Breakdown

Groundstrokes: 8.5

Despite their varying playing styles, all of our testers jelled with the CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition. The consensus among the testers was that the racquet is fast, maneuverable and comfortable, which allowed them to generate spin and maintain control and precision from the baseline. Troy appreciated those qualities on his groundstrokes, especially when he was taking bigger swings. They gave him a good sense of precision and control that let him place the ball with confidence. He described, "When I was hitting from the baseline, which is a majority of my time on court, I found easy maneuverability and a really nice feel on contact. I loved the level of precision and control when I was swinging fast; I really felt like I could place the ball precisely. I was also impressed with the fact that even though this racquet felt pretty light and maneuverable, it still had good stability on contact. The feel was solid on contact, and I thought that the stiffness of the frame was just right -- not too flexible and not too stiff. If I had a knock on this racquet, I would say that it needs more head weight to add some plow through."

Mark quickly found a groove with the Dunlop CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition. He explained, "After maybe 20 minutes of play, I knew I liked the Dunlop CX 200 (18x20) from the baseline. Singles-wise, I play mostly from the backcourt with points occasionally ending at net, and the Dunlop CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition fits that style to a T. The combination of its weight and frame stiffness delivered lots of comfort and a little bit of power, which made defending in long points a bit easier while still being responsive enough to complement my offensive attempts. In addition, the dense string pattern, especially with an edgy polyester, was very topspin- and slice-friendly, making the CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition feel precise in terms of shot depth and targeting."

Munish struggled initially with the CX 200 (18x20) LE, and he found it tough to consistently generate enough depth on his shots. He said, "The CX 200 (18x20) was a bit of a struggle to get used to. I wasn't able to get the ball very deep, so my opponents were able to dominate rallies from the start. I also struggled when hitting against heavy pace and spin players. I felt like I was getting pushed around more than usual. I really had to depend on my slice to change the pace, and thankfully, my slices were working very well. The racquet's maneuverability and 18x20 string pattern played a huge role in the success of my slices. Sneaking in drop shots was also quite easy because I got great feel from this racquet."

Chris put the easy-swinging CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition to good use from the baseline. He said, "I found this racquet very fast and easy to maneuver when hitting groundstrokes. I was able to turn the racquet head speed I was generating into lots of spin, and all of the topspin made it easy to whip angles and lobs. When rallying baseline to baseline, I was able to hit with lots of margin for error over the net and still get my topspin shots to dip way inside the lines. I usually prefer heavier swinging racquets when hitting with slice, but I also found the CX 200 (18x20) LE to work well for those shots. I think the 18 main strings helped me knife through shots without floating the ball and losing depth control. I was surprised by how comfortable the racquet played considering its low swingweight. The stability at contact wasn't bad either. While on paper the specs of this racquet look prime for customization, I enjoyed it so much in stock form that I never felt the need to hit the court with a weighted up version."

Volleys: 8.3

After racking up multiple hours with the CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition, our playtesters consistently noted its crisp, comfortable feel and good stability, but some thought the lower swingweight made finishing points harder. Chris found the CX 200 (18x20) LE to be super fast and easy to maneuver, which made hitting volleys feel controlled and enjoyable. He explained, "I was able to hit my volleys with lots of control with the CX 200 (18x20). I enjoyed the racquet strung at 48 pounds; the stringbed pocketed the ball well and also felt very forgiving at that tension. I had fun serve-and-volleying with this racquet because it was so fast and easy to maneuver. I felt like I had a lot of control on my low pick-up volleys because I was able to flick my wrist to hit a little angle or open the racquet face to go for depth."

The CX 200 (18x20) provided Munish good accuracy on his volleys. He said, "This racquet offers very easy targeting. I could hit with great precision, but sometimes I lacked the power and plow through to finish the point. There were a few times when some of the deep punch volleys that I'd typically be able to finish the point with would be reachable. This would lead to longer rallies and even the loss of points at times. I really liked the feel I got from the CX 200 (18x20) LE up at the net. The racquet provides a crisp feel, but it also keeps any shock from transferring to my arm. Due to this, I was able to hit a lot of drop volleys and angles. I added some weight to the head of my frame after a few hits to combat some of the stability issues I was having. It didn't feel like it added much to the plow through or the punch of my volleys, but it definitely helped with any off-center shots."

The CX 200 (18x20) LE gave Mark enough stability at the net to control his shots. He said, "I did feel connected to and confident with my volleys for the most part. Unless the pace of a passing shot was excessive, the stability of the CX 200 (18x20) at net was sufficient for me to effectively control the direction and depth of most of my volleys. Admittedly, the lower swingweight made it a little tougher to put away volleys with power, but it did complement volleys that required a softer touch."

