I was an R&D tech in Head's Boulder Co plant in the mid 70's when we first started to build this style of racquet. It is interesting to see what the folks in Kennelbach have done with the process.
@@TheTennisMentor Hi there, the first air injection raquet we built was the "Head Edge". Yes Head was stilled owned by AMF at that time. I later worked on racketball and squash raquets.
At 13:52 you can see Andy Murray’s PT57A rackets ready to be customized. No one else on tour plays the radical paint job with the prestige head guards. So cool to see.. thanks for the great video!
Kudos to you and Head for sharing this wonderful content. I have been a Head player for over 50 years, and am even more proud to play Head after watching your video. Thank you.
8:11 TK59 mold for Agassi’s PT59 Radical Tour 690, the legendary “Bumblebee” released in 1993 that AA used when winning USO 1994! Thank you for a most captivating vlog, especially for me who is a long time user and fan of the HEAD brand! 👍
@@TheTennisMentor Underneath that TK59 Agassi mold are a stack of TK57’s (Pro Tour 630, Radical Tour 630) and TK113’s (TiRadical, iRadical, Novak “Speed”). HEAD has such an exceptional heritage!
thanks for this. this video hits a spot for me, I'm always trying to know how things are made. after so many hours wit a racket in my hand, i now know how it all works. thanks!
@@bojack3827 Absolutely- Head Rackets would cost a lot more if they were “hand made” in Austria - but I do praise Yonex for making their top rackets in Japan.
What an insightful tour, this is brilliant Ash. Thanks for capturing. How many rackets do they churn out daily? And did you manage to take one home fresh from the construction? Can the general public request customised features on the HQ production models?
They don’t churn out many there anymore, they used to but the factory couldn’t cope with the demand as the business grew so frames are mainly manufactured in China now. The Austria factory is now primarily used for producing prototype models and pro frames. I almost asked to take the one you saw home but wasn’t sure if unfinished frames were allowed to leave the factory! (I should’ve asked!)
Only watched half so far but this is tremendous vlogging! Really nice commentary dynamic betwen yourself and Ralph. Very interesting to watch the whole process end to end with no skipping. 👍🎾
Nice job on the walk through of the R&D facility and seeing how they make the prototypes. I have a question on the curing press. Did they apply pneumatic pressure inside the formed tubing to make the material conform to the mold while the press heated and cured it? Also, did the press also inject the resin?
Hey Eric, thanks for watching… yes, pressure was applied via the handle of the frame whilst in the mould. The ‘prepreg’ is already impregnated with resin (hence the tacky feel. With heat, the resin cures. I hope this answers your questions?
Loved this! And loved seeing the “Agassi” mold there…I’m a loyalist to Head now and just ordered two Prestige Tour rackets to (hopefully) replace my trusty 2001 i.prestige mids…as a former protégé of Nick, I know how much Andre improved once he got a Head racket in his hands 🏆🎾🤩
@@OneAdam12Adam I’ve returned 100% to my 2001 Head i.prestige mids (made still in Austria) and there is no better racket on earth for control and precision. And I hit HARD AND FLAT so it’s my magic wand 🎾💥🏆
So I understand that the carbon-fiber is "inflated" with air pressure while being baked. The inner liner, that holds the pressure, was a plastic sleeve on that rod that they rolled the carbon fiber onto. After the pressure and baking, do they remove that plastic liner?
Hi, do you know, or can you share the information that the PT pro stock codes are made in Austria and the TGT pro stock codes are made in China? Thank you. Happy New Year!
The carbon fibre sheet was ‘pre-impregnated’ with resin (why it was tacky). Once it was put into the mold, the tube inside inflated to push it against the mould and heated to set the resin and to solidify the racket!
Thanks Coach Ashley 🙏 always interesting and fun! I love Head Tennis 🎾 I remember the days not so long ago when TW would sell Extreme racquets buy one get one free and a pair of Head tennis shoes all for 89.99 about twelve years ago, at Christmas time. Thanks again and Happy Holidays Coach 🙋♂️🥂👊🙏
Tennis Wearhouse selling two racquets for the price of tennis shoes VIOLATED the Minimum Advertised Pricing statute. 🤬 Local small business tennis shops were slapped with penalties by these dirty companies but yet they let the corporate ass hats to get away with it. This led to the demise of our local tennis shops. Just DIRTY, BAD BUSINESS shenanigans! Head, Wilson, Prince, Babolat... All of them should be ashamed of themselves! Corporate greed is evil.
