Breakdown

Groundstrokes: 8.6

As our team expected, the 2025 Black Ace Pro played with a lot of precision and control. Despite its low-powered nature, the racquet allowed our testers to utilize their own styles during the playtest. Oak had a lot of fun with the Black Ace Pro. He said, "I absolutely loved the feel of this stick. The throat flex reminded me of a Yonex VCORE, and it had shades of a Wilson Pro Staff at the other end of the hoop. You get the soft nature of a more flexible frame, but with the solid response of a control-oriented box beam. Backhands were so satisfying to drill with this racquet, and I thought the feel on my forehand was surprisingly good as well. The combination of a 97-square-inch hoop and a 305-gram unstrung static weight is a bit of a rarity, and I think the Wilson Ultra Pro v4s are the only other ones we currently have available. Combine all of the above with a sub-20-mm constant box beam and you get a seriously whippy and precise racquet. It is just a really fun frame that feels obedient and encouraging - definitely worth a try if you like that Pro Staff, Yonex Percept or Babolat Pure Strike feel but are craving more comfort."

The 2025 Black Ace Pro offered Mark outstanding comfort and effectiveness from the baseline. He said, "The only thing that exceeded the comfort level of the new 2025 Black Ace Pro from the baseline was how effective I was with my groundstrokes. There was enough weight overall, particularly in the hoop, to power both my forehand and backhand. The spacing of its 16x19 pattern made it easy to generate plenty of topspin and keep the ball in play near the lines. I did have to make a slight adjustment to the angle of the racquet face on my backhand slice to prevent that shot from sitting up. I never felt like I was getting pushed around from ball pace, but due to how soft the layup of graphite is, I did feel like I had to try to play more of a first-strike style of tennis, which is opposite to my counterpunch mindset."

While Munish was impressed with the Black Ace Pro's performance on his slices and its ability to generate spin, he found the feel and feedback a little lacking, which made it harder for him to shape shots and create angles. He said, "Even though I didn't expect much feel from the racquet, I was still surprised how little feedback I got from it. I was still able to generate spin, but I struggled to really shape my shots and go for some angles. I loved it on my slices. I felt like I could keep the ball low and hit good attacking slices. I wish the racquet had a bit more power because I found a decent chunk of my shots landing a bit too short, but it wasn't anything that caused problems. I was still able to make my opponent move, and I hit some winners as well."

Volleys: 8.5

The exceptional maneuverability and added stability of the 2025 Black Ace Pro really made an impression on our testers. Mark could control the net and hit aggressive put-away volleys. He said, "I did feel pretty confident and connected to the ball hitting any sort of volley inside the service lines. For almost any shot I hit, but especially at net, the 2025 Black Ace Pro afforded premium dwell time and pocketed the ball nicely. This benefit was always noticeable and helpful, whether I was trying to put away a volley or digging one out to stay in a point."

Oak thoroughly enjoyed the Black Ace Pro's directional control at net. He said, "Volleys with this racquet were magical. I loved how the 2025 Black Ace Pro absorbed and redirected pace at the net with ease and finesse. It was just a stellar racquet at net that let me do whatever I wanted with the ball.”

Munish found the 2025 Black Ace Pro maneuverable and stable for its weight. However, the lack of feel and feedback led to some errors at the net. He said, "The Black Ace Pro felt very maneuverable and stable. I was surprised by the stability of the racquet because I have struggled with that on other 305-gram racquets. One knock was that I wasn't getting much feel and feedback. This is something I really rely on, and the lack of it caused some errors at the net. However, I was still able to direct the ball and even hit some angles."

Serves: 8.4

Despite not offering much power or spin on serves, the 2025 Black Ace Pro excelled in other areas. Oak raved about this racquet's performance on serves, saying, "My goodness, this thing is a hammer on serves — so smooth through the air and on the ball during contact. I was simply delighted by how this frame served. I loved how the easy pop didn't mean a lack of control. Just a masterclass, really."

Mark found great directional control when hitting wider serves, but he had to work harder to make up for the racquet's lack of power. He described, "On serve, the 2025 Black Ace Pro was predictably oriented toward precision rather than power. Because I do not use a ton of racquet head speed for shots over my head, I had to put a little extra effort into my serve to get it up to speed. On the other hand, I was seeing more movement on my serve compared to what I was generating with the Black Ace (315), and hitting serves out wide to either side was easier for me than usual."

Just like Mark, Munish found it very easy to direct his serves with the Black Ace Pro. However, he found that his kick serves weren't as effective. He said, "Serves were great. This is not the most powerful racquet, but it's very accurate. I could hit all my spots and very rarely did I fault. There were times when I could've used a bit more spin potential, though. I found that a lot of my kick serves weren't as effective, and there were times when the return would come back super fast.”

Returns: 8.1

The directional control and stability of the Black Ace Pro were the highlights in this category. These qualities allowed our playtesters to swing freely and redirect even the biggest of serves. The Black Ace Pro's stable response really stood out for Munish on returns, allowing him to handle first serves without much trouble. He explained, "The stability of this racquet shone through again on returns. I didn't face much difficulty with returning first serves, but I didn't hit the most penetrating shots. I had to stand back a bit and swing into the ball to get my returns deep. The maneuverability was also something that came through for me. I found myself on the receiving end of some nasty kick serves, and I was able to get the racquet up and through the ball in time."

On returns, Oak took full advantage of the 2025 Black Ace Pro's amazing feel, precise targeting and ability to redirect pace. He said, "Again, the Black Ace Pro continued to shine here. It was super easy to redirect pace, and I felt like I had a plethora of options at my disposal. The overall feel on the return was just superb. As far as comfort frames go, this Black Ace Pro has to be in my top three right now. It feels so good for picking a spot and then powering through it."

Even when playing against bigger servers, Mark had no difficulties redirecting pace with the Black Ace Pro. Despite its slightly higher swing weight, this racquet felt very whippy. He said, "Now that we have new on-court technology that tracks everything about your game, including serve speeds, all the testers have been bumping up their serve speeds. The Black Ace Pro obediently handled the increase in serve pressure. Even with its strung swingweight, the Black Ace Pro felt nimble and easy to get through contact and around the other side of my body."

Breakdown Summary