Head Ti.Fire Tour Edition Racquet Review

When Head introduced the Ti. Fire Tour Edition they filled a small void in their racquet line by offering a lightweight, 27-1/2 inch player's racquet. It is both lighter and longer than the Ti. Radical Midplus, and it features a more open string pattern. It also includes Head's AnTi. Torsion System, which is essentially a cross bar stabilizer in the throat to increase stability during off-center hits. At 10.5 ounces strung, the Fire Tour is very light for a player's racquet. Does it have enough beef to withstand the rigors of aggressive play? Our playtesters cut through the gristle to provide some good insights.

Groundstrokes

From the baseline, one would assume a fast and loopy swing is required with the Fire Tour to produce enough pace and depth. Interestingly, the playtesters who liked this racquet the most on groundstrokes have medium swings. Peter offers, "since my strokes are more compact, it's usually difficult for me to get the necessary power from most player's racquets to really drive the ball. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the power provided by the Fire Tour. Driving the ball deep into the court wasn't a problem. Throw in great feel and maneuverability and you've got a racquet that a baseliner can do some real damage with!" Andy adds, "accuracy and power were no problem. Good control and feel. The frame's generous flex enabled me to hit the corners with ease, while the extra half-inch in length, along with the open string pattern, allowed for an ample amount of punch on the ball."

Dan, who swings long and fast had a slightly different take, commenting, "the first few groundies caught me off guard. With my fast, loopy swings, I was consistently hitting the ball early and had to adapt my swing speed. I also felt stability suffered and the sweetspot size was very small, both symptoms of the racquet's light weight. I would need to add an ounce of lead tape to make this racquet right for me." Gran concurs, adding, "I found it difficult to generate any amount of power on either side, due to the racquet's light weight. Furthermore, it felt unstable and the sweetspot seemed very small.." Drew continues, "I've already got a fast swing and this racquet head gets moving so quickly that either great timing or slow courts are required for me to consistently hit solid shots. In general, I found myself over-swinging a lot." Mark says, "once I got used to the weight and balance, I was able to hit some deep powerful groundies. The Fire Tour felt good on low forehands and backhands but I had difficulty generating enough power on high balls."

Don surmises, "During this playtest, I was surprised how well I was hitting my groundstrokes and believe string type and tension played a role. Previous playtests were made at higher tension and with lesser quality strings. This racquet was strung with Tecnifibre NRG at mid-range, providing adequate power and impressive control and spin. I got some good bite on my backhand slice. Kudos to Head for finally making a player's racquet with an open string pattern! I also feel the Fire Tour would benefit from a little added weight at 3 and 9 o'clock. This would improve stability, increase sweetspot size and raise the swingweight to my preferred range of 315-325."

Volleys

At net, the Fire Tour offers superior maneuverability and great control for aggressive volleyers. Dan comments, "the Fire Tour found its niche at net. It has all the elements that compose a great volleying racquet - maneuverability, head-light balance and a true mid-plus head in a control-oriented package. Although it wasn't as solid-feeling as I like in a racquet, it easily maneuvered in any direction and provided impressive control and accuracy. Getting in early position for overheads was no problem. Again, timing was something I had to adjust for, otherwise I was swinging ahead of the ball. Once I found my timing, overheads were an after-thought."

Peter adds, "the light weight and extra 1/2 inch allowed me to get to most volleys with enough control and power to put the ball away. On the downside, it wasn't very stable against hard-hit balls, especially on off-center hits."

Andy continues, "I found it easy to control the ball at net, whether I was trying to reach the baseline with deep, crisp volleys or hit shorter touch shots."

Mark offers, "I was able to volley pretty well with the Fire Tour. It's very maneuverable and not too powerful, so I could be aggressive and still keep the ball in court. It also has a lot of touch on angle and drop volleys."

Serves

Serving with the Fire Tour found more consistent responses. Don says, "swing it fast and you can hit the bomb up the middle. The open string pattern allows for good spin for slice and kick serves."

Drew agrees, adding, "definitely the bright spot of this racquet. I could really blast flat serves and get good motion on the spin serves. The racquet accelerates quickly and, for the most part, accuracy, pace and spin were quite good."

Dan even found the Fire Tour mostly to his liking, offering, "creating racquet head speed on first serves was the fun part. Crank it up as high as your ability will allow on flat serves, slices and everything in between. The bad news is the lack of stability on second serves. Unless I generated some pretty hefty swing speed, second serves weren't very penetrating."

Andy comments, "great power and spin on serves! The extra bit of length, coupled with the open string pattern allowed for serious pop on my serves. I also managed to win a lot of points off my second serve, which is highly unusual. Hitting heavy, topspin serves was no problem with the Fire Tour."

Mark had some trouble with his timing, explaining, "I hit a lot of first serves into the net with the Fire Tour. The racquet head was just too quick for me. Surprisingly (to me, at least), I was able to get a lot of kick on my second serve."

Peter adds, "I was able to generate considerable racquet head speed and keep the ball in the service box hitting a relatively flat serve. My spin and slice serves were also livelier than I'm accustomed to."

Serve Returns

The Fire Tour's light weight allows and demands some swing on returns. Blocked returns against anything less than a booming first serve will prove too anemic in most situations. However, there are players who will utilize this feature to their advantage.

Don comments, "against a big first serve, I was able to block the ball back somewhat effectively if my opponent was serving & volleying. If he stayed back though, these shots were too easy for him to put away. Returning less fast first serves and most second serves, I could take a pretty good swing to deliver an offensive return or chip the ball deep in the corner and come to net. This was probably my best return."

Mark offers, "I enjoyed returning serves with the Fire Tour. Because it's so light, I found it easy to catch up to hard serves and get them back in play. In fact, you can be very aggressive when returning hard serves because the racquet isn't overly powerful. Most racquets that are this maneuverable are powerful, game improvement racquets that send the ball to the back fence if you get too aggressive. The Fire Tour has the maneuverability but not the power."

Drew agrees, saying, "I could react quickly on hard serves and the racquet has enough control for a solid, consistent return. On second serves, I could be aggressive and either hit them with pace up the middle or with spin to angle them away. Behind serves, the return is where the Fire Tour performed best for me."

Dan adds, "returns weren't unlike my experience with groundstrokes. You need high swing speed to get anywhere but timing with a light, head-light racquet is a tough proposition. Once I adjusted my swing speed, I was able to deliver some good returns."

The Fire Tour Edition is somewhat similar to the Wilson Hyper ProStaff 6.5. They create a new racquet category - the lightweight player's racquet. The power level of the Fire Tour Edition is more consistent with a player's racquet, while the weight and maneuverability are closer to a 'tweener. To be honest, we found the Fire Tour Edition more solid than the ProStaff 6.5 on most shots due to its stiffer frame flex and more open string pattern. All-court players, ranked 4.0-5.5, who enjoy the maneuverability of a 10-1/2 ounce racquet, but require more control, will be best suited to the Fire Tour. With a little added weight, the Fire Tour would be even more appealing to advanced players used to slightly heftier and more stable racquets. Note: Although cosmetically similar to the Ti Fire, the Fire Tour Edition is measurably different. The Fire Tour Edition is 1 ounce heavier, balanced head-light (the Ti Fire is head-heavy), has a smaller head size (98 vs 102), more open string pattern and is a 1/2 inch longer than the Ti Fire. All of this results in a racquet with a little less power and more control. The Ti Fire Tour Edition does not have Head's ShockStop handle system to dampen frame vibration; without ShockStop, the Fire Tour Edition has more racquet "feedback" (a.k.a. feel) when compared to the Ti Fire.

Review date: August, 2000. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

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