If you are in a hurry and just want to find out what the best tennis racquet for advanced players is, then we recommend the Wilson Pro Staff 97 CV as the best one.
Happen to be looking for the best tennis racquet for you? Well, you also happen to be in the right place!
To help you with your selection process, we’ve picked two great tennis racquets to showcase. But before covering their features, let’s first understand what you should pay attention to in a tennis racquet as an advanced player.
We’re going to include the following tennis racquet reviews:
Things to consider in an advanced tennis racquet
So you already have some experience in tennis, know what your weak and strong sides are, and would like to up your game. If you do understand more or less well what your technique’s pros and cons are, it isn’t that difficult to pick a proper racquet to compensate for your weaknesses and accentuate your fortes.
Below, let’s talk about the things in racquets that may help you become a better player.
Head size
It’s generally recommended for beginners to go for larger racquets with around 110 square inch heads. As a more advanced player, you don’t necessarily have to go smaller, but some tennis players consider smaller racquets heads more beneficial.
The logic here is that while smaller heads are more unforgiving, their smaller sweets spots offer a more consistent feeling when hit right. Plus, a smaller racquet is going to force you to stay more focused during the match.
Weight
You need to pick such racquet weight that would allow you to balance out the power of your shot.
The logic is quite simple – if your shots with the old racquet were weak, then you should go for a heavier tennis racquet. Conversely, if your shots often went farther than you wanted, go lighter. You would also want to go lighter if you’ve lacked speed and control.
Weight balance
With weight balance, you again should make decisions based on your previous experiences.
For example, if you’ve had a head-light racquet and felt that it didn’t provide enough power, then you may want to shift to an even-balance or a head-heavy racquet. And if you lacked stability and control, then you could go from a head-heavy racquet to a head-light one.
Spin potential
It’s argued that beginner’s racquets shouldn’t have too much spin potential in them since it could be too distracting for newbies. But for an advanced player, we think that a racquet with a good spin potential would allow for significant game improvement. Ball spin is going to make your shots less predictable for opponents, but you will need to practice a lot to become a spin master.
The main factor in racquets that impacts the spin is their string pattern:
- 16×19 and 16×18 patterns – Minimal spin.
- Open-string patterns (14×16, 16×15, 16×16, 18×16, and 18×17) – Maximum spin.
- 16×19, 16×20 or 18×20 – balance between spin, control, and power.
If you’re new to spin, then we’d recommend going for racquets with the more balanced 16×19, 16×20 or 18×20 patterns. The more spin-y patterns may be too difficult for you, and, becoming more experienced, you may discover that they have too much spin for your taste.
Keep in mind that advanced tennis racquets usually come unstrung, so you will have to purchase strings and then string the racquet on your own. This will require more money, as well as additional research for buying the right strings.
You can read more about Best Tennis Racquet Brand.
Best tennis racquets for advanced players reviews
Babolat 2018 Pure Drive Tennis Racquet
Up first on our review is 2018 Pure Drive by Babolat, which is the lighter and easier-to-handle racquet among the two.
Weighing 11.1 ounces when strung, the Pure Drive isn’t exactly a lightweight racquet. Due to its weight, it delivers quite a decent amount of power, which would be nice if you have a weaker shot and want to make it more solid.
According to Babolat’s website, the Pure Drive racquet has stiffness of 72 RA, which makes it quite a stiff tennis racquet. You could expect the power transfer to be very good in this racquet, but keep in mind that it won’t alleviate shock too good. This may be a problem if you have strained or injured joints.
The head in the Pure Drive racquet is sized decently at 100 square inches. Compared to entry-level racquets, this is quite small, so you will need to have good accuracy in order to handle the Pure Drive racquet.
The Pure Drive tennis racquet has a 16 x 19 string pattern, a pattern which tends to deliver a good balance between spin, power, and control. Lastly, the restrained spin in this racquet should be ideal for not so skilled players.
Pros:
- Decently sized racquet head.
- Delivers a good amount of power.
- Head-light design.
- Nice spin potential.
Cons:
- Shipped unstrung. (Check out the best tennis strings here)
Wilson Pro Staff 97 CV
The Wilson Pro Staff 97 CV is a more power-oriented tennis racquet. While it’s very similar to the Pure Drive racquet in design, its heavier strung weight of 11.6 ounces makes it hit harder. The Pro Staff 97 CV racquet also boasts the Countervail technology that “maximizes player energy, consistency, and precision”, as claimed by the Wilson website.
Remarkably, the Pro Staff 97 CV tennis racquet has a design identical to Roger Federer’s RF97 Autograph racquet. The only difference between the racquets seems to be their weight – the RF97 Autograph weighed much heavier at 12.6 ounces when strung.
Wilson doesn’t indicate the stiffness rating of this racquet, but given its identical design with RF97 Autograph, it should be 68 RA, slightly more flexible than the Pure Drive. If you’d like more shock absorption in your tennis racquet, the Pro Staff 97 CV is going to do a bit better.
On the other hand, the head in this racquet is slightly smaller – 97 square inches – which may be a problem if you aren’t very accurate.
Lastly, the Pro Staff 97 CV has a head-light design akin to the Pure Drive, as well as the same 16 x 19 string pattern for balanced power, control, and spin potential.
Pros:
- Identical design to Roger Federer’s RF97 Autograph racquet.
- Great amount of power.
- Head-light design.
- Not too stiff.
- Good spin potential.
Cons:
- A bit on the heavier side.
- Slightly smaller head than in the Pure Drive.
- Comes unstrung.
Conclusion
Now, which one is the best tennis racquet among the two racquets we overviewed?
To be fair, we liked the Wilson Pro Staff 97 CV more. It’s not astronomically better than the Babolat Pure Drive racquet, but it has the edge in power, is not too stiff, and also is identical to Federer’s RF97 Autograph racquet in design!
Again, the Pure Drive racquet doesn’t lag too much behind. In fact, it is going to be the better racquet for those tennis players who want a more controllable racquet.
In the end, it’s up to you which of the racquets will be the best for you. Will it be the Pure Drive or the Pro Staff 97 CV?