Andy Murray: On the attack with a new racket?
Andy Murray wants to know again in 2022. He's starting the new year with Jan de Witt on a trial basis - and apparently also with a new racket.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 31, 2021, 08:56 am
Tennis professionals and their rackets - a sacred bond. It's an open secret: the professionals rarely really play an off-the-peg racket or even the latest model advertised. The rackets of the experts are almost all tuned in terms of weight and balance, and hardly anyone really likes to switch from their long-established racket. What the manufacturers (must) indicate indirectly in their advertising: The rackets are meanwhile "recommended by ...", not necessarily "played by ...". Because most of the actors play a rather old model, painted in the latest colors.
Roger Federer had quite spectacularly picked up a larger model in 2014 and is one of the few professionals to play with the "Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph", which is also available in stores. Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, still trusts the "Babolat AeroPro Drive Original", in the colors of the current "Pure Aero".
Andy Murray and the Thomas Muster bat
And Andy Murray: So far, he has used the "Head PT57A", better known to tennis fans as the legendary "Head Pro Tour 630". Thomas Muster, Gustavo Kuerten and Tommy Haas, among others, made it known in the mid-1990s (it was recently reissued in a similar form as "Head Pro Tour 2.0").
Now Murray seems to be looking for something new: Both at the invitation tournament in Abu Dhabi and during training in Melbourne, he was spotted with a completely black lacquered racket with a slightly larger racket head.
Murray and the club change: "Something that is more forgiving"
"I felt that I should try something that is easier to trade, more forgiving," Murray told Eurosport . "Mainly because I don't move as well as I used to and I'm a little late with some balls. I often didn't get in the middle of the racket, so I want some help." His old racket had a rather small head size, "compared to 95 percent of the players on the tour," said the Scot.
The whole thing is "not an easy thing," admitted Murray. However, one that gave the first good impressions: In Abu Dhabi Murray was quite fed up and was more offensive than usual.
Will Murray actually switch in the end or will switch back to his well-known model? Will show up "down under" at the latest at its first official appearance.