I'm a 38 year old, former college (D1 level), current 5.0 player and I still play with the original (85 Sq.in.) pro staff. I've tried the newer versions of it and they're nice but, when I go back to the original, the ball just does what I want it to a majority of the time. Like the video good sir. Well played.
Truth! I'm a former d3 and I still love my pro staff 6.0. That said, I don't string em at 68 anymore. Similar weight and profile, now I use the pure strike from babolat (3rd gen). A little bigger than the 85 sq inch, but I'm older (almost 42) and slower. These strings now make playing completely different (I used to be a gamma live wire xp, 17 gauge, now I'm a hyper g 19 gauge at 52 pounds)
@@dnabuaf1 yeah, strings these days make a huge difference. I'm using gamma zo twist 16L but string the 85's at 45lbs. People say I'm crazy but, it's a pretty impressive combo.
I like your top, since I used to play with Pure Aero, changed to the VS for more control, and very recently changed to VCore 95 for max control and comfort
I still have my 2nd gen Prestige Pro, from '88. Still feels great, but just such low power. I hit the most amazing half-volleys with it, of all things. I happened to learn tennis during the greatest decade for racquets, the '80s. The decade started with wood, ended with racquets you can still use today, and experimented with anything you can think of.
same here. i'm playing with the OG brown prestige currently. I'm 6'2" gym rat, so no issues with generating power lol also have the '91/'92 green cap prestige 600, red prestige tour (600), and early 2000s i.prestige mid. recently tried pro tour 280 and didn't quite like the feel of it, so sticking with my prestiges for the time being.
I remember transitioning from a AeroPro Drive to a Prestige Microgel. It was love at first hit. The string bed felt so soft and plush. The only racquets I consider trying are thin, low powered, low stiffness, “control” oriented frames
Nice little surprise you did before getting to the Number One racket. The Number One racket was as I predicted, given how my tennis buddies talked a lot about its greatness. I'm just glad the racket I use made the list. 👍😁
Solid list Coach Aracic 👍 I'd re-categorise this list as best of the last 25 years. Personally I'd add a Radical and a Blade. Nice vid. How about best strings of the last 20 years? Throw in a little VS gut, Alu power, Poly tour, Wilson syn gut, maybe even some old school Ashaway!! 😁
My list would be Wilson Blade 98, Wilson PS 97 315, Yonex 95, Volkl C10, and the old Babolat Pure Strike 98. These are all good control, lower power rackets that won't tear your arm up, soft and accurate surgical devices. Too many modern rackets are way over-powered and terribly stiff, arm injuring sticks. And ironically, most club level players would be better off learning to hit better shots with lower power, arm friendly rackets. Accuracy and endurance is what wins, not power.
This list kind of goes against the whole "greatest" thing since it's biased towards one archetype, but in that case you could probably add the dunlop cx line
@@mwu365 Though racket tech moves forward, the Volkl C10 is a 25 year old design, and the Pure Strike is at least a 20 year design in original format. I'm biased towards designs that don't destroy your arm and have exceptional feel. I watch a lot of D1 college matches live, and am amazed at how many players are using Wilson BLADE 98's, which are actually a pretty old design as well.
That Coach Mel Purcell reference got my attention. Always nice to see other Racers! Although, my Intermediate Rec Level didn't have me on any teams, we certainly practiced on the same courts. Great video, I have that Yonex and love it.
Own several versions of the Prestige. My go to is the circa 2010 version (with the red paint job) and pre-graphene. My go to that I still play with is the 2010 Prestige MP with the 18 x 20 string bed. Buttery soft, head light for great serving and great manoeuvrability at net. An all-courter's racquet if there ever was one.
"Red Head" made in Austria. Classic touch. My go to for many years until age caught up to me and I moved off the courts. I was rough on frames and would scour Ebay to find authentic made in Austria replacements.
Babolat Pure Drive is my choice, too. I've been using for a long time. It is very stiff and it does give me an elbow pain, but at the same time it is really dynamic and powerful racket.
I have the original Hammer 6.2 (The skunk). I’ve had it since it came out in the early/mid 90s. Still love that racquet. Always been a Wilson-guy and currently playing with the Prostaff but sometimes I switch to a Head Radical just so I can remember how good the Wilson is :)
The Wilson hammer series is my favourite. I have the first version of the hammer and still playing with it. Most comfortable yet powerful racket ever made in my opinion. Pity they discontinued its production. I find the Pro-Staff series too stiff.
I've played like 10+ years with Hyper Hammer 6.3 and what a great racket it is. Very comfortable, light and with small head size - which for some could be demanding, but for me great for control and maneuverability. Just upgraded to Wilson Blade v8 98s so probably it will take some time to adjust, but I tested v7 version which felt great.
Nice video Nick, knew Mel at UT, great guy. Anyway, agree with your list, I used the PS6.1 for 10 years and think for it’s era, was the best frame of all-time. Then continued the the RF90, which is the purest striking racquet ever made- I thought Federer’s forehand was best with it. Now playing with the RF97 and Prestige Mid 93, the former when I need power, the latter when I need spin and short angles. I never could get used to the Yonex head shape, seemed dead at the top, or Babolat"s stiff throat, wasn’t able to pocket and shape the ball before it left the racquet. Keep up the good work- cheers!
