Case in point: one of the Korean girls turned up with a couple of rackets, and the first thing she did was pick up one of the others off the table and give it a bang. She liked the sound, so she copied the tension.
Without this sounding wrong, it would seem that non professional players pay more attention to the finer points than professional players. I don't know if there is a right and wrong here but it makes me wonder whether some players get so into specifics whereas the players go with what feels good. Perhaps there is a stage where they were as detailed and now just dial in their favourite tension and that's it. It does almost make some players who are so into specifics somewhat nerdy compared to the way the professional players require their rackets stringing. I hope you get my meaning with this comment. There is also the question of langauge barriers. Perhaps asking us for a tension and providing us with string is easy. To try and ask for pre-stretch, top down, one piece/two piece is just asking too much. Also, as there is little difference in some specifics perhaps it's just not that important. Aside from that, as it's been mentioned before, they expect the string to break and therefore the racket is not in play for long. Maklike makes a valid point as always about shoes and kit. However, this is purely down to personal taste. I'm not a fan of Li Ning kit but really like Victor - a lot more than I ever liked Yonex designs. Shoes are different. Victor do not make the larger sizes which is a problem. However, I think their shoes are improving and certainly better than they were. I haven't tested Li ning shoes to compare, or Nike. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
Between coaching sessions, practice matches, travelling and tournaments I doubt there is much time for obsessing over minor details that are only relevant for roughly an hour.
Paul, I think you've hit the nail on the head. To pro players, it probably doesn't really matter which racket or string they use, or how much power they get, as long as it feels good to hit with. They care more about touch and feel above all else.
The Pros have played long enough and put enough years and daily hours to already know what they like in the string, tension, and racket. I'm sure they play on one day an equivalent of weeks and months for some of the rest of us. Certainly understandable that they are not as particular about things like us.
Yep - quite a few, in fact, because the previous stringer(s) had turned the grommets so many times that some of them looked like clock faces. We'd brought a de-grommeting tool, so we took the safer option.
Honestly, between a pair oh SHB86 and a pair of SH8600, I'll take the Victor in a heartbeat. I have both and the Yonex isn't even close.
I'm a special case because I have big feet, but for your average <70kg badminton player I'm sure they're fine. For me however, they're both very, very average shoe brands. As a product designer though, Nike smashes them all. I do love Victors 'slightly wrong' graphics though. My go-to jersey is a 2011 Surdirman Cup in blue and neon yellow. I still have absolutely no idea what the heck it's supposed to be, but that's why I like it so much.
I think it's a excellent racket, and far more in keeping with the "speed" theme than the orange one. It really put me in mind of the old Nanospeed 7000, and that was one of the bets defence/counter rackets ever made. Graphically it's a bit strange - the yellow with the blue makes it look a bit like it's bruised, or something - but at last it's blue. I'll be meeting with Paul soon to do some testing of the Jets, along with the TK9000 (which I may end up getting...).
Is there a reason why you are contemplating Victor racquets? Is it out of curiosity? I'm aware of Paul's reasons for the change, but interested to know yours.
I found the TK8000 very slow and cumbersome, to be honest. In fact, it now seems out of place in the TK lineup given how fast the others are.
Pretty simple: I've been trying them and liking them! I now run a couple of Victors alongside my Pandas as a matter of course.
JJS (which I've just sold) and 80, actually. Though I might have a few TK9000 this time next month. We're not getting the 80N and 90 until mid-late April, and I think they're both going to be 4U.
Everybody has to try the 80 at least once. How long you stick with it is like some form of intelligence test....which for the record I failed.
