Welcome to Gaia! ::

I used to play with the Wilson Pro Staff, switched to Head Prestiges about 8 years ago, and I've been playing with those up until about last week when I switched to the Wilson (K)Blade Tour 93.

A Head Crossbow is an interesting choice. Mind if I ask why the switch?

Well, you need to look at your playing style first. What kind of groundstrokes, how often you volley, how often you mishit (or shank the ball on the frame of the racquet).

You need to find a racquet that's not too heavy, but also not too light. A head-light racquet will give you greater racquet head speed, but it's harder to time a swing if you're not used to it.

There's more to know, but what you really need to make sure is that the racquet feels good. It needs to "feel right" when you hit the ball.

Demo LOTS of racquets, and hit with each racquet on AT LEAST two seperate occasions.

What you're looking for in terms of improvement when getting new equipment is 2-5% increase in your game.

What's your player rating and how old are you?

Thanks for the help! biggrin and im not that good, so I don't know what my rating is, and I'm 12 turning 13

The NTour is actually a pretty decent racquet. An NTour is what we call a "Player's Frame" while the Crossbow is more of a "Recreational Frame". The NTour is a 95" mid-size racquet that has decent power and a good amount of control, though it might be a little on the heavy side. All of the specs should be on or around the throat of the racquet. If I'm not mistaken, it should be about 10.6 oz strung.

The Crossbow has a much bigger headsize and is much lighter, giving you more power but less control. Also, I've talked to a lot of tennis professionals, and a lot -hate- the Crossbow and Airflow series. The frames just weren't made very well. Had a lot of problems.

I'd say stick with the NTour, but if you feel you need a new racquet, or if there's any damage to your current racquet (I'm not sure when you bought it, but it's a pretty outdated frame), I'd actually suggest a Babolat.

The Babolat Z Lite is really popular at my current club amongst juniors. The frame is surprisingly stable, good power, and is about an ounce lighter than your current frame. It's headsize is also 100" instead of 95.

Oh and the racquet you have its a nice racquet!!! biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin

Thats a pretty cool racquet! biggrin How long have you've been playing?

Im a Prince girl-its the only professional racket ive ever used. i have the prince shark. ive only seen one other person use the same racket
i tried to switch to the prince exo3 silver, but the shark just stuck like glue haha