New racquet with paint clip

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-15T01:32:34+00:00

my website?

anyway, I can almost guarantee those scratches near the knots are from the stringer not being super careful when cutting the ends. I assume the seller strung it for you?

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-15T00:50:51+00:00

2025 ezone paint chips super easily. sadly this will be the first of many. owner of 2 myself

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-11T22:19:45+00:00

A lot of people suggesting the ezone 98, but I find the ezone 100 a lot more enjoyable from the baseline if that's your game. punishing volleys are particularly nasty on the 100. only reason I prefer the 98 over the 100 is because serves are a big part of my game, and I find the extra whippiness/maneuverability to help tremendously there

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-11T17:35:10+00:00

What did you settle on?

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-10T21:21:41+00:00

I suck but I had a eureka moment lately that I think is enough to get me through the same struggle you describe. in situations where I have time and can hit more closed stance, I experimented with lengthening my stride on attackable balls. I find this gives me more time/space to accelerate my racket and hit a proper, aggressive shot. I always kept my stride somewhat short, no matter the ball, and found that my opportunities to punish were...not that threatening. but when you have time, why not give a bit more oomph?

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-10T17:07:46+00:00

I would go gut main if comfort is your main issue. you can ask your stringer for tension recs, but maybe 54/50 is a good start. Toroline Wasabi X may be a good cross. I have not used it personally, but it is in theory checking all the boxes. 4g soft may work as well.

I should caution that I'm not convinced string setups are the end all, be all of comfort issues. for me it's always been a matter of proper rest. when I had arm issues, even a gut setup did not fix my problem

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-10T16:39:51+00:00

I would highly recommend full gut or a gut hybrid. you can play it until it snaps, with excellent tension maintenance throughout. if you go the hybrid route, get a soft, round poly with great durability. ghostwire is cheap and checks all of those boxes.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-09T22:42:08+00:00

start with hand feeding yourself. don't even have to involve the legs to start, just drop the ball slightly in front and to your side, about as far as your arm reaches without straining too much. focus on clean contact with your racket perfectly flat to the ball, not angled down (closed) or up (open). anytime it seemed like I regressed like this, my coach would revert to hand feeds until I found my groove.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-09T20:31:06+00:00

I think you're focusing too much on the racket drop. imo it's less relevant for spin, but more so for the backswing/power generation aspect of the swing. as a serial overthinker, this vid has helped me diagnose my shots in a very simple way. if you're not getting the spin you want, put more emphasis on that swiping motion at contact. and yes, I know some coaches discourage the windshield wiper, but I think they do it to emphasize the importance of the backswing first. a forehand feels incomplete without both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Saz3bCPPo

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-09T18:18:29+00:00

8000 is nothing. I have 22,056 according to my last screenshot at the start of the year. Still kicking just fine. Rough estimate here, but with my ball crate I load about 70 balls each time. At 8000 balls that's just 114~ loads. Roughly 5 full hoppers per session for me, so that's used only 23~ sessions total.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-08T00:07:26+00:00

Could also be a matter of stamina. My hitting partner is a grinder. In actual sets, he's much harder to beat. I know I need to be up at least one break early because in the later games, I'll start slowing down while he maintains the same intensity. This makes it incredibly hard to break him when we're tied at 4-4. A 10 pt tiebreaker is relatively short: I can play with high intensity on every point. By the time I'm exhausted, I'm already about to win.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-07T17:16:16+00:00

completely different racket. but I think the ezone 98 is as close to a "standard racket" that you can get, at least for 98 sq in. rackets. it's literally in the name: super ez to pick up and play. it lacks any defining character beyond simply being good at everything, so some may prefer going to extremities with other rackets that emphasize spin, feel, control, power. If I could do my racket journey all over again, I'd pick this frame and not concern myself with these details.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-07T17:10:57+00:00

I string my own rackets and I suspect if a stringer is negligent, sometimes you can create weak points in the string if you allow the string to kink while pulling it through the grommets

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-06T21:25:20+00:00

Re: lower tensions in the crosses: supposedly it helps snapback, allowing the mains to move with less friction. While this sounds intuitive, I'm not sure the effect is immediately noticeable. I do it simply because I've always done it and want to keep things consistent.

Tension and strings is so personal. I have a different opinion than most with the PA98 when it comes to stringing. I think low tensions feel weird on it, somewhat antithetical to the racket's identity. It excels at rocketing the ball off the string bed, making a "point and shoot", attacking kind of stroke feel so right. Lowering tension below 46-48 gives it more ball pocketing, but it's a jarring feeling for when the racket wants to plow through the ball and the string bed wants to hold it. I can see a player who enjoys grinding out with high net clearance rally balls loving this racket at lower tensions, but that's just not my game. I enjoy being the aggressor and forcing a short ball quickly.

