Wilson Tour 90 Racquet Review

Wilson seems to be spoiling advanced tennis players with their current racquet choices. Already offering more "player's" racquets in their current line-up than competing manufacturers, Wilson went one better with the introduction of yet another player's racquet, the Tour 90. Joining the ProStaff 6.0, the various Hyper ProStaffs, and the recently released ROK, the Tour 90 increases the depth and credibility of an already impressive group of control-oriented racquets. To further establish its commitment to performance player's racquets, Wilson introduces an industry first with its "matched pairs" option. According to Wilson, "the matched pairs option benefits from our tighter specification tolerance during the manufacturing process of these racquets. The matched pairs option allows even the most discerning players to find the same playing feel from each racquet." Here at Tennis Warehouse, we've monitored the specs of the Wilson Tour 90's, finding (with only a few exceptions) them to have a very tight specification tolerance, compared to standard production racquets. Additionally, this is the racquet that cured Pete Sampras of St. Vincent Islanditus (see the St. Vincent Story in our Wilson ProStaff 6.0 85 Original review for more details). If that isn't impressive enough, the Tour 90 is also the choice of Top Swiss player Roger Federer, who many claim has the game to be the next Sampras.

Whether the Tour 90 will make a difference in the futures of either of these two great players is yet to be seen. In the meantime, what follows is how our playtest team found the Tour 90 after a three-week playtest.

Groundstrokes

The Tour 90 weighs in at 12.7 ounces strung, and has a swingweight of 332 RDC. Even though the balance of the Tour 90 is 9 points head light, 3 of our playtesters commented that maneuverability was not one of the Tour 90's strong points. First out to the courts with the Tour 90 was Granville. He had this to say, "well, I held an early spec of this frame and was convinced it was the Holy Grail of performance racquets. By the time I got to the courts, though, I was befuddled. It did not feel like the racquet I had expected. Perhaps it was the weight, perhaps the balance, perhaps the hype, but for whatever reason I found it a bit too cumbersome for my tastes. As far as stability, it is solid and after a few minutes I was able to find the groove. However, I found it odd to carry around a head light racquet and have to consciously think about getting it around." Next out to the courts were Don and Chris. Don had this to say, "I loved hitting groundies with the Tour 90 . . . for about 10 minutes. After that, I found myself late on anything but easy balls. I enjoyed the solid feel and stability when I had time to prepare. There's more power than I expected, requiring less effort on my part. When I finally figured this out, and relaxed my swing, I had better results." At the other end of the court, Chris was having a similar experience. He said, "when I was well prepared and hit out in front, the Tour 90 rewarded me with pinpoint precision and the racquet would cut through the ball like a hot knife through butter. However, the Tour 90 is not the easiest racquet to maneuver, and I would find myself hitting late if I wasn't careful. I felt like the racquet needed to be more head light to help me get it around the ball more quickly. I did like the weight of the Tour 90 and it is a tremendously comfortable racquet. I never felt any undue racquet shock or vibration, even on shanked groundies."

Chad seemed to enjoy the Tour 90 the most while hitting groundstrokes. Chad said, "I hit very consistent groundstrokes with good pace and movement. I felt like I was really able to whip the racquet head around and create generous amounts of spin. The head size is smaller than what I'm accustomed to, but that did not seem to bother me as much as I would have expected and I was surprised by how big the sweet spot felt on this racquet." Mark played only on clay and found the Tour 90 very effective. "The slower surface gave me more time to set up and countered the slower swing speed of the Tour 90. I had excellent control and pretty good power, and I was able to control points from the baseline. I had a lot of fun moving my opponent around the court." Combined Score 79.7

