The Rome Masters has started and as we can from the first match, Stefanos Tsitsipas is back to the Blade 98.
If you have been following the story, you have most likely seen him with his new blacked-out racquet, which looked very much like a Babolat Pure Aero 98. He started his campaign with the new racquet brilliantly, winning the title in Dubai, but after that the results have been a little bit up and down. Most racquet reviewers and chronic switchers know about the honeymoon period, when a racquet plays brilliantly in the beginning. It is the rush and joy of a new toy, helping bring some new energy and confidence to your game.
It is very common to start doubting the new racquet after some so-so performances or at least results that are below your expectations. The Aero 98 is a powerful racquet with a high launch angle and quite a different stick than his regular Blade 98 18/20. He will, of course, have less control, but in return be able to boss his opponents around more and finish the points quicker. With every racquet, there is a trade-off. And the results will tell you if it is a good one or not.
Back to clay, back to Blade
Stefanos is his best on clay and on paper the Aero 98 should work well on clay courts, but if the racquet does not give you enough confidence on certain shots, it is of course not optimal. He has reached two French Open finals and won Masters titles on the surface with his old racquet, so it does make some sense to go back to it.
I still think a slightly more powerful racquet, like Alex De Minaur’s Steam 99 with a 16/19 pattern could be a good compromise as it is allows you to hit a flatter ball and offers a bit more control than the Aero 98. But in the end, the player has to decide what works and it is difficult to keep testing and experimenting with racquets and strings. It means you lose a lot of confidence in your strokes, which can be harmful for your game.
Will he stay?
Will Stefanos stay with the Blade 98 now? I think it depends heavily on the results of this clay court season. I think it is positive that he is open-minded to test things, but of course you have to limit your equipment tinkering during the season. Tennis players are always ready for the next tournament and the off-season is relatively short, making it difficult to find proper training blocks to try new things. Also, a racquet setup might work brilliantly in training, but not great while playing actual tournaments.
It will be interesting to follow Stefanos’ results for the rest of the season. Let me know in the comments below about your own racquet tinkering and any learnings you have made.
If you want to check out or buy some of Stefanos Tsitispas gear, or just browse some of the best tennis racquets, visit Tennis Warehouse (US, Canada), Tennis Warehouse Europe or Tennis Only (AU).
I just recently changed playing from a Wilson Rf97, to the new Tecnifibre tfight 305s. It’s quite a dramatic decrease in static weight if I would play with the stock 305s, so even without testing it in stock form, I immediately changed the stock grip to a leather grip, then added lead tape as follows: 2g in the throat and 2 g a piece at 10 and 2 o’clock in the hoop. That brings it around a static weight of 319-320 g, which is more acceptable for me. Of course these values are unstrung, so add the strung weight to that plus I slapped an overgrip and voila. I’ve had 3-4 sessions with it, 1 singles practice set, a doubles match and a 1 to 1 session with the coach. So far results seem to say it’s a good change. I use basically same string setup as with Wilson, a multi in mains and luxilon 4g in cross but I dropped the tension with 1 kilo compared to the RF97, so I’m playing with 23/22 kilos. Overall maybe I lost still some of the plow through compared to the RF97 ( I could still tinker with the weights in the hoop) but I’ve gained more maneuverability in defensive positions against good players, where I was struggling to do well with the RF97. Overall, even though I love the RF97, I think I need to accept the fact that if I want to get better results, I need to stop playing with it and focus on my new stick