Head Graphene Touch Prestige Tour Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 75

Despite small variances in their groundstroke experiences with the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour, our playtesters agreed that this newest offering from Head was easy to use, but ultimately they deemed it underpowered with a muted feel. Our newest playtester, Kristen, acknowledged that there was more power compared to previous versions, but it still fell short of what her game requires. She said, "Thanks to the easy maneuverability of the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour, it was very easy for me to transition into it, and I found it to have a bit more access to power than previous Prestige models. With that said, this is still a low-powered racquet. The effortless access to both slice and topspin was a big plus for me, but I struggled to get predictable results. I found it to have a smaller sweetspot, and anytime I would hit the ball a bit outside of that sweetspot the racquet would have an unpredictable response. My shots were dropping shorter than expected, and it was hard to pinpoint targets. The racquet was also twisting in my hands on off-center shots at times. This kept me from getting into a good groove on my groundstrokes and subsequently landed me in a bit of trouble during points. This was also abetted by the muted and overall low powered feel. The feel didn't give me the feedback and response I need to truly get dialed into my strokes and achieve consistency in depth and power."

The adjustment period was rather short for Brittany, and she quickly discovered some pace missing from her shots. She explained, "The specs of the Prestige racquets are typically outside of my wheelhouse. However, the Tour model is a more user-friendly version. I was actually surprised with how easy it was for me to adjust to it coming from my racquet of choice, the Yonex EZONE DR 100. I found control, stability and plow through right off the bat. This racquet really let me swing out without overhitting, and this racquet definitely offered a little extra free power over other models in the line. However, I definitely had to work harder to hit heavy, deep shots, and when on the defensive my shots were landing short or sitting up. Although I had good control, I found myself going for riskier shots because I wasn't putting the ball away during points. This caused a couple extra unforced errors."

Jason mentioned a handful of the same grievances as his fellow hitters. He noted that the 18x19 string pattern offered adequate access to spin but was also a culprit when it came to the lack of power from the baseline. He said, "I thought the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour was fairly easy to swing from both wings. The spin I was getting on my shots was good considering it's a tighter string pattern on a 99 square inch head. The 18x19 pattern definitely helped my control but took away some pop and ball pocketing. Shots hit outside the sweetspot had a big drop in power, spin and depth. Because this racquet was fairly underpowered, I had to swing extremely hard on every shot to get the power and depth I wanted, which was quite taxing after an hour or so of hitting."

Hannah had mixed feelings when it came to hitting groundstrokes with the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour. She said, "It did everything fairly well as a control oriented option. The sweetspot felt comfortable, and it rewarded me with shots landing past the service line with ease. I could crank up the spin on my shots without too much effort, although in my opinion the racquet lacked maneuverability. I felt shorted in this category when I was trying to set the racquet, and it was dragging through the air a tad. Once I made contact the feel was stiff and not lively. The control was consistent, and I never felt erratic or out of touch with the ball, but I never felt completely dialed in. On paper, the frame's specs are extremely similar to my racquet of choice, the Babolat Pure Strike 16x19, but on court it felt completely opposite it terms of feel, power, swingweight and maneuverability. For some reason, it was difficult for me to get my wrist around my shots, and I felt like it was lacking the necessary swingweight to aid in changing direction and effectively ending points. This made it difficult to move forward with confidence. When I made contact slightly outside the sweetspot, especially on the run, it was difficult to create power, and I even felt some arm soreness when trying to generate extra put-away force and control some of the instability and twisting."

Volleys - Score: 82

From excellent stability to fast handling, the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour's attributes made net play a distinct highlight of the playtest. Jason said, "I really enjoyed hitting volleys with this racquet. It felt very mobile and it didn't require much effort to get it into position for a reaction volley. The maneuverability also translated well to hitting overheads. The Graphene Touch technology didn't take away from the feel too much, so I liked it for touch volleys and drop shots."

