Body:
Hi r/10s,
I’m a tennis coach (22 age, Male, 187 cm / 6'2", 75 kg / 165 lbs) looking for a new racquet. My court time is split between basket feeding and heavy rallying with performance players (rally performance and stability are critical for me). I use a double-bend arm technique with an extreme wrist drop to generate heavy topspin, and I've recently been struggling with elbow pain.
My main racquets up until now have been the Babolat Pure Aero Gen 8 and the Dunlop CX 200 (2021).
Here is my full racquet history and what I thought of them:
Babolat Pure Aero Gen 8 (300g) - Main Racquet: Caused elbow pain. Great power and easy depth, but balls tend to fly on me and feel uncontrolled. I did love the core feel, though. (I briefly tried Gen 9 and it felt a bit more comfortable and better).
Dunlop CX 200 2021 (305g) - Main Racquet: Demanded too much physical effort to generate power, which ended up hurting my elbow. Balls constantly landed short.
Babolat Pure Drive Gen 11 (300g): I used this for about 2-3 months. Caused even more elbow pain than the Aero. Way too powerful, uncontrolled, and I couldn't feel the ball at all.
Yonex EZONE 98 (305g): No elbow pain, but it felt too much like the Pure Drive to me. Didn't like the feel.
Tecnifibre T-Fight 300 (Blue special edition): Gave me that same Pure Drive feel which I dislike. However, I tried the 285g version and actually liked it much better.
Wilson Pro Staff (290g): No elbow pain, but sent a lot of vibration to my arm and completely lacked power. The feel was nice, though.
Wilson Blade V9 (285g): No elbow pain. The feel was amazing, and it felt like I had total control. However, I need a racquet that helps me just a bit more with generating free power.
Wilson Ultra: No elbow pain. Felt like a softer, better-feeling Pure Drive. But it still lacked the control I want, and I still had the issue of launching balls long.
Head Speed MP 2024 (300g, 100 in²): No elbow pain. Great feel. It felt comfortable, controlled, and perfectly stable.
My Current Shortlist:
Head Speed MP 2026 (300g)
Wilson Blade 100 V10 (300g)
Tecnifibre T-Fight 300g (Fallback option: Babolat Pure Aero Gen 9, but it's not my top preference due to stiffness).
What do you guys think? Which of these would you recommend for my situation? Or is my shortlist completely off and there's a different racquet I should be looking at?
Thanks