Prince Textreme Warrior 107 Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 85

Within minutes, our playtesters were noticing the easy power and forgiveness of the Textreme Warrior 107. "It was all about power for me with the Textreme Warrior 107," Tiffani said. "I wasn't consciously trying to hit any harder, and I actually at times was trying unsuccessfully to take some pace off the ball, yet the ball just blasted off the stringbed. I really noticed the extra power on my forehand side. According to my PlaySight data I was hitting some of my fastest winners ever with this racquet. The Warrior 107 didn't feel cumbersome like some other oversize racquets I've hit, but it's not one of those ultra light oversize racquets either. It played very solidly for me, and although it is a stiff racquet it was quite comfortable on my arm. I really enjoyed that solid feel on my slice backhands. I was able to knife through the shot and keep the ball low to the ground with this racquet."

Brittany found the racquet not only powerful and forgiving, but also easy to swing. She praised, "The Warrior 107 offered plenty of power and a large sweetspot for striking groundstrokes. It was easy to maneuver and had impressive stability. It didn't matter who I was hitting with; this racquet was stable and secure in my hands, with no twisting or fluttering. Additionally, this racquet had enough plow through for me to hit effective slices. I found the most success when I kept my strokes simple and let the racquet do the work for me. When I tried to add extra spin, go for sharper angles, add a lot of height, etc., I lost my control and precision."

As Chris reminisced about days past playing with similar racquets, he mentioned the Warrior 107 performed well for his signature backhand slice. He said, "I grew to really love hitting with this racquet from the baseline during this test. I used to play with oversize racquets in college (Donnay Pro One and Head Twin Tube Radical), so the added surface area to hit with was a bit of a trip down memory lane. This racquet is a lot lighter and easier to swing, but then again, I'm no spring chicken these days. I welcomed the power and plush response of this racquet. I was getting more pace on an average swing and found I could go from defense to offense very well. I was surprised at how well I was hitting my backhand slice with this racquet. I usually prefer a much heavier racquet on that stroke, but this racquet felt great. I had a lot of spin and found I could knife through the ball aggressively to hit a controlled yet driving slice. Getting topspin was easy, and it felt like I was getting some added dwell time to up both the spin and control. The excellent feel from this racquet rounded out an enjoyable baseline experience."

Mark, like the others, had almost instant success at the baseline with this racquet. He shared, "I immediately noticed the sizable sweetspot when hitting groundstrokes. It took me awhile to mentally adjust to the 107 square inch head, but after five minutes I was hitting well off both sides. My forehands and backhands had a decent level of spin with excellent depth and predictability. This racquet allowed me to do what I do best from the baseline."

Volleys - Score: 80

The love affair with the Textreme Warrior 107 continued as our playtesters approached the net. Brittany said, "While I enjoyed the feel from all areas of the court, the Textreme Warrior 107 really shone up at net. I felt very confident coming to the net and ending the point. There was power for put-away shots and enough touch for me to soften my hands and hit a shorter angle. The maneuverability and stability were excellent up at net as well. Overall, I thought this racquet was very versatile at net."

Chris was really blown away by how connected he felt to the ball. He said, "This racquet worked great at net, too! The feel was very impressive, and I was surprised at how easily I was finding my targets on droppers and angles. I loved the comfort this racquet offered, and it allowed me to go with a stiffer co-poly to further increase control. The generous sweetspot was a huge help on tough first volleys or whenever I was caught deeper in the court. I found ample power to dispatch high volleys, and I felt like I could inject pace at will. I loved attacking the net with this racquet both in singles and doubles."

Mark was more than up for the fight at net with this racquet in hand. He shared, "This racquet's large sweetspot and maneuverable swingweight really helped bring out the warrior in me around the net. It felt pretty stable, too, against virtually anyone I was playing against."

Tiffani was another tester volleying well. She offered, "In general, I didn't struggle to maneuver this racquet at net. However, when I did catch the ball late the Warrior 107 still felt solid to me. I also liked the feel, which allowed me to choose whether I wanted to hit with pace or attempt to soften the shot to drop the ball short."

