The Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max Squash Racket is part of Dunlop’s range of rackets.
Racket specs
Name: Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max
Colors: Black/Gold/Blue
Manufacturer: Dunlop Squash
Weight: Light (135 grams)
Balance: head-light
This racket has a bit of intrigue to it. If you were to look closely at this picture of Ramy Ashour from squashpics.com you’d see the paintjob of the racket is identical to the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max:
However, in the picture, the strings on Ramy’s racket narrow as they get closer to the throat. The 4D Max, on the other hand, has a straight string pattern.
So which racket is Ramy playing with? This thread on controlthet.com suggests Ramy might actually be playing with the Dunlop Biomimetic Max squash racket, which has the correct string pattern:
But his racket’s been painted to look like the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max. Why go to the trouble of changing the paint job, if the racket is commercially available? Who knows. Perhaps Ramy has very specific tastes and Dunlop has created a custom racket for him but made it to look like one of their commercially available models. In any case, we know Ramy Ashour is sponsored by Dunlop!
Update #1: See the comment below from jeff at controlthet.com: Ramy may actually be playing with the Dunlop Vision 110 or the Dunlop Venom 110.
Update #2: This picture of Ramy at the 2012 El Gouna International shows Ramy holding a Biomimetic Max racket. At the very least, his paint job has been updated.
Update #3: I created a dedicated page, Ramy Ashour Racket, to track what Ramy is playing with. You’ll have to go there to see the latest.
Update #4: The successor to this racket is probably the Dunlop Biomimetic Pro Lite 140.
Lawrence says
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The Max is back!? Looks like Ali Farag’s new racket!!!
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMO4LQ1VKSepdqDcrwisK9k-qcqNwrSJuW8XwiLxlqDAps0kMp-mdOBtLurG7AB7w?key=YnNDUkpzUkUyTE1Gb0Jnd0QwY3ozblRIaWU1VGRB
Pierre says
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Sure looks like it!
Racket: Ali Farag Custom Dunlop
Shoes: Nike Court Shuttle V
Location: 2016 Hong Kong Open
Lawrence says
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Possible to find out when this baby is going to be launched Pierre?
Pierre says
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I hear it will be coming out next year!
Jeff says
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Thanks for linking back to my site there has been a lot of comments made on the site about what racquet Ramy is using. Some of the comments were mine and some by others. Also the conversation has been going on for over a year so Dunlop has changed models since the thread started.
When Ramy was first announced as playing with Dunlop he was definitely “marketed” as playing with the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max. The marketing pictures showed him with that racquet.
The actual action pictures that were first grabbed were hard to make out for certain what he was playing with the paint scheme matched the 4D Max.
After a bit there were some good images of the racquet and while it was painted and even labeled a Max it was clearly different than the actual Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max that was available at retail.
Dunlop introduced the Biomimetic series and Ramy was “marketed” as playing with that. It has the correct frame shape and the string fan out pattern.
Pictures surfaced again and people (including me) were able to see well enough from PSAquashTV.com that it looked like he was playing with the same racquet as before. At least the paint was the same.
There was also interesting commentary from the commentators on PSASquashtv.com that said he was playing with one of the lightest, if not the lightest racquet on the tour, at around 110grams. Neither the Aerogel 4D or Biomimetic Max are that light. They both weigh 140g.
There has been some suggestion that perhaps he is playing with the Venom or Vision 110. They are more or less the same racquet just a different revision for different seasons. That is a guess though of course although the weight matches what has been reported on PSAsquashTV, the racquet head shape looks right and the string pattern looks like right. The paint is not correct though of course.
I did actually ask my Dunlop rep what he is actually playing with last year after it was clear it was not the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max and my rep did not know. Someone at Dunlop knows of course but I have never seen any official statement from Dunlop.
Maybe one of us will be lucky enough to win one of his racquets in the #ramynickname contest on Twitter!
Nice site by the way.
Jeff