Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 84

The Graphene 360 Radical Pro felt maneuverable, powerful and spin friendly for our team on groundstrokes, but it was a little too light for some. Julie took advantage of the maneuverability by tapping into the Graphene 360 Radical Pro's spin and power. She noted, "The Radical Pro felt pretty maneuverable for its weight. From the baseline, I was able to hit big, speedy strokes, which made it easy to generate tons of power, and hit either flat or powerful spin shots. I usually like to control my pace and switch it up during point play, but with the Radical Pro I had the confidence to let my swings go without fearing my shots would bounce out, which was something I really enjoyed. However, I wish I had more feel when I slowed the racquet speed down to place my shot, because in those instances I felt disconnected from the ball. I had the same issue with my slice; I didn't get the control I needed to keep the ball bouncing low. I also found it difficult to find my short cross-court angles on both forehands and backhands, and I got caught up swinging big and fast even on defense, which was fun, but totally inappropriate for my game. The stiffness and maneuverability of the racquet forced me to stay aggressive and hit the ball on the rise. This is a racquet that aggressive baseliners will fall in love with."

Troy has tested several versions of the Radical Pro. He compared this update to the older generations, saying, "The feel was firmer and crisper than the Graphene Touch Radical Pro, but it still had a somewhat muted response. When I was swinging away from the baseline I found a decent amount of control, and the ball wasn't necessarily flying long on me. However, due to the muted response, I wasn't finding a high level of precision. I was never fully confident when I tried to place my groundstrokes, so I felt like I had to aim at big targets. This racquet did feel very fast and maneuverable, considering it's the 'Pro' version. The average swingweight is a bit lower than the previous Graphene Touch, and I noticed a very whippy feel to it. The stability and plow through weren't up to par with the previous versions of the Radical Pro. The Graphene 360 Radical Pro was twisting in my hand when I faced big hitters, specifically when I made contact slightly off center, and I was craving some added plow through, especially when trying to counterpunch and redirect my opponent's shots. Toward the end of the playtest we replaced the stock bumper and grommets with the Head Graphene Radical CAP. This increased the swingweight quite a bit and improved the stability. It seems odd, but it actually changed the feel of the racquet, and I noticed a lot less vibration on contact. I didn't like this racquet when I hit my backhand slice. It lacked feel and plow through. With the addition of the CAP, the slice was much smoother, but the feel was still lacking."

Michelle elaborated, "The Radical line is my favorite from Head, and the original Graphene Radical Pro is my favorite of the Radical Pros. Unfortunately, this playtest did not change that. Initially, this new racquet felt too light and too fast. There wasn't enough weight in the tip, and I kept catching myself leading with the butt cap on my forehand side. I also thought the racquet was a bit unpredictable; I was rarely sure if my shots were going to drop in or out. After a week or two, Troy put on some Radical CAP grommets, and with that modification the racquet became much more suited to my game and swing style. That is sort of when my playtest really began. With the CAP grommets on, I was hitting a heavier ball that kept my opponents playing defense. This made me realize that I still do like what this Radical Pro has to offer, but I would definitely want to customize it by adding some weight to the head to suit my preferences. If you are familiar with the previous Radical Pro, it should be a fairly seamless transition to this version. The Graphene 360 made the racquet feel a bit stiffer and more powerful. I wouldn't mind seeing Head differentiate the Pro version to offer a tad more control and plow through while allowing the MP to be explosive and powerful."

On the other hand, nothing ever quite fell into place for Sean's groundstrokes. He said, "After hitting with the newest versions of the Instinct, Speed and Extreme, I expected this update to feel less muted, but also to have less plow through than the previous model. After the first couple of hits it was apparent that this newest Radical Pro was stiffer than the last version, and although it swung quicker, it was really lacking in the stability department. Troy tried to fix this by adding some CAP grommets, which honestly really helped me play against hard hitters, but it hurt the racquet's maneuverability. Even though the swingweight was up near 340, the stability felt like that of a racquet with a swingweight 15 points lower, while still swinging slowly through the air. In addition to that, I had issues with the stiffness and the launch angle, which had the ball coming off the racquet at a low trajectory, especially on my forehand side."

Volleys - Score: 82

When our playtesters moved forward to the net, the Graphene 360 Radical Pro got the job done dependably. Although the Graphene 360 Radical Pro's attributes weren't to Sean's liking at the baseline, he unlocked the racquet's performance at net. He said, "Despite lacking in stability, this racquet was nice to volley with because of its maneuverability. I take a bigger-than-average swing on my volleys, and I feel like the low-powered response from this racquet served me well. I took a larger stroke when trying to send the ball through the court, and I softened my hands up when I wanted to drop the ball short. In both scenarios, this racquet was up to the task."

Once again, Julie found that being aggressive with the Graphene 360 Radical Pro paid off. She elaborated, "On volleys, the stiffness and maneuverability of the racquet gave me a very crisp feel, which I enjoyed when poaching and hitting aggressive volleys. However, if the contact happened below the net, I never found enough touch to control the volleys, and the ball flew up too much. After adding some weight at the head of the racquet, I was able to find the stability I was lacking on volleys, and I felt more connected to the ball on my touch volleys."

Michelle agreed that this racquet was a solid performer on volleys. She added, "The Graphene 360 Radical Pro felt firm at net. It wasn't uncomfortable, and it felt relatively stable and simple to direct my shots. I could punch volleys deep in the court, and I got good pace when being aggressive. Although there was not a ton of touch coming from this racquet, it still felt solid at the net. It was also very maneuverable and easy to get into position during fast exchanges. I felt comfortable at net and never really had any issues when it came to volleys or overheads."