Love your content! I would make one change - swap out the Prestige with the Head Radical. That's such a classic racquet and is easily accessible. A lot of people start playing with the Radical because it's often times on sale, and does everything relatively well. I'm playing at a 3.5+/4.0 level, so my observation is at this level, I'm a lot more nervous against someone playing with the Radical than with the Prestige since the Prestige is such a difficult stick to use well, and at my level probably people pick it up more for it's history and looks than performance.
I played late 90s/early 2000 with Radicals. Stopped playing for 17 yrs, and got some Yonex (Vcore Pro) and really liked them. Tested a Radical, the latest one, and hated it, felt like wooden plank, very powerful, very little feel and control, to me; assume behind the stiffness.
Both the Aero and the Prestige are such beautiful racquets, and very different in the way they play. I think the Prestige is much more head-heavy than the Aero, I had to add a lot more vertical oomph when serving with the Prestige.
Agree on the Yonex! I also played since the mid 90s and have always been a prostaff player - from the 6.0 to the 6.1, loved both, and I played with the 6.0 classic until pretty much last year - when I felt I need to finally update on my gear (plus the grommet is pretty much gone, and it doesn't seem economical to attempt to find one anymore). I finally settled on Yonex Ezone Tour, but I would have been good with the Vcore Pro as well, EZone just felt a little bit more plush and easy power. Having been a long term Wilson user, I can pretty much say their QC is just absolutely terrible. You can buy 2 Prostaff and they would be balanced VERY differently. Sure you can customize, but you just dropped $250+ on a racquet and the least you can expect is the racquet to be actually close to the stated spec. Yonex's QC is not in the same league as Wilson, my 2 Yonexs are pretty much spot-on. On the Radical, I never got into it personally, I did fancy the Prestige and attempted to play with it for a year to finally conclude that actually, I am not Marat Safin. :) However I played plenty of players at my level who are Radical users and they are TOUGH. It's the racquet that I tell people to try if they are starting to get a little bit serious about tennis - get a Radical, it does everything pretty well, is reasonably priced. Eventually you'll form your own opinions but IMO, the Radical is the popular choice by a mile.
Started playing again after a long hiatus and picked up my old PS 6.1 Classic. Still love how solid it feels and when you hit that sweet spot it just feels like butter. But man those 350+ grams start to feel reaallll heavy after 2 hours of hitting.
This was one solid video. Love the Pro Staff. Used to play with the PS 6.1 version, until I got older and needed something lighter. Now I use the PS97 which is lighter than the RF97 version (315 grams and 7 points head light) and love it. And it comes in even lighter versions. And you left out a lot of important names with the Wilson PS. Sampras and Federer? What about Chris Evert, the first to really put the PS to the test (Connors tried it but went back to his trusty Wilson T2000)? And Stefan Edberg? And Jim Courier? They all won a few Grand Slams between them. In between I tried the Babolat Pure Drive, the original from the 90s and still have it. Got tennis elbow, but I think you're right. It's stiffness makes it string sensitive. Now I've been trying it with Babolat Excel multifilament and it feels a lot more confortable. And I know it wasn't part of this video, but talking about longevity, the old racquets like the Dunlop Maxply and the Wilson Jack Kramer were around forever, until graphite took over. Not even aluminum could displace them. And even though I'm in love with my PS97, and have been reuniting with my Pure Drive, you had to go and ruin it all!!! Now I just have to go try out a Yonex and see what all the fuss is about! Thanks a lot for that! Anyway, great video.
Great video my friend. I will keep my Wilson Profiles 95sq midsize. I have tried almost every racquet and the profiles are the best made racquets I have ever seen.
Great video BUT... As much as I think the results are solid (and I do agree with them by and large), I think the video could have explained that the stiffness, vibration, and tennis elbow concerns some may have can be addressed by string choices to an extent. That alone might move some rackets around in the order; a racket that gives tennis elbow and is ranked lower, might all of a sudden be ranked higher if strung with a softer string (eg gut), and / or lower tension. Overall, I think Yonex are going to make a HUGE impression on the market in the next few years. The VCore and EZone ranges are extremely high quality, and built to incredibly high standards. If you want multiple rackets, then you want them to be nearly identical, in case you need to swap rackets. Swing weight an balance point with Yonex is pretty much identical within almost every model they make.
I learned playing tennis around 20 years ago as a teenager with a nsixone 95 team?, somewhat headlight and I just never could even consider playing with a racquet even balanced. I just love the Pro Staff... I've tried others but I just can't switch from it.
Todd Martin didn't use a Hammer, he used a Pro Staff painted like the Hammer. I strung at the 1998 US Open and strung for him, all his sticks were headlight paintjobs.
Thanks for the video and I agree about Yonex being the up and coming brand on tour. I play with both the Yonex VCore and VCore Pro 97 and they play fantastically well, offering great control and access to spin.
Prostaff also used by Stephan Ed berg.!great video. Prince graphite should be in your top 5. Players like Andre Agassi, Gabriel sabatini, Michael Chang used this racquet
That 5.2 Wilson was my first serious racquet, but it led me to the Wilson 5.0 HyperCarbon which I'm STILL hitting with. When they discontinued that frame in the mid to late 2000's, I bought every new one I could find. Just strung my last two less than a year ago. There will never be a better frame...
I love my RF97A. You know old dalmatian saying.. Its not about being good, it is about how it looks on the court! 😏 Jokes aside, I'm not big nor I'm sure what ranking I would be, 3.5 maybe 4 but the pure joy of playing with that racquet makes me want to improve.
