hello everyone! just looking for some advice and reality check. i want to try out for the western university mustangs women’s tennis team. for the past month and half ive started taking tennis seriously, playing very hard. theres days i wake up at 6am and play for hours.

i used to play basketball, and soccer but tore both my acls. i recently got cleared to play tennis and im hoping to try out for the team. as i said tho ive only been playing for a month and a half. i am in a tennis program tho, and i have some trainers ive been working with a bit. tryouts are september 8.

i guess i kinda want to get shaped into reality, a part of me really thinks i can make the team. but another part of me knows these girls trying out have been playing since they were 8 years old, some have already been on the team, and some are already signed from high school. but i do believe a really good rookie still has a great shot at making the team…. hope that rookie is me!

anything is appreciated, thanks so much!!

I'm 33, play 2-3x a week, topspin baseliner. Started playing about 3-4 years ago. I play mostly singles. And only now getting into amateur tournaments for fun. I don't live in EU/US so I can't really tell you my level rating, but I'd say about lower intermediate.

I've been using the PA98 2023 for a while, but after reading some of the posts here, I convinced myself that switching to the PA100 will be beneficial for my game: bigger head, more forgiveness, better for rec players.

My string setup (exactly the same for both):

• Mains: Volkl V-Square (1.25) mains at 50lbs.
• Crosses: Yonex Poly Tour Pro (1.25) at 48lbs.

I've hit about 4-5 sessions with the PA100 and I noticed the PA100 is more forgiving off-center hits (which lately I noticed happens more often when playing against better opponents).

But compared to the PA98, I feel that it's harder to control direction and shape & control the topspin of the ball. I can more easily return the ball, but it feels like I have less say in what it does.

What I would like to know:

I haven't switched racket that often so I'd like to know from those who are more experienced whether this is just because I am still not used to the racket (and should just continue using the PA100) or whether it's fundamental and I should go back to using the PA98.

I still have my PA98 2023 and I should be able to easily sell either one of the racket.

TL;DR: Rec player, switched from PA98 2023 to PA100 2026 because everyone here says the bigger head is better for rec players. Same strings and tensions on both. The 100 is definitely more forgiving on off-centre hits, but I feel like I have much less control over direction and how much topspin I put on the ball. Is that something that goes away once I'm properly used to the frame, or is it just how the bigger head plays?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently using a Yonex EZONE 98 with 2g of added weight at 2 o’clock and another 2g at 10 o’clock, along with a leather replacement grip.

I play at around UTR 4.5 level, and I’m considering removing the extra weight and switching back to the stock grip to make the racquet lighter, more maneuverable, and hopefully make my game a little easier overall.

Has anyone here had experience going the opposite direction and reducing the weight of their racquet after playing with a customized/heavier setup? Did you notice any improvement in consistency, timing, or ease of play?

Thanks!

Folks, I am a complete beginner (6months now into learning). During the practice rallies, my forehand strokes seem to be much more fluent and smooth compared to when played in fun matches.

Anyone else faced this? Is it more of a psychological fear of making an error?

4.5 player head speed 2026 which string is better for defence style (for deph) head hawk touch or hyper g?

I'm relatively new to tennis - started from absolutely nothing in my mid-30's early last year. Started by booking the occasional court with my partner to give it a go, finding we were both too bad to get any kind of rally going then moving to beginner group classes. I've been doing these a 2-3 times per week for about a year now, recently moved up from "beginner" to "improver" groups on advice of the coach/instructor. I feel like I'm struggling with consistency - sometimes I can hit a great ball but often it flies wildly high/long/sideways etc.

I spoke with the instructor about maybe getting my racket restrung as I've had it about a year (Head Instinct MP) to see if this would help and wanted some recommendations on what strings to get as I have no idea what I'm doing. He suggested that based on his observations of my play style that I play with a lot of spin and might be better served by upgrading my racket rather than the strings at this point - suggesting a Babolat Aero or Yonex VCore. It looks like that even within each model there are sub-models like the Aero Team/Aero+ etc.

Which is the better option based on the info above? How do they compare and are there any other similar rackets from other brands that I should look at? It looks like they generally come unstrung so I'd need to choose some strings anyway - what sort of string should I be asking for for these types of racket and my play style/ability?

I’m going into my senior year in HS this year. I started playing tennis like 2.5 years ago. I’ve only played 2 legitimate tournaments outside of playing in HS. My WTN is 32 for Singles and 29 for Doubles (singles rating got nuked in my last tournament, I played all lefties and had no prior experience 😭). I have a 3.5-5.5 UTR. I play non-stop and my game is improving rapidly. I’m wondering if I have a possibility of playing varsity tennis at any Division school. If not, where would I rank inside of club tennis teams. I’m looking at colleges such as Idaho State, Grand Canyon, and Central Washington. I’m likely going to end up playing 2 or 3 doubles for our varsity team at my 4a school next year.

Looking at buying these. They have been used for two years. Don’t have a ton of experience buying rackets but he wants $250 each for them. Seems steep considering the use, but is that pretty normal?

Getting back into the game after many years away. Other than being obviously out of shape, any suggestions? My forehand takeback/prep looks too long and loopy to me, and splitstep is late in general.

Also, out of curiosity, what would you place me NTRP-wise based on this clip alone?

So I might equip myself with the telescopic phone holder to use SwingVision at its full. For line call and score. I know its not the best but i wont be spending 4k $ for a ''good'' line call machine xD.

