Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph 2018 Global Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 85

Weighing 12.6 ounces strung, the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph seems to come loaded with a magical blend of power and control, making it a baseliner's dream. Starting off with the playtester who has called the RF97 her racquet of choice for some time, US tester Michelle was happy to spend some dedicated time with the 2018 Autograph. She said, "While this update was purely cosmetic, I was still excited to playtest it! I continue to feel that this racquet offers me the perfect combination of power, control, feel and plow through. Because of my mechanics, my game and my build, I don't mind swinging this racquet for an extended period of time, and I continually benefit from its stability. Also, I need a bit of resistance when I swing, and this racquet provides built-in control for my sometimes overly powerful style of play. On defense, the stability shone and allowed me to stab at balls and get myself back into the point successfully. I know it isn't for everyone, but even after testing dozens of other racquets, I always come back to the RF97."

Picking up the Pro Staff RF97 again reminded fellow American playtester Troy why he loves hefty player's racquets. He explained, "The significant mass of this racquet, along with the firm layup, yields an extremely stable feel on contact. As I mentioned in previous reviews of this racquet, it felt rock solid against heavy hitters like Michelle, who in my opinion hits with a pro tour level of pace. This RF97 holds its ground and deflects the ball back easier than just about any racquet I have ever played with. When I needed to hit a sharp cross-court angle the open string pattern allowed me to get the ball dipping down inside the lines. The spin potential was good for hitting topspin and slice, but the heftiness of this racquet made it fun to drive through the ball and hit laser-like flat shots. Being that Federer is the master of the backhand slice, I can see why he chooses this racquet to take into battle; the ball stayed very low and penetrated through the court every time I hit my slice."

When Tennis Warehouse Europe's Zeljko had enough time to get the racquet into position on his groundstrokes, it offered great stability and power on his full swings. He said, "Strung with Champion's Choice, the RF97 played with more power and had great touch and feel. When I was under pressure the mass of the racquet allowed me to hit a neutral ball to get back into position. At times I struggled to put topspin on the ball, especially when returning lower balls from my opponent, but that was never too big of an issue."

"I had the most success when hitting flatter groundstrokes off both wings," said Peter, who also works at Tennis Warehouse Europe. "The RF97 had controllable power, and I was never worried about overhitting. From the beginning of the playtest, I was able to hit my groundstrokes deep in the court, and I surprisingly didn't have any issues with maneuverability. The Pro Staff RF97 Autograph worked well with poly strings, but I thought it paired best with Champion's Choice, as it offered an excellent, plush feel."

Big-hitting, left-handed Marco, of Australia's Tennis Only, liked the added plow through this racquet provided on his groundstrokes. He explained, "I could generate good stick on my shots with the flick of a wrist. I found that my slice backhand in particular benefited from the added heft of the racquet. The ball stayed very low through the court, and I didn't find my slices or other groundstrokes sitting up all that often, which allowed me to stay on the offensive."

"I took the Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph out for a month-long playtest to really get a good idea of what the racquet had to offer," began Hayden, also hailing from Tennis Only in Australia. "I currently play with the Babolat Pure Drive Plus, so this is a little bit different than what I'm used to. I really liked the control and stability the RF97 Autograph offered off both wings on my groundstrokes. However, the access to topspin was more difficult than normal due to the weight. When it came to slice, my slice backhand has never felt better. The ball would stay low and penetrate through the court on both offensive and defensive shots. I can boldly say this is the best racquet I have ever used for slices."

Volleys - Score: 88

Stability is one of the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph's biggest strengths, and our team couldn't stop raving about its performance on volleys. "Up at net, I found that the racquet did the talking," started Marco. "As long as I got the racquet into position the ball would stick through the court. On fast reflex volleys, it was a little challenging at times to snap the racquet into position. I did enjoy the comfortable feel of this racquet at net, which was further supported by the Champion's Choice string setup we used."

The Pro Staff RF97 Autograph offered Zeljko great touch and a stable feel when he was hitting his volleys. He said, "Even though the racquet is on the heavier side for me, I still found the maneuverability to be pretty good. I really liked this racquet when I approached the net, as the stability made putting the volleys away deep in the court so easy."

"This is my favorite racquet when it comes to hitting volleys," began Troy. "The RF97's ability to deflect the ball with such ease, no matter how fast it's coming, makes it a gem on volleys. I was able to land the ball deep in the court consistently with very little swing or punch. Whether I made contact in the sweetspot or slightly off center, it didn't seem to matter thanks to this racquet's stability. The RF97 definitely has a hefty feel to it, but I found I didn't need a whole lot of maneuvering to be effective. The ball jumped off this racquet with easy depth and pace. I found enough feel for the ball that I could create sharp angles and drop the ball right over the net."

Peter was able to get extraordinary precision and power with the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph at net. However, he added, "I needed to pay attention to my technique in order to maintain control of my volleys. With a short take back and a good contact point, I was rewarded with easy cutaway volleys. The racquet provided excellent plow through, which translated to easy depth. My favorite part was the feel; the racquet always felt stable up at net, and I never experienced any unwanted vibrations or twisting. The stringbed offered a precise response that allowed me to hit touch and angled volleys with ease."

