Today was the first day of the semi annual Mid Atlantic Tennis Buying Show here in the Washington DC area. While I have seen, and in most cases played with the new racquets for 2009, one new line has spiked a lot of interest in the last few days. Today would be my first chance to get to see – in person – Babolat’s new Y line.
This is an all new venture for the French racquet manufacturer. For years they have tried to get their foot in the door of the game improvemnet area. In the past they have filled holes with racquets that they were lacking. But this their first all new line and technology for game improvement frames.
Thursday I gave you the general info… A total of five Y racquets, all under 10 ounces. Now I am going to fill in some of the holes.

  1. These are good looking racquets. They did a good job with the cosmetics. For The Y 112 and Y 118 there are two color options, a more masculine color scheme, and a lighter more feminine color scheme for the racquets that come with the Smart Grip.

  2. The Y 112 Limited is the heaviest of the frames weighing in at 9.7 ounces unstrung. All of the other Y frames all weigh 9 ounces flat.

  3. The 112 Limited is even balanced, while the 112 and 118 are 1 pt head heavy.

  4. The extended yoke of the racquet (halfway up the head) is called the Side Drivers and is made of high modulus graphite, and the rest of the head has Crystal Graphite.

  5. Crystal Graphite is so new and high tech that they haven’t even told the reps what it is!

  6. The frames that come shipped with Smart Grip handles can be changed to traditional grips, and Babolat now sells kits to change traditional grips into Smart Grips. This is a great idea!

  7. All Y demos will be shipped strung with VS Touch natural gut!

  8. Ship dates are mid to late March.

If you are in the market for a light weight game improvement frame. I think that these will be worth a serious look. When I first saw the release video for these frames I predicted that they would be very expensive in the $280-$300 range, but they have kept the prices in check and the will run between $230-$250. I hope to have some photos for you soon!

There are also some bags and backpack slings to go with the new racquets. In addition, Babolat will be introducing a new Synthetic Gut to replace Super Fine Play, which will also be in a new Hybrid with VS Touch 16.