Amazing. But no wonder there are sometimes differences between same model rackets. The way they're made, subtle unnoticed differences can occur. Like whenever i choose a racket to use, I usually get more than one. They usually have different weights, different feels which is a bit frustrating as i have to adjust strokes whenever i break a string and have to switch rackets. My last racket was a Wilson Pro Staff and boy the difference in weights and feel was incredible. I guess it depends on where they're made. Mine were made in China. The consistency in production is questionable.
Very cool video! But I have a question! Obviously the rackets are mass produced in China, so what rackets are made in Austria? Maybe the pros? Prototypes? Would love to know:) Thanks 😊
Thank you so much for your analysis of tennis and your wonderful videos. I would like to watch video in very slow motion: could you give me an advice to get the proper software for PC and software (the ones you use, maybe ?) Thanks
Thanks Ashley... I've always played HEAD racquets , currently on the Gravity Pro and waiting for your review... but also looking forward to the next ones they are coming out with!
Thank you for this video. I hope one day they can make an actual Djokovic radical for us rather than all the speed paintjobs year after year. Djokovic never used a speed.
I heard a story that Agassi helped Nole choose his racquet, assume in the 2016-2017 time frame, may had been before, story actually says Agassi gave him his options and Nole chose. Have you heard this before?
Nole playing with that frame since 2009, when he switched back to Head from a short time with Wilson. Agassi sugested small changes to his frame, like less SW, a little more open string pattern (18x19 from 18x20) and longer frame.
Halfway in, and as a tech nerd I find it pretty much exactly as I would imagine how to make a modern tennis racket. Interesting video it is, don't get me wrong, I just think it wasn't "revolutionary"😊
Would love to see the mass production of tennis rackets in China. I hear it's very secretive, probably why I can't find anything on TH-cam about the one or two companies that actually produce everything.
This is an outstanding video! I was really curious about the production process of a racquet. Start to finish, how long does it take them to produce a racquet? Was there any discussion about how they develop new molds and how long it takes?
Head design, create the prototypes and modify Pros racquets at this facility in Austria. All the mass manufacturing is done at Heads factory in China where the operation is on a much larger scale. Labour, infrastructure and many associated costs are much more favorable in China. Hence China is the worlds factory for just about everything these days.
I thought all the tennis racquets are made in China except Yonex. So is this factory producing customized racquets, like players' racquets? or mass production going to the market?
If only racquets were still made in Austria! ❤ I have a vintage Fischer that has Made In Austria on the frame. That thing is a tank. Same with my Yamaha Secret 04 racquets that were made in Japan. It seems things went wrong when our stupid corporations betrayed us and committed corporate suicide by moving their production and quality to control to the CCP. Products made from Chinesium and not from love just don't work.
No, tennis elbow can be caused by a lot of things, some not even related to playing tennis. But if we are talking about tennis, then it's primarily string tension too tight, your technique ( especially one handed BH) is not good, or you play with a racquet that is unforgiving, meaning it's great when you strike in the sweet spot but sends a lot of vibration to your arm when you miss the sweetspot. I know the head Radical is like that. It's not really the racquet's fault. You just have to be a better player to play with it.
Honestly, I was horrified. What I see, is a lot of manual handling, which TO ME, means a lot of opportunity for quality errors. Things like precise calibration of the frame thickness, appears to be absolutely zero. Compare this with the way Yonex make their products, and its a joke.
To me… I love seeing the hands on approach and the craftsmanship that goes into it. As I mentioned on another comment, Head had to move their production to China years ago, now the Austria factory is used for manufacturing pro frames and prototypes.
@@TheTennisMentor Ash, I understand the idea of craftsmanship, but when it comes to precision equipment, you just cant beat a quality focused manufacturing technique. Japan have a word, kaizen, which means continuous improvement. This is applied all throughout Japanese manufacturing, and explains their almost single-minded pursuit of efficiency, and quality. For us mere mortals who buy stock items off the shelf, it cannot be beaten.
two people slowly tweaking something... come on, you make hundreds of racquets per day, show us those china production lines where the REAL work happens and also they would look more professional than these two folks.
What a lame video. We can’t actually see the molding, holes drilling, painting, durability test, etc, etc, but instead just listen to the guy talking about it? Ever considered a radio broadcast instead?
Very fascinating indeed.
I'll be honest, I didn't expect everything to be so "hands-on".
And Ralph is funny xD
Ralf was a top man!!
