5/2/2023 0 Comments Wilson racketIf we look at some of the individual specs like weight, stiffness and string pattern, you can see why it's so well suited to the Swiss maestro.įederer plays an aggressive style of tennis where his serve and forehand do the damage in a bid to end points quickly. So why does Federer choose a racquet like the RF97A? The reason is a simple one, and it's because it is tailor-made to his style of play. And is probably why he'd beat most players playing with a stick of rhubarb □ Why Does Federer Use a Racquet With This Specification? It is all about talent, technique and the hours spent on the practice court since childhood. The advantage people like Federer have over recreational players has nothing to do the RF97. I'm not trying to downplay it as I'm a massive fan of the racquet, but you must remember while lethal in the right hands, it's not a magic bullet. In reality, it's very similar to a lot of other ‘players' frames out there that have high static weights, significant headlight biases and thin beams like the Yonex VCORE Pro 97. It doesn't have magical powers or the ability to make you play well in fact, it may do the opposite. The Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph is simply an excellent racquet in the right hands, with a specification built to suits Federer's game which we'll look at below. So what is unique about it? The answer is not much □ You'll often hear commentators call the RF97 the Wilson Wand and a lot of the marketing around the frame makes it sound as though it can turn a weekend hacker into a touring pro. Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph Retail Specification As you can see, although there is a small difference in weight, for all intents and purposes, it's the same racquet. You can see the retail specification compared to Federer's actual specification below. He won all three of those tournaments so a nice bit of memorabilia! I'm not sure who the buyer was, but they picked up a frame that was used by Roger at the Laver Cup, Shanghai and Swiss Indoors in 2017. The good news is though we have the specs of one of the racquets Federer used on tour thanks to Tennis Warehouse.Ī couple of years ago they procured one from Tony Godsick, and before it went on sale for $15,000 with proceeds going to the Roger Federer Foundation, the team there measured it on their Babolat RDC machine. So while they are near identical, there are a couple of little tweaks. They are then matched and customised by Priority 1 with the grip mould Federer likes. That's why the batches he receives from Wilson will all be very close in weight and swing weight (most likely receiving a higher level of quality control). If you ordered two RF97 frames from different shops today and weighed them when they both arrived, I can guarantee you they won't be the same or bang on the quoted specification from Wilson.įederer isn't going to be yielding one racquet that is 350g, then taking one out of his bag at the ball change that's 355g he needs all the racquets he uses to be identical. But not identical and that's because all retail racquets suffer from varying quality control. The RF97 you can buy at any tennis retailer is exceptionally close to the racquet Federer uses on tour. So is Federer using the same racquet we can buy? The answer is yes, almost. Instead, they use a pro stock frame customised to their spec with a retail paint job on it. The big fanfare around the launch of the Pro Staff 97 was that Federer had worked closely with Wilson to develop the racquet and that for the first time ever, the retail version would be identical to the one he was using in his matches.įor the uninitiated, most big-name ATP players will endorse racquets but not play with them. The Current Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph On Sale This was after trialling several prototypes in the summer of 2013 in Hamburg and Gstaad before eventually settling on the 97 square inch model in the offseason.įederer used the RF97 for the first time at the Brisbane International in 2014 and has continued to do so right through to 2020. With his contemporaries equipment in mind, and a tricky 2013 season that was riddled with back problems, he finally made the switch to a larger head size in 2014. The vast majority of players use between 95 and 100 square inches which are more forgiving on off-centre hits. Previously he used the Wilson Pro Staff 90, a similar frame but with a 90 square inch head size which by modern standards on the ATP Tour is extremely small. Roger Federer currently uses a Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph, often shortened to the RF97A.įederer has used this frame since 2014, and the only changes since have been the paint jobs for different seasons and limited edition colours used at the Laver Cup.
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