Although Troy could appreciate the Graphene 360 Radical Pro's performance at net after some modifications, he was expecting more from a racquet with "Pro" in its name. He explained, "At the beginning of the playtest I struggled a bit with the feel of this racquet on my volleys. I found it to be jarring when the ball made contact outside of the sweetspot, and it felt less stable when facing hard-hit shots. For being a 'Pro' version, it just felt a bit flimsy. After we switched to the CAP grommets the feel was much more stable. I also found the response to be less firm, and the added head weight from the CAP grommet helped reduce the vibrations. The increase in swingweight helped me achieve easier depth on my volleys and led to easier put-away power. Even though the performance was much better with the CAP grommet, I never quite felt precise with my volleys; the touch and feel just weren't there for me. When trying to place my volleys, I never found the confidence to locate my targets. The precision had more in common with a 100-square-inch headsize racquet than it did with most of the 98-square-inch racquets I've playtested."

Serves - Score: 79

The playtest squad was split when it came to the Graphene 360 Radical Pro's capabilities on serves. For Julie, fast swings were key to successful serves. She stated, "I could hit very powerful serves, especially when aiming down the T or at the body. I could feel the ball well and place it right where I wanted, as long as I kept my racquet speed up. With that being said, I tend to slow my racquet speed down when hitting a wide serve on the deuce side, and I definitely lost control and stability at that angle. I was very confident on my first serves. Like with my groundstrokes, my racquet speed acceleration allowed me to hit big and flat. The Graphene 360 Radical Pro also helped me generate a lot of spin on my second serves, so I was able to find both efficiency and consistency."

Michelle found good performance both in stock form and with the CAP modification. She said, "This is the other area where I really enjoyed the Graphene 360 Radical Pro. I felt I could accelerate and hit my targets successfully with it in stock form. Once we got the CAP grommets on my serves penetrated the court even better. Hitting kick serves was easy, and I could find good grip and spin when trying to get the ball outside of my opponent's strike zone. This racquet helped with some explosive power, but if I was playing with my Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph and switched to the Radical Pro, it was obvious to me that the Radical Pro didn't pack the same amount of plow through."

The remainder of the team liked the performance best with CAP grommets. Troy described, "The Head Graphene 360 Radical Pro's maneuverability made it easy to generate spin on my serves. The 16x19 string pattern also helped me generate a lot of action on my slice and kick serves. The downside was that I lacked some of the depth and power that I typically find from racquets with a bit higher swingweight. A lot of my spin second serves were landing short in the service box or clipping the top of the net. I started to focus on aiming higher over the net, which helped me dial in my targets. With the addition of the CAP grommets, I had no issue with the depth on my serves and found more pace on flat first serves due to the added swingweight. It wasn't as easy to generate spin with the added weight in the hoop, but my targeting was much more precise."

Sean had a similar experience, adding, "For some reason, the problem I had with the launch angle on my forehand carried over into my serves. I had a lot of difficulty getting the ball to clear the net, particularly while I was hitting up on kick serves. The response improved once we added the CAP grommets to the frame, and I noticed less twisting at impact."

Returns - Score: 82

The Graphene 360 Radical Pro swung fast on returns and our testers found it to perform best on aggressive swings. Troy described, "This Graphene 360 Radical Pro felt very fast and maneuverable, but it was lacking the plow through and stability on contact that I crave when I'm returning serves. The plow through and stability were much improved with the added weight of the CAP grommets. I was able to block my returns back deep, and the racquet didn't flutter when facing high-speed serves. For some reason, when I had the time to take a crack at my returns the launch angle was low. I was frequently hitting the top of the net even though I felt like I hit the return with enough net clearance. As with my serves, I had to adjust by aiming higher over the net. With the improvement of the added weight in the hoop, I was pleased with the Graphene 360 Radical Pro's performance on my returns, but I still wasn't finding a lot of precision. I found myself aiming for big targets and not feeling confident enough to place my returns near the corners of the court."

Unlike Troy, Julie liked the quickness of the stock Graphene 360 Radical Pro on returns. She said, "My returns were undoubtedly the most aggressive they have ever been. I don't typically take many risks on my returns and prefer hitting big in the center of the court. The Radical Pro allowed me to do it comfortably even when returning powerful first serves. This racquet is so speedy that I was able to counterpunch first serves fairly easily and generate tons of power by accelerating the racquet."

Sean noted how important a full swing was for his returns. He said, "I had some difficulty returning serves when I couldn't take a full swing. Most first serve returns were met with an unstable and unpredictable response from the racquet. Conversely, when I had time to set up I enjoyed how easy it was to dip the ball and take some big cracks."

Michelle never quite found her groove on returns. She said, "This Radical Pro was just a bit too unstable for me when returning. Although I found adequate stability at the net, the racquet definitely spiraled at times or crumbled in my hands when returning. I often found it swinging too fast, and I needed more weight to help control my returns. Blocking big first serves back wasn't always as predictable or as stable as it is with my Pro Staff RF97 Autograph. The CAP grommets and extra weight did make me feel more dialed in, but in stock form the racquet felt almost toy-like at times. I wasn't super connected to my returns, and I found them to be a bit unpredictable; my forehands were flying for sure! The second I started playing points and needed to execute my return, things just didn't go well. The added rush of adrenaline just compounded the issues I was having. However, I think that with further customization I could get dialed in and make this racquet work for me."

Overall - Score: 79