Prince O3 Hybrid Tour Racquet Review

If you're going to build the ultimate piece of sports equipment, getting input from the world's best players is a pretty good place to start.

When Prince started to develop the O3 Hybrid Tour, they did exactly that. From the get go, pro player involvement was a key factor behind almost every design tweak and adjustment to the racquet.

While certain Prince touring pros were more influential than others, Prince informed us that feedback from both ATP and WTA pros was integral in the racquet's development.

The result is a racquet that stands alone among its O3 Technology peers. With the O3 Hybrid Tour, Prince took a departure from its traditional head shape, implementing a design with a more oval shape. The O Ports also got moved to the 3 & 9 o'clock positions, whereas other O3 Hybrid racquets all feature O Ports at 12 & 6.

With its fresh look and unique features, we eagerly hit the courts with the O3 Tour Hybrid. Read on for the results of our three-week playtest.

Groundstrokes

Off the ground, the stiff frame and open string pattern of the O3 Hybrid Tour offered excellent access to spin and some surprising power. The majority of our team found the stringbed so lively with our regular 17 gauge multifilament test string that we opted to have an O3 Hybrid Tour strung with a 16 gauge polyester based string at mid tension to tame the liveliness a little. Enjoying the response of the racquet off the ground was Granville. "This racquet falls right into my sweetspot - good weight and very head light balance. As a result, the O3 Hybrid Tour offers a very solid and stable feel on groundstrokes. The slightly oblong head seems to open up the sweetspot a bit and I was hitting out with good depth. It is also a very comfortable racquet to play with. Initially I found the racquet very lively with the multifilament string and it felt like it was strung a bit too loose for my tastes. Restringing it with a poly seemed to really dial it in. The racquet then played much more crisp and precise." Spencer was the one playtester who preferred hitting with the racquet strung with a multifilament string. "When hitting with the racquet strung with polyester, I could take a good rip at the ball and still keep it between the lines. However, I did have an issue with depth. I couldn't hit the ball deep with any consistency. It did feel solid at impact, but I didn't feel like I could get enough oomph on passing shots. When hitting with the multifilament string, my groundstrokes felt more solid and my shots tended to land a bit deeper more often. My mis-hits stayed on track for the most part and the consequences were not as severe."

Finding plenty of topspin on his groundstrokes with the O3 Hybrid Tour was Chris. "I was getting lots of pace and spin with the O3 Hybrid Tour. My best results came when hitting with heavy topspin. I was able to generate a lot of spin and really make the ball kick. However, with our regular multifilament test string installed my targeting was all over the place. The stringbed played so inconsistently that at times I was finding the bottom of the net and other times not even keeping the ball in the doubles court (when playing singles). Now, I don't claim to be the most accurate player of all time, but I'm not that bad, either. I usually have a good sense of where the ball is going, but with the O3 Hybrid Tour it really felt like a roll of the dice to see if my shots would find their targets. After a consensus came to change string, I started to find much more control with the polyester string installed. I was finally able to hit with confidence and the string did a great job of taming the unpredictable stringbed. Even though the string was lower powered, I was hitting more aggressively, as I had much more confidence in the racquet." Jon struggled to control the lively response of the O3 Hybrid Tour. "I never felt completely confident in my ground strokes with the O3 Hybrid Tour. I could not find consistency in the racquet. It sometimes seemed two identical strokes were producing radically different results. Control was an issue for me, it was just too powerful and unpredictable. The poly helped, but overall the racquet was too lively."

Ryan also preferred the response of the racquet when strung with polyester. "The O3 Hybrid Tour was a very interesting racquet off the ground for me. I noticed that when I switched my grip to a more western forehand, the racquet offered a lot more control. If I went back to a semi-western or even to a more continental grip, I had a lot of trouble controlling the ball. I was just all over the place with this racquet. I felt like I would hit the same way on two successive forehands and the results would be drastically different. However, we decided to switch from a soft multifilament and put some poly in it, and that helped tremendously. Spin was good for the most part, slice was not good at all and the ball tended to float if not careful. Overall, a difficult racquet for me to find my groove with."

Volleys

Our playtesters were impressed with the O3 Hybrid Tour at net. Finding the racquet to be maneuverable, yet stable on the volley was Granville. "This racquet was a good performer at net. As expected, it is maneuverable, but it was the mass that really punched the ball off the stringbed. The O3 racquets seem to pass through the air with ease, and the O3 Hybrid Tour, with its head light balance, just accentuated this feeling." Chris enjoyed the power level and solid feel of the racquet at net. "I found the racquet to feel nice and crisp at net. Targeting seemed better, even with the multifilament string, and even better still with the poly. I was able to get some nice pop on my volleys and put the ball away with good pace. The racquet felt nice and stable and up to the task of handling heavy-hit passing attempts. Not the best racquet for me when it came to hitting with touch, but I was able to get the job done."

