Tennis Gear...

Since resuming regular play in October, I've been experimenting quite a bit with my gear, and fortunately by December had made my pick. I'm now using a Wilson KSix.One Tour 90 (the famed Federer stick) strung with Gosen OG Sheep Micro 17 synthetic gut at 55lbs, and Yonex Supergrap white overgrip.

Amidst all the experimenting I have tried out many polyester strings, and a few synthetic guts, in a variety of tensions. The polys (Luxilons in particular) were nice for a few strokes, but it had the effect of hurting my arm over extended play. Tried it in hybrids with synthetic guts to reduce the stringbed stiffness and while to some extent it lived up to its promise of having the best of both worlds (ie control, spin, comfort, durability) I felt the stringbed was rather inconsistent.

Polys main strength is durability, and as I cannot remember when I had ever broken a string (usually I would have cut it out when it began to fray or lose tension) hence its main advantage was lost on me. Went back to what I knew best; synthetic gut. My first choice was the tried and tested Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex which was still pretty good, but the Gamma TNT2 and Syn Gut Wearguard left me disappointed. Multiple positive reviews of the Gosen prompted me to give it a shot, and so far it's been great. So great I bought myself a reel.

The common reaction I get (or my other K90 wielding friends) when we tell people our choice of racket is that it's really heavy, or I must be a great player. Unfortunately while the first is true, the second is not.

It is indeed heavier than your usual tweener racket at 320gms vs the sub-300gms league, but as its head light manuevrability isn't a huge problem. Plus the stability, feel and control you get is unparalleled. Had a friend who tried it out just for fun and ended up buying one himself, despite his earlier skepticism at the weight and thin beam.

I feel quite comfortable with my current setup, and will probably get hold of another K90 before it disappears from the market. The new BLX range from Wilson is out, but it doesn't look like I'll be hopping on board. Initial reviews speak of a very similar racket with the K90 (with some pointing out that it could be nothing more than a paintjob) with a more muted feel, whereas feel by the bucketload is what drew me to the K90.

Update: I have since tested out the BLX90, and it was remarkably similar to the K90, though it did feel a bit more maneuverable, most likely due to a minor change in balance. It is also indeed significantly more muted in feel, which should make it more palatable to the general populace. Overall not blown away as it felt very similar to the K90 and lacked the feel which I prefer. What did impress me were the strings that it came with namely the spanking new Luxilon Adrenalines. Testing a set in hybrid now with the OGSM, will update later.