Prince Phantom 100G Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 82

From the back of the court, our playtesters found that the Phantom 100G had excellent control, a classic feel on contact and solid access to spin. Tiffani also found that she had to put in a bit of extra work to generate power. She explained, "This Phantom 100G felt super flexy and comfortable from the first stroke. Although I loved the feel and the control the flexibility offered, I did notice that the racquet lacked a bit of firepower for me. Points didn't come for free with this racquet. My game style is typically moving my opponents around, and either I can tire them out, get them out of position so they offer up a short ball that's attackable or pull them into the net. With this racquet I didn't have the put-away power I wanted when I did get a short ball to attack, and I would need to hit an extra ball or two. I had to work the point a bit more than I do with stiffer, thicker-beamed racquets. On the flip side, the Phantom 100G was great when I tried to 'slice-and-dice,' and dropping the ball short was a good tactic with this racquet. I could get my opponent moving in, then tap into the topspin with a lob."

At the baseline, Jason took full advantage of the Phantom 100G's excellent feel. He said, "It's definitely got that old-school feel thanks to the thinner beam and low flex. It has great access to spin and a higher launch angle, so I was getting good depth on my shots. I also really liked it on my backhand slice, which I could knife with ease. Because it isn't as powerful as I would've liked, I was swinging out more often to get the pace I wanted. Without doing so, it was tougher to put away the ball. I loved the feel, and I felt well connected to my shots, which made me attempt more drops shots than usual."

Kristen liked the look of this racquet on paper, but things took a turn once she hit the courts. She said, "I was really curious to try out this offering from Prince since the specs on paper seemed right in my wheelhouse, and I'm clearly a fan of the Phantom family. There were some standout features once I was on the court, but also some areas where the racquet was lacking for me. The Phantom 100G felt super stable and offered great access to spin and easy depth. Slice was absolutely supreme with this frame; I could really knife through the ball and get the ball just dipping over the net and staying low. The frame was definitely low powered, which worked well when I was counterpunching, but I struggled when I wanted to switch up and be the aggressor. Whenever I tried to up the intensity of my groundstrokes and swing bigger through the ball to get more power, or go for a put-away shot, the ball would launch on me. Therefore, I felt I had to play a more conservative game, and as a result, stay in points longer than I would if I had easier and more controlled put-away power."

Like the rest of the team, Erik noted a lack of easy power on his groundstrokes, but he found plenty to like at the baseline. He said, "I was able to hit nice, loopy groundstrokes consistently. My slices tended to stay low, and I could really knife my slices with this racquet because of how stable it was. I felt like I had a good amount of control on my shots rather than super easy power. However, I found that I got easy depth with this racquet because of the higher launch angle."

Volleys - Score: 86

The buttery feel of the Phantom 100G was the star feature at the net. Jason found the frame's flexible response to be a bit of a double-edged sword. He explained, "I really enjoyed the touch up at net. It swung fast and maneuvered so easily I could quickly get it into position to volley. As much as I loved the feel because of the thin beam and low flex, it didn't help when it came to off-center shots and absorbing pace. I thought the racquet got pushed around a bit, and torsional instability was noticeable when going up against bigger hitters."

Tiffani continued to enjoy the Phantom 100G's touch and feel. She said, "I loved the plush feel at net. The racquet also felt stable and very comfortable. Players with great touch would love this racquet. Even I got in a few good touch volleys, and that's saying something!"

Our playtesters on the East Coast had no complaints. Erik said, "I really liked this racquet on volleys; I found it to be very stable for its weight. This Phantom 100G was relatively easy to maneuver. The feel was exceptional; I felt like I was totally connected to my shots."

"Volleys were absolutely incredible with this Phantom 100G," Kristen added. "If someone could please toss this racquet to me every time I approach the net, that would be great! I felt like my net game definitely became more of a force with this Phantom 100G in hand. The feel was so precise and smooth. The racquet was stable, and it was easy to punch my volleys deep with good pace. The balls seemed to just skid off the ground, really tripping up my opponent."

Serves - Score: 82

The Phantom 100G's control and spin stood out to our playtesters on serves. Erik described, "I liked the easy depth I could hit on my serves. The launch angle certainly helped with the depth I was getting, and the access to spin I had on my serves was very nice. My favorite serves were kickers out wide on the ad side and slices into the body on the deuce side."

Kristen felt comfortable getting aggressive with her targeting when serving with the Phantom 100G. She said, "The racquet swung fairly easily overhead on serves, but it was definitely not as whippy through the air as my current racquet, the Prince Textreme Tour 100P. It also didn't have the same access to free power as that racquet, so I did need to put more effort into my service motion. That said, it felt solid on contact and had great access to spin, which made it easy for me to pick my spots and get my serves landing deep in the box."

Likewise, Jason thought spin was the key to serving with the Phantom 100G. He explained, "The lack of power on my groundstrokes was a non-issue on serve. Even though I wasn't serving as hard with this racquet, the amount of spin I was getting made up for it. I felt like I was able to put tons of spin on my slice serves, so the shot wasn't a sitting duck for my opponents to tee off on. It's quite whippy, so accelerating it through contact and snapping my wrist was very easy."

Without easy access to power, Tiffani relied on mixing up her serves. She said, "I'm not a power server, and although I love control-oriented racquets, I need some help on serve. Like on groundstrokes, this racquet was not giving power away for free. I really had to work for it. Still, it was easy enough to swing overhead and move my serves around the box. It was more of a placement game on serves for me."

Returns - Score: 82

Our team couldn't come to much of a consensus on returning serves with the Phantom 100G. For Kristen, compact strokes were a necessity. She said, "The harder my opponent served, the better, since it kept me blocking back serves or taking a shorter swing on returns. When I had that window to take a bigger cut on the ball, it was the same story as on groundstrokes where it was just hard to control the response, and balls were launching long."

On the other hand, Erik found the Phantom 100G easy to control. He said, "I liked the depth I got on serve returns; it was very easy to hit effective returns with this racquet. The Phantom 100G felt quite solid in my hand, and I could absorb pace from my opponent's serve and redirect it back at them with nice depth."

The Phantom 100G didn't quite pack the punch that Jason was looking for on returns. He described, "Like with my groundstrokes, I was wishing for just a bit more power and plow through. However, I did really like how fast the racquet swung, and the directional control was solid. I think a bit of weight would go a long way here."

Sharing a similar opinion, Tiffani added, "Control and comfort were again the name of the game when I was returning with the Phantom 100G. This racquet absorbed incoming pace and offered a stable, comfortable feel. Unfortunately, I was missing some free power, and a lot of my returns landed short."

Overall - Score: 82