Serves - Score: 82

Some of our testers continued to find easy power with the Textreme Warrior 107 on serve, but others were left wanting. The most positive tester was Chris, whose service game was firing on all cylinders. He raved, "I continued to enjoy this racquet when it came to serves. I was able to hit with solid pace and spin. Even deep into a match I was able to find lots of pace with little effort. I served very consistently with it, I think due to the easy access to spin. I was getting some nice slice on my serves, and that helped me to get the ball to drop inside the box without having to ease up on pace. I was missing some of the penetration I get from a heavier racquet, but overall I was very happy with how I served."

Brittany was finding loads of power, but she had some trouble controlling it at times. She explained, "There was a ton of power for my flat first serves, but I did have to work a little harder at times to generate it. I was able to generate some of my fastest serves; according to my PlaySight data I was hitting some 100+ MPH! However, to get a higher first serve percentage I hit mostly slice serves into the body or out wide. I wasn't as confident with my second serves and really had to make a conscious effort to add extra spin to the ball to keep it from flying deep."

Tiffani wasn't quite finding the same level of power and forgiveness that she had in other areas of the court. She said, "Perhaps it was because I was hitting with such easy power on my groundstrokes, but I was left wanting a little bit more on serves. When I look at my PlaySight data I can see that I was hitting average pace, but I kept wanting just a little more out of the Textreme Warrior 107. My opponents did feel that my serves were coming in heavier than with some other racquets, so even though I wasn't seeing the MPHs I expected, I was serving effectively. I was also having some issues getting enough spin on my second serves, so I had to adjust to stop the double faults. I took a little bit off my second serve because they kept landing 3-4 inches long."

Like Tiffani, Mark wished for a little more pop out of this racquet on serve. He said, "My average serve speed was in the high 80 MPHs with a top speed of around 98 MPH. This was the one area of my game where I wished this racquet had a little bit more weight to throw at the ball."

Serve Returns - Score: 83

The Textreme Warrior 107's blend of power, forgiveness, maneuverability and feel worked really well for our team when they were returning serve. The specs were right in Mark's sweetspot, and he praised, "I loved the blend of head size, weight and balance. It allowed me to swing away or effectively chip my returns back into play."

"This was hands down my favorite shot to hit with the Textreme Warrior 107," Tiffani said. "Although this racquet wasn't lightning quick to get around, it swung easily enough to allow me to get my racquet on most serves, and it just felt solid at contact. I could chip back hard hit serves, or I could take a big swing at weaker serves. This racquet just opened up my options to keep my opponent guessing."

Whether being aggressive or conservative with his returns, Chris felt comfortable doing it all with this racquet in hand. He said, "This racquet felt nice and fast on returns. I had lots of time to take a good cut at the ball, and that allowed me to hit with power and spin. On block returns, the power, comfort and forgiving response more than made up for any lack of mass. The response felt very plush, yet I still felt very connected to the ball. The only issue I had was controlling the depth when I hit my returns too flat."

Brittany took control of points by using the racquet's forgiveness, which allowed her to swing big and hurt her opponents on weak second serves. She shared, "I was impressed with the stability of this racquet. I loved blocking back first serves deep into the court, and there was enough power to be really aggressive on second serve returns, too. However, I found myself aiming for bigger targets just to make sure I had some room for error since I wasn't as precise as I would've liked."

Overall - Score: 82

Technical Specifications Length 27 inches 69 centimeters Head Size 107 square inches 690 square centimeters Weight 11.2 ounces 318 grams Balance Point 12.6 inches 32 centimeters 7pts Head Light Construction 28mm / 27mm / 25mm Composition Graphite & Textreme String Pattern 16 mains / 19 crosses

Babolat RDC Ratings Score Grade Flex Rating 67 Range: 0-100 Swing Weight 317 Range: 200-400

Scores

(Scores are determined by averaging individual play test scores)

Playtester Profiles

Chris: 5.0 all-court player currently using the Wilson Pro Staff 95S. Chris uses a full-western forehand grip, has a fast swing style and hits a one-handed backhand.

Brittany: Open level player with a semi-western forehand and a two-handed backhand. She currently plays with the Yonex EZONE Ai 100.

Tiffani: 4.0 level baseliner with a semiwestern grip on the forehand and hits a two-handed backhand. Currently playing with the Babolat Pure Drive.

Mark: 5.0 lefty all-court player with a one-handed backhand. He currently plays with the Wilson Steam 99S.

Review date: March 2015. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

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