I was an R&D tech in Head's Boulder Co plant in the mid 70's when we first started to build this style of racquet. It is interesting to see what the folks in Kennelbach have done with the process.
Wow Bill, thanks for watching! Were you making frames like the ‘AMF’? That one looked beautiful!
@@TheTennisMentor Hi there, the first air injection raquet we built was the "Head Edge". Yes Head was stilled owned by AMF at that time.
I later worked on racketball and squash raquets.
@@billgray1825Wow , I had no clue Head had a plant in Denver .
Bill, seems you understand construction of racquets well. What is best way to repair them if fractured, would you say?
Unfortunately due to modern manufacturing techniques it is impossible to repair the frame.
At 13:52 you can see Andy Murray’s PT57A rackets ready to be customized. No one else on tour plays the radical paint job with the prestige head guards. So cool to see.. thanks for the great video!
Kudos to you and Head for sharing this wonderful content. I have been a Head player for over 50 years, and am even more proud to play Head after watching your video. Thank you.
8:11 TK59 mold for Agassi’s PT59 Radical Tour 690, the legendary “Bumblebee” released in 1993 that AA used when winning USO 1994!
Thank you for a most captivating vlog, especially for me who is a long time user and fan of the HEAD brand! 👍
Glad you spotted it!! I was captivated when I was there so I’m pleased I could share the feeling with you… Thanks for watching!
@@TheTennisMentor Underneath that TK59 Agassi mold are a stack of TK57’s (Pro Tour 630, Radical Tour 630) and TK113’s (TiRadical, iRadical, Novak “Speed”). HEAD has such an exceptional heritage!
thanks for this. this video hits a spot for me, I'm always trying to know how things are made. after so many hours wit a racket in my hand, i now know how it all works. thanks!
Yeah can we have a visit to the Chinese factory?
I would love to!
It will just be the same thing but done at volume.
@@bojack3827 Absolutely- Head Rackets would cost a lot more if they were “hand made” in Austria - but I do praise Yonex for making their top rackets in Japan.
@@bojack3827 by children
@@TheTennisMentorNah… you explored the source of R&D and Austria is a helluva lot nicer than China.
Thanks for the journey! Amazing, didn't know that each racquet goes through so many manufacturing steps!!
What a cool video! Made even better by Ralf´s great humour!
Totally agree… Ralf made this video great!!
Great video... finally get to see how the Yoke piece is fitted!
Looking forward to the play testing.
I will never complain that my racket is a couple of grams different ever again 😂
What an insightful tour, this is brilliant Ash. Thanks for capturing. How many rackets do they churn out daily? And did you manage to take one home fresh from the construction? Can the general public request customised features on the HQ production models?
They don’t churn out many there anymore, they used to but the factory couldn’t cope with the demand as the business grew so frames are mainly manufactured in China now. The Austria factory is now primarily used for producing prototype models and pro frames. I almost asked to take the one you saw home but wasn’t sure if unfinished frames were allowed to leave the factory! (I should’ve asked!)
Wow! Many thanks for showing us the process Ashley! Always great to see how companies make their products. 😊
Only watched half so far but this is tremendous vlogging! Really nice commentary dynamic betwen yourself and Ralph. Very interesting to watch the whole process end to end with no skipping. 👍🎾
Thanks! Ralf was a true legend, so happy to share his knowledge and a great sense of humour too!
This was amazing. Thanks so much for this post! Keep sharing more content like this
🙏🙏
Great as always. Thank you!
Always great to see your videos !
I appreciate that!
Thanks for sharing this, it is nice to know there is a craftspersno element to the process. Very cool content.
Very interesting video. Reminds me the Boom advertising video where the prototype production was briefly shown from R&D to testing.
Thanks. I was impressed
Great video - I heard they make all the Head racquets in China though??
Yes, they moved their manufacturing to China to keep up with the demands
That was a pretty cool video!
Love this episode!
Thanks 🙏
Thanks Ashley, super interesting, really liked your video 🎾😀👍
Amazing so many step to make the tennis racket wow
Absolutely amazing video
Glad you enjoyed it
Nice job on the walk through of the R&D facility and seeing how they make the prototypes.
I have a question on the curing press. Did they apply pneumatic pressure inside the formed tubing to make the material conform to the mold while the press heated and cured it? Also, did the press also inject the resin?
Hey Eric, thanks for watching… yes, pressure was applied via the handle of the frame whilst in the mould. The ‘prepreg’ is already impregnated with resin (hence the tacky feel. With heat, the resin cures. I hope this answers your questions?
Thanks for this amazing content !
