US Men's Clay Court and Tennis racquets

Tonight should be fun.

A few of the my tennis sparing regulars and I are going to watch Andy Roddick playing Tommy Haas tonight at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. A late game feature Blake and Fish will also be amazing to witness. I will post some pictures next Monday to share with you.

I bought a new racquet this week.
The reason is to realize that I am not a teenager anymore. Well, I have been playing tennis competitively since I was 15. I was never the strongest player, but since I have traditional long swings to both sides of my shots, I can always create shots that can penetrate the better defense. To help with the lack of true power, the compensation comes from precision and placement of the ball… leading to finishing them off at the net.


I was using a Yonex MP-5i for a long time… and before that a Dunlop Revelation Tour. Strung at 2 lbs. under maximum tension. If you get the drift, they are both softer, low power frame with great precision. I love these racquets because I can put the ball almost where ever I want and they have really good feel to play with. Yonex always have good feel. Problem is that my opponents, especially my sparing partners are both stronger people, using power sticks. EC uses the Wilson Sledgehammer 2.0, MT uses the Wilson Sledgehammer 3.8 and KS uses the Prince Shark. MT plays with both precision AND power, while EC and KS are bangers.

I am fine with the score against them but as I am aging, the effort that I need to beat these guys was becoming greater. I have to swing the heavy, softer frame a lot harder lately. And subsequencely, my wrist and my elbow are feeling the pain of such effort. My wrist had been in constant pain lately… I might have to see a doctor soon.

Finally, I told myself, enough is enough. I am now playing recreational tennis with target to play the area double tournament. With emphasis to beat my sparing partners and gain the bragging right every week. So I decided to step away from my comfort zone of soft, precision racquet frame to the more sophisticated, newer frame… to compensate to my inevitable ageing process.


I went to get a bunch of demo sticks at a local pro shop. They include:
Yonex RDS 001, Yonex RDS 003, Prince O3 Hornet, Prince O3 Tour, Prince Shark and Wilson nSix-One Tour.

The following is my personal opinion.
Yonex RDS 001
Good Precision, low power… less power than my current racquet Yonex MP-5i. Hewitt's new racquet.
Yonex RDS 003
Good Precision, low power… feels just like my current racquet Yonex MP-5i.
Prince O3 Hornet Hybrid
Good Precision, medium power… feels great. Love the lighter weight and the power that I get from my long swing. The structural design is beautiful but it has an aweful paint job. Still I have decided to get this one.
Prince O3 Tour
Great Precision with a lot of pace, if you hit it with all out effort. Low power and unstable if you hit it lightly.
Prince Shartk
Good racquet, heavy frame but not too agile at the net.
Wilson nSix-One Tour
Beautiful and Roger Federer is using it to win Grand Slams. This racquet is like the Prince O3 Tour, with slightly smaller sweet spot. It needs a lot of effort to use this racquet. But if you hit it right, you care rewarded with pin point precision and power.
Unfortunately, I am not Federer… neither is everyone else.

So after 5 days of testing them and pick out the Prince O3 Hornet Hybrid, I went back to the store and I bought the Prince O3 White… ( Yes, the O3 White Sarapova's current racquet. The stats are about the same, but with a little more power, a little bigger sweetspot… but boy… what a beautiful stick!! The structure and paint job are almost perfect (architectural speaking). Architects never like symmetrical design and let me tell you, the pure O3s are NOT symmetrical. The O-ports are design to situate slightly OFF from one side to another.

I took the leap of faith and thankfully I love the racquet. It fits well with my game. The Prince O3 racquets actually become more stable if you hit harder. Sounds fictional? Well, the O-ports only work when the string bends at higher angle (hitting it hard). As you hit it hard, the string bed bends to create a larger sweet spot. So if you are a soft hitter or a beginner… forget about the O3… you are just throwing your money away.

I will probably get another one next month. And did I mention that it looks Oh! So pretty?