Prince Textreme Warrior 100 Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 86

Our TW Playtesters found instant success from the baseline with the Prince Textreme Warrior 100. Brittany, who has a long history with Prince racquets, said, "Being a previous O3 Speedport and EXO3 Black racquet user, as well as being on the playtest for the Tour 100P, I was really excited to try out the new Warrior 100. The first thing I noticed was how easy the racquet was to use and the similarities to the previous racquets. I felt very comfortable from the first hit and was able to play a singles match without making any adjustments to my game or swing. The Warrior 100 was fast through the air, and I felt confident hitting off both wings. It had plenty of power, and the biggest thing I noticed was that my shots were landing deep in the court with little effort. Even when I was on the defensive, I could get myself back to at least neutral position."

"The list of Textreme racquets that I like just keeps getting longer," continued Tiffani. "Rallying from the baseline with this Warrior 100 was a breeze. I could move my opponents around the court when I was in control of the point, but I could also dig myself out of holes with my defensive game when needed. The racquet felt pretty stable and comfortably firm, not stiff. The mix of power and control tipped slightly to power's favor, but I never felt out of control with this racquet's power level. I preferred hitting flat and topspin shots with this racquet. The only shot I struggled with was my backhand slice. I couldn't get that to stay down consistently and I would float some of those."

Chris had only positive things to say about this racquet, adding, "The response of this racquet felt great from the baseline. I found easy power and spin. I also liked the way the racquet came through the ball. It felt fast, yet it had enough stability to not get pushed around. I was also impressed by the feel. The racquet offered a very comfortable response, and I was surprised at how comfortable it felt even when strung with a poly. I hit the Textreme Warrior 100 with basic synthetic gut and a nice multifilament string, and I thought it played great with every string type. My favorite setup was with the multi, as I got more power and still found great control. I felt way more connected to my shots than I ever did with the EXO3 Black, and I really enjoyed the added feel and control the solid beam offered. The more traditional feel from the stringbed also made this a much easier racquet for me to transition into."

Jason found the Textreme Warrior 100 to feel similar to his current racquet of choice. He explained, "It plays very similarly to my own Yonex EZONE Ai 100 racquet, which is fantastic. It was easy to swing, easy to generate speed, and easy to hit with spin. I thought it pocketed the ball well and produced more power than I anticipated. With such an open string pattern I found myself launching a few shots long from time to time."

Volleys - Score: 82

The maneuverability and feel were the highlights of the Textreme Warrior 100 up at net. Tiffani used the maneuverability to her advantage. She said, "Once again, I thought the Textreme Warrior 100 was easy to use. I didn't have many issues with stability, and my favorite aspect was its mobility. I could not only maneuver it well from side to side, but I could also transition to overheads easily, because let's face it, I'm short and get lobbed a lot!"

When Brittany came up at net, she enjoyed the feel the most. She raved, "I felt more connected to the ball than I did with the EXO3 and O3 Black racquets. The Textreme Warrior 100 was maneuverable enough to get into place during quick exchanges. I could do either punch the ball deep or soft my hands for a shorter drop volley."

"Fast and crisp!"Jason exclaimed. "I really enjoyed volleying with this racquet. It had plenty of pop to put away shots and was maneuverable enough for me to quickly get it in place for reaction volleys. Sure, it did get just a bit torsionally unstable when I was stretching for a volley and didn't hit it cleanly, but I thought the sweetspot was generous."

Chris added, "Fast, comfortable, surprisingly solid and accurate pretty much sums up how I enjoyed this racquet at net. My touch volleys were working well, and I again favored the response of this racquet when it was strung with a multi. I was able to punch volleys away with good pace while still being accurate. I loved the maneuverability during fast volley exchanges in doubles. The put-away power helped me snap volleys away even when I was given little time to react and get the racquet into position."

Serves - Score: 81

The love affair with our playtesters continued when it came to serves. The Prince Textreme Warrior 100 met the playtesters' expectations and instilled confidence in them at the start of the point. Chris served well with this racquet. He explained, "I could get the Textreme Warrior 100 quickly through the strike zone, and the maneuverability I found elsewhere definitely carried over to serving. Again, the comfort was impressive, and the easy power made serving fun. My spin serves had decent action on them, and I was successfully serving and volleying on both first and second serves."

Jason agreed, adding, "I was finding some nice pop on my serves with this racquet. To add to the effectiveness, I could put lots of spin on my serves thanks to the 16x18 string pattern. The Textreme Warrior 100 helped me hit a higher percentage of serves in because it was such an easy racquet to swing and accelerate through contact."

"With the Textreme Warrior 100 I was hitting low to mid-90 MPH serves," stated Brittany. "I felt like I had to put a little more effort into my serves to get the results I had with the Tour 100P. However, I liked my second serve more with the Warrior, and I had more confidence. I felt like if I were tentative at all with the Tour 100P I would end up dumping the second serve in the net. With the Texteme Warrior 100 there was a bit more forgiveness. I also appreciated being able to hit a variety of serves, especially my slice serve out wide to the deuce court."

Tiffani would have liked just a little more power. She explained, "I'm not really a big server, so I was hoping to get a little extra help from the Warrior 100 on this shot. The easy power I found on groundstrokes didn't come as easily when I was serving. This racquet felt a little light through the contact zone, and I struggled to keep my speed numbers up on my PlaySight Smart Court data. I did find it easy to swing, and I found more spin than power on serves."

Returns - Score: 85

The variety of returns they could hit with the Textreme Warrior 100 impressed our playtesters. Jason found the Warrior 100 good for both offensive and defensive returns. He said, "Given time, I could really take a full swing at the ball and have confidence in it landing in, thanks to the spin. When blocking a shot was the only option, the Textreme Warrior 100 could get the ball deep enough to allow me to recover and get back into the point. Against bigger servers, I did notice that the Textreme Warrior 100 got pushed around just a tad. A strip or two of lead/tungsten tape would easily help that out."

"I thought this was a great racquet to return with," said Chris. "It was fast and easy to get into position. I enjoyed the response, as it offered a great blend of power and control. Both my aggressive and block returns were working well, and I had enough feel and control to aim for aggressive targets. I was able to drop the ball low and angled during doubles play. I also liked taking the return early, hitting a driving slice and following it to the net."

Tiffani preferred returning over serving. She said, "I prefer returning to serving in general, and I found much more success on this shot than my serves. The Textreme Warrior 100 felt quick through the contact zone, so I could swing at pretty much any serve that came at me. Although it feels light through the air, I thought the stability and comfort were good even when I mis-hit the ball."

Brittany used this racquet in both singles and doubles, and she needed a small adjustment period to find her groove. She explained, "During my singles match the first day of playing with this racquet I hit a couple returns long. However, by the second day of playtesting I had my returns dialed in and wasn't missing a ball. I loved being able to start the point off aggressively with my return by stepping in and really going after the ball."

Overall - Score: 85