Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 2012 tennis racquet review
I just had to review the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 tennis racquet. Like many of you, I was very excited when I got word that Wilson was going to be releasing new frames at the beginning of 2012; once they came out, I was floored at how spectacular the pain was on them. The white, red, gold, and black combo really give the racquet a sleek and powerful look.
Upon picking up the the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95, I noticed how well balanced the frame was, even when the 95 is 7 points headlight right out of the box. It felt light at a hefty 11.5 ounces, so I knew that I was going to be able to swing all that weight freely when I got to the courts. I was certainly looking forward to hitting the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95.
After I went through my warm up routine , I was ready to go full speed with the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95; I was pretty comfortable swinging this racquet. I did notice that the 95 lacked a little forgiveness on ball contact that were not near the sweetspot, it was as if the ball would either moonball or go towards the bottom of the net. I was a little worried that because of how light it felt, that I was swinging too fast through the ball; I have a fluid fast swing so having a lighter racquet causes my timing to be off by a bit. After a few minutes of trying to get the timing down with the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95, I started to really notice what this racquet is capable of.
The Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 is by far one of the better mid sized frames I’ve hit with (aside from my Donnay); the power that I was able to get and court penetration was pretty darn amazing. I was hitting deep forehands, that would skid off the lines or stay low enough to create a difficult ball for my opponent to hit. On my one-handed backhand, the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 performed nicely, flicking cross court was easy when making good to perfect contact, and down the line was pretty fun, especially when changing the direction of the ball. As much as I loved the penetration and ease of swing, I found that the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 lacked a bit of power with my groundies. I was able to get my stokes to hit deep, but the pace or weight was really evident.
Serving with this lighter feeling Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 was mediocre at best. Because I didn’t feel like I was getting enough pace on my strokes, I felt that my serves were going to suffer MPHs…and they did. Now, just because I didn’t have a ton of pace on my serves, the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 more than made up with it ability to put some great spin on my serves, even though there weren’t as quick. Kick serves and slices were quite fun! I was able to get on top of the tennis ball enough to create some high kicking serves; my slice serves not only turned in the air, they kept turning out and away from the returner. Fun is the operative work with this frame, I like to hit big with a lot of pace so the lack of power on serve really took away the serious factor for me.
Like most Wilson sponsored professional tennis players, volleying is a must have in the arsenal. The Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 provided me an extra element; to be honest, I’m not much of a net player but I forced myself to at least give it a go with this Wilson. The Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 was marvelous at the net, the headlight balance (7 points HL) made it easy to move from forehand to backhand and low volleys high passes. The only feature that I didn’t like was because of how light it felt, I did not get the feel that I would get with a heavier frame. Still a decent frame, with a lot of potential.
In conclusion of my review of the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95, as much as I like the cosmetics and depth of strokes this frame provided me, I was a little unfulfilled with the lack of pace. To make up for the lack of pace, I feel that Wilson focused on control, which is fine but I like to hit hard (I’m sure a lot of you do too). Serving with the Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95, I was frustrated due to having to work harder to get angles and spin rather than a heater down the ‘T.’ I would easily recommend this tennis racquet for the player who is looking to decrease the head size of their current frame or I would recommend this racket for the intermediate tennis player who wants to get a great racquet that can be customized easily.
2012 Wilson BLX ProStaff Six.One 95 specs:
Head Size: 95 sq. in. / 612.9 sq. cm.
Length: 27in / 68.58cm
Strung Weight: 11.5oz / 326.02g
Balance: 7 pts HL
Swingweight: 306
Stiffness: 62
String Pattern: 16 Mains / 19 Crosses