I was playing with a Head Radical MP but now I'm on a Tecnifibre TF40 305 16x19, which is a great all rounder but on holiday recently I did play with a Babolat Pure Drive, it actually felt great and was so easy and fun to play with! I would have thought the Wilson Blade would be on this list!
Used to play with the Prostaff 85 for fun in the summer offseason. So good for hitting penetrating forehands and volleys for about 30 minutes. Then it was time to go back to my Wilson nCode 95 haha
A small correction: Guga Kuerten used a Head Pro Tour 630 (Pro Tour Trisys 280 in the US market), with several different paintjobs throughout his career (just like Nadal always did with the original Aero Pro Drive).
Since the Six.One 95 started out as a Pro Staff 6.1 Classic, it probably should be position 0. If Wilson created a Six.One 95 'Tour' or some-such with a lighter 310g unstrung weight, a 17x19 pattern (it's quite a round head), 21.5mm beam and 67 unstrung flex, and the 2014 white & red livery, it would sell like hot cakes that have been allowed to cool to optimum eating temperature!!!
Great video. My tennis racket addiction has ended now, but I had an unbelievable collection. Eventually, I decided to stop, and I delivered lots of them to charity stores. I blew a lot of dough on them, but it was a thrill. My favourite player was Tim Henman, and I love the look of his Pro Braided racket. I got a Blackburne double strung racket, but never had the nerve to take it out on court, lol. When I play these days, I use an old Head Liquid Metal Fire. The liquidmetal line were brilliant, in my opinion. I loved the look of the LM Instinct used by Anastasia Myskina to win the French Open. My favourite female player was Justine Henin, and the ncode nTour Two racket was pretty cool, especially for that one handed backhand.
hi, i'm back to tennis after a 25y break, started to play xith modern rackets, like pure drive, but ended searching for older stuff. i managed to get my jands on a pair of slazenger pro braided, tim henman, black and white version. did you know these are wilson pro staff classic 6.1 clones, without the wilson pws at 3 and nine? a little stiffer, and lighter than ps 6.1.plays soooo great! very old school feel. i'm on my way to kinda rebuild a collection, of old school frames, head prestige, ti radical, still got my older yonex rdti70... and i'm actually in love with some underapreciated prince nxg. old school frames are soooo great... pure drives sure are powerfull frames, easy play, kinda effortless,but thevlack of feel is a no go. once you played feel oriented frames, like prestige/pro staff, hard to get rid of tha need of pure feel!
i been playing with the Wilson K factor sixone 95 (del potro raquet) for almost all my life... this year i played with the Babolat pure drive, and believe me... its game changer...
Yeah I agree Radicals are great I had the ones Agassi had but too much for me back then over 20 years ago, but I went back to a Radical graphene about 7 years ago and still good.
Solid list Coach Aracic I'd re-categorise this list as best of the last 25 years. Personally I'd add a Radical and a Blade. Nice vid. How about best strings of the last 20 years? Throw in a little VS gut, Alu power, Poly tour, Wilson syn gut, maybe even some old school Ashaway!!
Still have my original Prince Classic, Wilson Ultra (standard head), Head Director and Dunlop Max 200G. I still use my original Wilson Profile as my main racquet. It might be time to switch...lol
Stefan Edberg as well. I carry RF 97 felt heavy then switched to 97L almost perfectly on all my shots but need a little more power so now I am looking to try 11.oz countervail.
Love the feel of my RF97 and I can swing it but dammit if I don’t keep returning to my Prestige Mid mostly because the thin beam feels like my Pro Staff 85 and it just feels right in my non-dominant hand.
Hi Nik, I have a HH 5.2 in reasonable condition. I don‘t have any use for it (although I like hitting it) so if you are interested I am happy to send it to you as a little sign of appreciation for all your great videos.
Always great to have the info, and it makes me smile a little to hear about "really small" 95 sq. in. head when I like to take my T2000 (67 sq. in.) out for a spin as often as possible. Don't lose hope, though! You can find a lot of racquets you'd never expect on eBay. I want to get a Borg Donnay next, but there's something about spending $50 for something used that I don't actually need. I think I have a psychological ceiling on things i buy on eBay. 🤣
@@IntuitiveTennis I put in a bid on another T2000 last night. Someone in Calif. has 3 of them on there that he's trying to unload for $7.50 each (+ about $8 shipping). No one's bidding. I put in a $6 offer and was turned down. 🤣 Yes, it's tough to use a lot of the old ones. I like them to sharpen me up a little, but as I age I can see it also setting me up for possible tennis elbow if I'm not disciplilned. But I don't mind grabbing a wooden racquet from a Goodwill or the like and hitting against a wall. I grew up with wooden racquets, doing just that. They eventually break, but breaking while being used seems to be an honorable death.
Gaudio and Del Potro won their majors with the pro staff 6.1 95 Kohlschreiber and Bautista Agut still use it. And the rackets of Sjeng Schalken and Robredo were Dunlop copies of the 6.1 95.
Babolat pure drive has messed up my elbow really bad! I have been playing tennis for 10 years and only got tennis elbow after switching to this racket. I don’t recommend switching to this racket to get easy power.
I came across one of those Weed rackets one time at a yard sale with it's 135Sq inch head size. It's a snow show with a grip. It was interesting just trying to hit with it but older people love them and pay good money for them.
