Federer Ends His Testing Of A Larger Racket

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 14th August 2013

Federer Ends His Testing Of A Larger Racket

epa03794468 Switzerland's Roger Federer throws the ball during the semifinal match against Argentina's Delbonis at the 2013 International German Open at Am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany, 20 July 2013. EPA/AXEL HEIMKEN |

After two tournaments experimenting with a new larger headed racket, Roger Federer reverted to his tried and tested 90 square inch headed Wilson Pro Staff 6.1 90 BLX for his first hard court match in six months and recaptured his winning touch in the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Long-time world no.1 Federer is currently placed in an uncharacteristic fifth in the ATP World Tour rankings and needs to reach at least the semi-finals of this week’s seventh stage of the Masters 1,000 series in order to not fall even lower.

Looking to purge the memory of his second round exit at Wimbledon, Federer tried out a 98 square inch headed racket at both Gstaad and Hamburg with negligible success, but reverted to the implement he’d used for years to face German Philipp Kohlschreiber and came up with a 6-3, 7-6 victory.

Federer tried to play down the importance of his racket choice and insisted the prime factor in his win was his mind-set. “I think it was a match where I had to sort of just fight to come through and hope get over the finish line sort of thing,” said reigning champion Federer, a five times trophy winner in Cincinnati.

“ I was playing really well at times, and then sometimes it was maybe a bit up and down. But assessing the performance overall, I’m very happy. It’s good to be back and playing pain free. My mind’s good. I was in a good place while I was playing, so it felt nice to win at the end.”

Eventually he was drawn onto the matter of his racket and revealed: “I’m going to do more testing when I have some more time after the US Open. I was playing for a month with the black one, but it’s a prototype. At the end, I just felt like, you know what, right now I feel like I need to simplify everything and just play with what I know best.”

Wilson Racket Sports general manager Jon Muir said the experimental 98 inch square headed racket was based on Federer’s requests and feedback from previous tests, and stressed testing will most certainly continue.

But Muir was adamant the racket was very much a prototype made in the manufacturer’s Chicago laboratory and not a Wilson Blade 98, as had been widely speculated. “It’s not something we are currently producing and selling to customers,” he said.

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iotennistn says:

August 14, 2013 at 7:12 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Federer Ends His Testing Of A Larger Racket: After two tournaments experimenting with a new larger head… http://t.co/6n…