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 am doing my fellow tennis players a disservice by not “exposing” some of the mean and untruths they are saying about the professional tennis team.
I jokingly say “expose” because much of the information that I am going to give you has been published 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 very misinformed and / or misinformed.
In every tennis broadcast, you hear one or a combination of the above mentioned tennis announcer talk about the “light and powerful” frames that the players are wearing. During the US Open, Martina said that because of the rackets and the strings, the players don’t have to be very talented. I’m sure Federer, Nadal, Murray and the rest of the ATP Tour players would have a different opinion.
There are some ATP Tour players who use highly custom 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 wear thin, fairly flexible and heavy frames. Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Soderling, all the top 5 players, are among them.
Here are some specs of the ATP player frame compared to the commercial versions. ATP player specs courtesy of Greg Raven. Retail specifications are courtesy of Hardcore Tennis. But, as you know, retail frames can vary greatly from frame to frame.
Roger Federer
WilsonTour BLX 6.1
Strung weight 362.50g
Balance 31.50
Swing weight 338
Retail
Strung Weight 354g
Pound 31.43
Swing weight 333
Robin soderling
Head You Tek Radical MP
Strung Weight 357g
Pound 33.75
Swing weight 384
Retail
Strung Weight 312g
Pound 33.66
Turning Weight 324
Novak Djokovic
Head You Tek Speed 18X20
Strung Weight 360g
Balance 32.00
Swing weight 371
*** Flex 51 ***
Retail
Strung Weight 335g
Pound 32.07
Swing weight 317
*** Flex 65 ***
Rafael Nadal
Babolat Aero Pro Drive Cortex G
Strung Weight 335g
Pound 33.30
Swing weight 350 (* 4 1/4 with two overgrips *)
Retail
Strung 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 the Djokovic framework is.
Additionally, the frames used by Soderling, Murray, and many of the Head-backed ATP players 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 and on about the “misrepresentations” we hear on every tennis broadcast. But you get the idea. In the next discussion I will address the specifications of the WTA Tour frame.
Feel free to email me with questions or requests for specs for a specific player.
Thanks and play more tennis!
ERIC