Interesting how even in the short period of a year how these have continued on strongly. Literally played a set over a week ago vs a Pro Staff user and a set vs a Babolat Aero user. Someday someone needs to do a Top 20 Racquets of last decade or last 5 yrs video and a Top 20 Strings video. I know you posted that the Blade is no.6 but there is a few other great racquets out there that has emerged like Aero VS(Alcaraz, Rune), Head Gravity(Zverev, Rublev), Tecnifibre TF40(Medvedev and maybe Bublik + growing others), Head Extremes(Berretini, Musetti) not to mention the enduring one Wilson 6.1 95 and all renditions of Wilson 95s(Evans, RBA, Opelka). Strings wise would be something else
I can't play with anything other than aero drive. It gives incredible power and control. To improve the serve power just add lead tape at the top. Rafa does add weight. He uses a customized version.
Whenever I hit with a pure drive I can’t get over the “zonk” sound it makes. Whenever I hit with a pure aero. I can’t get over the “ouch” sound my elbow makes.
Fair list. I'm a die hard prestige fan and will go to the grave knowing it's better than the pro staff for my personal preference. Pro staff should get #1 due to sampras and Federer. On my personal biased list PS is #2
Demo’d all those except the Prestige… agree with every comment. PD fan here - the ‘21 model is really perfect IMO: good mix power/touch and doesn’t penalize you for off-center contact.
@@IntuitiveTennis Ya for some reason I always play with my 2018 model while my '21 model stays in the bag. It's like I'm saving it for something... SMH.
I have played with various versions of the Prestige for several years. I liked the Rev Pro Prestige the best. The Flex point Prestige I used for a few years also. Any models of Babolat rackets hurt my arm. Now that I am older I use the Angell TC95 which feels like a Prestige with far more power but still soft on the arm.
This is nuts. You're talking ALL-TIME: therefore, include the Prince Original Graphite, the Wilson Pro Staff 6.1, the Dunlop Max 200 G, the Wilson Jack Kramer, the Head Prestige, the Dunlop Maxply. . .
Wilson Blade is Number 6 on all time (still in production) list. Had to give Yonex the top 5 slot bc they blowing up ⬆️
Nik, where's the Jack Kramer?
was just about to say I'm surprised to not see Blade on the list.
Thank God you mentioned it. I ran straight to the comments to defend my Black and green legendary frame lol
That's just not true. The Wilson blade is incredibly popular in college and on tour.
@@andrelamarque1009 its woman racket for weak player
I'm a 38 year old, former college (D1 level), current 5.0 player and I still play with the original (85 Sq.in.) pro staff. I've tried the newer versions of it and they're nice but, when I go back to the original, the ball just does what I want it to a majority of the time. Like the video good sir. Well played.
Truth! I'm a former d3 and I still love my pro staff 6.0. That said, I don't string em at 68 anymore. Similar weight and profile, now I use the pure strike from babolat (3rd gen). A little bigger than the 85 sq inch, but I'm older (almost 42) and slower. These strings now make playing completely different (I used to be a gamma live wire xp, 17 gauge, now I'm a hyper g 19 gauge at 52 pounds)
@@dnabuaf1 yeah, strings these days make a huge difference. I'm using gamma zo twist 16L but string the 85's at 45lbs. People say I'm crazy but, it's a pretty impressive combo.
I like your top, since I used to play with Pure Aero, changed to the VS for more control, and very recently changed to VCore 95 for max control and comfort
I still have my 2nd gen Prestige Pro, from '88. Still feels great, but just such low power. I hit the most amazing half-volleys with it, of all things. I happened to learn tennis during the greatest decade for racquets, the '80s. The decade started with wood, ended with racquets you can still use today, and experimented with anything you can think of.
same here. i'm playing with the OG brown prestige currently. I'm 6'2" gym rat, so no issues with generating power lol also have the '91/'92 green cap prestige 600, red prestige tour (600), and early 2000s i.prestige mid. recently tried pro tour 280 and didn't quite like the feel of it, so sticking with my prestiges for the time being.
yes 80's music and rackets are best - Rossi F200, PS 6.0 etc
Nice, my racquet of choice VCORE 95.
I remember transitioning from a AeroPro Drive to a Prestige Microgel. It was love at first hit. The string bed felt so soft and plush. The only racquets I consider trying are thin, low powered, low stiffness, “control” oriented frames
The Mid? I play that one.
The dunlop cx 200 line is one of the best.
My soulmate racquet
You forgot to mention that Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg also played with the Wilson Pro Staff in their days.
Chris Evert also
Steffi graf as well. Her white pro staff was sweet!
And me
And most notably, me. 😂
I played with the cheaper, Jack Kramer Staff back in the day. LOL.
Nice little surprise you did before getting to the Number One racket. The Number One racket was as I predicted, given how my tennis buddies talked a lot about its greatness. I'm just glad the racket I use made the list. 👍😁
Solid list Coach Aracic 👍
I'd re-categorise this list as best of the last 25 years. Personally I'd add a Radical and a Blade. Nice vid. How about best strings of the last 20 years? Throw in a little VS gut, Alu power, Poly tour, Wilson syn gut, maybe even some old school Ashaway!! 😁
My list would be Wilson Blade 98, Wilson PS 97 315, Yonex 95, Volkl C10, and the old Babolat Pure Strike 98. These are all good control, lower power rackets that won't tear your arm up, soft and accurate surgical devices. Too many modern rackets are way over-powered and terribly stiff, arm injuring sticks. And ironically, most club level players would be better off learning to hit better shots with lower power, arm friendly rackets. Accuracy and endurance is what wins, not power.
