is as close to a Big Yonie as there is these days.
In idly surfing through some more racket reviews, however, I happened upon Head's Liquidmetal 2. This seemed like a direct response to my complaints about the too-light Yonex Ultimum Ti 2000, with an emphasis on light weight but stability befitting a heavier racket. I approved of the cosmetics --- black and yellow (call me Sting!) with a beautiful light-gray grip -- and the shape, which was reminiscent enough of the Grosjean racket and even the senior-tour Pernfors racket to at least give me a frame of reference, poser that I am.
I can't tell you exactly why I'm so sure this is going to work out, but I just am. I've never endorsed Head before, although back in the late '70s, when I first got into tennis, I admired Head's great magazine ads and lusted after the fiberglass Head XRC. Even got a demo at one point, but its triple-digit price tag was far beyond my high-school means. I had soured on the company somewhat since then, even though the senior-tour Borg and the modern Agassi and Grosjean and Pernfors and countless others were in the camp. There just didn't seem to be anything in my in-between niche -- Head made those pro-tour candy-apple-red clubs and it made those whisper-light rec-player rackets.
So, we'll see. I wish the Liquidmetal 2 were longer, and maybe a teensy bit bigger and heavier. I'm thinking I'll demo the aforementioned Yonex V-Con 30 and also the V-Con 17 (Hingis's last racket, which upon further research seems perhaps a better fit) as well just to be sure.
Here's the story: I need a new racket. I realized this even when I thought just one of my pair was cracked, but now I know they both are. I thought I'd stay loyal to Yonex, even though the frame I've used for the past several years -- the Super RQ 1000 Long -- is many generations past. The 1000 is the "Big Yonie," the frame Monica Seles used for quite a while. It's huge -- 130 square inches -- but relatively light. I love it for its stability, and for the way that huge face lets me put spin on my serve. It isn't quite as maneuverable as I'd like, though, and so I saw this shopping expedition as an opportunity to try out its lighter successor, the Ultimum Ti 2000. The fact that this racket is a beautiful metallic green helped a bit, too. I'm very shallow.
The trouble is, even the successor is a few generations old. I finally found the racket on eBay, and I bid as high as necessary to win it. It was a 4 1/4, a grip size or two too small, but I figured I could build it up. (The building-up was rather comical, but I'll skip that part.)
I had never tried a really light racket before, and I was surprised. It was too light. My forehand, whippy and topspinny, was great, and my serve was fine, but my flatter backhand seemed to go nowhere. The volley was the worst part -- any passing shot threatened to knock that toothpick of a racket out of my hand.
What now? I thought of continuing with my current frame. I couldn't find any online, new or used, but it just so happened that my tennis shop had one or two -- at $279 each. No, thanks.
I did some research, still mainly in the Yonex product line, and found that the company has pretty much abandoned the huge-and-light-but-suitable-for-pros niche. I dug a little more, though, and found that the Yonex MP-2i seemed to fit the bill. Shallow me again: I wouldn't have given this frame a second thought if it were still red and black, but the new yellow-and-gray cosmetics seemed appealing enough. Speaking of looks, this is Anna Kournikova's racket. So what? Well, so my game is sort of like Anna's. Really. My boobs are getting to be about the same size, too, but that's another story.
The aforementioned local tennis shop didn't seem to carry this model, but a demo was readily available from Tennis Warehouse's convenient try-by-mail program. A couple of vacations got in the way of my taking advantage of this program,but eventually the UPS guy arrived with my would-be new Yonex. It was the old red-and-black version, but how it played was my concern. The shipping charges made it cost-effective for me to pick one other racket, and this was a bit of a lark. I only had eyes for the MP-2i, but I labored to come up with a second choice and settled on whatever Head racket Sebastian Grosjean uses.
It turns out that the French clone of Mikael Pernfors uses the i.Prestige MP (a frame on the opposite track in the battle between red and yellow cosmetics). I thought that was what I was asking for, but I ended up with the Liquidmetal Prestige MP. I don't think it's that far removed, but it's one of the top choices of male touring pros, players who don't need any extra power and might as well be using a heavy old wood racket.
I actually liked the Head racket better than the Yonex, but neither was anywhere close to light enough, big enough or powerful enough to succeed the Super RQ 1000.
I did a little more Internet research and reluctantly decided that maybe I needed to swallow my pride and go down the recreational-player path on the fork that Yonex created when it stopped making my racket. The Muscle Power series didn't work, and so maybe I should try the V-Con series. The V-Con 30, at 117 square inches, is as close to a Big Yonie as there is these days.
In idly surfing through some more racket reviews, however, I happened upon Head's Liquidmetal 2. This seemed like a direct response to my complaints about the too-light Yonex Ultimum Ti 2000, with an emphasis on light weight but stability befitting a heavier racket. I approved of the cosmetics --- black and yellow (call me Sting!) with a beautiful light-gray grip -- and the shape, which was reminiscent enough of the Grosjean racket and even the senior-tour Pernfors racket to at least give me a frame of reference, poser that I am.
I can't tell you exactly why I'm so sure this is going to work out, but I just am. I've never endorsed Head before, although back in the late '70s, when I first got into tennis, I admired Head's great magazine ads and lusted after the fiberglass Head XRC. Even got a demo at one point, but its triple-digit price tag was far beyond my high-school means. I had soured on the company somewhat since then, even though the senior-tour Borg and the modern Agassi and Grosjean and Pernfors and countless others were in the camp. There just didn't seem to be anything in my in-between niche -- Head made those pro-tour candy-apple-red clubs and it made those whisper-light rec-player rackets.
So, we'll see. I wish the Liquidmetal 2 were longer, and maybe a teensy bit bigger and heavier. I'm thinking I'll demo the aforementioned Yonex V-Con 30 and also the V-Con 17 (Hingis's last racket, which upon further research seems perhaps a better fit) as well just to be sure.
Friday, July 02, 2004
A RECENT Slate article trotted out the tired old "rackets are too powerful" theme.
I'll weigh in at some point, but somebody beat me to it.
P.S.: How bout that Maria Sharapova?
I'll weigh in at some point, but somebody beat me to it.
P.S.: How bout that Maria Sharapova?
