Tennis Reviews, Tips & Equipment: Tennis Review

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.

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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!