This list kind of goes against the whole "greatest" thing since it's biased towards one archetype, but in that case you could probably add the dunlop cx line
@@mwu365 Though racket tech moves forward, the Volkl C10 is a 25 year old design, and the Pure Strike is at least a 20 year design in original format. I'm biased towards designs that don't destroy your arm and have exceptional feel. I watch a lot of D1 college matches live, and am amazed at how many players are using Wilson BLADE 98's, which are actually a pretty old design as well.
That Coach Mel Purcell reference got my attention. Always nice to see other Racers! Although, my Intermediate Rec Level didn't have me on any teams, we certainly practiced on the same courts. Great video, I have that Yonex and love it.
The Becker Puma racquet is what gave me the most championships back in the 80's.
Fun video, thanks Nik and happy holidays! Totally agree with #1.
Happy holidays
Other legendary players to use the Prostaff, Jim courier, Stefan Edberg, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert.
Own several versions of the Prestige. My go to is the circa 2010 version (with the red paint job) and pre-graphene. My go to that I still play with is the 2010 Prestige MP with the 18 x 20 string bed. Buttery soft, head light for great serving and great manoeuvrability at net. An all-courter's racquet if there ever was one.
"Red Head" made in Austria. Classic touch. My go to for many years until age caught up to me and I moved off the courts. I was rough on frames and would scour Ebay to find authentic made in Austria replacements.
Babolat Pure Drive is my choice, too. I've been using for a long time. It is very stiff and it does give me an elbow pain, but at the same time it is really dynamic and powerful racket.
Used prostaff for 10 years and then tried a pure drive. Loved it for the last 5 years
Played 10 years as a junior with a Pure Drive, switched to the Pro Staff the last couple years after wrist injuries.
Played Wilson Raquet for 30+ years, switched to the pure drive briefly due to its crisp feel, but back to Wilson blade, loves it
In My Opinion The Top 2 Tennis Rackets Are :
(1) Dunlop Max 200g(1984-86)
(2) Wilson Pro Staff 85 Midsize
Great rackets, I have a 200g Hot Melt, PS 6.1 and a Yonex RD7 to try a different shape 😂
I have the original Hammer 6.2 (The skunk). I’ve had it since it came out in the early/mid 90s. Still love that racquet. Always been a Wilson-guy and currently playing with the Prostaff but sometimes I switch to a Head Radical just so I can remember how good the Wilson is :)
The 6.2 is fantastic 🙌🙌
I managed to pick up the skunk (never heard that name before 🤣) for under 10$ a few years back!
The Wilson hammer series is my favourite. I have the first version of the hammer and still playing with it. Most comfortable yet powerful racket ever made in my opinion. Pity they discontinued its production. I find the Pro-Staff series too stiff.
I've played like 10+ years with Hyper Hammer 6.3 and what a great racket it is. Very comfortable, light and with small head size - which for some could be demanding, but for me great for control and maneuverability.
Just upgraded to Wilson Blade v8 98s so probably it will take some time to adjust, but I tested v7 version which felt great.
I had a Wilson Hammer 6.3 too. What a raquet ! I miss It só much.
Nice video Nick, knew Mel at UT, great guy. Anyway, agree with your list, I used the PS6.1 for 10 years and think for it’s era, was the best frame of all-time. Then continued the the RF90, which is the purest striking racquet ever made- I thought Federer’s forehand was best with it. Now playing with the RF97 and Prestige Mid 93, the former when I need power, the latter when I need spin and short angles. I never could get used to the Yonex head shape, seemed dead at the top, or Babolat"s stiff throat, wasn’t able to pocket and shape the ball before it left the racquet. Keep up the good work- cheers!
Love your content! I would make one change - swap out the Prestige with the Head Radical. That's such a classic racquet and is easily accessible. A lot of people start playing with the Radical because it's often times on sale, and does everything relatively well. I'm playing at a 3.5+/4.0 level, so my observation is at this level, I'm a lot more nervous against someone playing with the Radical than with the Prestige since the Prestige is such a difficult stick to use well, and at my level probably people pick it up more for it's history and looks than performance.
I played late 90s/early 2000 with Radicals. Stopped playing for 17 yrs, and got some Yonex (Vcore Pro) and really liked them. Tested a Radical, the latest one, and hated it, felt like wooden plank, very powerful, very little feel and control, to me; assume behind the stiffness.
Both the Aero and the Prestige are such beautiful racquets, and very different in the way they play. I think the Prestige is much more head-heavy than the Aero, I had to add a lot more vertical oomph when serving with the Prestige.
Agree on the Yonex! I also played since the mid 90s and have always been a prostaff player - from the 6.0 to the 6.1, loved both, and I played with the 6.0 classic until pretty much last year - when I felt I need to finally update on my gear (plus the grommet is pretty much gone, and it doesn't seem economical to attempt to find one anymore). I finally settled on Yonex Ezone Tour, but I would have been good with the Vcore Pro as well, EZone just felt a little bit more plush and easy power. Having been a long term Wilson user, I can pretty much say their QC is just absolutely terrible. You can buy 2 Prostaff and they would be balanced VERY differently. Sure you can customize, but you just dropped $250+ on a racquet and the least you can expect is the racquet to be actually close to the stated spec. Yonex's QC is not in the same league as Wilson, my 2 Yonexs are pretty much spot-on.
