Pro Equipment: 2005 Australian Open
Russia’s Marat Safin the U.S.’s Serena Williams kicked off the 2005 Grand Slam season in style in January with title wins at the Australian Open. To illustrate the march toward polyester strings, only a handful of male pros in the Top 20 are using natural gut, and all of them use it as part of a hybrid system. Williams is one of the few women pros still using natural gut strings in her racquet. Post this chart in your store, so your customers can check out what their favorite players are using.
Men
| Player | Racquet brand | Racquet model | Head size | String brand | String model | Gauge | Tension |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roger Federer | Wilson | nSix-One Tour | 90 | Luxilon/Wilson | Big Banger Alu Power Rough/ Natural Gut | 16L | 25/23.5 |
| Lleyton Hewitt | Yonex | RDX 500 | 90 | Babolat/ Luxilon | VS Team/Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | 56 |
| Andy Roddick | Babolat | Pure Drive + | 100 | Babolat | Pro Hurricane/ VS Team 16 | 16 | 73 |
| Marat Safin | Head | Liquidmetal Prestige Mid | 93 | Luxilon/Babolat | Big Banger Alu Power Rough/ VS Touch | 16L | - |
| Guillermo Coria | Prince | O3 Tour | 100 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16 | 52 |
| Carlos Moya | Babolat | Pure Drive | 100 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16 | 60 |
| Tim Henman | Slazenger | Pro X-1 | 95 | Babolat/Luxilon | Big Banger Timo 18/ VS Team Natural Gut | 18 | 51.6 |
| Gaston Gaudio | Wilson | nPro | 95 | Toalson | Cyber Blade Tour Thermaxe 127 | 1.27 | 59.5 |
| David Nalbandian | Yonex | RDX 500 | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16 | 64 |
| Andre Agassi | Head | Flexpoint Radical | 107 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | 66 |
| Joachim Johansson | Yonex | RDX 500 | 90 | Luxilon/Babolat | Big Banger Alu Power/ VS Team Natural Gut | 16L/17 | - |
| Guillermo Canas | Wilson | Hyper Pro Staff 6.1 | 95 | Kirschbaum | Super Smash Honey | 1.2 | - |
| Tommy Robredo | Dunlop | 300G | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16L | 23.5kg |
| Fernando Gonzalez | Babolat | Pure Storm + | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | 25/27kg |
| Nikolay Davydendo | Head | LM Radical MP | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | - |
| Mikhail Youzhny | Head | Liquidmetal Instinct | 100 | Pacific | Polygut Blend 17 | 17 | 26kg |
| Tommy Haas | Dunlop | 200g | 95 | Babolat | VS Touch | - | |
| Nicolas Massu | Babolat | Pure Storm + | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | 53 |
| Dominik Hrbaty | Fischer | Pro Extreme FT | 95 | Kirschbaum | Super Smash 17 | 17 | - |
| Feliciano Lopez | Babolat | Pure Drive + | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16 | - |
Women
| Player | Racquet brand | Racquet model | Head size | String brand | String model | Gauge | Tension |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lindsay Davenport | Wilson | nTour | 95 | Babolat | VS Touch | 15L | 63/64 |
| Serena Williams | Wilson | n3 | 110 | Wilson | Natural | 16 | 67 |
| Amelie Mauresmo | Dunlop | 300G | 98 | Babolat | VS Touch | 16 | 57.2 |
| Maria Sharapova | Prince | Turbo Shark MP | 100 | Babolat | Pro Hurricane 17/ VS Touch 17 | 17 | - |
| Anastasia Myskina | Head | Liquidmetal Instinct | 100 | Luxilon | Big Banger Timo 18 | 18 | 56/52 |
| Svetlana Kuznetsova | Head | Liquidmetal Instinct | 100 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Touch | 16L | - |
| Elena Dementieva | Yonex | RDX 500 MP | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | 51/48.5 |
| Venus Williams | Wilson | New Racquet coming soon | 110 | Wilson | Natural | 16 | 65 |
| Jennifer Capriati | Prince | Tour Diablo | 95 | Babolat/ Luxilon | VS Touch 16/ Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | - |
| Alicia Molik | Dunlop | 300G | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | - |
| Vera Zvonareva | Fischer | Pro No. One FT | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Alu Power | 16L | - |
| Nadia Petrova | Babolat | Pure Drive Team | 98 | Luxilon | Monotec Supersense | 16L | 28 |
| Nathalie Dechy | Head | Liquidmetal Prestige MP | 98 | Babolat | VS Touch Natural Gut | 16 | - |
| Patty Schnyder | Head | Liquidmetal Prestige MP | 98 | Kirschbaum | Super Smash Spikey | 17 | - |
| Justine Henin-Hardenne | Wilson | nTour | 95 | BDE | BDE Performance | 16 | - |
| Elena Bovina | Head | Liquidmetal Instinct | 100 | Luxilon | Big Banger Timo | 17 | - |
| Karolina Sprem | Fischer | Pro Tour FT | 98 | Tecnifibre | X-Tra Dynamic 1.33 | 16 | 57.3/55.1 |
| Silvia Farina Elia | Prince | Triple Threat Graphite OS | 110 | Luxilon | Big Banger Original | 16 | 52/50 |
| Francesca Schiavone | Fischer | Pro No. One | 98 | Luxilon | Big Banger Timo | 18 | - |
| Paola Suarez | Prince | NXGraphite | 100 | Prince | Tournament Nylon | 15L | - |
A “/ ” denotes differing tensions between mains and crosses. A “-” indicates a tension range on multiple racquets. “NA” means player did not play or no information was available. Tensions above 38.5 are in pounds; 38.5 and below are in kilograms.
RSI magazine search
RSI magazine articles
RSI magazine categories
- Ask the Experts
- Associations
- Awards
- Ball Machines
- Balls
- Business/Marketing
- Clothing
- Courts/Lighting
- Education
- Footwear
- Frames
- Grips
- Industry News
- Media
- Miscellaneous
- Our Serve
- Peoplewatch
- Playtests
- Racquetball
- Review
- Reviews
- Science
- Squash
- Stringing
- Stringing Machines
- Strings
- Tennis
- Tips and Techniques
- Tournaments/Events
- Your Serve
RSI magazine archives
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- November 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- November 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- November 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004