Pro Player Gear · Next-Gen Series

Changing of the Guard: The Gear Behind Tennis's Next Generation

What Fonseca, Mensík, Cobolli and Jódar actually play — a 2026 equipment breakdown.

By Tennis String Advisor Published 18 June 2026 Updated 1 October 2026 12 min read
Aerial view of a clay tennis court surrounded by trees
Photo: Denny Müller / Unsplash

For two seasons, the conversation in men's tennis has orbited two names: Sinner and Alcaraz. But Roland-Garros 2026 made something clear — the next wave is no longer knocking politely. João Fonseca came back from two sets down to beat Novak Djokovic. Jakub Mensík reached a maiden Grand Slam semifinal. Flavio Cobolli reached the final. And a 19-year-old named Rafael Jódar, a former University of Virginia student, made the quarterfinals.

This is the generation poised to define the next decade. So what are they actually playing? This guide goes through the racquets, strings and tensions behind four of the most exciting young players in the men's game — separating the painted racquet from the pro-stock frame underneath, and saying plainly what the sources confirm and what they don't.

Roland-Garros 2026: A Generation Announces Itself

Paris is where this story crystallised. Alexander Zverev finally claimed his maiden major, in five sets against Cobolli, but the fortnight belonged just as much to the players chasing him. Here is where each of our four stood during the tournament.

Four different countries, four different builds, four different ways of winning a tennis match. And four very different bags, which we opened by going back to each source rather than copying the gear sheets in circulation.

01João Fonseca — The Heavy Frame of a Modern Hitter

🇧🇷 Yonex · age 19
Racquet
Yonex VCORE 98 (pro-stock)
Strings
Poly Tour Force (since early 2026)
Reported spec
348–356 g · ~332 SW · head-light

Fonseca is a Yonex player and carries the VCORE 98, the brand's spin-oriented frame; Tennis Warehouse's player page lists the eighth-generation VCORE 98. Gear analysts agree that what he competes with is not the retail racquet. They disagree on the mould underneath:

The weight varies by source too. Tennisnerd publishes 356 g strung, a 30.9 cm balance and a 332 swingweight. TennisCompanion cites 347.9 g and a 331.5 swingweight, measured by a Talk Tennis forum member in February 2024. Either way, it is a heavy, head-light frame.

Strings: Poly Tour Strike then, Poly Tour Force now

Fonseca long played a gauge hybrid of Yonex Poly Tour Strike: 1.25 mm in the mains, 1.20 mm in the crosses. The thicker main brings durability and control; the thinner cross slides and snaps back more easily, which helps spin. According to TennisCompanion, photos from early 2026 show him with a bright red polyester, which points to Poly Tour Force, and Tennis Warehouse's player page now lists Poly Tour Force 1.30 mm. Does he still run a gauge hybrid? TennisCompanion calls it "reasonable" without confirming it: not documented.

Tension: not documented. TennisCompanion suggests 50 lb (22.7 kg) mains and 48 lb (21.8 kg) crosses, but says itself that these figures "have not been publicly confirmed". We do not use them as data.

What does it tell us? That a 19-year-old with one of the biggest forehands in the sport relies on an older, heavy, control-first platform rather than a light, powerful modern frame. The racquet supplies stability; Fonseca supplies the speed.

Point Expert — Cosmetics are not specs

On the pro tour, the paint job almost never matches the racquet underneath. Manufacturers update retail cosmetics every two years, but a player who is winning matches has no reason to change the frame in his hand — so the new graphics are simply painted over the mould he already trusts. Fonseca is a textbook case: a current VCORE 98 paint job over an older layout. No brand publishes pro-stock specifications, so moulds, codes and weights come from observers, not from the manufacturer.

Practical takeaway: never assume that buying your favourite player's branded racquet gives you their racquet. The retail version is a useful starting point, but the weight, balance, stiffness and even string pattern can differ meaningfully from the pro-stock frame.

02Jakub Mensík — A Big Serve in a Control Frame

🇨🇿 Wilson · age 20
Racquet
Wilson Blade 98 18×20 (V9 or V10)
Strings
Luxilon ALU Power (full bed)
Tension
Not documented

Mensík plays a Wilson Blade 98 18×20, the dense pattern of the range, where most Blade players choose the 16×19. The version depends on the date of the source: Tennis.com identified a Blade 98 18×20 V9 in May 2025; Tennisnerd, updated 5 June 2026, describes a temporary move to a slightly more open pattern for extra depth, then a return to the 18×20 with the release of the V10.

