New rackets...Yonex VCORE Tour G (310)

I switched rackets last week, and couldn't be happier with my new Yonex VCORE Tour G (310).  The vcore has a great feel, is quick and precise at the net, flexible and still packs a punch on ground strokes and serves.

Before this, I had been using the babolat aero pro drive which was stiffer with lots of power when you hit the sweet spot... but anything off the sweet spot felt like hitting the ball with a board and vibrated right up my arm.   I was looking to switch to something a bit more flexible, with a bigger sweet spot  and of course easier on my arm.  I was leary to switch and give up any performance that I thought my racket provided.   I read a lot of reviews, researched the technology and demoed a good variety of racket models, sizes and weights (including the vcore 330) but right away the 310 felt the best.

The Yonex absolutely has a bigger sweet spot.  Off center hits don't vibrate as badly or feel so stiff, especially at the top of the racket.  I also think that the Yonex gives me good power when I swing hard but with more control. It has excellent feel and precision for punch and touch volleys.   Most importantly, it doesn't hurt my arm! I played a drill Friday morning with the babolat, and my arm hurt afterwards to where I had to ice it down.  Saturday I played 2 doubles matches, and Sunday a singles and doubles match... my arm felt fine and I was hammering serves right into the 3rd set tie breaker in the final match with no problem.  My elbow had no pain the next day, but as I played through the week I did get some soreness... so its not a silver bullet but I hope combined with some softer strings it will help.


 Looking at the technology, Yonex really did a great job with the engineering to make this so.  Check it out:  http://www.yonex.com/products/tennis/racquets/vcore-series/vcore-tour-g (click on Product Technology about half way down the page)   The YONEX ISOMETRIC_TM design explains the extended sweet spot, the 3D "VECTOR SHAFT" provides a stiff backbone to remove any twist. The shaft uses Neo CS Carbon Nanotube technology for flexibility, increased spin and control, and even the grip helps reduce vibration on your wrist, elbow and shoulder.

The change was easy for everything but serves.   When I first tried the vcore demo for a doubles match I played great, ripping service returns and placing touch volleys right where I wanted them to go.  I found it quicker, and there fore easier to react quickly at the net... (The specs say 10.9 unstrung... almost the same as my old racket... but I think it is much more head light, or at least feels that way!) .  My only real struggle with the racket change was on my serve, for two reasons.  The flexibility causes it to sit on the strings just a bit longer, which takes some getting used to.  Also, my timing was off at first as the new  racket comes around faster than my old one.  I should have probably hit with it more, and waited to start playing matches with the new racket, but I was excited to use it so I jumped right into USTA match play.  I was missing a lot of serves the first match. I double faulted 4 times in one game (although we actually won that game!) ... when my server was going in, it was really ripping.  My kick seemed to be a bit higher, and it felt like I was getting more power on flat serves from the 'bounce' on the strings.  To solve this, between matches I went into a racket ball court and hit my serve the same way about 100 times.  This seemed to help me with my timing, and the last match of the USTA weekend I hit some great serves and only double faulted a few times... no more than normal... and by the end of the match my serves were really working well.

note after a few weeks... I still dont feel that I get the same precision on my serves as I did with a tightly strung babolat, but it's worth the tradeoff.