Tecnifibre TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 78

From his first hit with the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19, Chris was impressed with how it played from the baseline. He began, "I loved how the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 responded on a full, fast swing. The stringbed pocketed the ball well, and I liked how the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 played with a set of co-poly string in it at a low tension. It reminded me a lot of the Srixon Revo CX 2.0 we just tested. Both racquets offer a silky smooth feel, a high level of maneuverability, great spin and an emphasis on control. I said this in the Srixon review and the same rings true here: The racquet is a tad light for me in stock form and needs some weight in the hoop to be ideal. I was able to find solid pace, but mostly I was enjoying how I could move the ball around the court with lots of precision. Whether I was driving through the ball, hitting some dirty slice or looking to place the ball with touch, I felt my targeting was spot on with this racquet."

Michelle didn't have any problems when she picked up the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 because it did almost everything relatively well. However, she found it didn't really enhance her aggressive game. She explained, "In stock form, it was a bit light and didn't have enough plow though for my personal preferences, but I liked how it offered good spin, good depth and felt nice at contact. There was a nice blend of control and power. To me, it felt like a modern racquet blended with a classic feel, and it was a nice racquet to rally and drill with. However, once I started playing points I was just struggling to be effective with my shots. I had to work too hard to put points away, and I really lacked some mass behind my shots. However, the sweetspot felt large and the racquet was pretty forgiving. There are other racquets I would gravitate toward because they have a bit more plow through, and I can put balls away sooner."

It took only a few swings from the baseline for Troy to get comfortable with the head light and fast feel of this racquet. He said, "I didn't have any difficulty timing my groundstrokes, even though this racquet has a swingweight nearly 25 points lower than my racquet of choice. I recently playtested the Dunlop Srixon Revo CX 2.0 Tour 18x20, which had a similar weight and swingweight, and that made this lighter weight racquet easier to adapt to. When I was ripping forehands and backhands I was very satisfied with the point and shoot precision. The 16x19 string pattern made it easy to impart heavy topspin on the ball, and the combination of the open string pattern and the low powered response allowed me to create sharp cross court angles. This racquet really encouraged me to take big cuts at the ball. I was most effective when I stayed on the gas because when I didn't my shots sat up for my opponent to pounce on. When I was flattening out my groundstrokes I preferred the added depth control of the 18x20 version of this racquet; on flatter shots, like put-away short balls, the 16x19 string pattern felt a bit sporadic, and the ball flew on me at times. However, the 16x19 string pattern also allowed me to hit low, skidding backhand slices, but I still preferred the added feedback from the 18x20."

Mark spent the entire playtest playing the 16x19 and the 18x20 string patterns of this racquet side by side. He commented, "Although I found their differences to be slight, I immediately noticed differences from the baseline. I was able to easily get the ball high over the net and deep in the court with the 16x19. I had a harder time hitting smaller targets, though, and the 18x20 racquet did this better. It was easy to generate spin, and the more I played with this racquet from the baseline the more accurate I became with it."

Volleys - Score: 79

Similar to groundstrokes, our team found good playability around the net, but a couple of playtesters would have liked more stability from the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19. Troy felt that adding weight would have boosted the performance in a couple of ways. He explained, "The TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 provided a good amount of control, which allowed me to place my volleys close to the lines, but I wasn't as dialed in as I was with the 18x20 version. The feel at contact was plush when hitting in the sweetspot, but I found an unforgiving response anytime I made contact outside the sweetspot. If I didn't connect perfectly the ball came off the strings with little pace. The TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 got pushed around a bit more than I would have liked when I was volleying hard hit balls. The TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 wasn't as stable as the racquets I typically play with, such as the Wilson Six.One 95 (18x20). With the lack of mass in the head of the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 I found it a bit difficult to get my volleys to land deep in the court. I prefer a racquet where I can align the strings behind the ball and get a solid response — that wasn't always the case with this TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19."

"In all honesty, this racquet performed pretty well at net," began Michelle. "It was relatively stable considering its weight, but I will always take more stability at net! It was easy to get it in position, and for the most part, it absorbed bigger hit balls well. I didn't really have any issues hitting solid volleys. If anything, it played a bit too lively for me at times."