Volleys

As it is the racquet of choice for those two great volleyers, Sampras and Federer, our playtesters made their way to the net with high expectations for the Tour 90. Playtester Chad really enjoyed the touch and feel he got from the Tour 90 while at net, saying "I hit some incredible drop volleys. I also like the Tour 90's performance when making stabs at the ball. There were a few of my opponents passing shots that I was merely hoping to get back into play, but instead came up with some amazing winners." Chris also enjoyed volleying with the Tour 90, saying "I really enjoyed the solid feel of the Tour 90 at net. When reaching for a hard struck passing shot, the racquet would remain stable, offering good control and feel." Granville's quest for the "Holy Grail" of racquets continued as he headed to the net. Granville said, "in my opinion, with heavy racquets like this, it is the volley that benefits the most. Keep the racquet up and out in front and you can really punch a volley, or cradle that delicate crosscourt drop shot volley winner, just like Pete. Although once again, I felt the maneuverability suffered a bit on the volley with the weight/balance issues noted earlier." While these three playtesters enjoyed the Tour 90's performance at net, Don didn't feel like this was the racquet for him, saying, "I really struggled at net with the Tour 90. As with groundstrokes, all went well as long as my opponent fed me easy balls to hit. As soon as he hit anything resembling a passing shot, I found myself late. However, when the timing clicked, my volleys were solid and predictable and I could hit deep, penetrating volleys or sneaky short angle shots." Mark liked the feel of the Tour 90 at the net, but would have liked a little more string bed to work with, "the small stringbed (90 sq. in) makes for a small sweetspot and low power, neither of which I'm looking for at the net. The Tour 90 was very stable, but a little underpowered for my game." Combined Score 77.5

Serves

Most of our playtesters enjoyed serving with the Tour 90, enjoying the solid feel and control offered by the 12.7 ounce racquet. Chris said, "without a doubt, my favorite shot with the Tour 90 was the serve. I was able to get plenty of pop on both my first and second serves. I also found a good amount of spin was there when I needed it on slice or kick serves and I felt like I was serving a heavier ball than I do with my Head Prestige Classic." Chad had a like experience serving with the Tour 90, saying, "the ball really seemed to pop off of my racquet. My opponents seemed to have trouble with both my flat and kick serves, which created many easy put-away shots. Consistency was an added bonus and I hardly ever double faulted with this racquet. All of these factors enabled me to hold serve with confidence."

When he got around to serving, Don had started to make the necessary adjustments to his game to be successful with a heavy racquet. He said, "serving with the Tour 90 went better than expected. By this time, I was letting the racquet do more work and I could hit the big bomb without throwing my arm out. Placement was a real strength and I was hitting corners at will - both with flat serves up the middle and slices out wide. Without question, the serve was my most successful stroke with the Tour 90."

Granville also noted the weight of the Tour 90 on the serve, saying "you're not going to get anything extra on your serves with this racquet, but you will get a better sense of where your serve is going. I found a very soft and cushioned feel, as a result of the weight of the racquet, and excellent control. I may have actually lost a few MPH with this racquet, but it was of little consequence compared to the added control." Combined Score 83.1

Serve Return

Across the board, our playtesters agreed that their returns suffered slightly due to the lack of maneuverability of the Tour 90, but that the weight of the racquet helped it to remain stable while striking the ball. Granville said, "perhaps the one stroke/shot where you will really need to be on your game is the serve return. There are no exceptions here. You really need to prepare early." Chris agreed, saying, "even against players who hit a heavy ball, the racquet remained stable on both drive returns and when I caressed the ball on a chip and charge. However, I felt the racquet was a little cumbersome, especially when my opponent tied me up with a fast serve to the body." Chad had the most success on the return, saying, "I hit my returns fairly well. The only downside came on maneuverability. There were times when I found the racquet head being late on the ball. Other than that, I was really able to come up with some big time returns against decent to awesome servers." Combined Score 78.1

Summary

The Tour 90 is a serious player's racquet. Less advanced players may find the Tour 90 a little too demanding. Such was the case with our new 3.5 playtester, who opted not to review this racquet. However, players with the skill and ability to handle the weight and balance of the Tour 90 will be rewarded with precision, comfort, feel and stability. Some players will find that there is a definite learning curve when it comes to handling such a racquet. Stick with it, however, and the Tour 90 will reward with a level of racquet feedback that's hard to top. Combined Score 80

Review date: April, 2003. If you found this review interesting or have further questions or comments please contact us.

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