On the Radical, I never got into it personally, I did fancy the Prestige and attempted to play with it for a year to finally conclude that actually, I am not Marat Safin. :) However I played plenty of players at my level who are Radical users and they are TOUGH. It's the racquet that I tell people to try if they are starting to get a little bit serious about tennis - get a Radical, it does everything pretty well, is reasonably priced. Eventually you'll form your own opinions but IMO, the Radical is the popular choice by a mile.
@@majormajor9672 is there a specific Radical model you would recommend?
Started playing again after a long hiatus and picked up my old PS 6.1 Classic. Still love how solid it feels and when you hit that sweet spot it just feels like butter. But man those 350+ grams start to feel reaallll heavy after 2 hours of hitting.
Such a great video. You come up with great ideas for videos. Top 5 shoes all time next?
This was one solid video. Love the Pro Staff. Used to play with the PS 6.1 version, until I got older and needed something lighter. Now I use the PS97 which is lighter than the RF97 version (315 grams and 7 points head light) and love it. And it comes in even lighter versions.
And you left out a lot of important names with the Wilson PS. Sampras and Federer? What about Chris Evert, the first to really put the PS to the test (Connors tried it but went back to his trusty Wilson T2000)? And Stefan Edberg? And Jim Courier? They all won a few Grand Slams between them.
In between I tried the Babolat Pure Drive, the original from the 90s and still have it. Got tennis elbow, but I think you're right. It's stiffness makes it string sensitive. Now I've been trying it with Babolat Excel multifilament and it feels a lot more confortable.
And I know it wasn't part of this video, but talking about longevity, the old racquets like the Dunlop Maxply and the Wilson Jack Kramer were around forever, until graphite took over. Not even aluminum could displace them.
And even though I'm in love with my PS97, and have been reuniting with my Pure Drive, you had to go and ruin it all!!!
Now I just have to go try out a Yonex and see what all the fuss is about!
Thanks a lot for that!
Anyway, great video.
Vcore 95 Absolute Banger, Sooo freaking good!!!! Its the Six one 90 with a bigger sweet spot, more forgiving and so much feel.
thank you Nick!!! such a great video! Happy new year from Croatia
Great video my friend. I will keep my Wilson Profiles 95sq midsize. I have tried almost every racquet and the profiles are the best made racquets I have ever seen.
Classic frame for sure
Great analysis! Thx!! I cant swing with that pro staff either!!
As a kid, I always aspired to own a Yonex.
Using the 2021 V Core 95 now, and I love it.
Cheers Nik.
Merry Christmas.
This is one of the top five videos
you made so far, Nick!
Great video BUT...
As much as I think the results are solid (and I do agree with them by and large), I think the video could have explained that the stiffness, vibration, and tennis elbow concerns some may have can be addressed by string choices to an extent. That alone might move some rackets around in the order; a racket that gives tennis elbow and is ranked lower, might all of a sudden be ranked higher if strung with a softer string (eg gut), and / or lower tension.
Overall, I think Yonex are going to make a HUGE impression on the market in the next few years. The VCore and EZone ranges are extremely high quality, and built to incredibly high standards. If you want multiple rackets, then you want them to be nearly identical, in case you need to swap rackets. Swing weight an balance point with Yonex is pretty much identical within almost every model they make.
I learned playing tennis around 20 years ago as a teenager with a nsixone 95 team?, somewhat headlight and I just never could even consider playing with a racquet even balanced. I just love the Pro Staff... I've tried others but I just can't switch from it.
Todd Martin didn't use a Hammer, he used a Pro Staff painted like the Hammer. I strung at the 1998 US Open and strung for him, all his sticks were headlight paintjobs.
very cool
Switched to the vcore some months ago. Let me tell you that is an amazing racket!
Thanks for the video and I agree about Yonex being the up and coming brand on tour. I play with both the Yonex VCore and VCore Pro 97 and they play fantastically well, offering great control and access to spin.
Prostaff also used by Stephan Ed berg.!great video. Prince graphite should be in your top 5. Players like Andre Agassi, Gabriel sabatini, Michael Chang used this racquet
That 5.2 Wilson was my first serious racquet, but it led me to the Wilson 5.0 HyperCarbon which I'm STILL hitting with. When they discontinued that frame in the mid to late 2000's, I bought every new one I could find. Just strung my last two less than a year ago. There will never be a better frame...
💯
@@IntuitiveTennis If you want to hit with my new "old" frame, reach out.
I love my RF97A. You know old dalmatian saying.. Its not about being good, it is about how it looks on the court! 😏 Jokes aside, I'm not big nor I'm sure what ranking I would be, 3.5 maybe 4 but the pure joy of playing with that racquet makes me want to improve.
I was playing with a Head Radical MP but now I'm on a Tecnifibre TF40 305 16x19, which is a great all rounder but on holiday recently I did play with a Babolat Pure Drive, it actually felt great and was so easy and fun to play with! I would have thought the Wilson Blade would be on this list!
You called the wave of especially US Pros switching to Yonex this year!
