LOL! Nice analogy Wolfie. If your 9000s go, I'd recommend you trying the following rackets (if you haven't already). They all, in general, have longer shafts, are heavy, endloaded and are attacking rackets; among the hardest smashing rackets I've tried. I'm sure one or more of them will suit you. Yonex Nanospeed 9000 Type-X MP100 2U Ti10 2U SOTX Woven 7 Woven 10 Woven 11 Woven 13 AK-2 AK-6 Ak-8 Diamond Fighter D-600 Diamond Fighter D-900 DHS Top VS3000 True Speed TS-100 TS-200 TS-700
U might want to have someone analyze your smash swing. I think you may be whipping the racket back and forth too fast, creating a pendulum effect, kinda like bending a paperclip back-&-forth till it breaks. I've seen harder smashers than you and their racket shafts didn't break. We'll take a look at your swing on Thursday.
Well you couldn't give me a nanospeed. As much as the Yonex rep won't admit it ( part of the reason I won't use Yonex) there is a flaw that makes them suspetable to breaking. Also too damned expensive. I might go back to Proace if I can get my hands on any - there is no rep here in Canada and I'm having a hell of a time locating anyone that can bring a few back from overseas. That WB 28 was a great raquet.
Agree, but I still have so much room for improvement, I can swing harder but don't because of the lack of timing, that's what makes it so exciting.
Agree on the Nanospeeds unfortunately. They are brittle but the performance is definitely there on the 9000-S and especially X. I say given the SOTX Woven 7 a try, it's quite inexpensive ($90 USD) and a very good all-around racket and very strong.
I've never seen anyone break a shaft of a racket from smashing at any level. You must have strong wrists and strange technique! Can you upload a video of you smashing or clearing? I am really curious to see your stroke. When you are late and need to lift do you hit your racket against the floor? When I dive I do as well as if I'm returning a really angled smash I have to go forward and down to return.
I have neither a strong wrist nor strange technique. I very rarely hit my racket against the floor. And if I do, it's just slight brush. As for a video, it will have to be Thursday but we'll see...
I can assure you that a racquet should not be able to break on that place (well, if you dont do odd things with it like bashing it on the ground and stuff)...... we always get garantuee when it breaks there...... and it rarely breaks there (have seen it only once).... it shouldnt happen, and its an manufacturers fault.
There's nothing wrong with my swing. I figured out why I've been breaking more rackets at the handle lately. It has to do with torque, the twisting of the rackets on mishits.
I noticed all the broken shafts don't crack horizontally. The cracks are usually spiralling upward/downward depending how you look at it. You can see from the original picture the crack is diagonal but what you can't see is it goes all the way around the handle in a spiraling direction. Anyway, we (JumpALot, my coach and I) deduced it's some combination of mishits from smashing, making contact at or near the edge/side of the racket causing twisting. This is (probably) magnified because I'm gripping the handle tightly, magnifying the twisting.
