While I think it's a bit dishonest for a pro to use a spray-up, I have to balance that with my opinon that if you buy a racket just because Pro X uses it, you deserve to be fooled!
Just to add something I just remembered: at the AE the FB was just released (transitioning period?). Another poster mentioned that one of the stringers during the WC said it was a regular FB, not a repainted ZF. As far as tennis is concerned: they update their rackets much more often so it's more likely someone wouldn't want to change every new year. I suppose the changes are magnified compared to the lightweights badminton rackets are. And some special players will be allowed by their new sponsor to play with repainted different brand rackets, but not Yonex as we saw with Wozniacki . I read on tenniswarehouse that HEAD now has a disclaimer that what their pro's use might not necesarilly be what you can buy in the store. This after a lawsuit against Wilson apparently (have not looked that up) .
Article on tennis paintjobs from 2004 http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/usopen04/news/story?id=1872892
Not surprising... If a newest racquet came out, made a bit investment to make it, but no pros like using it... they're have to go through that route and repaint the racket. You can see the picture. It's too glossy to be a FB.
Yes, they do - the latest Tennisnuts catalogue has "HEAD Pro Players may play with different rackets from the model shown."
ah.. you were a step ahead, i was about to quote that thread on badminton CN. i just happened to be rather active on badminton cn bbs board and i also read the thread where the stringer did mention about his experiences stringing for the pros, the tensions they wanted, how morgensen brought over 4 FBs 1 hour before the competition wanting it to be strung, posing quite a challenge as the FB was the lightest, and the requested string the thinnest (66UM), with the highest tension strung around 34-36lbs. the stringer also mentioned at the end how 6 point support could be seen to be really important in his stringing experience at the event.
hah! of course! whoever who buys racquet because some pro is using it should deserve to be fooled. i'm a more experiential person, so if there's something new or interesting i'll buy it and try it myself, ignoring whoever the heck is dissing it or who's using it etc. the FB's definitely something really fun to play with but it doesnt see much action nowadays as i've gone back up the spectrum to racquets around the 2U-U range. what i'm more interested in, is the claims of it being a repainted ZF. the evidence in pictures and stringers seem to point that the racquets in question is still a FB, not a ZF, yet there can be people whom are so sure on the ZF paint job
the matte finish of the FB's that reflective, especially the blue area! it is not glossy in the picture. hmm.. actually they should have spray painted it in NR-Zspeed color perhaps!
The way Boe/Mo bowed out to Liu/Qiu in only their 2nd match at the 2013 AE, I would believe that Mo was indeed using the real FB at that time.
If it was the real Arc FB, then I think the next question will be "What was the spec ? Was it the 5U or F or something else ?"…. since we all know that manufacturing process of badminton rackets still partly hand-made, it would be so easy to do enhancements/modifications here and there…. Hence, there will be another following questions and so on and on Honestly, I am not so interested about the rackets used by pros since I won't picture myself using those "in disguise or modified for super pros" rackets and hoping that they will do the magic to instantly improve my games. I'd rather know something new of what kind of rackets that we can easily buy off the shelf in the market, because in the end, they will be the available menu for us to choose. For certain cases, of course, I admit that I keep a few collections of previously owned/used by top pro players but they are purely for commemorative purpose.
the general consensus from the chinese forums at least, is that they are using the exact models, except that the racquets are "cherry picked" for certain traits/behaviours as requested by the players. Boe uses a Voltric 80 4U. and i wont be surprised if Moe's using the 5U FB, and if you cherry pick you can possibly get some FBs that are even closer to 4U weight. Given the FB's extremely high balance (310+), if you have the heavier FBs in the batch, i wont think it will be that floppy or weak.
To look at it from a different perspective... I guess the manufacturers may intentionally be 'dumbing down' the specs of their top tier rackets for 'normal' players like us. Case is point, someone like Lin Dan or FHF have such exceptionally strong wrists and arms that they would naturally demand a much more stiffer racket than what we are normally used to so as to get the maximum out it. Remember how Sho Sasaki absolutely destroyed his racket and that too with a backhand once! If the normal public were to get their hands on the actual N90 that LD plays with, I am sure that quite a few would find it too unresponsive and that create a negative impression on the brand. I think that is also a factor in recommended string tensions as well by manufacturers. I remember this one time a guy in my club had bought an Arcsaber Z slash when it'd just been released, strung it with 29lbs (since he'd heard some XYZ player had the same) and tried playing with it. He was so thoroughly frustrated that he couldn't hit the fastest smash (as promised) that he started dissing the racket to anyone who'd listen. It actually put off a lot of people from buying it at that time. So, its a fine line I guess. The manufacturers market their newest product as the greatest and most awesome racket available but will still try and keep the specs down enough so that buyers are more or less satisfied with their expensive purchase.