💯
Great video, can't argue with any of your choices. Merry Xmas
You missed out by passing by the prince graphite. Best racket I've ever used and they are producing it again.
Pure strike is relatively new I believe(2014 debut year?) but every new revision has been solid.
Used to play with the Prostaff 85 for fun in the summer offseason. So good for hitting penetrating forehands and volleys for about 30 minutes. Then it was time to go back to my Wilson nCode 95 haha
Thank you for this video. But are you sure no Head is on your list? For example the radical of Agassi 😀
Greetings from germany.
Prestige is a model by Head, my friend
A small correction: Guga Kuerten used a Head Pro Tour 630 (Pro Tour Trisys 280 in the US market), with several different paintjobs throughout his career (just like Nadal always did with the original Aero Pro Drive).
Since the Six.One 95 started out as a Pro Staff 6.1 Classic, it probably should be position 0.
If Wilson created a Six.One 95 'Tour' or some-such with a lighter 310g unstrung weight, a 17x19 pattern (it's quite a round head), 21.5mm beam and 67 unstrung flex, and the 2014 white & red livery, it would sell like hot cakes that have been allowed to cool to optimum eating temperature!!!
Hold your horses. You're telling me there's a racquet with odd number of strings on the main? WTF????????
Great video. My tennis racket addiction has ended now, but I had an unbelievable collection. Eventually, I decided to stop, and I delivered lots of them to charity stores. I blew a lot of dough on them, but it was a thrill. My favourite player was Tim Henman, and I love the look of his Pro Braided racket. I got a Blackburne double strung racket, but never had the nerve to take it out on court, lol. When I play these days, I use an old Head Liquid Metal Fire. The liquidmetal line were brilliant, in my opinion. I loved the look of the LM Instinct used by Anastasia Myskina to win the French Open. My favourite female player was Justine Henin, and the ncode nTour Two racket was pretty cool, especially for that one handed backhand.
hi, i'm back to tennis after a 25y break, started to play xith modern rackets, like pure drive, but ended searching for older stuff. i managed to get my jands on a pair of slazenger pro braided, tim henman, black and white version. did you know these are wilson pro staff classic 6.1 clones, without the wilson pws at 3 and nine? a little stiffer, and lighter than ps 6.1.plays soooo great! very old school feel. i'm on my way to kinda rebuild a collection, of old school frames, head prestige, ti radical, still got my older yonex rdti70... and i'm actually in love with some underapreciated prince nxg. old school frames are soooo great... pure drives sure are powerfull frames, easy play, kinda effortless,but thevlack of feel is a no go. once you played feel oriented frames, like prestige/pro staff, hard to get rid of tha need of pure feel!
i been playing with the Wilson K factor sixone 95 (del potro raquet) for almost all my life... this year i played with the Babolat pure drive, and believe me... its game changer...
I gotta heal with a hyperhammer LOL 17:06
#1 Wilson Pro Staff
#2 Babolat Pure Drive
#3 Babolat Pure Aero
#4 Head Prestige
#5 Yonex V Core
The head Radical is a beast too. Sad it wasn't mentioned
Yeah I agree Radicals are great I had the ones Agassi had but too much for me back then over 20 years ago, but I went back to a Radical graphene about 7 years ago and still good.
Solid list Coach Aracic
I'd re-categorise this list as best of the last 25 years. Personally I'd add a Radical and a Blade. Nice vid. How about best strings of the last 20 years? Throw in a little VS gut, Alu power, Poly tour, Wilson syn gut, maybe even some old school Ashaway!!
Top 5 strings all time th-cam.com/video/vs66tax0pCw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=nuATB9fDQaCFVYLh
Thanks again!
Still have my original Prince Classic, Wilson Ultra (standard head), Head Director and Dunlop Max 200G. I still use my original Wilson Profile as my main racquet. It might be time to switch...lol
Steffi Graph also played with the ProStaff.
Stefan Edberg as well. I carry RF 97 felt heavy then switched to 97L almost perfectly on all my shots but need a little more power so now I am looking to try 11.oz countervail.
Love the feel of my RF97 and I can swing it but dammit if I don’t keep returning to my Prestige Mid mostly because the thin beam feels like my Pro Staff 85 and it just feels right in my non-dominant hand.
Great video prince graphite original 😀
I still play with the Babolat Pure Drive Roddick. Its a great racket
Masterpiece
Hi Nik, I have a HH 5.2 in reasonable condition. I don‘t have any use for it (although I like hitting it) so if you are interested I am happy to send it to you as a little sign of appreciation for all your great videos.
Thank you. I kept one in pristine condition. I’m ok 🙏
Always great to have the info, and it makes me smile a little to hear about "really small" 95 sq. in. head when I like to take my T2000 (67 sq. in.) out for a spin as often as possible.
Don't lose hope, though! You can find a lot of racquets you'd never expect on eBay. I want to get a Borg Donnay next, but there's something about spending $50 for something used that I don't actually need. I think I have a psychological ceiling on things i buy on eBay. 🤣
Same here. Even though the old racquets I buy on eBay just sit in my bag, I still like having them.
@@IntuitiveTennis I put in a bid on another T2000 last night. Someone in Calif. has 3 of them on there that he's trying to unload for $7.50 each (+ about $8 shipping). No one's bidding. I put in a $6 offer and was turned down. 🤣
Yes, it's tough to use a lot of the old ones. I like them to sharpen me up a little, but as I age I can see it also setting me up for possible tennis elbow if I'm not disciplilned. But I don't mind grabbing a wooden racquet from a Goodwill or the like and hitting against a wall. I grew up with wooden racquets, doing just that. They eventually break, but breaking while being used seems to be an honorable death.