Cool video. Thanks.
Greatly enjoyed video! Please explain difference in flex of frame and how this effects control and power.
Fascinating
Hummm... I now know why I like my Head bats !! Very informative.
Thanks 🎾🦖
Loved this! And loved seeing the “Agassi” mold there…I’m a loyalist to Head now and just ordered two Prestige Tour rackets to (hopefully) replace my trusty 2001 i.prestige mids…as a former protégé of Nick, I know how much Andre improved once he got a Head racket in his hands 🏆🎾🤩
It was a pro stock racquet. Not even close to the kind you will buy from a factory. Chinese factory will make even worse quality.
@@OneAdam12Adam I’ve returned 100% to my 2001 Head i.prestige mids (made still in Austria) and there is no better racket on earth for control and precision. And I hit HARD AND FLAT so it’s my magic wand 🎾💥🏆
Love it!
Thomas is a legend
Yes he is!
Great video, thank you! But a deeper insight into the customisation hub would have been great.
So I understand that the carbon-fiber is "inflated" with air pressure while being baked. The inner liner, that holds the pressure, was a plastic sleeve on that rod that they rolled the carbon fiber onto.
After the pressure and baking, do they remove that plastic liner?
Hi, do you know, or can you share the information that the PT pro stock codes are made in Austria and the TGT pro stock codes are made in China? Thank you. Happy New Year!
thank you for this video
Thank you for watching!
Very interesting!
I got lost at some point, the tape fiber from the beginning turned into metal or it was just to build the mold?
The carbon fibre sheet was ‘pre-impregnated’ with resin (why it was tacky). Once it was put into the mold, the tube inside inflated to push it against the mould and heated to set the resin and to solidify the racket!
@@TheTennisMentor Thanks! I just had to google that graphite is not a metal -_-
Thanks Coach Ashley 🙏 always interesting and fun! I love Head Tennis 🎾 I remember the days not so long ago when TW would sell Extreme racquets buy one get one free and a pair of Head tennis shoes all for 89.99 about twelve years ago, at Christmas time. Thanks again and Happy Holidays Coach 🙋♂️🥂👊🙏
Merry Christmas Nathan!
@@TheTennisMentor 🎄🙏
Tennis Wearhouse selling two racquets for the price of tennis shoes VIOLATED the Minimum Advertised Pricing statute. 🤬
Local small business tennis shops were slapped with penalties by these dirty companies but yet they let the corporate ass hats to get away with it. This led to the demise of our local tennis shops.
Just DIRTY, BAD BUSINESS shenanigans!
Head, Wilson, Prince, Babolat... All of them should be ashamed of themselves! Corporate greed is evil.
Amazing. But no wonder there are sometimes differences between same model rackets. The way they're made, subtle unnoticed differences can occur. Like whenever i choose a racket to use, I usually get more than one. They usually have different weights, different feels which is a bit frustrating as i have to adjust strokes whenever i break a string and have to switch rackets. My last racket was a Wilson Pro Staff and boy the difference in weights and feel was incredible. I guess it depends on where they're made. Mine were made in China. The consistency in production is questionable.
Very cool video! But I have a question! Obviously the rackets are mass produced in China, so what rackets are made in Austria? Maybe the pros? Prototypes? Would love to know:) Thanks 😊
Hey Ben, yes you’re spot on. Some pros frames are made there and all prototypes!
Welche Saitenspannung haben sie im Werk?
Thank you so much for your analysis of tennis and your wonderful videos. I would like to watch video in very slow motion: could you give me an advice to get the proper software for PC and software (the ones you use, maybe ?) Thanks
Whoever got that specific racket is the luckiest person on the world rn, they were being overlooked the entire time to make sure they didn’t mess up💀
Outstanding stuff. But did you ask them about 21”s?!
Interesting !
Cool!
Thanks Ashley... I've always played HEAD racquets , currently on the Gravity Pro and waiting for your review... but also looking forward to the next ones they are coming out with!
Thank you for this video. I hope one day they can make an actual Djokovic radical for us rather than all the speed paintjobs year after year. Djokovic never used a speed.
I heard a story that Agassi helped Nole choose his racquet, assume in the 2016-2017 time frame, may had been before, story actually says Agassi gave him his options and Nole chose. Have you heard this before?
Nole playing with that frame since 2009, when he switched back to Head from a short time with Wilson. Agassi sugested small changes to his frame, like less SW, a little more open string pattern (18x19 from 18x20) and longer frame.