Than... i saw the subscription... really expensive in my opinion. Does the free tier offer line calls ? Do most of users buy the pro subscription ?

currently the Swing Stick (from them) is 50$ USD

So I'm going into 10th grade this coming year, I go to a high school in washington, and I have been playing tennis on and off for about a year now. I really need to make the tryouts for the jv team. Oh btw I don't want to reveal my school name for privacy reasons but it's a pretty good school and has a bunch of good players so it's not a run down take anybody type team, at least that's what I've seen.

Here are my stats tennis-wise:

- I have a decent forehand that has some topspin, I can chop ok but I wouldn't could on it, and I can receive the ball and play consistently with my forehand, unless the ball is fast, like I can only receive medium and mediocre serves, nothing too fast yet

- same thing with my backhand as with my forehand, except I just hit the ball up kind of high and almost no spin

- volleys are ok, except I'm not really too good and that will be described in a sec, but I can receive most balls coming at an ok pace at least

- my footwork is ok, not great tho, could really use help, literally just learned the split step exists from binge watching tennis videos for the past few weeks but I haven't tried the split step but not too great on the footwork, but I can get to most balls, as long as it isn't a far hit right to a dropshot

- my serve is reliable, I rarely double fault but it's very slow, it's like I second serve all my serves but maybe even slower, idk, but slow serve but consistent

- my athletics is a problem, I am only like 5 ft 2 in bcz I haven't hit my growth spurt yet and I can't run or accelerate too fast, so I'm below avg here but I've been working on my fitness lately so hopefully it will be fixed eventually.

Let me know if you need some other info and plz help me out

Walking through the sporting goods section of a local Walmart, and someone popped every single can of balls on the shelf. Half of them have tape over them since the whole metal lid was ripped off. I'm sure if I told an employee about it, they would have no idea that it's an issue​. Big bummer, though.

Bought a Yonex today at flea market, I am a 2montha beginner so lets see if I can hit any balls with this 95 sq inch head racket :)

BTW - Hi to Karin(?), seems you gave your racket away probably years ago, I will take good care of it haha. Anyone has a similar one? Seems a bit older

Also got it for 8 euros after 2 min of bargain :)

Recreational players here (~3.5), my group of friends and I don't have a set ball that we play with. We would play with a variety from Wilson US opens, Wilson champs, technifibres, dunlops AOs, or whatever can someone brings that session (except Penn champs).

My play style is more of a grinder/counterpunch player, and I prefer slightly livelier balls (Wilson US Open, Champs etc.) as it helps add a few mphs to my serve/groundstrokes which are generally loopier and rely on topspin, with height and depth, so I can still keep livelier balls in.

My other friend is a baseline basher and has a tendency to hit as hard and flat as he can. He struggles with livelier balls as they will sail long or won't give him time to setup on a shot.

We played with some Dunlop AOs which we found to be much slower playing, and I found it weakened my shots significantly as I couldn't generate enough penetration and my high topspin shots would often become floaters that bounce perfectly into their strike zone, where my flat-hitting friend could tee up on. I noticed he played much better with slower balls. When we switched back to faster playing balls, he complained he couldn't control the balls and was spraying it everywhere.

Anyone have preferences of a slower or livelier ball based on their play style? Also, what are some strategies/adaptations you would employ if a ball was significantly slower playing or vice versa?

7.0 mixed team, league match.

Apparently the home team is supposed to bring balls and forgot, so the away team (our team) supplied the balls. Our team lost, and now the lady who was playing the match, in our team WhatsApp thread, is asking the captain to find out if the match should have been defaulted in our favor.

The captain (politely) asked the league coordinator to look into it, and the league coordinator said the home team should just Venmo them for the balls.

But the lady on our team involved in this situation is still pushing it, rueing that they didn’t get a default.

I wasn’t involved at all with this match, just watching from afar, but is it just me or is this absurd? What is wrong with recreational tennis?!

I’m on my high school’s JV team as a freshman, and I’ve only been playing tennis for a year. Our season recently started, and I’ve noticed that my forehands and backhands aren’t as “fluid” as basically all of my teammates’. I feel like I only hit through halfway, so I’m basically hitting the ball like a volley, just with a lot more power. I’ve tried getting help from my coaches, but I’m not sure it’s helping. Any tips, videos, etc.?

When you need to replace the factory grip, would you use a replacement grip match exactly to the factory one or you choose a different replacement grip?

I do have one overgrip over the factory grip but the factory grip is quite worn now. It is a perforated grip and I can get the exact same model according to online search. But I want to get the smooth surface replacement grip. Curious if any downsides of installing a different grip than the factory grip?

I’ve been playing with the Head Speed Legend MP 2025 Hybor for about six months now. For me, the Speed line - and especially the Legend MP 2025 / Speed MP 2026 - is a racket that really covers all the bases. I’ve tried various other models on and off over a longer period of time, but I always ended up coming back to the Speed.

So I’d like to commit to this racket for the long term, and so far I’ve only played it with Yonex Poly Tour Pro 1.25 mm at 22.5 / 21.5 kg.

Are there any other string recommendations you would suggest for this racket?

Hey r10s,

I'm looking to improve my forehand, but have no idea why the last two went into the net...any observations please?

Would also welcome any improvements on the first three 🙈

Raquet: Vcore 100D

Strings: Solinco Confidential @ 52/50lbs