On strings, there is no ambiguity: Mensík strings with Luxilon ALU Power, the shaped co-polyester that has been a tour benchmark for control for two decades. Tennisnerd also reports, citing the ATP, that his frame carries more static weight than you might expect, with the balance shifted toward the handle. We could not find the ATP publication itself: the information is second-hand, and Tennisnerd writes that it does not know his exact specs.

Tension: not documented. None of the sources consulted gives a figure.

The logic is clean. A server of his calibre doesn't need the racquet to add pace; he needs it to keep the ball in the court. A 98-inch head with a dense pattern lowers the launch angle and tightens directional control, giving a flat, penetrating ball to follow the serve.

03Flavio Cobolli — The Control Craftsman

🇮🇹 HEAD · age 24
Racquet
HEAD Radical Pro or MP (pro-stock)
Strings
Signum Pro Firestorm 1.25
Tension
~26 kg / 57 lb (single source)

Cobolli plays in the HEAD Radical family, but the painted model depends on the source: Tennis.com (July 2025) has him with a Radical Pro 2025, while Tennis Warehouse Europe lists a Radical MP 2025. Underneath, Tennisnerd (updated 1 June 2026) identifies a Radical mould and hesitates between two pro-stock codes, TGT 307 and TGT 351, leaning toward the latter — "my prediction", the author writes. A reader added in May 2026 that it could be the MP or the Pro, which are hard to tell apart on TV. The real frame is therefore a Radical mould; the rest is not documented.

The strings, on the other hand, are clear: Signum Pro Firestorm, like Matteo Berrettini, according to Tennisnerd, in a 1.25 mm gauge according to Tennis Warehouse Europe's player page. Tennisnerd is also the only source to give a tension, around 26 kg (57 lb), without saying where it comes from. It is the only tension figure for any of the four players, and it rests on a single source.

Point Expert — What we removed

Several gear sheets in circulation — including the June version of this article — describe a hybrid of Firestorm mains and natural gut crosses, a 315 g frame, a video in which Cobolli breaks down his own gear, and an earlier spell on the HEAD Speed. We found none of these in the sources consulted: Tennisnerd, Tennis.com and Tennis Warehouse Europe mention only the Firestorm. These claims are not documented, and we build nothing on them.

For how tension interacts with string choice on your own racquet, see our complete guide to string tension.

04Rafael Jódar — The Next Spanish Grinder

🇪🇸 HEAD · age 19
Racquet
HEAD Speed MP (pro-stock TGT/PT 339)
Strings
HEAD Lynx Tour (most recently observed)
Profile
2HBH · ~1.87 m · idol: Nadal

The least-documented bag of the four — unsurprisingly, given how fast he has arrived — belongs to Jódar. Born in Madrid in 2006 and the 2024 US Open boys' champion, he stands around 1.87 m according to Tennisnerd, plays a two-handed backhand and cites Rafael Nadal as his idol. He plays a pro-stock HEAD Speed MP, code TGT or PT 339 according to Tennisnerd (updated 4 April 2026).

On strings the picture is less settled — he has been seen with several setups — and the most recent one observed is a full bed of HEAD Lynx Tour, a shaped co-polyester. Tennisnerd hedges it: he "seems" to use it. At 19 and in a season like this one, expect it to evolve.

Tension: not documented.

The takeaway: the Speed MP is, in many ways, the default modern racquet — an all-court platform that blends power and control without committing to either extreme. For a 19-year-old whose clay results have outpaced his ranking, it's a versatile, low-risk foundation to build a career on.

The Next-Gen Bag at a Glance

Four players, four distinct philosophies. Here is the summary of what the sources say — with the important caveat that every frame below is a customised pro-stock build, not the retail racquet you'll find in a shop.

Sources read on 1 October 2026. "Not documented" means no source consulted confirms it. Tour players adjust tension by surface and conditions, and rarely publish it.
Player Racquet (cosmetic) Pro-stock mould / code (observed) String setup Tension
João Fonseca Yonex VCORE 98 2016 VCORE SV 98 (16×20) or 2018 VCORE 98, depending on the source Poly Tour Force since early 2026; before: Poly Tour Strike hybrid (1.25 / 1.20) Not documented
Jakub Mensík Wilson Blade 98 18×20 Not documented (V9 or V10, depending on the source's date) Luxilon ALU Power (full bed) Not documented
Flavio Cobolli HEAD Radical Pro or MP 2025, depending on the source Radical mould, code TGT 351 or TGT 307 (hypothesis) Signum Pro Firestorm 1.25 ~26 kg (57 lb), single source
Rafael Jódar HEAD Speed MP Speed MP mould (TGT/PT 339) HEAD Lynx Tour (full bed, most recently observed) Not documented

What Their Choices Tell Us About Modern Tennis

Lay the four bags side by side and clear patterns emerge — patterns that say a lot about where the equipment side of the men's game is heading.

