Wilson Burn 95 Countervail Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 84

Our playtesters enjoyed the plusher feel and added control the Burn 95 Countervail offered compared to the previous version, but some of the testers thought that the feel was a bit too muted. Chris said, "From the first hit this new Burn 95 Countervail felt quite different from the version it replaces. I didn't get the same crisp response I found with the previous version. This racquet offered a more muted and slightly deader feel, which was a welcome change since the previous version was too pingy and a little too powerful. I had more control during point play with the Burn 95 Countervail, which was great since lack of control was my biggest knock with the old one. The Burn 95 Countervail felt more comfortable off both wings as well. The comfort came at a slight expense to feedback, but I still felt adequately connected to my shots. I liked this racquet the most when I was driving through the ball. I had solid power, and I felt like the racquet offered some nice plow through. I really enjoyed hitting my backhand with this racquet. Both my slice and topspin shots were penetrating the court well. On the forehand side I struggled to get the topspin I get from my Pure Drive Plus and the Burn 100 Countervail. Less spin made hitting angles a little harder."

Troy enjoyed the stability of the Burn 95 Countervail, but he had to make adjustments to tame the power level. He said, "This racquet packed a lot of power and plow through from the baseline. The combination of the high swingweight and firm flex rating had my groundstrokes popping off this racquet with easy depth and pace. Because of the easy power I had to add heavy topspin on my groundstrokes to keep the ball in the court. There were times when I tried to hit put-away shots and the balls were sailing long past the baseline. After a few hitting sessions, though, I was able to adjust my strokes to keep my shots from flying long, but my depth control never felt fully dialed in. The swingweight made it easy to drive through my slice backhand and resulted in some deep and penetrating shots. The power that comes from this racquet was masked a bit by the dampened feel from the Countervail technology, and this led to me being a little off-target when trying to hit my spots on the court."

Michelle thought this racquet was a good fit for her attacking game. She praised, "This racquet fits right into my wheelhouse. I remember really enjoying the original Burn 95, and after playing with the Countervail Blades I was excited to see how this racquet would change with the Countervail technology. I like how Countervail has muted the feel a bit for a plusher contact. The sweetspot felt massive to me, and while the racquet has a smaller headsize, I never felt like the stringbed lacked power. Even with my flatter style game, I was never worried about spin generation. The 95 square-inches didn't feel all that much different than my 97 square-inch RF97, and the added length really was beneficial as well. I'm not getting any younger, and I felt like even when I was pulled off the court I could be offensive because of that extra reach. The only time I had issue was when my opponent pushed me back by hitting really close to the baseline on my backhand side; I just couldn't whip the racquet around fast enough. However, with the Burn 95 Countervail in my hands I felt like I was dictating 90 percent of the points. The second I made contact, especially when I was hitting attacking forehands, I just felt like I was rifling the ball through the court. The feel and sound were something big hitters dream of."

Mark was a fan of the last Burn 95, and he really liked this update. He raved, "I was a big fan of the previous version of this racquet (I even considered switching to it for a while), so I was very excited to be on this playtest. From the first contact with the ball I could tell that the Wilson Countervail technology was in full effect. This new Burn 95 definitely has a more muted and plush feel to it compared to the prior iteration. After a brief adjustment period I was hitting my targets consistently from anywhere in the court. I really favor the 16x20 string pattern now because the action off the stringbed is very predictable. Overall, my play was effective with this racquet from the baseline whether I was redirecting the other players' pace or developing my own."

Volleys - Score: 84

Our team liked how solid and stable the Burn 95 Countervail played up at net. Troy noted, "When I was coming to net this racquet made it easy for me to stick volleys with good pace and depth with little effort. Against hard hit shots, this racquet stood its ground and played very solid and stable. I never felt any excess twisting in my hand, and the addition of Countervail technology helped reduce some of the harsh vibrations that I experienced with the previous version. The control and feel was slightly lacking when I was trying to place volleys, though. There were times when I went for a drop volley or sharp angle and I felt somewhat disconnected from the ball."

"The confident feeling I had from the baseline definitely carried over to my net game," Mark added. "The Burn 95 Countervail offered a nearly perfect combination of maneuverability versus stability, and even off-center contact volleys were rewarding!"

Michelle liked the heft of the racquet and never felt that it became cumbersome to wield while up at net. She said, "I liked this racquet at the net. Sometimes the beefier, longer racquets are hard to maneuver up there, but I didn't find the weight or length to be too detrimental during this playtest. There was a slight adjustment period for me, but for the most part the Burn 95 Countervail was pretty easy to volley with. It was stable, which made it easy to block balls back. I didn't feel I could do anything fancy or cute in regard to touch, but sticking a solid volley felt good! Swinging volleys were just so fun to hit, and I could punch balls deep with ease."