Hayden agreed, though he was left wishing for just a bit more maneuverability. He said, "The Pro Staff RF97 Autograph provided a stable response up at net on my volleys, even on off-center shots. Due to the extra weight, I was forced to keep my hands out in front to avoid hitting the ball late. I'm used to a little more maneuverability, especially for quick reflex volleys."

Michelle also praised this racquet's stability, saying, "Stability continues to be one of the RF97's best attributes. This racquet was always stable and effective when I was crushing volleys aggressively, but also when I was pulled wide and just sticking my racquet out to make something happen. I have a tendency to reach with just my left hand every now and then on my backhand side to hit a lefty forehand volley — I always laugh because the RF97 is the most effective racquet to execute this shot because of its stability. Just sticking my racquet up allowed me to hit a shot that was effective enough to keep me in the point. Players like me, who don't possess a ton of touch or feel, should still be able to generate some crafty shots at the net."

Serves - Score: 88

With a challenging weight and swingweight, the majority of our team found the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph a bit tough to serve with. For Hayden, the racquet offered more control than power on his serve. He explained, "I prefer a little more access to free power on my first serve. It took some extra effort on the swing to generate the racquet head speed needed for an offensive first serve. I also found it a little more difficult to access spin with this frame due to the added heft."

Peter discovered that the RF97's weight made it easier for him to execute a smooth service motion. He said, "I was able to tap into the power potential on first serves, but I had to make sure I was making contact in the sweetspot. Hitting kick serves was super easy, and I was able to add spin without much effort. When it came to my slice serve, the racquet felt solid and I was able to be very precise with my targets."

"When going for a flat first serve, this racquet can put a lot of pace on the ball," said Troy. "With the heftiness of this racquet, I had to focus on being loose with my delivery and technique. Once I was dialed in the ball was jumping off the racquet with easy power. When I wasn't trying to blast a first serve for an ace, this racquet allowed me to place the ball throughout the service box with plenty of accuracy. Initially, I struggled a bit with the maneuverability when going for heavy spin, but I adapted to the heft after a few hitting sessions, and was eventually able to add rotation to serves with ease.

"The RF97 allows me to tap into extra power potential that I don't often find in other racquets," said Michelle. "When my timing was on I really could load up my serves and get them pushing my opponents back, which allowed me to be offensive right off the bat. Body serves continued to be downright dangerous. When I was able to fully accelerate through my first serve I could do a lot of damage with the RF97. Second serves also benefited from the extra plow through, and the open string pattern allowed me to access plenty of spin and slice when needed."

Zeljko found himself hitting some of his best serves in a while with the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph. He said, "I had extra pop and kick on my first serves. It was easy to generate a lot of racquet head speed, and I was impressed with how fast and accurately I could serve even though the racquet was on the heavier side."

"I found I was getting a bit more punch on my serves than I'm used to," said Marco. "And I noticed that my second serves weren't sitting up on the other side of the net at all, which was a big positive as well."

Returns - Score: 83

Once again, the rock-solid stability of the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph worked wonders for our team when returning. Troy was able to take a compact swing and achieve easy depth on his returns, which allowed him to put pressure on his opponents. He described, "When I was facing high-speed serves this racquet allowed me to deflect the ball back with ease. As long as I could get the strings on the ball, I felt confident in at least getting the return to land in. When my opponents placed the ball in my strike zone I loved taking a big rip and sending it blazing back. I felt confident hitting hard and flat on my returns, putting my opponents on the defensive and occasionally hitting the ball past them for a winner. I was able to slice my returns deep into my opponent's side of the court, keeping the ball low off the bounce. More often than not, this forced my opponents to hit a weak reply, allowing me to attack the next ball."

Zeljko found it was easy to return serves when he was under pressure. "The heavier weight of the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph allowed me to block back some fast serves without any stability issues. Maneuverability was a bit of a struggle at times, but it was still great for a racquet of its weight. I really enjoyed attacking second serves since I felt so accurate on my returns."

Marco particularly enjoyed slicing his returns with this racquet. He explained, "I only needed minimal backswing to get the ball deep and low on the other side of the court."

Hayden also appreciated the Pro Staff RF97's stability on returns. He said, "I felt as though the racquet did a lot of the work for me, which was nice. It allowed me to simply focus on timing more than anything."

"As I've said many times, I love to attack returns, and this racquet has the perfect blend of controllable power to allow me to be effective doing so," said Michelle. "It's super stable, so whenever I was pulled wide or off the court I could stab at the ball and get my defensive return deep into the court, giving me a chance to gain offensive control over the point. Honestly, if you have the right mechanics and the strength to swing this racquet, I have no doubt that you'll find a lot of success with the RF97 on returns."

On the other hand, Peter struggled a bit with maneuverability on his returns. He said, "I wasn't able to be as aggressive as I would have liked, and I had a hard time getting the RF97 Autograph around my body and into the correct position. Against bigger serves I found myself hitting the ball late at times on both my topspin forehand and backhand returns. Nonetheless, returns that I was able to block back were excellent; I was able to redirect the pace into the desired corner."

Overall - Score: 88