Tennis Tip - Spin Potential (Factors Affecting Spin)

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We've all heard on courts about players saying that a particular racquet, string or setup produces more spin, while some other players say otherwise.

This debate is a very subjective matter and one man's meat is another man's poison.

From my own experiences from using various racquets, strings and setups, I feel that the main ways to produce good spin are as follows:

1. Swing Style - If you hit from low to high, you naturally add spin to your shots. I tend to hit across the ball and my shots are relatively flat.

2. String Pattern - I find racquets with an open string pattern generate more spin but this again depends on swing style.

3. String Type - Polyester-based strings generate spin much better than multifilaments and I found this to be very true when using Wilson NXT Tour compared with Luxilon.

Also, strings with rough textures help a lot in spin generation and strings like Luxilon ALU Rough/Spin, Ashaway Cross-fire & Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour add tremendous spin to my shots because of their rouch texture.

4. Racquet Head Size - I've found that racquets with a larger head-size generate more spin (perhaps due to a larger surface contact area).

In this case, string pattern doesn't really affect spin. For e.g., I found it hard to generate spin with the KSix-One 90 (open pattern) compared to my KBlade 98 (closed string pattern).

Babolat's 100 sq inch, open string pattern racquets (like the Pure Drive and Aeropro Drive) were a breeze to generate spin with but this again depends on your swing style and string type.

My suggestion is to experiment a little with string type and setup if you're having problems with spin potential. After all, tennis is a trial and error thing and only by experimenting, can you find the perfect balance to improve your game.

Good luck!




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Tennis Reviews - Babolat Racquets

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Sometime last year, I did a quick demo of the Babolat Aeropro Drive, Pure Drive, Pure Drive Plus and Pure Drive Cortex. Compared to my trusted Wilson nCode 6.1 95, the Babolat's were much easier to play with because of the increase in power and the lower swingweight (in most cases).

Here was my 2 cents worth from the short demo...

1) Aeropro Drive (APD):

A very stable racquet. Didn’t expect the hits to feel this nice on a Babolat. Although at a hefty 300 grams, it didn’t feel heavy and had a headlight balance. Power was there and I was able to rip through the ball with spin and depth.

Even without the Cortex or a dampener, I could feel very little vibration on impact. I didn’t get much chance to volley or serve with the racquet but this was definitely on my short list!

2) Pure Drive (PD) Team:

Another sweet racquet with a tad more power than the APD. The racquet was slightly more head heavy than the APD and suited my flat style of play.

In the beginning I was having trouble controlling the power compared to the nCode but once I got my timing right and added a touch of spin, I was able to hit with good depth and placement. It’s so much easier to play with this racquet compared to the nCode. The swingweight was less and I was able to generate good racquet head speed, even when late receiving a hard-hit shot. Slice definitely was a plus because it caught my stroking partner out a few times.

Serving was excellent using the PD. The nCode is a lovely racquet to serve with but it just takes so much effort. With the PD I could hit a flat serve, spin it, slice it, etc with accuracy and much less effort.

My volleys were a little wayward due to the power of the racquet but I guess it just takes time to get used to it. Also, I tried the PD with and without the dampener and wow, without the dampener, the vibrations are bad. Not enough to cause tennis elbow but enough to be annoying…

All in all, I was happy with this racquet.

3) Pure Drive Plus (PD+):

Actually, I didn’t realise I was using this because the coach had switched the PD for this in the middle of the demo. I found the racquet had a much heavier swingweight and felt as heavy (if not more heavy) than my nCode. I was hitting the balls as hard as the PD and I found no problems in timing. I was finding though, that I was tiring fast using this racquet.

At first I attributed the feel and weight to a change in strings but once the coach told me it was the Plus version, then I realised why there was this difference.

Serving was again excellent with the PD+ and I didn’t find any difficulty with the swingweight or extra length of the PD+. Perhaps I was used to my nCode’s heavier swing weight?

Again, I didn’t get to volley much with the PD+ but with that added swingweight, I would think that it wouldn’t be as good as the PD.

All in all, contrary to what the coach believed, I was more impressed with the PD as it felt a lot easier to handle.