Hannah added to Jason's compliments, applauding this racquet's targeting capabilities. She elaborated, "The net portion of this playtest was where I found the most success. My volleys felt extremely stable when I was changing direction and redirecting my opponent's power. If I prepared adequately, aiming volleys was effortless, and I had no trouble hitting my volleys past the service line. When I kept my wrist firm I was able to tap into the response of the racquet to find a perfect mixture of power and control on my volleys."

The praises continued with Kristen's reflection on the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour's stability and swift handling. She said, "The Graphene Touch Prestige Tour played well at net. Due to the easy maneuverability of this racquet it was easy to get into position and react quickly. I found a bit more consistency in stability at net than from the baseline.

Brittany painted a slightly more critical picture than the others, noting that the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour's maneuverability was not as abundant as its touch and stability. She said, "Volleys felt stable up at net. For the most part, the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour had average maneuverability. A couple of times the ball was hit hard at me and I wasn't able to get my racquet in the correct place in time. I had enough feel and touch to be comfortable hitting shorter, angled volleys or pick up half-volleys."

Serves - Score: 75

Our team found plenty of spin and directional control on their serves with the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour. Even so, generating pace was consistently a losing battle. Hannah felt limited on serves even though she found this racquet to be a consistent performer. She said, "Serving with this racquet was similar to the groundstroke experience in that it did everything fairly well, but it was nearly impossible to find extra power. To get my serves in consistently I had to make sure that I increased the racquet head speed and not skimp on acceleration. When I made this adjustment I would make my serve 9 out of 10 times, mostly slicing. However, there was a definite ceiling on the amount of power I could produce."

Kristen was disappointed with the lack of plow through, but like Hannah, she noticed a high percentage of her serves were landing in. She recounted, "This racquet swung very fast on serves but didn't provide a lot of plow through. I found that it really rewarded my spin serves with good precision and depth."

Although Brittany mentioned that she had plenty of plow through, she was not fond of serving with the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour. She said, "The serve is probably my least favorite shot to hit, and this racquet didn't do me any favors. While I appreciated the plow through I received, I had to work really hard to generate pace. I preferred hitting first serves, and I was pretty consistent. However, when I started to get tired I was dumping a ton of serves into the net. When I was at all tentative I definitely paid for it with double faults. I just prefer the easy power that racquets like the Babolat Pure Drive supply."

Jason also noted the above average accuracy he achieved on serves, but he too found that pace was not abundant. He said, "I wasn't getting a lot of power on my serves with this racquet, but I did find good directional control and access to spin. The best part of serving with this racquet was the consistency. I didn't have to hit too many second serves, which is always a good thing."

Returns - Score: 76

The TW playtesters couldn't come to a consensus on the service return portion of the Graphene Touch Prestige Tour review. The lack of power played into both positive and negative narratives, while the maneuverability and control shone for others. Brittany found redemption when it came to the chance to break serve. She explained, "Serve returns were a different story from serves. This racquet was stable and I could take the ball early and redirect it. I never felt like I was being pushed around. I didn't have to worry about overhitting, so I could swing freely and aggressively. This allowed me to start points off offensively and break serve often."

Jason shared some of that confidence on his swings, but he ran into unpredictable outcomes when making contact with the ball outside the sweetspot. He said, "It was nice in the sense that I was able to get in an aggressive mindset and attack every return because of the low power, but it didn't matter how hard I swung if I didn't connect cleanly, because the ball was going to end up short. Chipping the ball back usually resulted in short replies as well."

Adapting to a more control-oriented mindset, Hannah did not find success when attacking serves. She reported, "If my intent while returning was to block back serves, then I was proficient in starting off the point. This intent was important because I would overhit more often than not when I attempted to step in and direct returns. When I aimed at a larger target and didn't attempt to add extra pace my returns were dependable, and I adjusted to hitting a neutral return rather than an aggressive one. Against bigger servers this racquet tended to get pushed around a bit."

Kristen added, "The racquet was definitely easy to get into position on returns; however, I like to hit an aggressive return, and this racquet lacked the power and plow through I prefer.

Overall - Score: 75