All I commented on is that in tournament software.com, the LiNing name from China Masters is now changed to Adidas. For your questions on payment, I am not privy to that information. As for compensation, I think some facts have to been ascertained before an assumption is made that LiNing was dropped. For instance, there is a possibility of 'by mutual agreement'.
Does anyone have experience with both adidas and Li Ning rackets? Trying to decide on an adidas one to retire my N50II and N90II (old logo). A stiffness somewhere between the two would be fine, all I'm worried about is staying quick enough around the net yet not sacrificing too much power from the back. I'm asking because it's been quite a while since my demo day and I was used to the light weight of the Bs09 back then, so even reading my own assessment didn't help me as much as I had hoped.
Unfortunately, from what I hear, US doesn't have enough funding to support a higher level tournaments. They originally had a bid package set up for a SS but then found it to be too expensive. They are hoping to bid for a World Championship or maybe TUC in the future from some article I read some time ago. Forgot where though.
I have Li Ning N55 and N90 (both 1st edition) and the Adipower Duoforce and Adizero Pro. Probably the Duoforce is what you are looking for but if you want something fast, the Adizero Pro will be better and the power is still decent from the back.
Adizero Pro is definitely out, I remember it as too light and being a bit dull. I'm also not the most explosive player so I don't really like to play with stiff rackets, especially not stiff/head light Duoforce is probably out of the question as well as it's not gonna be available here for a while, at least looks that way. Force won't be available and is way too heavy anyway, btw I don't really want to get faster, just be sure not to get slower as the N50/N50II are working perfectly for me right now, having enough meat to deliver from the back yet still being maneuverable enough to not weaken my defense or net play. I remember the Precision Tour as quite nice, anybody have experience with it and how it compares to heavier, even balanced rackets such as the N50/N50II? The Precision 88 wasn't bad either, but a bit heavy so I'm not quite sure if it's fast enough.
Is the AdiPower Pro out of the question? It has a bulky head but for me maneuverability is awesome. Other than my 4U JJS, it is the lightest racket I own at 96g wet strung with ZM62 and G09 overgrip.
Interesting. Seems like I'll have to test quite a few - I had thought the AP Pro would be too heavy as I remember it being noticeably heavier than the AP Tour and Precision Tour, but maybe I got a heavy one or was just too used to the lightweight Bs09.... I'll add that to my 'to test' list, then. Only worry for me is that it'll be too stiff - as I'll be playing both singles and doubles I'll have to be able to play base-to-base backhand clears from a low position, something I have trouble doing with most stiff rackets. My backhand somehow seems to benefit from whippier rackets, being decent with my N50's, N70, and lighter rackets such as the Z-Slash and Bs09 while not being so strong with heavier or stiffer rackets like the N90, N90II, Mx80.... I just wish local retailers were more willing to take them up into their line-up, progress seems to be quite slow in that regard and model selection is still fairly limited from what I can see.
I may have one at the lighter end of the scale however it's stiffness to me is not too bad. Not as stiff as my JJS. If a skinny guy like Viktor Axelson can wield it, I'm sure you can too
Problem - I'm skinny as well He's actually got more massive legs by now than I do. Although I don't look quite as bony as he does Coincidentally I think we're pretty much the same height as well, give or take 1-2cm.
I'm 5'8" and 175-179lbs but mostly muscle. Initially when I started playing again, my maneuverability was affected but I've adapted now so it's not such a big issue after I started focusing on my legs more.
From what I saw in the MS SF, they used Li Ning - adidas have black stickers in them iirc. The ones I saw looked silver(-ish) to me...
Huh. I guess we weight the same then Although I just discovered that my usual eating habits just barely cover my caloric needs when I just sit around all day, and given that I only have 1 rest day a week I seem to have eaten too little for the past year or so At least if I want to build some muscle.
I know this is going to sound rather unpopular but I used to be under 145lbs and could not gain anything and my buddy told me that I was already too lean and i had to eat like crap first to gain some pounds. Carb loading alone is not enough to gain weight. Basically eat everything unhealthy for you till you gain some access weight and then hit the gym. I ate tonnes of ice-cream, pizza, doughnuts, pasta and anything with high carb and sugar I could get my hands on. I broke my weight ceiling and was able to put on way more muscle after that. That's the supplement free way of doing it anyway. I'm sure you can do it with some kind of carb stacker or muscle gainer but I don't take any kind of supplements cause they are too expensive.
Most people have the problem that they can't consume enough calories with carbs alone as fat has twice as many calories as carbs and protein. As you need an energy surplus to build muscle (and a lot of protein), you have to make sure you're well over your needed caloric intake if you really want to gain some mass. Thing is that I don't actually want to get super muscular or anything, but once I can train properly again I really want to increase my leg strength (calves specifically) to prevent any repeat of this injury madness... Protein supplements aren't that expensive really if you look at how much you pay per gram of protein. Meat sure is more expensive. At least that's what it's like around here Ah well, I believe that's enough off-topic discussion, isn't it?
Yeah I forgot to mention I only eat fatty meat. I don't like lean meat like chicken breast etc. What have you shortlisted so far from the Adidas range? Are you looking for something around the 290-300mm BP range?
Ideally I would end up with an adidas version of the N50 Which means medium stiffness and moderately head heavy (290-295 with probably 88g or comparable). Having a solid head would also be nice. I'm okay with a slightly stiffer or a slightly lighter racket, but as I mentioned, I need it to be quite effortless as I'll be playing singles and they're gonna be fairly tough this season, and it really shouldn't be slower than the N50II as that is pretty much my limit where speed around the net is concerned. My list to try so far includes -Precision Tour (maybe Pro) (-adipower Pro) -adipower Tour -Precision 88 Or at least those available from that list.
You will only consider models that are available locally ? Duoforce is available from MBS at US$192 which is actually cheaper than what I paid for in Korea.
Yeah, I'll choose from what I can get from my retailer. I'll probably be able to test, but still have to wait until they (adidas&retailer) have come to an agreement...