Emails to Wilson were unreplied. Up till now, any online search and appeals could not throw any light on this stick. Absolutely nothing!
I have two of these and I LOVE IT! The few friends who tried them attested that these play better than the legendary Pro Staff 6.0! Yes, the XT-80 was pitched against the St. Vincent, Taiwan and China Pro Staffs and it prevailed. Surprising, unbelievable, sacrilegious... but true!
The previous one (link) in L2 grip size came with broken strings, so I got it strung and played with. But this L3 was a gift from my friend. It came with the original factory strung synthetic gut from perhaps the 80s. (Yes, it was done one-piece bottom-up!) I was reluctant to cut it. But the frame is too sweet to just let it sit in the cabinet.
Eventually, my cutter prevailed...
With only 80 sq inch, I felt 30 lbs was not low enough in the other XT-80. I decided to drop to 28/26 lbs and add a modified proportional stringing for the top few crosses! That would be fancy enough to tickle my "
Here's a pic of the XT-80 twins together! They even share the same buttcap code of "KAR"!
Playtest:
- Compared to the other XT-80 done at 30lbs, the pocketing from this is slightly deeper.
- Just this difference is enough to affect my stroke. It's easy to tell when there are two of the same rackets to compare side-by-side with.
- With extra pocketing, how I follow-through my stroke becomes very important. The deeper pocketing means a longer dwell time of the ball on the strings. So if I am lazy, the ball goes long or off tangent.
- It is not inaccurate. I would attribute this more to a timing issue. When accustomed, I had absolutely no problems aiming my shots or serves.
- Compared to natural gut, the strings rebound feels delayed. I don't recall having this "problem" with gut whose pocketing is much much more deeper.
- Other than this, everything else plays very similar to my previous XT-80 done at 30lbs.
- For now, I think I prefer the 30lbs tension. Will try again and see how it plays after clocking a few hours of hits.
- Ball fur pic after only about 20 minutes of rally.
30Apr2013 update:
- I noticed even with ELT, the strings have a break-in period. I always enjoy the string better from the second session of play. So here it is!
- Pocketing did not get any deeper than previously but the overall stringbed did feel much more even and friendly.
- Spin is absolutely, ridiculously, incredibly aplenty! Even when I tried to hit flat with less spin, the ball still kicked up to my partner's shoulder.
- The low cross tension, coupled with proportional stringing really allowed free sliding of the mains. Just a few shots would see quite big gaps in the mains due to string movement.
- I can even hear the strings "crackling" during my follow-through brushing.
- Power is lower than at 30lbs. Whenever I try to let one rip, the stringbed simply absorbs the power. Unless I do a open-faced badminton style forehand, it is difficult to hit the ball out. There is just either too much topspin or a little too low power for me.
- Volleys are very very nice.
- Flat serves are still good although I preferred slightly less pocketing. I had to reduce some power and hit a little more more gently. Second serves almost always elicited vulgarities from the receiving party.
- There's so much ball-grab that yet another ball's fur was violently ripped off.
- The repeat sliding of the mains has created a dark spot in the middle of the stringbed in merely two sessions of tennis. Good for monitoring my ball contact area.
06May2013 update:
- I hit with some new balls using this racket.
- The thick coat of fur provided extra grab for the strings. Spin increased so much that I had problems clearing the net from my baseline. The ball simply curled down my side. So I had to hit almost completely flat.
- Even then, the ball naturally carried topspin. Both my partner and I could see the ball spinning before and after the bounce.
- My partner tried too. It was impossible to hit completely flat shots. We could not do it at all. Even the slightly brush would magnify the spin levels.
- Pocketing is very deep and comfortable. Rebound is slightly delayed though.
- The sweetspot remains huge.
- The only dis-satisfaction I have is way too much spin and too low power.
- Just for the record, this racket currently weighs almost 370g with a 32.5cm balance. Swingweight is at least 350+, maybe 360+.
- With such a powerful stick, it is ridiculous that both of us struggle to even clear the net from the baseline! Just way too much spin!
- I'll have to bring the tension up slightly next round...
11May2013 update:
- Spin serves are so good with this tension setup that I am willing to tolerate the very low power and occasional mishits.
- However, after this racket exceeds its 10th hour of play, directional control seems to be going downhill fast.
- The rebound from the deep pocketing is also lagging more and more.
- I have to admit that 28/26 lbs plus proportional stringing in the crosses is pushing the boundaries for control.
- But, but, but... spin serves are really really that good!
Strings:
Pro Supex Synthetic Gut Titan 1.25mm @ 28/26 lbs (varied crosses)
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