his post is transcribed from this video on YouTube:
Hey, everyone, just wanted to show you a little bit how I customize my frames. So starting off, I just got to the Wilson Blade 98 Countervail 16×19’s, I got these from Tennis Warehouse when they were on clearance and these are the frames I play with, but I got these matched, so I made sure I got three of them that have pretty close to the exact same swing weight, same flex, so the flexibility ratings are pretty close and of course, the static weight and the balance, so those two things are the ones that I feel affect the play the most, so one of the things I look at closely when I trying to get matched racquets. I’m also switching out and putting on the Babolat leather grip for all three, I’m using the same ones, and then I’ll use the lead tape from Tourna, so I like this one, it sticks to the frame okay, not the best, not the worst. I’ll show you exactly where I put that, and then of course, I’ve got the blue Tourna group because perfect for my sweaty hands, but if you guys want to see, like, a link where I buy it so you can buy the exact same things I’m using, I’ll put it in the description, you can check that out, but I’ll just show you really quickly what I do with the lead tape, where I put it, how much, and go from there. Thanks.
So here, just twisting, I’m folding the tape over itself. It’s about six inches. I’ll probably use the entire lead tape reel especially between the two rackets. And here, you’ll see, I can just cut these, so I’ll cut this last piece, right there. I’ll unfold this in the middle, right there, and the same down here. So now, I’m left with a bunch of the same lengths, and I’ll just put them on here. Okay, so there’s the sticky side, here’s the frame. So you can see it’s not touching the grommet, so then I’ll do that on both sides, here and here, and then I’ll put some down here and I have some I put on top too, so I’ll show you that, I’ll show you the final product.
So now, I’ve got it all set up here with all of the leads I’ve got, there on the sides for the twist weight, there on the top, on the very bottom of the handle and then actually, another strip there, so I matched the exact same amount of lead I have on the top in the hoop, I matched it down here in the bottom. You want that for, so you’re going to have this on your twist weight, and then the polarity. So this is the optimal for me, this is the optimal setup to avoid elbow problems like tennis elbow and wrist problems. I had some tendonitis in the wrist, I added a lot of weight because I still have to play with poly, so I use the Solinco Tour Bite but gotta have the poly to play the game I want to play, and then I use lots of weight, and then you’ll see it here in one second, I’ll show you the final product with the leather grip, but this is, to me, the optimal setup, this will help you relieve some of that jarring effect from tennis elbow, so like why you get tennis elbow or any tendonitis in your wrist or shoulder sometimes, it’s from when you hit, like let’s say you hit off-center a little bit, you get a tiny bit of twist and then you compensate in your wrist because of that, so you grip it a little bit tighter unconsciously, and that extra grip puts tension in your elbow. I’ll link to a guy, a man, he did some really awesome videos on customizing your frame and how the pros do it, and I took all the cues from him, so I absolutely want to share that information with you guys. Again, it’s in the description, so check that out, but here, in one second, I’ll show you the final product.
I’ve got the leather grip on, so now, I’ve got it weighted down here with the lead, same amount of what I have here and the leather grip adds probably another ounce. This is my optimal playing weight for plow through, spin, all of that, didn’t take me long to get used to it. The Blade 98, great frame to customize.
One more thing too, I’m going to show you guys what, in another video, I’ll probably do with the other frames because we’re ready to play with this one, but I’m going to show you what the swing weight is, the static weight, and the balance of my frames that I play with. So yoy guys get an idea, I’m playing for probably higher 4.5 level in Texas, yeah. You could probably emulate some of the stuff into your own game down to the 3.5 / 4.0 level, and then I know a lot of college players and pro players even kind of use a similar setup with a weight, so just, you can really fine-tune it to your game and as you get older, having any problems too if you’re junior. When I was a junior, I had a lot of elbow problems from tendonitis and tennis elbow, and I wish I would’ve known about this as a junior because I had tennis elbow so bad I couldn’t lift my hand above my head without taking painkillers which is terrible.
But yeah, guys, check it out. All the products I use are in the description if you want to use those too. I highly recommend them, but yeah, I appreciate it.