@@ciprianporumb693 Thanks! so does he use like a 27.5 frame vs a standard 27?
Great content, it seems only pro stock are made there.
Pro stock and prototypes
Just started watching. If the "tape" att the beginning is carbon fibre or other compound, them I'm not baffled at all😊
Halfway in, and as a tech nerd I find it pretty much exactly as I would imagine how to make a modern tennis racket.
Interesting video it is, don't get me wrong, I just think it wasn't "revolutionary"😊
Would love to see the mass production of tennis rackets in China. I hear it's very secretive, probably why I can't find anything on TH-cam about the one or two companies that actually produce everything.
This is an outstanding video! I was really curious about the production process of a racquet. Start to finish, how long does it take them to produce a racquet? Was there any discussion about how they develop new molds and how long it takes?
Show me the auxetic thing
You won't believe!
Medieval.
Mass production from Head is China. The racquets produced there are only for pros due to higher quality control and customisation... ,)
I don't have a tennis racket.
Maybe for the pro. But only if you are in the first 100 ranking
You won't believe how much better my tennis skills are compared to your own.
😂 I’m sure I would!
A LA FINAL TE LA COMPRASTE LA RAQUETA EN PLENA FABRICA???????
Whoever made the decision to change the colourway of the Extreme from the awesome Fluoro Yellow/Black to the pale yellow/green needs to be fired 😂
Head design, create the prototypes and modify Pros racquets at this facility in Austria. All the mass manufacturing is done at Heads factory in China where the operation is on a much larger scale. Labour, infrastructure and many associated costs are much more favorable in China. Hence China is the worlds factory for just about everything these days.
Except Yonex😅
I thought all the tennis racquets are made in China except Yonex. So is this factory producing customized racquets, like players' racquets? or mass production going to the market?
Austrians have a much better sense of humour than Germans, Ralf was class!
And charge the public 400% for product
Now you know why a $300 racquet plays better than an aluminum pan from China!
Haha… Rublo and Rune learned the hard way 😉
Very much a manual process, surprising! And the Novak disrespects the work by smashing the racket!
But "made in China"?
Can yiu compare the tolerance vs Yonex made in Japan?
If only racquets were still made in Austria! ❤ I have a vintage Fischer that has Made In Austria on the frame. That thing is a tank. Same with my Yamaha Secret 04 racquets that were made in Japan.
It seems things went wrong when our stupid corporations betrayed us and committed corporate suicide by moving their production and quality to control to the CCP.
Products made from Chinesium and not from love just don't work.
Haha secret sauce is lead tape
This isn’t China
That’s right, it’s Austria.
@@TheTennisMentor inaccurate title using “your”. The plebes watching your channel are getting slave labor rackets from China not Austria lol.
Head tennis racquets gave me tennis elbow. Stick with Wilson or Yonex.
No, tennis elbow can be caused by a lot of things, some not even related to playing tennis. But if we are talking about tennis, then it's primarily string tension too tight, your technique ( especially one handed BH) is not good, or you play with a racquet that is unforgiving, meaning it's great when you strike in the sweet spot but sends a lot of vibration to your arm when you miss the sweetspot. I know the head Radical is like that. It's not really the racquet's fault. You just have to be a better player to play with it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was more talking than showing how it was made
Can i get 1🥺
One what?
@@TheTennisMentor the racket😬
very nice. now let's see china's process
I would love to!!
Honestly, I was horrified. What I see, is a lot of manual handling, which TO ME, means a lot of opportunity for quality errors. Things like precise calibration of the frame thickness, appears to be absolutely zero. Compare this with the way Yonex make their products, and its a joke.
To me… I love seeing the hands on approach and the craftsmanship that goes into it.
As I mentioned on another comment, Head had to move their production to China years ago, now the Austria factory is used for manufacturing pro frames and prototypes.
@@TheTennisMentor Ash, I understand the idea of craftsmanship, but when it comes to precision equipment, you just cant beat a quality focused manufacturing technique. Japan have a word, kaizen, which means continuous improvement. This is applied all throughout Japanese manufacturing, and explains their almost single-minded pursuit of efficiency, and quality. For us mere mortals who buy stock items off the shelf, it cannot be beaten.
two people slowly tweaking something... come on, you make hundreds of racquets per day, show us those china production lines where the REAL work happens and also they would look more professional than these two folks.
What a lame video. We can’t actually see the molding, holes drilling, painting, durability test, etc, etc, but instead just listen to the guy talking about it? Ever considered a radio broadcast instead?