The vast majority of players simply won't play at their best with pro-spec rackets, and have the most to lose by doing so. If I was sponsoring a pro, I'd have a real hard time making them a very specific racket and trying to pass it off as a stock model. I think I'd rather take the F1 route - sure, you can by a Maclaren or Honda or whatever, but you can't buy an F1 car down at the local dealer. Same with a Pro racket. I might make just enough of them for the sponsored player to use during the year, or at worst make a couple of hundred and give the player some and sell the rest for a ridiculous price (USD350+ each), but that would be it. You couldn't go down the shop and just buy one. By doing this I think you'd be being more honest and transparent, and not encouraging people to believe in myths and untruths. Players should be encouraged to play at their own pace and level with equipment that makes them better, no forced to struggle with rackets clearly unsuited to them that adversely effect their game and even on occasion exacerbate or cause injury.
I'd really like to know black and white facts actually. What exactly are the specs (head weight bla bla bla) of rackets used by LCW, LD, Mogensen etc, compared to the specs of the respective rackets on the market? And I don't want 2nd hand knowledge or speculation. Just plain facts. And you know what, I wouldn't be at all surprised if most pros didn't have a personally customised racket. I also wouldn't be surprised if they did. Vast majority of players won't play at their best with pro-spec rackets? Who knows, that's just speculation. What would be more certain is that most (amateur) players in the world won't play at their best with wooden rackets compared to current "high end" rackets. But in my opinion, I reckon most "B-level and above" players would play similarly with any "pro-spec" racket once they get used to it. I believe that if you have good technique etc, swinging a ~100g piece of equipment is not hard even if it was "really stiff" or "really head heavy". Look at those little chinese girls from China in eg. Women's Doubles - they are probably smashing harder than many amateurs here, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are using head heavy and stiff rackets. For the (physically fit) guys in this forum, do you honestly think they are physically stronger than you?
I love it how you complain about others speculating and then you say you "wouldn't be surprised" about something. Hilarity.
Yeah, no kidding... I read that post over twice and really nothing was said at all. And speculating that those "little Chinese girls" (they're much taller with forearms bigger than most of us here btw ) use stiff rackets? Most of their rackets are flexy to mid stiff if he had cared to look them up.
Never said I was complaining about speculation hehe - a lot of discussion is speculation (and this doesn't just apply in badminton). All I meant was I'd like someone to come up with facts - speculation is fine, but it'd be nice to know for sure. visor, by "little Chinese girls" I was referring to Dongni Ou (she was in the recent HK SS Women's Doubles final): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8XLdlxk33I Are you sure she's taller and has bigger forearms than you? She looks like she's about 10 years old hehe. "Taller and forearms bigger than most of us here"? I don't think so. You speak as if you've physically measured yourself next to them. I'm pretty sure most of the (Chinese) women don't have bigger forearms than many men here. Okay sure, some of the (Chinese) women are built like tanks, but many aren't - I don't think Wang Yihan or Wang Shixian are "big" at all. Although their legs are probably thicker than most men's here hehe, but then that's why they are such good players - good technique with footwork!
To add to my point, one of the best players in our club (was an ex-provincial player in China) looks thinner than LCW (and looks like he's got thinner arms than Dongni Ou!), and yet he smashes more powerfully than most others. He's mainly a 3U Arc 10/11 user but he plays similar no matter which racket he uses. There are just so many examples I've seen in real life of a thinly built person with good technique getting more power etc over a more heavily built person with poorer technique. Racket specs seem to be one of the least important factors. And I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about I hope? Have you not played with girls/women who have big smashes but are like half your size? If not, you need to check out some higher level badminton in real life hehe.
Aside than we naively want to play with racket pro playing with, all of us have preference on certain things we use in life. some more fussy, some less. For me, if I desperately want to beat you in a match, I will reach out to one of my top 5s instead of my crappies (to me) (sluggish dull hammer)at700 and (headless) ns6000. Mind you, all of these are 3u but are they matter when the match when the pride is at stake, YES IT IS!
I actually think most of the Chinese womens' squad is fitter and stronger than me, but I could drink more beer than all of them combined so it all evens out.