Troy was impressed with the CX 200 (18x20)'s performance at net. He said, "I found volleys to be very controlled and precise. I was surprised to find a good level of stability considering this racquet's swingweight. I could redirect the ball with ease, even against hard hitters. The control, feel and precision really stood out to me, and I could hit my spots and use my crafty type of game to my best ability up at net. Like I mentioned on groundstrokes, I would likely add some weight to the head to help with some power and depth, and I might even drop the tension a bit lower to help with pocketing since this racquet has a tight string pattern."

Serves: 8.1

On serve, our team did their best to put the maneuverability and whippiness of the CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition to good use. Mark got a big enough boost on his serve from the CX 200 (18x20) LE to make it the highlight of his playtest. He said, "Although serving is not the strongest part of my game, it did turn out to be my favorite shot to hit with the CX 200 (18x20) LE. I play with a similar racquet, so it was an easy transition for me on serve. That said, I was actually more confident serving with the CX 200 (18x20) LE than with my own racquet. In particular, my serves to the body and out wide on the ad side felt natural and consistent."

Munish didn't generate much power on his serves with the CX 200 (18x20), but he was still able to construct points effectively. He said, "I lacked a lot of power, so I wasn't getting a whole lot of aces or free points. I could still hit my spots but my serves weren’t as troubling for my opponent. I loved the control and feel of the racquet on flat serves, but the serve itself wasn't damaging. On second serves, I was able to hit with a lot of racquet head acceleration and get a decent amount of spin from the racquet. The easiest serve to hit was my flat serve on the T. That's the serve I felt most confident hitting from both sides."

The CX 200 (18x20) LE helped Chris add serious pace and spin to his serves. He said, "My slice serve was working very well with this racquet. I was very happy with both the pace and the spin I was able to generate. I don't have a big serve, but I was able to sneak in a couple of aces a set with my slice serve wide on the deuce court. Again, I liked the arc I could get on the ball with this racquet. As with other shots, I could go high over the net and still get the ball to dip inside the lines."

"It was all about hitting my spots and being precise when it came to serves," added Troy. "I wasn't necessarily getting a boost in power from the CX 200 (18x20) LE, but I did like how fast and whippy it felt. I felt like I could generate a lot of racquet speed on my serves without any added stress on my shoulder. I found my first serves to be nice and precise, especially when going up the middle (or the T). I also found the easy maneuverability to help on my kick and slice serves. I wasn't getting that added bite on the ball like I do with a more open string pattern, but the easy whipability from this CX 200 (18x20) helped to make up for the lack of spin from the tight string pattern."

Returns: 8

The CX 200 (18x20) Limited Edition offered our playtesters solid control and stability on returns. The racquet's maneuverability also allowed our testers to utilize a variety of shots. The CX 200 (18x20) LE offered Chris excellent control and a solid, stable feel on returns, but it did lack a little bit of plow through. He said, "When I had decent swing speed I found the CX 200 (18x20) to play with better-than-expected stability on returns, and I could drive my returns with solid pace, depth and spin. Block returns were OK, but I preferred the racquet when I was generating more of a swing. I also found success cutting the ball with lots of slice to hit an angle or drop shot return."

Munish found that he had to change up his playing style to return successfully with the CX 200 (18x20). He explained, “My return of serve is something I struggled a bit with at first due to the low launch angle and low-powered nature of the frame. A lot of my balls were landing short and my opponents were able to take advantage of that. I had to compensate by holding the racquet a bit more open faced and adding a ton of racquet head speed to get the ball deep. This didn't always work because I didn't have the time it takes to really pronate on first serve returns, so I mixed in some chips and slices, which was quite easy to do with this frame. I was able to crank the ball a bit more on second serve returns and direct it to my liking. The return of serve is another section of my game. That was really aided by the extra weight I added to the hoop of the frame."

While Troy enjoyed the CX 200 (18x20)'s feel on contact, he did wish for a bit more plow through. He described, "I loved the control and the stable feel on my returns, but I was left wanting a bit more plow through to help with the depth of my shots. My go-to racquet is not only extended (27.5 inches long), but I also have it customized to a 340 swingweight. With the CX 200 (18x20) LE, I was dropping down by about 30 swingweight points from my racquet of choice. I was able to make it work, but I just felt the ball was landing a bit short, especially on my slice and chip returns, which I tend to rely on frequently on my backhands."

Fast, heavy serves ended up causing some problems for Mark, though he did appreciate the racquet's consistent feel. He said, "The Dunlop CX 200 (18x20) LE felt solid on the return no matter where ball contact was on the stringbed, but it did flutter a bit under the pressure of a hard serve. If serves were kicked high to my backhand, I was able to chip and charge my way forward without any stability issues while aiming the return low at my opponent's feet. However, I was hitting some erratic returns when serves came in flat and hot."

Breakdown Summary