Also pleased with his performance when volleying with the O3 Hybrid Tour was Jon. "The O3 Hybrid Tour performed well at the net. The weight, balance, and head size were just right. I enjoyed the large sweetspot and maneuverable feel of this racquet. I was volleying confidently and found better accuracy than when hitting groundstrokes with the O3 Hybrid Tour." Enjoying the feel and control of the racquet at net was Spencer. "I found good touch and feel from this racquet at net. I also found good maneuverability. My volleys had good placement, but I couldn't put away my volleys as easily as I would have liked." Ryan was another playtester volleying with confidence. "Hitting volleys was great with this racquet. Firm and comfortable. The maneuverability of the racquet was great, and was one of the strong points of the racquet for me. I had a lot of confidence stepping into volleys, knowing I would get great response, depth and pace on my shots with this racquet."

Serves

On serve, the O3 Hybrid Tour impressed our team with easy access to both spin and pace. Hitting some big kick serves with the racquet was Jon "I immediately noticed I was generating a lot of power and spin with the O3 Hybrid Tour. My kick serve had noticeable kick and the added power was a bonus on both spin and flat serves. I felt like I served very effectively with this racquet." Also finding plenty of pace and spin on serve was Spencer. "With the polyester strings installed, I didn't feel I could get a ton of zip, but felt confident with placement and spin. My kick serves seemed to be jumping off the court. I could get a little more power with the multi, but not quite the spin and kick I got with the poly string."

Ryan struggled with consistency when serving with the O3 Hybrid Tour. "My serve was all over the place. I was not able to control the ball with spin as much I would have thought. At times my serves were really good, and then they were just off. It was hard to find a consistent middle ground with this racquet. Again, the change of string helped improve control. As I've found with other O3 racquets, this one felt easy to swing fast, and this did help a little with the pace. However, the fast racquet head speed also gave me some mishits along the way." Also finding good racquet head speed on serve with the O3 Hybrid Tour was Chris. "I found good pace and spin with this racquet when serving. I was able to generate plenty of racquet head speed and found the racquet to cut nicely through the air. Again, with the multifilament string installed my targeting was off. This was much improved when we strung the racquet with poly. I was still finding good pace and excellent spin, but my serving consistency was greatly improved and serving with the O3 Hybrid Tour became much more enjoyable. For me, this was definitely a string sensitive racquet."

Granville said, "I really had some fun serving with this racquet. Despite the grip shape being a little too square for my tastes, I was serving very well. So well, in fact, I just wanted to see how hard I could hit my serves with this stick and still hit it in. It seemed I could hit the ball as hard as I could and still get good control for placement. Spin potential is very high as well. The O3 Ports extend the crosses in the sweetspot range and I was seeing a lot of string movement, the strings were grabbing the ball - and my serve was kicking up and out nicely."

Returns

Our team had mixed results when returning with the O3 Hybrid Tour. Enjoying the solid feel of the racquet was Chris. "The O3 Hybrid Tour felt very stable when returning. The lively stringbed made several returns sail, especially if I caught the ball a little flat. I was able to hit with good spin and hit much more accurate returns when doing so. Again, targeting was greatly improved when we switched to the polyester string. With the stringbed playing more consistently, I was able to start returning more aggressively and with more variety." Granville found the O3 Hybrid Tour to be lively, yet precise when returning. "The lively stringbed of the O3 Hybrid Tour seems to offer some assistance on serve returns. I could feel the racquet (stringbed) punching the ball back even when slightly defensive on the returns. When moving in and taking the return early, I was hitting with good depth and targeting precision."

Spencer found himself returning somewhat defensively with the racquet. "As maneuverable as this racquet felt I still left a lot of balls short, with not much on them. When trying to be more aggressive I couldn't control the ball. Once again, lack of confidence made me block more serves and be more defensive, even on serves I might normally look to take control of with an aggressive stroke." Finding a solid response from the racquet was Ryan. "I liked the feel of the racquet and the comfort at impact. However, the results and my consistency were not up to my usual standards. I was not able to have the confidence that allowed me to go for bigger shots with this racquet. One minute I was floating a return long, and the very next time my backhand slice was at, literally, the bottom of the net. The racquet felt solid, but the response was unpredictable." Jon had the best results when hitting with heavy spin on his returns. "Returning serve was not a strong point for me with the O3 Hybrid Tour. Just like with groundstrokes, controlling the O3 Hybrid Tour was tough. My best results were achieved by taking advantage of the heavy spin potential of the racquet."

Overall

The O3 Hybrid Tour is definitely a stand-alone racquet in the O3 line. While offering the comfort and impressively large sweetspot we've come to expect from racquets with O Port technology, the response of this model was unique. The open string pattern and fairly stiff (67 RA) frame made for a very lively response from the O3 Hybrid Tour. Our team found the stringbed very string sensitive. By changing from our regular multifilament test string to one of the leading co-poly strings, we found a much more controlled response. Even when using a much stiffer string, we continued to find lots of comfort from the racquet. This racquet also impressed us with its spin friendliness. Our entire team was impressed with the amount of topspin they could generate with the O3 Hybrid Tour. At net we found the racquet to be maneuverable and offer a crisp feel. With a powerful and spin friendly response, plus some pleasing crispness at net, this one is well suited to players who like to attack from all areas of the court.

Review date: October, 2006. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

All content copyright 2006 Tennis Warehouse.