Mark didn't have any issues with the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 at the net. He said, "This racquet provided a stable response for almost any volley that I could reach. It also assisted with a lot of point ending volleys. As with the 18x20 version, volleys were one of my favorite parts of this playtest."

Chris continued to enjoy the feel and control of the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 at net. He offered, "There was a very enjoyable blend of comfort and feel. I got enough feedback from the racquet to place the ball well, yet I never felt any undue vibrations. The racquet gave me the sense that I had a quality frame in my hands. Ideally, I would have liked some extra mass, but as long as I kept the string tension low (48 lbs or lower was best for me) the racquet responded well. I played a lot of doubles with this racquet and always felt confident with it at net."

Serves - Score: 78

The TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 performed well on serves, without any surprises. Michelle was worried about sounding like a broken record, but she had the same experience on serves as she did on her groundstrokes. She commented, "Serves were OK, but not impressive. I found good access to spin and decent power, but nothing earth shattering in terms of speed or precision. On the other hand, there was nothing detrimental either. I just never felt like I was getting the most out of my serve when using this racquet."

Since he playtested both the 18x20 version of this racquet and the 16x19 version, Mark offered a comparison, saying, "It was basically the same story for my groundstrokes and my serves: It was a little challenging to consistently hitting smaller targets with the more open string pattern."

Honing into that open string pattern, Chris generated a lot of spin on his serves. He said, "I found it very easy to get the racquet head through contact with lots of speed, and I served with better than expected pace. I was able to start points off aggressively, as well as force some return errors. I also felt like I could place my serves well, and I was finding my targets with solid consistency. I prefer heavier racquets in general, and there's plenty of room to introduce some heavier serving by treating the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 to some added weight."

Finding decent precision, Troy thought the racquet complemented his ability to be precise on serve. He said, "Flat first serves came with ease; I could generate loads of racquet head speed. Although I consistently found my targets on first serves, I wanted a bit more power. With more weight at the tip of this racquet I could get the pop I was looking for. When it came to spin serves, I was able to get the ball jumping off the court with ease and could use my kick serve as a weapon. I was able to pull my opponent off the court and finish points with a big groundstroke. My spin serves had more spin and kick than usual with this racquet in my hand because the open and lively stringbed and above average maneuverability allowed me to crank up the RPMs on my serves. I found a similar level of power and spin as I did with the Head Graphene Prestige Pro."

Returns - Score: 74

Our team really appreciated the fast feel of the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 when they were returning serves, and they turned fast swings into aggressive returns. Chris enjoyed taking full cuts at incoming serves. He said, "Racquet head speed felt like the best replacement for missing mass and swingweight. I was able to drive returns with depth, pace, accuracy and consistency. On block returns the racquet's comfort impressed me, but there was room for improvement when it came to stability. I had better feel on my returns than I did with the previous version, the TFight 315 Ltd. TP ATP 16 Main. This DC version was more forgiving when I connected slightly off center."

Mark's return of serve came into focus by the middle of his first outing with the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19. He explained, "I was able to keep my backhand slice return very low, and it was very effective. I could also mix in an occasional topspin swing off of either wing."

"I was able to start points off aggressively anytime I stepped in and took a good cut at the serve", said Troy. "The control this racquet provided allowed me to swing big without a fear of overhitting. However, anytime I didn't get a good swing on my return the result was a short ball for my opponent to take a rip at. When I tried to block the ball back on a return I struggled to hit with any sort of depth. Also, the sweetspot was rather small, which made it demanding in the sense that I had to make a clean strike for an effective return. With a racquet like the Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph, as long as I get the strings on the ball the return is likely to get over the net. With the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 I really had to get a good swing to get my return to land past the service line. This racquet didn't bring enough stability when I was facing hard hit serves. I would definitely add some tungsten tape to the head of this racquet to help with some added depth."

Although she found the racquet stable at net, Michelle craved a bit more stability for her returns. She said, "I could tee off and attack returns, but there were times when I just wasn't feeling effective enough because my returns didn't have enough heft behind them. The return is where I like to make a statement, and I would need to add some weight to this racquet for it to work more effectively for my game. It's worth noting that the TFight DC 315 Ltd. 16x19 was adequate and still performed well, but it just didn't enhance my return game, which is an important part of my game."

Overall - Score: 78