After 10 years of listening to Johnny Mac, Killa Cahill, BG, Uncle Cliffy, Martina and Robbie Koenig, I have to say something:
I feel like I’m doing my fellow tennis players a disservice by not “exposing” some of the half-truths they’re putting out about the professional tennis team.
I jokingly say “expose” because much of the information I’m going to give you has been reported in many places. I am also sure that these announcers, who were some of the best players in the world, are not giving false information on purpose. I can only assume that they are misinformed and/or misinformed.
On each tennis broadcast, listen to one or a combination of the aforementioned tennis announcer talks about the “light and powerful” frames players use. During the US Open, Martina said that because of the rackets and strings, players don’t have to be very talented. I’m sure Federer, Nadal, Murray and the rest of the players on the ATP Tour would have a different opinion.
There are some ATP Tour players who use highly customized and much heavier versions of the Babolat Pure Drive (Roddick, Andreev), Babolat Aero Drive (Nadal, Tsonga) and Head Extremes (Lubicic, Gasquet). But the vast majority of ATP Tour players use thin, fairly flexible, heavy and light frames. Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Soderling, all top 5 players, are among them.
Here are some specifications of the ATP player framework compared to the commercial versions. ATP player specifications courtesy of Greg Raven. Retail specifications courtesy of Hardcore Tennis. But as he knows, retail frames can vary greatly from frame to frame.
Roger Federer
wilsonBLX Tower 6.1
String weight 362.50g
Pound 31.50
Swing weight 338
Retail sale
String weight 354g
Pound 31.43
Swing weight 333
soderling robin
Head You Tek Radical MP
String weight 357g
Pound 33.75
Swing weight 384
Retail sale
String weight 312g
Pound 33.66
Swing weight 324
Novak Djokovic
Tek Speed 18X20 Head
String weight 360g
Pound 32.00
Swing weight 371
*** Flex 51 ***
Retail sale
String weight 335g
Pound 32.07
Swing weight 317
*** Flex 65 ***
Rafael Nadal
Babolat Aero Pro Drive Cortex G
String weight 335g
Pound 33.30
Swing Weight 350 (*4 1/4 with two overgrips*)
Retail sale
String weight 320g
Pound 33.02
Swing weight 331
As you can see, each of these ATP Tour players uses a frame that is much heavier than the commercial version. Notice how incredibly more flexible Djokovic’s framework is.
Also, the frames that Soderling, Murray and many of the Head-endorsed ATP players use are frames that have been in production for over 15 years. Any tennis player who has put two overgrips on top of their replacement grip knows how much the grip size increases.
I could go on with the “misstatements” we hear on every tennis broadcast. But you get the idea. In the next discussion, I will address the WTA Tour frame specifications.
Feel free to email me with questions or spec requests for a specific player.
Thank you and play more tennis!
Eric
http://www.hardcoretennis.net
