Am I having wrong impressions of string tension?

I'm another one in the camp of the racket is the culprit. I was using the zf2 4u for a while, but switched to the n90. My shots are significantly better in all aspects. I was getting a little wrist pain from the zf2, no such problem with the n90. Maybe put it to one side, maybe even sell it - pick yourself up a friendlier racket.

I think the vt70 is a good call, but I'll have to recommend one of my personal favourites, the Li Ning n50-iii.

 

Duora, Arcsaber and Nanoray (except the ZSP and 900) should be a good start for you. go for head light or even balance racket. Avoid Voltric for the time being.

 

Yes I would agree, avoid the range of Voltrics, but I think the 70 E-Tune isn't bad. That is a night light - ish head heavy racket.

But I was recommend the Doura 10, I have one myself, and really love it. But it does a take a little while to get use to it. But that could be something you could try to start with.

 

Another vote for considering putting the ZF2 away for now, as well as lowering tension.

Going from factory strung carbonex8, to ZF2 with NBG98@28lbs 15 years later is too much of a jump. I'd hazard that most people who play consistently with a mid flex racket at 22-24lbs would find it hard to instantaneously go to a ZF2 at that tension.

 

@Ivan Lee
The major manufacturers agree that 28lbs. tension gives you the most repulsion. And any higher tensions gives you incremental increases in control. Peter Gade, in interviews, has said that while he's aware that the research points to 28lbs being the optimum for power, he uses a higher tension because there's that extra bit of control. Lin Dan has said something along those lines and also said he likes the feel of BG80 at +30lbs.

So in the end, you'll need to experiment with different tensions to find something you like. I use 30lbs with feather shuttlecocks and 25~28lbs for plastics (depending on the string).

 

I strung my friend's VTZF - ZM62F @ 30lbs. and gave him my VTZF strung with G-Tone5 @ 30lbs., You can imagine how those felt.

 

Get the VT70 strung the same and compare.