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That is a tricky question. Based on what was coming through the stringing room in Sydney and Melbourne this year, most of the players appear to be using off the shelf models. Quite a few of the frames were customized with lead but aside from that they appeared to be stock standard racquets. What we can't tell by looking at the frames though, is whether they are using the same frame layup as the production models. Of course that will vary from player to player and the only way to know for sure is to speak to the racquet company sponsoring each player. We did see some interesting things though. Mardy Fish's BLX 6.1 95 rkts were actually Dunlop frames. Mardy said that Dunlop had been making this frame for him for years. You might recall that he used to be sponsored by Dunlop and had his racquets painted up as the 300 series rkts. But he couldn't give us any information on how his raquet differed specs wise from a production model or even if it was close to any of Dunlop's production models. Dunlop had even incorporated the Wilson's PWS into the mold. Tommy Robredo's Dunlop Aerogel 300 is also a custom racquet. When I spoke to him in Melbourne he said it was similar to the old Slazenger Pro Braided. Serena Williams was using an oversize Wilson painted up as a K Blade. It had a thick cross section about 26 or 27mm but weighed only 245g strung. Marcos Baghdatis is still using the Fischer Pro No 1's but has them painted up as the Tecnifibre T Flash 315.
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