I’m amazed, only 14 days into the New Year and the men’s side has seen three huge moves concerning equipment.
James Blake: I'd suspected that James was going to switch to the
Dunlop Aerogel 200 4D Tour for the 2010 season from his original
Aerogel 200.
As this photo from Yahoo! Sports depicts, I was dead wrong, in a shocking turn of events James popped up in Brisbane sporting a generic bag, and out of it came the all new
Wilson BLX 6.1 Tour 90!
After scouring the web to see if this was a mere paintjob, upon closer inspection of the racquet in photos it is a genuine BLX 6.1 Tour 90, the same racquet world #1
Roger Federer will be using this year, but why?
Some say that with the Aerogel 200 James was using his 1 handed backhand didn’t have the type of penetration he’s getting with the 90” head on the BLX 6.1 Tour, also watching him play in the Brisbane tournament it seems his serve has a bit of extra pop now compared to his usage of the Aerogel 200 (which a source tells me is a complete paintjob as Blake’s was a custom mold utilizing a 97” head size)
Also it’s good to see his beard back, when he’s clean shaven he plays terrible, but that’s just my observation.
Tomas Berdych: I'd also suspected Tomas to switch off to the
Aerogel 200 4D , but I was mistaken as Berdych was seen in Brisbane using the
Head YouTek Radical MidPlus.
Berdych along with Blake were the two headliners of the Dunlop Pro Lineup,
Tommy Haas left
Dunlop prior to the French Open last year in favor of Head and has enjoyed a large jump in rankings, ending 2008 ranked number 82, and ended 2009 after the switch at number 18. Did Haas’s new success inspire Berdych to join the Head camp? Who knows.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: In my honest opinion this was the biggest move this year, at the end of last year rumors were speculating that Tsonga was in talks with
Babolat to join the pro lineup after a long history with the
Wilson brand was seen in Brisbane sporting the new Babolat Aeropro Drive Cortex GT, the same racquet world #2
Rafael Nadal will be sporting this season as well.
In all honesty the
Wilson K Factor Kobra Tour that he leaves behind is almost identical specification wise to the Aeropro Drive Cortex GT he’s using now. But maybe Tsonga feels more at home with the Babolat seeing as they are based in his native France. Who knows.
I wish the three of these players the best of luck this year in their matches! 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting season. The Australian Open starts next Monday! (1/18/2010)
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