Latest Tennis News
Here’s where you’ll find all the latest racket and string news as it happens throughout the year.
Australian Open Revue
The longest final in Grand Slam history was a fitting end to this year’s Australian Open, an event that saw more new player and racket combinations than for a number of years. Some players benefitted, whilst others will either need longer to adapt to their new choice, or will end up regretting the change.
Novak Djokovic again reigned supreme, capturing his fourth Grand Slam title out of the last five, and setting himself up for a shot at becoming the first man to hold all four Slam titles at the same time since Rod Laver in 1969 if he wins at Roland Garros in June. Novak’s racket in Oz was the Head YouTek IG Speed MP 315 with the 18×20 string pattern. His string choice was Babolat VS Team natural gut main strings, and Luxilon Alu Power Rough crosses. Rafa Nadal set an unwanted Open era record of finishing runner up in three consecutive Grand Slam singles finals when he went down after 5 hours and 53 minutes in the final. Rafa used the Babolat AeroPro Drive racket, strung with Babolat RPM Blast strings.
Much was made of Rafa switching to a heavier racket in search of more power and shot penetration. It’s not so much the amount of weight he’s added, which is only three grams, but where he’s added it – at the top of the racket head – that makes the difference. Little if anything was said about the fact that the inside of Djokovic’s racket head was covered in lead tape, making his racket considerably more head-heavy than standard. Exact specs are not available at the moment, but judging by the amount of tape used it was probably in the region of 10 grams.
Wilson fully launched their 2012 range of rackets in Melbourne, with their top endorsee, Roger Federer, using the new Pro Staff Six.One 90 BLX to reach the singles semi-final. This is the latest incarnation of the same racket Roger has used since 2003. Its colour scheme may change, but the specs remain the same. As always, Roger’s string choice was Wilson Natural Gut main strings and Luxilon Alu Power Rough cross strings. The other men’s semi-finalist, Andy Murray, who came so close to upsetting Novak Djokovic, used the Head YouTek IG Radical Pro racket, strung with Luxilon Alu Power Rough main strings and Babolat VS Team natural gut crosses.
Whilst The Big Four men players have all stuck with their regular frames and strings there have been more racket changes and new rackets this year than ever before. On the new rackets front, Babolat had all its Pure Drive contract players – Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Li Na, etc – playing with the new model Pure Drive, featuring ‘an incredible futuristic cosmetic’ – their words, not mine. This is the first real makeover for the Pure Drive since its introduction in 1994, which must be some sort of modern record for longevity of design.
Prince has introduced a new racket in the EXO3 Warrior, which was used by John Isner, Vera Zvonareva, and most of their team who were previously playing with the EXO3 Black. They also have a new version of the EXO3 Rebel 95, which has a brighter yellow finish without the webbing graphics on the outside of the racket shafts, and was being played by the Bryan Brothers in the doubles events. Prince’s top EXO3 Rebel 95 singles player, Gaël Monfils, was playing with the previous model, however. Prince also chose the event to announce that the Bryan Brothers are now playing with the Prince Beast XP string instead of their previous hybrid of Prince Natural Gut and Luxilon TiMo. The Bros went all the way to the final of the Men’s Doubles, but went down to Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek. Paes used the Babolat Pure Drive strung with Babolat VS Team Natural Gut, whilst Stepanek became the first male player to win a Grand Slam event with a Bosworth Custom racket, (the Tour 96), strung with Pacific Tournament Pro natural gut.
Two of the highest profile rackets switchers were Bernard Tomic and Stanislas Wawrinka, who have both left Head and signed with Yonex. Both are using the Yonex VCore 98D, and in Wawrinka’s case he’s now 100% a Yonex man, as he’s wearing Yonex clothing and shoes as well. Tomic fared the better of the two, getting to the last 16 before running into Roger Federer, but at least Wawrinka seemed happier with his new racket than his second round opponent, former finalist Marcos Baghdatis, did with his. Baghdatis has left Tecnifibre and was playing with a completely unmarked light blue coloured frame, but it was far from his liking as he destroyed four of them at a change of ends in the second set. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kS68T6ptA&ob=av3e Whether it was the frame itself, or the ployester and gut hybrid stringing he was using that’s visible in the clip isn’t known, but he was one unhappy man.
One man who has not changed rackets, even though his supplier’s advertising campaigns say he has, is Juan-Martin del Potro. Wilson has him using their new Juice Pro 96 racket, but in Melbourne he was still playing the Wilson [K] Factor Six.One 95, the same frame he used to win the US Open in 2009. He campaigned this frame last year as well, so he clearly prefers it to anything Wilson has to offer at the moment.
On the ladies’ side the biggest change was Victoria Azarenka leaving Head for Wilson, and playing their new Juice 100. She used it to the best possible effect as, playing with Luxilon Alu Power strings, she captured her first Grand Slam title and the No 1 world ranking in style, completely outplaying Maria Sharapova in the final for the loss of just three games. Sharapova played the Head YouTek IG Instinct she helped launch last year, with a hybrid of Babolat VS Team natural gut main strings and Babolat RPM Blast crosses. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova reached the semi-finals with the new Wilson Tour BLX racket, like Azarenka strung with Luxilon Alu Power. Defending champion Kim Clijsters completed the semi-final line up with her Babolat Pure Drive strung with Babolat VS Touch natural gut. Kim was the only semi-finalist, male or female, to play a 100% natural gut stringbed.
Jelena Jankovic continues to tread the unmarked racket path she has followed since officially parting company with Prince a couple of years ago. In Melbourne she was using an unmarked all black frame, which she carried in an unmarked white racket holdall. She’s also changed clothing supplier, and this year she’s sporting Fila attire.
Finally, Bethanie Mattek-Sands brought Donnay back into the winner’s circle when she won the Mixed Doubles title alongside Horia Tecau using the Donnay Formula racket, a racket she credits with saving her career following serious shoulder problems last summer. The Australian Mixed title might not carry the same weight as the five Wimbledons Bjorn Borg won with Donnay, but it’s a start, and with James Blake playing the Donnay X-Dual Pro things could be looking up for one of the games oldest racket manufacturing names.