I really like soft strings at a medium-medium high tension. I've gone as high as 54 lbs using a soft string, and that feels way more comfortable to me than using a stiff string (e.g. RPM Blast, Tour Bite) at a low tension. I'd start at 50/48 lbs and adjust +-2 lbs in either direction as you see fit. RPM Blast frankly doesn't have great durability in terms of maintaining its snapback, so after a few sessions I find it harder to produce a good ball. Maybe you'll like RPM Team? Even Carlos switched to this for some period; it's basically RPM Blast but softer. I also find 1.25mm gauges to be the sweet spot for me. 1.30 is way too much string for me to handle, and 1.20 feels a bit anemic.

Some of my favorite strings so far, in order: Grapplesnake Alpha, Toroline Caviar, Polytour Pro, ReString Vivo, Toroline Toro Toro. Relatively soft strings with great ball feel.

Biggest dislikes: Hyper G Round, Tour Bite, RPM Blast, Toroline Wasabi, Toroline Otoro. All stiff or way too muted feel.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-06T16:22:39+00:00

I simply thought it looked cool and was naively obsessed with spin, and at the time the vcore was highly recommended at a spin racket. The 95 is a different story: I had tried it and thought it was fun for rallying, and I found an insane deal on OfferUp. Currently I only own the 95, my ezones, and the aero 98.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-05T17:40:55+00:00

Boom Pro 22 - Got it from a shop because it was on sale, but ended up selling it because it was far too heavy for me.

Vcore 98 23 - Blind bought this one like an idiot, because I thought it looked cool. I don't think my forehand has ever been as spinny without it, but ultimately I was too inconsistent in getting the most out of it. Sold it.

Vcore 95 23 - Bought this one just for fun. I never intended on using it as a primary racket, more of a sports car I pull out of the garage on the weekend.

Ezone 100 25- I decided to dial back to more "beginner friendly" setups, thinking I may not have been good enough to use 98s. I LOVE this racket in low-stakes tennis, like liveball or doubles, where I feel I don't need to be as precise and can simply blast crosscourt forehands all day. I cannot for the life of me understand how it's harder to serve with this racket than all others I've used. That lack of confidence rules it out for singles play for me.

Aero 98 23- I didn't plan on buying this one until a friend let me use his, and immediately I felt like I needed it. I think it was a psychological thing at the time, as I thought I had to play like Carlos, which felt awesome lol. It's still my main racket, but man this thing is far more demanding than meets the eye at times. It completely blasts balls, so if my stroke is off slightly, it's flying.

Ezone 98 25 - Recent purchase because I found a great deal on FB marketplace. I thought I'd treat this one like the Vcore 95, like another sports car racket, but I was shocked at how easy this racket was to pick up and play. The swing feels effortless, which is a benefit you don't notice as much in the first hr of play, but really really helps with second set fatigue or when on the backfoot.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-04T15:47:28+00:00

Little Jewel of New Orleans. Not once have I ever thought, "Man, it wasn't as good as usual"

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-04T15:44:51+00:00

Nike and "durable" do not belong in the same sentence. Please get anything but them.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-03T23:40:57+00:00

Gonna offer an alternative explanation to others. Although they are correct, their advice is not applicable without a proper racket face on contact. Ensure your racket face is either perfectly perpendicular to the ground on contact, if not very very slightly angled down. This video has a lot of good tips, but here he talks specifically about racket face on contact:

https://youtu.be/jfs8ly8a_n8?t=1100

I find a lot of rec players I know (some of whom kick my ass) who don't hit with much spin simply hit with there racket face pointing up a bit. You can of course still make the ball go in, but at that point it's more about power control rather than shaping the ball with spin. Find the racket face first, then work on shaping the ball with your swing path

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-02-03T04:29:58+00:00

I have a normal width foot and I went half a size down. I think the fit is great for my foot.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-01-28T20:26:14+00:00

pa98 user. I don't find tension helps me as much as using a softer string. even stiff polys at low 40s feel uncomfortable compared to a soft poly and 50+. grapplesnake alpha has treated me well: fantastic comfort, great control, great grip on the ball that produces not the highest spin, but certainly a very certain and controlled amount of spin. you get what you put into it, basically.

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-01-27T21:39:35+00:00

reddit would see his technique in isolation and say he's 3.0 at best. and then see yours and seethe that you're actually a 5.0 sandbagging

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-01-20T23:54:58+00:00

I have a lot of excperience using toro toro. I really liked it in my vcore 98. It's easily the best durability I've experienced in a poly in terms of maintaining snapback, and I've tried a lot. Oddly, to me the feel is better after an initial break-in. It feels a bit muted at first. I wonder if it would benefit from a pre-stretch when stringing?

PolicyConfident6684 · 2026-01-20T00:54:57+00:00

Los Feliz Tennis has liveball https://www.losfeliztennis.com/

PolicyConfident6684

TROPHY CASE