The Dunlop Max 200g from the 80s should get a mention
Gustavo Kuerten did not use a head prestige, he used to head Pro tour PT57A.
Gaudio and Del Potro won their majors with the pro staff 6.1 95 Kohlschreiber and Bautista Agut still use it. And the rackets of Sjeng Schalken and Robredo were Dunlop copies of the 6.1 95.
I keep wondering why you always use the 2018 version of the babolat pure drive rather than the 2020 version
Babolat pure drive has messed up my elbow really bad! I have been playing tennis for 10 years and only got tennis elbow after switching to this racket. I don’t recommend switching to this racket to get easy power.
Too stiff that's why messed up your elbow. Babolat not good for tennis elbow or shoulder, will make it worse.
I came across one of those Weed rackets one time at a yard sale with it's 135Sq inch head size. It's a snow show with a grip. It was interesting just trying to hit with it but older people love them and pay good money for them.
Interesting how even in the short period of a year how these have continued on strongly. Literally played a set over a week ago vs a Pro Staff user and a set vs a Babolat Aero user. Someday someone needs to do a Top 20 Racquets of last decade or last 5 yrs video and a Top 20 Strings video. I know you posted that the Blade is no.6 but there is a few other great racquets out there that has emerged like Aero VS(Alcaraz, Rune), Head Gravity(Zverev, Rublev), Tecnifibre TF40(Medvedev and maybe Bublik + growing others), Head Extremes(Berretini, Musetti) not to mention the enduring one Wilson 6.1 95 and all renditions of Wilson 95s(Evans, RBA, Opelka). Strings wise would be something else
What about the classic prince graphite! I am a prince guy for life haha.
I can't play with anything other than aero drive. It gives incredible power and control. To improve the serve power just add lead tape at the top. Rafa does add weight. He uses a customized version.
How about Fischer Vacuum Pro 90 ? Even better than the Pro Staff 85
I have a hyper hammer too, I love that old thing!!!
love your videos
Best Video Beginning ever😂😂😂👍🏾👍🏾👌🏽🤣!!!
Whenever I hit with a pure drive I can’t get over the “zonk” sound it makes. Whenever I hit with a pure aero. I can’t get over the “ouch” sound my elbow makes.
My favorite is the Pro Staff’s poorer cousin, the Wilson Sting!
I had the midsize PWS version with the blue stripe. Unfortunately I had to leave it behind when I was transferring between universities.
Edberg used Pro Staff
Fair list. I'm a die hard prestige fan and will go to the grave knowing it's better than the pro staff for my personal preference. Pro staff should get #1 due to sampras and Federer. On my personal biased list PS is #2
Bravo!
Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg also played with the Wilson Pro Staff…just to add to the illustrious list :)
Would be interesting to tally up how many GS titles were won with various racquets…sure the Pro Staff would be way ahead of the pack :)
>uses hyper hammer for 15 years
>calibrates arm with it
>magical healing properties
>not even in the top 100
???
Best racket for me and the most dangerous speed wise will always be the Wilson 2000
There are more blades than any other racquet on tour today!
Courier and Edberg too with the pro staff 85 !
The Adidas Lendl GTX. Ok maybe a slight bias there. Thanks for the great content!
I play Prestige Pro. Great feel and Control.
Great information!! Thank you. I suffer with tennis elbow. What kind of racquet would you suggest. Im an intermediate player.
yonex ezone 100 with head velocity string
what is the facility name he is using ? for self practice ? where he is hitting on wall to practice ? there is nothing like that in India here..
Demo’d all those except the Prestige… agree with every comment. PD fan here - the ‘21 model is really perfect IMO: good mix power/touch and doesn’t penalize you for off-center contact.
Pete, why don’t u play with 2017 PD + 😭😭😭😭
@@IntuitiveTennis Ya for some reason I always play with my 2018 model while my '21 model stays in the bag. It's like I'm saving it for something... SMH.
Courier played with the ProStaff too.
Yes my favourite 🤩 racket Wilson pro staff 6.0 surprised 😮 when that came out I love 85 head wish I had the original mould
I have played with various versions of the Prestige for several years. I liked the Rev Pro Prestige the best. The Flex point Prestige I used for a few years also. Any models of Babolat rackets hurt my arm. Now that I am older I use the Angell TC95 which feels like a Prestige with far more power but still soft on the arm.
Nice video Nick👍👍👍👌👌👌🥰🥰
Hvala Boris, I knew you would like Wilson being n1 🙌🙌
@@IntuitiveTennis Indeed I would😎😎👍👍👍
I've been playing for over 30 years and I find that the lighter racket works best for me, hence the head ti s6
to me there are three racquets:
yonex vcore pro 97 (310 gr)
wilson ultra 97 (310 16/19)
Prince textreme tour 100 P (18/20)
This is nuts. You're talking ALL-TIME: therefore, include the Prince Original Graphite, the Wilson Pro Staff 6.1, the Dunlop Max 200 G, the Wilson Jack Kramer, the Head Prestige, the Dunlop Maxply. . .
Pure Drive is like the BMW X5 of tennis racquets.