Head Graphene Touch Extreme Lite Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 81

The Head Graphene Touch Extreme Lite offered our TW playtesters lots of power and great maneuverability on their groundstrokes. Brittany had to make a small adjustment during her first hit. She said, "The Extreme Lite is maneuverable and powerful, and it has a slightly higher launch angle than my racquet of choice. This caused my groundstrokes to land deep in the court or past the baseline. There was some spin potential to bring the balls down inside the baseline, but I would have liked more spin to be more consistent. I needed to change my flatter game a little to keep from overhitting when I was being aggressive. However, fellow playtester Chris mentioned that my groundstrokes were skidding through the court, making them difficult to return."

"As always, I will play with a test racquet for the first time without knowing any specifics about its weight and balance," Mark explained. "but when I see 'Lite' in the name I have a pretty good idea that the racquet will be easy to swing and very maneuverable. From my first swing with Head's new Graphene Touch Extreme Lite to my last, I experienced a high level of maneuverability, just as expected. What I didn't expect was for the Extreme Lite to be as stable as it was against heavier struck shots. I was a bit surprised that I could fend off the attacks of my usual opponents with a racquet weighing less than 10 oz strung. I was able to redirect pace (to a point), easily develop lots of spin and nail larger targets off of either wing with the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite."

Tiffani had some ups and downs from the baseline with the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite. She offered, "It is extremely easy to swing, and it offers a very lively response off the stringbed. The string pattern is also quite open, and when paired with a quick swing I actually expected to hit with more spin. However, I was hitting just as flat as I usually do, which led to control issues. My racquet has a denser string pattern than the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite, so I had issues with control. I tended to miss long with my shots, especially when trying to hit put-away shots. On the upside, I enjoyed the more oval head shape of this Extreme update over the rounder head shapes. The Graphene Touch technology also suited the lightweight spec of this racquet. Shots slightly off-center felt more forgiving than other racquets at this weight."

Chris had success with this lighter version of Extreme right off the bat, saying, "The Graphene Touch Extreme Lite was super easy to whip around from the baseline. I really enjoyed working the ball around the court with spin when using this racquet. I immediately noticed less plow through power compared to the MP version, but I found it easier to control the lively string pattern in the Lite. I felt more confident attacking the ball with bigger swings since the racquet didn't push the ball as deep. The result was excellent access to spin and more aggressive play inside the baseline. I also found that with a fast swing the racquet didn't get pushed around much, so stability wasn't much of an issue despite this racquet's lighter weight. The only groundstroke I missed the mass of the MP on was my backhand slice. I couldn't drive the ball quite as well, but I still felt like I was hitting that shot well."

Volleys - Score: 79

Maneuverability was the standout characteristic of the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite at the net. However, the playtesters were also impressed with the stability they received from this lightweight racquet. Tiffani raved, "I again appreciated the quickness of this racquet, and it was the standout quality of the Extreme Lite at net. I could get the racquet into position, and when I did the stringbed provided good pop. For its weight, the comfort was pretty good on off-center shots."

With the racquet strung up with a multifilament, Chris was able to optimize the feel. He noted, "The Graphene Touch Extreme Lite continued to surprise me with how solid it felt for its weight when I moved up to net. We only used a multifilament in this racquet since it is too light for a poly-based string. With a multi I thought the level of feel on volleys was spot on. The soft stringbed response had me feeling connected to my volleys because it felt like the stringbed was pocketing the ball very well."

"The light weight of the Extreme Lite made it really easy to get it into position for any shot hit my way," Brittany continued. "This maneuverability was expected when a strung racquet weighs less than 10 oz, but what did surprise me was how remarkably stable it was for its weight. The Graphene Touch Extreme Lite handled pace quite well, and I was able to be effective up at net. Of course, there were a couple of times when I could feel the racquet twisting in my hand on harder hit passing shots, but it happened much less often than I was expecting."

Mark couldn't agree more with the other playtesters. He added, "Maneuverability was top notch with this Extreme Lite, and as long as the ball pace wasn't too excessive I could get pretty creative with my volley shot selection."

Serves - Score: 78

The TW playtesters were left wanting a little more weight when it came to serving with the Head Graphene Touch Extreme Lite. However, Mark was impressed with the performance of the racquet. He said, "I usually prefer heavier racquets, especially on serve, but I have to say that I felt rewarded serving with the Extreme Lite. Between its 9.9 oz strung weight, firm beam trait and 16x19 pattern, I was able to generate an effective serve by using more wrist action than usual. On serve, ironically, my PlaySight numbers were about the same, whether I was playing with my racquet (which weighs more) or the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite. This was my favorite part of the playtest."

While Tiffani was able to generate racquet head speed easily, she would have liked a little more weight and power on her serve. She offered, "The Extreme Lite is certainly easy to swing, but like other super light racquets, I just missed a little weight on my serves. I could swing the racquet quickly overhead, but my serves didn't have much to them and were easy for my opponent to attack."

Chris was in a similar boat, but he was able to make the racquet work during point play. He described, "The shot where some added weight was most needed was my serve. I was still able to generate lots of spin and my accuracy was good, but my serves lacked the zip I found with the MP version. I simply need a racquet with more plow through mass to help me hit bigger serves. Still, I was able to start off points aggressively by focusing on hitting sharp angles or jamming the returner with body serves."

Brittany said, "The serve was where I was missing a bit of weight the most. I could get the racquet up and moving quite easily, but I needed more mass behind my serves. Whether I was hitting a first serve or a second serve, my ball was sitting up just a tad longer than I wanted, which gave my opponent a little extra time to attack the ball. I was starting the point off in a neutral position instead of on the offensive. While I could access some spin, I mostly focused on placement when hitting my serves."

Returns - Score: 76

There were mixed reviews on returns from the TW playtesters. While some liked the maneuverable, fast feel of the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite, some wanted more control and stability. Chris was pleasantly surprised, stating,"The light and fast feel of this racquet came into its own on returns. I was able to whip it around very quickly, which opened up lots of options on returns. The fast feel also enabled me to tap into a lot of spin. I hit some great angles and was also happy with how well I was driving deep returns. My slice backhand return worked better than expected. I had anticipated losing some depth on that shot but was happy to find it working well even with such a light racquet."

Brittany prefers returning over serving with most racquets, and the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite was no exception. She detailed, "The Extreme Lite was fast and quick through the air on return of serves. I liked how easy it was to get the racquet in place (sometimes a little too early) and to step in and attack the ball. My returns were launching so I had to dial it back a little bit to gain some control on my return. Nonetheless, I had a blast returning and preferred it over serving."

This was the one area of the playtest where the lighter weight of the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite was not a positive for Mark. He critiqued,"This is a very well made frame, but once the spin and velocity increased on the incoming serves I had a hard time getting the racquet through contact without it wobbling."

Tiffani had the same issues with control on her returns as she had with her groundstrokes. She said, "While I did enjoy that I could take full swings at a lot of serves because the Graphene Touch Extreme Lite swung so quickly, I also struggled to keep my returns under control. It would take me a while to find my range with the open string pattern. However, I was impressed with the comfort level of the Extreme Lite."

Overall - Score: 78