The K-Blades

I tried out two of the Wilson K-Blades. One was a 93 sq in model which Novak Djokovic uses, and the other, a slightly larger 97 square inch model. One thing I'm thrilled about is that most racquet manufacturers appear to have agreed to put common information in the throat of the racquet, which includes its weight, string pattern (18 by 20 or 16 by 18), how head-heavy or head-light the racquet is. This makes it easier to judge the racquet.

The Wilson racquets I've tried have all had one thing in common. Short grips. If you use a standard two handed grip, the second hand will run out of grip. My hands aren't particularly large, so I wonder why Wilson would do this given that two of its biggest endorsers (Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors) used two hands. Indeed, my Babolat racquet has more than plenty of grip for two handed players as does my Yonex racquet.

Odder still, the 93 square inch racquet is a throwback to old days using a leather, yes leather grip. Once upon a time, leather was all you'd get for a grip. Then, came the synthetics, and for the most part, everyone uses a synthetic grip. What's the problem with leather?

Assuming you're not a vegan and have philosophical objections to animal skin being used for the grip, the main problem with leather is that it has pores, and it gets dirty, and over time, it begins to wear away. Indeed, my brother tried a racquet whose leather grip is 20 years old, and it was sloughing away. Not sure why the K-Blade 93 square inch works this way.

While they both served OK, I found that it was just too annoying not to have an extra long grip, so I can't say I liked either one.

Since I was by myself, I could only practice in a limited way, whacking against a wall. For a wall, you want something that deadens the shot on impact. Wood is decent. If it's concrete, the ball comes back way too fast, and it's no good to practice against.

Lately, I've been practicing a topspin serve, and it's getting there, but I get little pace. The great thing about tennis is that you can try a lot of ideas. I've now gone to a more McEnroe style serve. People always praise McEnroe for his touch and volley genius, but another McEnroe oddity was his serve, where he literally had his back against the server (the odd service stance was due to a bad back). Still, that stance has some interesting advantages forcing you to use more shoulder when serving.

Few people use this serve motion, but since I grew up in the age of McEnroe, I remember this motion, and go back to it from time to time. I find when I serve like McEnroe, it helps my pace and helps keep my left arm up longer.

So, I think I'm done with Wilson's for a while. Maybe I'll try Dunlops next, as the place I try out has Dunlops.