Diadem Elite XT String Review

Control - Score: 83 / Power - Score: 45

Judging from the scores of our playtesters, Elite XT is a solid control string, which means it is designed to provide powerful ball strikers with the needed control to achieve maximum stroke speed (so they can generate things like pace and spin and, ideally, fear in their opponents). To give you some context, we found Elite XT to have a tad more control than Solstice Power, but less pop. Although Troy gave this co-poly a decent score for control, he didn't find it as dead as some of the top control strings on the market. He explained, "I found Diadem Elite XT to be lower in power than Volkl Cyclone, which is my typical string, but I didn't find it as dead as Solinco Tour Bite or some of the stiffer, more controllable co-polys. I found Elite XT to have a low to moderate power level, similar to Solinco Hyper-G and Signum Pro Poly Plasma. The overall control was average for a co-poly. After about a week of hard hitting the tension started to drop, which lowered the control. Although the 16 gauge snapped back into place fairly well, the 18 gauge version of this string got stuck out of position far too often, resulting in bigger control problems."

For Andy, Elite XT had great control, especially in the first half of the playtest. He explained, "I thought this string offered a good blend of power and control. Right off the stringer it had a low-powered response with excellent control, but as the playtest wore on and the strings sat in the racquet a little longer they got livelier and more powerful. The star-shaped design of the string seemed to grab the ball well and launch it off the stringbed at a slightly higher trajectory than some other more traditional polys."

Spin - Score: 86

At the time of this review's publication, Elite XT owned a top ten score for spin potential in our Tennis Warehouse University String Lab. Suffice it to say, Andy was impressed, "The strength of this string lies in its spin potential. The star-shaped design grabs the ball extremely well and sends it off the stringbed with incredible amounts of spin. I could get the ball dipping down at the lines, and I utilized the spin potential for more control. However, I did notice that the strings didn't slide and snap back as well as some smoother polys, so they'd get stuck out of position sometimes."

Although he gave Elite XT a very respectable score for spin, Troy stopped well shy of doing cartwheels. He said, "The spin I was getting with Diadem Elite XT was better than the spin I get with average round-shaped co-poly string, but not as good as shaped strings such as Volkl Cyclone and Tecnifibre Black Code 4S. The sharp edges from the star-shaped profile grabbed the ball and helped in the generation of topspin, but the strings didn't snap back into place as effectively as my favorite spin strings. The 18g version was particularly weak in this area, which lowered the spin potential and made the response more erratic."

Comfort - Score: 45

Made primarily from firm polyester, Elite XT isn't supposed to coddle your arm like a multifilament. In fact, this string's excellent control and spin comes precisely from its higher stiffness level. The good news is that neither of our playtesters complained of excessive shock or outright discomfort. Troy reported average comfort. He said, "I found the comfort of Diadem Elite XT to be average for a co-poly string. It wasn't as stiff as Luxilon 4G or Solinco Tour Bite, nor was it as soft as Polyfibre TCS or Double AR Diablo. It was right in the middle. It felt firm fresh off the stringing machine, but once the tension started to drop and this string settled in, the comfort increased. Overall, I preferred the comfort of Diadem Solstice Power over Elite XT."

Andy also found the comfort to be average for the breed. He explained, "This string offered pretty average comfort compared to other polyester strings. I wouldn't consider it stiff and jarring, but at the same time it isn't soft and arm-friendly either. It's pretty middle of the road in terms of comfort and arm-friendliness, which makes it a nice choice for big hitters looking for a control string that isn't too jarring on the arm."

Feel - Score: 68

Our playtesters had different opinions on the feel of Elite XT. Andy's experience was a positive one. He said, "I thought Elite XT offered a crisp, somewhat lively feel off the stringbed. I got the sensation the ball was sinking into the strings very well and then leaving the racquet with good energy and spin. Responsiveness was good, and I always felt connected to the ball as it left the strings. It had above average feel compared to other polys, in my opinion."

Troy found this string a tad too muted and unresponsive. He said, "The feel of Diadem Elite XT was right in the middle of the co-polyester stiff/soft spectrum. It was more muted and unresponsive than my usual string, Volkl Cyclone. After about a week of hitting the tension loss made this string feel mushier than the co-poly strings that I prefer."

Playability Duration - Score: 50

No tennis string is immune to the ravages of time. They all start losing tension before the racquet is pulled off the stringing machine, especially co-polyester monofilaments. According to Troy, Elite XT is emphatically no exception. He explained, "The tension maintenance of this string was lower than I prefer. I found Diadem Elite XT to have similar tension maintenance to softer co-poly strings such as Volkl Cyclone Tour and Tourna Big Hitter Blue. Compared to some of my favorite strings, such as Luxilon 4G and Solinco Hyper-G, which both have good tension maintenance for co-poly strings, Elite XT definitely fell short. The combination of the tension loss and the excessive string movement had me wanting better playability from this string."

Andy had a slightly better experience with tension maintenance and playability duration. He said, "The playability of this string was pretty average compared to other polys. Tension remained for about two weeks and then started to drop pretty dramatically. When it did, the strings lost control and got much livelier. At times late in the playtest I'd lose the ball off the strings and it would go sailing long - a week earlier that ball would've hooked in and stayed inside the lines."

Overall - Score: 70