1. Pro-stock is the rule, not the exception

Not one of these four plays the exact racquet you can buy. Each competes with a customised, often older, mould dressed in current paint. This is the single most important thing a club player can understand about pro gear: the brand on the throat is real, the precise frame underneath usually isn't.

2. Control frames dominate — nobody is chasing free power

All four play a 98- to 100-square-inch head with either a control-oriented design or a dense string pattern. There are no oversized power frames here. These are players who generate their own pace and want the racquet to supply precision and predictability instead. The modern elite increasingly treats the racquet as a control tool, not a power booster.

3. Polyester remains the norm

All four documented strings are co-polyesters: Poly Tour Force or Strike, ALU Power, Firestorm, Lynx Tour. The only fine-tuning observed is Fonseca's gauge hybrid, two thicknesses of the same polyester. The return of natural gut crosses that some gear sheets attribute to Cobolli is not documented by the sources we read.

4. Heavier than the headlines suggest

The 348–356 g strung published for Fonseca make his racquet a properly hefty, head-light stick — a reminder that plough-through and stability still win matches at the top.

Point Expert — Take inspiration, don't copy blindly

Borrow the philosophy, not the exact spec. If you admire Mensík's flat, controlled game, a retail Wilson Blade 98 is a faithful starting point — you don't need his pro-stock weights. If you like Jódar's versatility, the Speed MP is a sound base.

Match the racquet to your body and game, then dial in strings and tension second — running your setup through the RCS configurator shows you how firm the frame-string-tension combination really is for your arm. A frame that is too heavy or too head-heavy for you will cause more harm than any string choice can fix. When in doubt, demo, and let your arm and your results — not the name on the paint job — make the final call.

Frequently Asked Questions

What racquet does João Fonseca use?

He plays in Yonex VCORE 98 paint, but gear specialists agree on a pro-stock frame built on an older mould: a 2016 VCORE SV 98 in 16x20 according to TennisCompanion, a 2018 VCORE 98 according to Tennisnerd. The published strung weight ranges from 348 g to 356 g depending on the source. None of this is confirmed by Yonex.

What strings does João Fonseca use?

He played a gauge hybrid of Yonex Poly Tour Strike (1.25 mm mains, 1.20 mm crosses). Since early 2026, photos reported by TennisCompanion and Tennis Warehouse's player page point to Yonex Poly Tour Force. His tension is not published.

What racquet and strings does Jakub Mensík use?

A Wilson Blade 98 in the dense 18x20 pattern (V10 according to Tennisnerd, updated June 2026; V9 according to Tennis.com, May 2025), strung with Luxilon ALU Power. His tension is not published.

What strings and tension does Flavio Cobolli use?

Signum Pro Firestorm, at around 26 kg (57 lb) according to Tennisnerd, which does not say where that figure comes from. The frame is a HEAD Radical mould, listed as a Radical Pro by Tennis.com and as a Radical MP by Tennis Warehouse Europe. None of the sources we consulted mentions natural gut in the crosses.

Can I buy the exact racquets these players use?

No. All four play customised pro-stock frames whose weight, balance, stiffness and sometimes string pattern differ from the retail versions. The retail Yonex VCORE 98, Wilson Blade 98 18x20, HEAD Radical and HEAD Speed MP remain reasonable starting points, provided you check the setup against your own arm.

What string tension do these young pros use?

Only one figure circulates: around 26 kg (57 lb) for Cobolli, from a single source (Tennisnerd) that does not cite its origin. Fonseca's, Mensík's and Jódar's tensions are not documented. TennisCompanion suggests 50 lb mains and 48 lb crosses for Fonseca but itself calls this an unconfirmed assumption, so we do not treat it as data.

Conclusion: Four Bags, One Direction

The gear behind tennis's next generation isn't flashy — it's deliberate. Four young players, four different countries and four different ways to win, all converging on the same principle: control frames, polyester strings, and setups built around their own engine rather than the racquet's.

If you're a flat, aggressive ball-striker, study Mensík's dense-pattern Blade and a control poly like ALU Power. If you're a spin-first baseliner who likes a substantial frame, Fonseca's heavy VCORE setup points the way. And if you want one versatile platform to grow with, Jódar's Speed MP is hard to beat. Just remember the golden rule of pro gear: borrow the idea, not the exact spec — run the retail version of any of these setups through the RCS configurator to check whether the string and tension actually suit your arm, and let your own game, not the paint job, make the final call.

Sources Consulted

All sources below were re-read on 1 October 2026. Rankings quoted are the ATP live rankings during Roland-Garros 2026 (2 June) and have changed since.

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