4) Pure Drive Cortex (PDC):

I spotted this in the coach’s bag and asked for a demo (it was his personal one so I guess he was worried about me damaging it or something). But he let me try it and thank goodness he did because this was the pick of the bunch for me.

Same excellent power and control as the PD but with none of that annoying vibration. I used the PDC without any dampener and the feel at impact was as sweet as my nCode.

Again, it was so easy to generate pace and spin with this racquet and was much less work than my nCode. At this point in the demo, my stroking partner was hitting powerful, deep shots and I was getting them back with some venom, with much less effort than my nCode.

Conclusion:

So the 2 finalists were the Aeropro Drive and Pure Drive Cortex. It was very hard to differentiate the two and the Nadal marketing campaigns were working on me… but then again so were the Roddick and Moya ones! So…

… the thing was that I felt the PDC more suited my style of play – 4.0 all-court, flat hitting 2 hander, who plays mainly doubles.

So I guess the PDC would be my pick of the bunch.




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Offer - Wilson KFactor String & Backpack Deal

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Used Wilson nCode nTour 105 Tennis Racquet

- Wilson nCode nTour 105 -

Condition 7/10 (minor scratches and marks due to normal play)

L2 grip (4 1/4)

Comes with hologram sticker & cover

Pre-strung with Wilson Enduro Pro 17 strings @ 57lbs

Price: Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 255



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Used Head TiS6 (Austria) Tennis Racquet

- Head Titanium (TI) S6 (Austria) -

Made in AUSTRIA

Condition 6.5/10 (playable condition, normal scratches and marks due to normal play)

L2 grip (4 1/4)

Comes with cover

Pre-strung with Ashaway Cross-fire strings (tension unknown)

Price: Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 155



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Used Wilson KBlade Team 104 Tennis Racquet

- Wilson KFactor KBlade Team 104 -

Condition 8/10 (mint, minor scratches and marks due to normal play)

L2 grip (4 1/4)

Comes with hologram sticker & cover

Pre-strung with Wilson KGut strings @ 58lbs

Price: Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 375



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Tennis Review - Wilson KBlade 98 (Part 2)

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This is Part 2 of my review of Wilson's latest KBlade 98 and my current racquet of choice.

Please click the "Review" link at the end of this post for Part 1 of the KBlade Review and the complete list of my other reviews.

Week 2 – Customise:

Gaining Weight:

I added some lead tape to the 3 and 9‘clock positions (about 1 gram) and some in the racquet handle (about 2 grams).

Swinging the racquet, I found that adding lead tape in this way did not alter the balance of the racquet in any significant way.

Groundstrokes:

Wow, now we’re talking! The racquet felt a lot more stable on off-center shots and the additional swing-weight forced me to slow down my swing, thus improving my consistency and control.
I was timing the ball better and was able to place the ball anywhere I wanted and with some added depth!

Touch Shots:

Where I found most benefit was on touch shots – I was finally able to perform those deft drop-shots I so missed when changing from the nSix-One 95 to the Aeropro Drive Cortex (APDC). And my volleys were much more consistent because I was more confident because I didn’t have to worry about jarring miss-hits.

A flexible racquet is definitely the way to go if you play doubles or have an all-court game and I’ve come to realize that the APDC is not really a good doubles stick.

Serve:

Another benefit of adding lead tape was on serve. It really helped on flat first-serves – I got more power and placement was just unbelievable!

Conclusion:

Some advice for intermediate or advanced players: If you find that your racquet is not giving you the level of performance you crave, try adding some lead tape here and there to alter the balance, power or stability of the racquet.

This simple customisation is not only cheap but it’s also great fun to learn how a few grams of lead tape and some patience can help improve your game!

Good luck!


Please click the "Review" link at the end of this post for Part 1 of the KBlade Review and the complete list of my other reviews.


