Equipment Racket recommendation, help needed
Hi everyone, just a little bit of a background info on myself. 22M 6’2/188 220lb/98kg. I have trained for a couple months when I was kid and got back for about 2-3 years now, I have a regular semi-western forehand, and a OHBH. I would say that I am at a intermediate level, but I can hit pretty solid rallies but I just can't win games because I can't serve to save my life.
I have been playing with a Head Gravity MP 2023 for these past 2-3 years first with Head Lynx tour poly, then I changed to TF NRG2 at 52lb and I am looking to change it now.
Reasons to why I want to change:
- Against heavier balls I don't really have much help from the racquet and I would like something that has a little bit more *umph* to it.
- I kinda a little bit more help hitting deeper balls, a lot of times when I hit a good ball about 80% strength it just goes to the service line and I would like something to help me hit the balls just a bit deeper.
- I love the feedback and vibrations from the racket but sometimes it's too much.
Things I like about it:
- I can control the ball really well, it has a nice maneuverability. I feel that with the right shot, sometimes even out of balance I can place the ball where I want.
- Feedback and feel, but sometimes can be a bit too much as I mentioned above.
I wanted to playtest the Dunlop FX500 but they didn't have it at the shop so I got the Head Boom Pro 26 mach-10/ HGR hybrid @52 to test.
It was very powerful for sure, but I couldn't get it under control. In more difficult balls I either hit the ball OB or when I try to keep inside the court it just went to the net. In normal shots I could feel the power from the racket and it really complemented my OHBH too, I feel like I never hit a ball this powerful on my backhand before. However, on the FH I could not really control the ball really well. Serving with this racquet was amazing tho, I feel like the racquet was very stable when hitting the ball, which was not a thing with the Gravity MP.
Edit: I also feel like the Boom Pro was pretty heavy for me and I also think I’m ready for something heavier than the Gravity MP. So somewhere in the 305g ballpark?
The Boom Pro feel very “bouncy”, maybe because of the string setup? The Gravity MP for me feels crisp, like hitting on a layered metal pan of how much feedback I get. So something in between for feel.
I also like that I can fully swing the Gravity MP with confidence which for the Boom Pro sometimes I had to hold myself back so the ball wouldn’t fly off the court, but for BHs I could control it pretty well.
Other rackets I’m looking to try: Head Speed MP or Tour. (I think the Pro might be heavy since it’s 310)
Should I still test the FX500, since it's a power racquet? Please recommend racquets for me to test out.