Muscle Weave 200G 100

 So, I found this one in online e-com. I never know this one existed, Dunlop Muscle Weave 200G 100. It is an extended one 27.5 inch long, 18x20, 100 sq inch head. I had a long chat with the seller making sure the condition of it. The seller has two of them but one of them strung weirdly 18x21 and from my experiences buying old racquet, the grommet is one of the concerns. Gladly, I bought it because the second one also was sold when I wrote this. I got the racquet and as usually, I trashed the grip, it only has over-grip without the grip, the handle was sticky from old residue from using towel grip. The butt cap was old, the plastic was soft and I had to glue some that ripped with superglue. I cut the string and noticed the top grommet feels like it was burned probably to smooth it out but it made the plastic soft and the string stuck at two holes. It was pretty hard to take the string out but managed to pull them. The string might be too thick for that racquet. It also had paint job on the Dunlop letterings and paint chips. From TW specs noticed the high swing-weight so I put a leather grip to lessen it. Strung it with 17g old stock Gamma syn gut. Played on Friday without over-grip. MW100 felt soft and powerful. Won 2 sets. No complain probably due to new string. The power and control was good. Easy overhead and serves due to extended? 

The racquet weight without string and grip at 288 grams. Weight with leather grip at 315 grams. Strung probably around 330-335 grams.

Makes me wanna try other extended like CX 200+. 

Leather grip

 I tend to put leather on a racquet to balance it making it head lighter and low its powered, and also usually for older softer racquet. Below are the leather grip I had put:

• Gamma: thick but felt light, wide and hard to put on
• TW:  got the narrow and thin one, easy to put on [best value]
• Tourna: good leather, easy to put on [best]
• Artengo: not as pricey, leather not as soft [cheapest]

Weekend review (AG3, F3T, CX16, RadMP)

 Friday: came late to court, loss 3 sets. Started with AG3 with no warming up but had difficult control then changed to F3T. On second set, played better with AG3 but couldn't focus all night. Not a good day but still good to exercise. Plus, the new Artengo shoes caused injury to left bottom toe from thin insole.

Sunday: tested the RadMP try to see how it compares to others. Also changed the insole with SOF insole bought way back from the US for soccer shoes which workes well. The RM power was good but pretty hard to control and the pretty high swing weight. Bit struggle on the backhand side but the forehand was good. Changed back to CX16 and played way better. Tested on both court. Won one and list other 3 sets.

Weekend update: AG3-4D and CX200-16x19

Played 2 times this weekend (14-16 Jan 2022): Friday and Sunday. 

Friday: brought trusty AG300 which do well on indoor court and to try 4DAG300Tour. The verdict was that the 4D was very low power though with added 3 grams at 12. The ball was either landed short or on the base line. Compare to regular AG300, the control was better on the 4D especially for the forehand. A friend came along and he had heavy spin using light Pure Aero. 

Sunday: brought RadOS, PS97, and CX200-16. Last time I mistakenly bought the CX200-18 with 2 years old string and the stiff string did not do well especially on volleys. Tried several strokes with PS97 but felt heavier compare to the CX. Tried the RadOS for several games but had 2 forehand strokes to the net. The CX played well even though the string moved but the control and power were enough.

Pic from Diki fotography

 

Tennis updated (CX200T and PS97)

 Cut the prince syngut duraflex on my CX 200 Tour 16x19 and strung it with gamma syngut 17g at 50lbs. Test it on Friday and could not lay it down, won a set, it feels great not as stiff as the prince one. I produce an ace too.

On Sunday, brought the CX 200 Tour 18x20 by mistake, though strung with babolat syngut at 52lbs 2 years ago, it has harden and not flexible. Felt very different compare to the freshly strung 16x19 version. However, got a win with it while playing with a younger heavier hitter opponent. Overall, the CX 200 Tour is definitely a great racquet. Then finished it off with PS97 when playing a lesser opponent. The string had stiffen and felt very boardie, no power.

In terms of dead string: it may be ok for hitting as long as you hit dead center, other than that ball goes flat. The string I had on the 18x20 was almost 2 years old.

Racquet Power (updated Dec 2022)

 Below is the list of racquet with its power that I am using:

* racquet currently/recently used

Racquet	Head-size	Power	Customization
Wilson Pro Staff 97	97	Low-Med	leather grip, overgrip
Wilson Six One Team	95	Low-Med	none
Dunlop Aerogel 300	98	Med	lead, overgrip
Dunlop MFil 300	98	Med	leather grip, lead handle
Dunlop Hot Melt 200G	95	Low	leather grip
Dunlop CX 200 Tour 18x20*	95	Low	leather grip, lead
Dunlop CX 200 Tour 16x19*	95	Low	leather grip, lead
Dunlop Bio F3.0 Tour	97	Low-Med	lead, overgrip
Dunlop Aerogel 300 4D Tour	97	Low	lead, overgrip
Head YT Rad OS	107	Med	overgrip
Head MG Rad MP	95	Low-Med	overgrip
Prince Textreme Tour 100L	100	Med	lead, overgrip
Prince Warrior 107 LE	107	Med-High	leather grip, overgrip
Prince Textreme Tour 100 310*	100	Med	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Prince Textreme Tour ATS 98*	98	Low-Med	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Wilson Ultra Tour*	97	Low	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Wilson Ultra Pro*	97	Low	leather grip, overgrip, lead

Pangalengan gig (not finished)

 From early 2015 until mid 2018 I was working in a geothermal powerplant west of Bandung. Drive up from Jakarta every Monday morning around 5 am and took about 4 hours. The drive there was always epic. Woke up around 430am. Prepare hot drink and bread for the road. Filled up gas on the highway around 6am. 

Arrived in Bandung around 7am around the time people start bustling. Listening to Bandung or national radio's there when driving up the mountain. Got straight to the office around 9am. There was sort of a unstated regulation for us who commutes far that we can arrive late since we stayed there at the camp until Friday comes.

The drive there was good, sort of scenic with no steep climbing, just a lot of turns on side of cliff. The power station is inside tea plantation area, the last 30 minutes drive was inside the plantation. Compare to other geothermal power station, this area is open, visible to see other areas.

    

PS 97 weekend review

 Played mostly with PS97 this weekend. Only very slightly wrist pain. Singles on Friday and doubles on Sunday. The power and control was acceptable. On Friday, the opponent was using RF97 and I had no trouble rallying. On Sunday, I had no complaint. My other racquet that I brought was AG300 but felt too powerful because the court were had rough surface making the ball bounced higher. The PS97 was good all-round, I serve and volley. The string perform better, mishits doesn't sending shocks. Thinking of comparing this to F3.0T and CX 200 Tour now that it is not as powerful as before. In addition, I also tried the Six One Team and this time the balance was perfect I thought without overgrip. The slice was great though volleying still lack mass and pop.