Chris had a similar experience. He said, "The Burn 95 Countervail felt very solid at net. For me it offered a very good blend of stability and punch from its heft, yet it also felt plenty maneuverable. The racquet's power and heft worked great on low pickup volleys. It remained stable and provided enough punch to help me still make my shots even when I couldn't get much behind them. On touch shots the stability allowed me to hold the racquet with a soft grip to maximize feel without having to worry that it was going to twist in my hands. Again, mobility was good and I was able to get the racquet into position quickly."

Serves - Score: 86

There were some mixed feelings when it came to serving with the Burn 95 Countervail, but for the most part our testers really enjoyed this aspect of the playtest. "The fun never really stopped with this racquet! Hitting serves ended up being my favorite portion of this playtest," Mark raved. "I've been practicing my serve more lately, and each week I've been seeing a little progress, but with this racquet I noticed a big jump in quality. Not so much in terms of increased velocity, but my consistency and precision were improved."

Chris also had extremely good results during his service games. He praised, "I loved the power I was getting on my serves, and I was able to hit a heavier serve than I do with my Babolat Pure Drive Plus -- I rarely, if ever, get to say that! Serving was also an area where I felt I could tap into the spin potential of the Burn 95 Countervail. I hit some decent kickers with this racquet and also really enjoyed hitting my slice serve. I managed to get a healthy dose of both pace and spin, which helped my serving. I welcomed some easy points from my bigger serving since that is a luxury that's usually missing from my game."

Troy liked the power the Burn 95 Countervail provided on his serve, but he would have liked a bit more spin on his second serves. He shared, "The power this racquet had helped me go big on my first serves. The slightly added length gave me a bit more leverage when hitting flat first serves, and I could consistently rely on them when going down the T. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same faith in the racquet when hitting topspin second serves. As I experienced with my groundstrokes, I had a difficult time controlling the depth of the ball when trying to hit with a bit more topspin. Often times, I couldn't quite generate enough spin to bring the ball down inside the service box. I felt like I had to take something off my second serves to get them inside the box, and against strong returners like Michelle that never ends up in my favor!"

On the other hand, Michelle struggled when hitting serves with the Burn 95 Countervail. She explained, "Serving with this racquet took me a bit longer to master, and I think I might have had the same issue with the previous version. If I timed it right I could really get the serve moving. However, it didn't happen easily for me. I was hitting the slice serve pretty effectively, though, and was able to pull my opponent off the court when I wasn't focusing on trying to generate too much power."

Returns - Score: 86

Everyone really liked returning serves with the Burn 95 Countervail. "This was where I could really turn this racquet into a weapon," Michelle raved. "I loved teeing off on returns with the Burn 95 Countervail. It was a great first strike racquet. When I really attacked the first ball I got a weak response or the ball didn't come back at all. While the head size is 95 square inches, it didn't offer a completely controlled response, and if I didn't strike the ball just right it was easy for me to overhit and miss by just a couple of inches. It was also a great racquet to have in hand against bigger servers. The extra length helped me reach and stab at balls, and it's solid and stable feel helped me dig returns out and keep the ball deep until I could rework the point to get myself into an offensive position."

Troy loved how easy it was to hit offensive returned and get the ball back deep. He praised, "Hitting serve returns with this racquet was likely my favorite part of the playtest. Because this racquet can generate easy power and depth, it performed great on short back swing returns. As long as I could get this racquet behind the serve I was able to get the return to land deep enough in my opponent's court to be in a neutral position to start to the rally. Whenever the server left the ball sitting up on a second serve I could take a big swing and punish the ball hard and flat for a return winner. My backhand slice returns were also getting easy depth and pace. Whenever I faced big servers the Burn 95 Countervail provided plenty of stability to block the ball back with ease."

"The solid response from the Burn 95 Countervail worked well for me on returns," Chris offered. "I tend to drive my returns with less spin compared to my groundstrokes. I found the Burn 95 Countervail maneuverable enough to keep me from feeling slowed down, and I could take a healthy cut at the ball. I was hitting my drive backhand well, and I was able to control the power of the racquet better than when I tried to hit my slice backhand."

Rounding out the group, Mark said, "I have a short swing on my return, and this racquet worked well for my style. The racquet's blend of traits allowed me to chip or swing effectively through contact."

Overall - Score: 84