Who said only the stars can have thier share of amazing equipment. Get your hands on the latest Simona Halep Tennis Racquet when you visit us online.
She came out on top after winning the second grand slam title at the Wimbledon Championships 2019, the Romanian Simona Halep is considered to be one of the greatest player of all time when it comes to playing tennis. She’s not only of the best players in the world, Halep is also known to be one of the most popular and well supported players on tour.
With all this success she have gained over the past years, many people starts to ask what racquet is she playing with. In this article I will be going through everything you need to know about her racquet type and specs.
So, what Simona Halep tennis racquet does she use? Simona Halep current endorses the Wilson Burn 100 CV, which is known to be a superb quality racquet. What’s surprising is the fact that she actually plays with the Wilson Steam 99 racquet that is painted to look similar to the Wilson Burn 100 CV. Another thing is that she strings the racquet with Luxilon Alu Power Big Banger 1.25.
Why is Halep’s Racquet Painted to Look Like Another Racquet?
You should keep in mind that most professional tennis players doesn’t exactly play with the racquet that it looks like. Most racquet that you’ve seen whether on TV or in person, they are painted to look like a specific racquet, when in reality the racquet is completely different.
The reason this happens is because of marketing. What the brand does is customize the racquet in a way so that everyone who enjoys playing tennis think that the racquet the player is using is available to buy online.
Since, most of the supporters will want to invest in that same racquet to play with. Most professional players including actually plays with a racquet that isn’t available for purchasing these days. Therefore the brands won’t benefit from sponsoring the players. So, what they did was customize their racquet like what is available in stock so that they can increase their overall sales.
As you can see, this absolutely makes a lot of sense and is definitely a smart move to make. But, as we speak a lot of people is not a fan of this idea since they are not promoting the right product.
So before we get into the details of Simona Halep’s tennis racquet, Let us learn how you can choose the best tennis racquet for yourself.
Key considerations when choosing a tennis racquet
- Based on head size: The tennis racquet head size refers to the size of the actual hitting area within the tennis racquet frame. The larger the head size of a racquet, the more power the racquet can generate.
- Based on weight: The weight of the racquet is another factor that is very important while purchasing a new racket. Tennis racquets come in a large range of different weights from 225g to 340g.
- Based on racquet balance: A Racquet balance is the weight distribution along the length of the racquet. There are three types of balance distributions used in tennis racquets:
- Head heavy racquet
- Head light racquet
- Even balance racquet
- Based on racquet length: The longer the length of the racquet, the greater the leverage on a swing, therefore giving more power to a shot.
So the next thing to determine is what kind of a player you are.
- Beginner tennis player– If you are a beginner tennis player, always start with a light racquet that has a large head or an oversized racquet. This will help you make contact with the ball without wearing out your arm, elbow or wrist muscles.
- Intermediate tennis player– If you are an intermediate tennis player, you can choose a slightly smaller head and a racquet that has a bit of weight thus providing better control too.
- Advanced tennis player– If you are an advanced tennis player, use a mid size head and a heavyweight frame racquet that will allow you to play with control, feel and precision.
Simona Halep Tennis Racquet Specs
Head Size: 99 square inch
Length: 27 inches
Weight: Strung 11.3 oz and Unstrung 10.7 oz
Tension: 50-60 lbs
Balance: 2 Points Head Light
Beam Width: 24 mm
Grips Type: Wilson Sublime
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 18 Crosses
Swing Weight: 328
If you take a closer look at the racquet you’ll noticed that she has done a few minor customization on it. As mentioned earlier, she strings the racquet with Luxilon Alu Power Big Banger 1.25, not only that but she also uses strips of lead tape at 3 to 9. You should keep in mind that her racquet is paintball to look like another racquet within the same brand, so her racquet is under paint job. The good news is that obviously will not affect the racquets performance.
Simona Halep’s Tennis Racquet Review
Few weeks ago I got the opportunity to test the Wilson Steam 99 racquets for a couple of days. This is what I truly think about this racquet.
Groundstrokes
At first when using the Wilson Steam 99 racquet, I had a very hard time keeping the shots from flying long and also I felt very uncomfortable because of the amount of vibration that comes with the racquet. It wasn’t a huge deal since after a few hours I get used to it.
We really appreciate the fact that this racquet comes equipped with a high swing weight allowing it to push through even the most powerful shots from your opponent. With this high-quality racquet you really don’t have to use much strength to make the ball go deep into the court.
Another thing is that the open strings not only help in terms of power, it’s also very spin-friendly. While practicing I was able to get a lot of spin in my groundstrokes and after I got used to the racquet overall, it felt super comfortable at the back.
Volleys
Though the high swing weight does a pretty amazing job at increasing your power, the weight of the racquet does makes the volleys more difficult. Because of the mixture of high swing weight and high balance point, it eventually leads to a lower recoil weight than most net tennis players would need. You can totally expect the wider beam to reduce the feel on touch shots, but provides you with a solid power and depth. The overheads was actually powerful and each time the opponent lobbed, it was extremely easy to pound away them.
The good news is that tennis players aren’t going towards to the net anymore. As you can see, volleys are mostly used in modern game to end points, it’s very rare for a player to hit two volleys in a row. With that being said, you shouldn’t be worrying about the racquet not being as comfortable for volleys. I must first say that this is usually something that more experience players would notice, so if you’re a newbie just starting out, you most likely wouldn’t even noticed it.
Serving
These days as tennis players improve on their skills, serves become a lot more important. Nowadays having a good serve can help to win tournaments alone. Even though Simona Halep’s isn’t her biggest strength, I was absolutely satisfied with the serve that comes with this racquet.
The Wilson Steam 99 stiffness and wide beam does a pretty decent job in terms of adding power to your serves and the open pattern add a lot of spin than I expected. I really enjoy serving with this racquet, If i had the opportunity to make a custom racquet specified for serving, the setup would be very similar to the Wilson Steam 99. I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed when serving with this racquet.
Overall
The Wilson Steam 99 is known to be a very solid tennis racquet that doesn’t have any major flaws, with this racquet you should have a much easier time making it to the top in the tennis world. It may take some time to get used to using it, but once you are comfortable with the racquet, it is by far one of the most interesting racquets to play with.
I highly recommend using this high-end racquet if you’re a beginner or an intermediate player that want to improve their game over a period of time. As an professional player, we don’t think this would be a great option. However, it is a great fit for players who doesn’t consider themselves to be an advanced player.
Can You Buy Simona Halep’s Racquet?
The drackback is that you will have a hard time finding the Wilson Steam 99 racquet on the market. Wilson isn’t producing that model racquet anymore, so it’s on the difficult side when it comes to finding these racquet. However, it’s possible to find a new Wilson Steam 99 on Ebay or your local stores.
The good thing is that there are plenty of different models of the Wilson Steam 99, so if you are ok with not having the exact racquet that Simona Halep plays with, I highly recommend purchasing one of the newer versions of the Wilson Steam that plays similar, like the Wilson Steam 99. The racquet are newer and much easier to find online and the good thing is that they are available at a very reasonable price.
Conclusion
We hope you have learned all about Simona Halep’s tennis racquet from this article and how you can choose the best racquet for yourself.
