Francesco,
Thanks for your inquiry regarding our racquets and the fitting process. Bosworth racquets are all custom-built, by hand, here in Boca Raton, Florida, by the same staff that has been building customized racquets for the best players in the world for over thirty years. We review every Questionnaire individually to assess how best to fit the customer for a Bosworth Custom Built racquet.
When a pro player comes to us for help, the first thing we do is to test for handle shape. We have found that we can make a talented player quite ineffective just by shaping the handle so that it does not fit with the player’s mechanics. After fitting thousands of players over the past 20 years, we have found that there are many consistencies between style of play and optimal racquet specs.
Based on the facts that you play with an Eastern forehand grip and a one-handed backhand, I recommend a custom shaped handle that we offer. The Yonex racquet that you have been using has a relatively wide or "round" shape to the grip, which typically allows you to adjust the face for a variety of situations, but can make it difficult to drive through the ball consistently. Generally, this shape is best suited to Semi-Western grips. The Tecnifibre Vo2 320 that you've tried, on the other hand, has a handle shape that is very close to the shape which I recommend. This shape is "flat" enough to help you drive through the ball more consistently, but not too flat as to limit your options on very high or very low balls. I suspect there is a strong link between the grip shape of the Tecnifibre and your improved results on the backhand stroke. We would build your racquet handle very similar to this, but with a slightly more refined shape, in order to take advantage of your style of play.
Many accomplished players prefer to use a leather grip, primarily because it allows the player to better feel the bevels. Leather grips maintain sharper edges than synthetics, which facilitates racquet face control, and makes it easier to instinctively find the proper grip during play. This is especially true for players with one handed backhands. Typically, we recommend the use of an overgrip for comfort and sweat absorption.
The next step in the custom fitting process is to target the optimal weight specs for a player. Lighter-weight racquets, while promoted by the racquet companies as "easier to swing" and able to generate more power due to higher swing speeds, have been shown time and again to be actually much more difficult to control, and very difficult to manage any control or power when striking the ball off-center. Also, most companies target a light overall weight, and achieve this by removing most of the weight from the handle area. When we build our racquets for most of our pro player and amateur customers, we build into the buttcap area a significant amount of weight in order to bring the balance point of the racquet lower, and to help stabilize the racquet on off-center shots. While the overall weight of the racquet may seem high, the racquet is often actually easier to swing than much lighter racquets. Also, racquet head speed is not normally dictated by racquet weight (or swingweight). Our on-court testing has shown that players tend to swing at higher speed when they have increased confidence that their shot will be successful. With a heavier racquet, you will have much more consistent results, particularly when striking the ball off-center, and that increased confidence will get you to increase your swing speed naturally. Many people think that a lighter racquet will be "easier on the arm/shoulder" but in fact it is usually the shock from the racquet/ball collision that aggravates injuries, and the lighter the racquet is the more shock will be transmitted to the joints. By adding mass to a racquet you will absorb more of the shock and increase deceleration times, thereby protecting your arm/shoulder. This is the case as long as the added weight does not detrimentally effect your stroke technique.
Both racquets that you've been using, the Yonex RDiS 100 and the Tecnifibre Vo2 320 are built to a headlight balance point which I recommend, however neither frame is built with enough mass to compete against higher level players. The Tecnifibre has a swingweight of 321 kg*cm2, and the Yonex is even less at 315. Many players with one-handed backhands find that added swingweight actually smooths out their stroke, and a heavier racquet makes it much easier to defend against a hard-hit ball. Lightweight racquets often make a player feel very confident against lesser players, but also keep a player from raising their game to higher levels. In your case, I suggest that we target a swingweight of 345, while maintaining a headlight balance point. Additionally, we would build your racquet with lead tape strips in the head. This will allow you to remove some weight if you feel it is too heavy, and I will include a packet of extra lead tape strips so that you can experiment with increasing the weight, depending on your initial impressions of the racquet.
We can ship frames to you in Italy. We currently accept payments via Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express. There are no U.S. taxes on our international shipments. You will however be responsible for any additional customs handling fees, duties and/or taxes. Please contact your local post/customs office to obtain information regarding the customs fees, duties & taxes in Italy. Refund/Credit will not be issued for packages that are not delivered due to non-payment of fees. We also cannot issue credit for international packages which are refused or abandoned. You will be responsible/charged for any unpaid customs, duties, and/or taxes, as well as return shipping costs.
I look forward to hearing your comments on the above analysis, and hope to be able to build a racquet for you that helps you get the most out of your game.
Anders
Anders Hvide
Racquet Technician
Bosworth Tennis
6401 Congress Ave. Suite 140
Boca Raton, FL 33487 USA
561.241.9966 tel
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