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Tennis Review - Wilson KBlade 98 (Part 1)

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Sometime late last year I switched from the Wilson nCode 6.1 95 to Nadal’s Babolat Aeropro Drive Cortex (APDC). After a more than 6 months play-test and numerous customisations, I found the APDC did not suite my style of play.

http://tennis.com/messageboard/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4395&posts=67&start=1

Being a Djokovic fan, I sold the APDC and am now the proud owner of the new Wilson [K]Factor [K]Blade 98. The following is my blog of “Life with the KBlade 98,” in comparison to the APDC. Is the KBlade 98 merely a new paintjob or is there truth to the [K] technology? Read on to find out…

Week 0 - Initial Impressions

A very smart looking racquet - sporting a piano-style glossy-black finish (compared to the Tour 93’s matt-black finish).

Strung with Wilson NXT Tour 16 strings @ 55 lbs, the racquet weighed approximately 318g and swung remarkably light – a tad lighter than my customised Aeropro Drive Cortex (APDC). I added a Wilson Pro Overgrip (white) to protect the original grip and to add some bulk to the smallish L2 (4 ¼) grip. Now I was looking more and more like Djokovic and Tsonga but would the racquet play as well as it looked?

Week 1 – The First Date

Groundstrokes:

The racquet was exactly what I was looking for. It had a decent weight and was head-light enough for my doubles game. In fact, I found it a tad too light because I was over-swinging and was hitting the ball out for the first 10 minutes.

Comfort was excellent (less vibration than the APDC) and the sweetspot was significantly larger than the APDC. The KBlade has larger grommet holes at selected points on the head to reduce vibration and I found these to work as advertised. Throughout this first play-test, I didn’t use a dampener - to get more feel from my strokes.

The only problem was that on miss-hits, the racquet felt a little unstable. Also, the racquet had some power (oddly enough, more than the APDC) and I had some trouble controlling shots when I was late, especially on my double-handed backhand.

Having said that, the racquet is certainly no power-house i.e. you have to swing fully to generate depth and pace. Thus, I definitely place it in the player’s category of racquets. If you prepare well and have a full swing, you will be rewarded with deep, controlled, penetrating shots.

I didn’t see any fall in spin potential from this 18x20 racquet compared to the 16x19 Babolat.

In fact, the 18x20 pattern seemed to help me gain more control on my flatter style of play. The racquet also sliced very well and I was getting a lot of action and was keeping the balls low most of the time. Very unexpected for an 18x20.

Volleys:

I’m not that good a volleyer, which is funny considering I’m a doubles player. I was missing the control and touch I got from the nCode nSix-One 95 when I changed to the Babolat and was hoping the KBlade 98 would bring some of it back. The KBlade did not disappoint!

Much better control and feel from the KBlade 98. I was able to punch volleys back with authority and I finally got to execute drop shots with greater ease and accuracy. The racquet is also very maneuverable and powerful enough for reflex volleys and tougher overheads.

I was again finding some lack of stability on miss-hits. The racquet definitely needs some lead tape at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions for added stability and comfort when volleying.

Serves:

Compared to the APDC, the KBlade 98 is a tad easier to serve with, if you like to hit it hard and flat. It’s so easy to generate pace and depth on flatter first serves and I was constantly finding the corners.

Slice second serves didn’t kick as much as I got from the APDC (perhaps due to the closed string pattern) but again, placement and pace was second to none; a joy to serve with!

My only gripe was again due to the racquet being too head-light for my taste so sometimes I was guilty of over-swinging. A little customization would remedy that.

Return of Serve:

One of my strengths is my return of serve and I like to return aggressively down the lines, especially on weaker second serves. The KBlade 98 fits the bill perfectly with a great balance of power and control.

Blast it back, lob it, drop-shot it, slice it – this racquet could do it all. Hell, I was even trying some chip and charge! Great doubles stick.

Once again though, miss-timed hard-hit first serve returns resulted in some jarring on the arm.

Conclusion – Week 1:

I love this racquet! It fits my style of play, perfectly – double-hander who hits with a semi-western grip, plays relatively flat on both wings and plays mainly doubles.

The KBlade 98 is just so comfortable and arm friendly and has the right balance of power vs. control.

I would definitely add some lead tape here and there to make the racquet a little more stable and heavier on serves and volleys but overall I’m highly impressed.

Demo one today to see for yourself!

Click the link below to BUY NOW!

http://search.ebay.com.my/_W0QQsassZ4ever10is


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