Wilson Defyer 98 Pro Racquet Review

During exchanges from the baseline, the spin and power the Defyer 98 Pro consistently produced for our team was formidable. Impressive too was this racquet's inherent maneuverability, which helped our team prepare early or make last second adjustments. As one of our more spin-oriented players, Jason felt entirely comfortable leaning into his topspin-heavy game. He said, "This is a fast-swinging racquet! Thanks to that easy maneuverability I was able to generate heavy spin and excellent depth on my groundstrokes. If you are coming from a Wilson Blade, you'll definitely notice a bit more pop and free power. However, if you're coming from the Babolat Pure Aero 98, you'll find the Defyer 98 Pro's power level is a notch lower. The standout feature here was the maneuverability and spin production."

Although Munish noted that he would like to add weight for his own personal taste, he was creating more angles than usual and was hitting bigger shots from deeper locations. He explained, "There was a lot of power in the Defyer 98 Pro, and I hit winners from behind the baseline on many occasions. There was more power than the Head Extreme Pro that I was playtesting at the same time, but it never seemed uncontrollable. I was able to create a lot of angles and open up the court. Usually, I would have to sacrifice some power, but it was minimal with the Defyer 98 Pro. I did have a slight bit of a stability issue. This racquet cuts through the air really quickly, and as much as I loved that, it did wobble at times. Granted that this may be due to the way I swing, but I ended up having to add a bit of weight to the sides of the hoop for some stability."

For Chris, the defining trait of the Defyer 98 Pro proved to be its speedier nature. He could ratchet up his racquet head speed for increased spin production and pace, but he would add some weight to this frame for his personal taste. He noted, "I found the Defyer 98 Pro to be a very fast-feeling racquet when hitting groundstrokes. I consistently found solid pace on my forehand, and spin was easy enough to generate. The racquet reminded me of the Babolat Pure Aero VS, and like that racquet, I found my groundstrokes to be better with a little weight added to the 10 and 2 o'clock positions of the racquet hoop (one inch of tungsten tape on both sides of the hoop in both positions). I liked hitting slice on my backhand in particular with this racquet. I liked the spin I was getting and also found good directional and depth control. Compared to the Defyer 100, I found this 98 Pro version to have more feel and a longer dwell time on the stringbed. The Defyer 100 fires the ball out with immediate pace, whereas this racquet let me caress the ball for better placement."

Troy found the Defyer 98 Pro to be fast, spin-friendly and loaded with pop, making his crafty lefty game even more potent. He said, “This Wilson Defyer 98 Pro felt very fast and super easy to swing. It kind of surprised me initially because the Project P prototype that we tested a couple of months prior didn't feel as fast and whippy as the version we received for testing. Besides that observation, I noticed easy topspin potential, with the string spacing being pretty open for a 16x20. The string spacing of the crosses made it feel more like a 16x19 pattern and more spaced apart than my Yonex EZONE 98+. The Defyer 98 Pro felt modern in the sense that it packed a nice punch, and I noticed that there was some inherent stiffness to the frame, but there wasn’t an overly stiff or jarring feel on contact. Instead, there was this nice pocketing sensation, and although there is a medium firm stiffness rating, it felt like the dampening worked well, almost as if there was a foam filling in the hoop. Topspin shots were super easy to hit, but I felt like this racquet would benefit from some added heft and plow through on slices. This was also true when I tried to flatten the ball out to hit a shot through the court; I was lacking some mass and plow through behind the ball."

Our team found good handling from the Defyer 98 Pro when they were at the net, though some of our team wanted more stability. For Chris, the Defyer 98 Pro proved fairly stable in stock form considering how fast it moved. He said, "The Defyer 98 Pro felt very fast and easy to maneuver at net. I liked the feel and overall response of the racquet. I was able to place my volleys with lots of control and was able to consistently find my targets. Again, the racquet felt better once weighted up, but in stock form I thought it was impressively stable for how fast it felt. I also liked the comfort, feel and power levels I found when volleying with the Defyer 98 Pro."

Jason experienced some instability on his volleys, but he also noted that the Defyer 98 Pro felt good if he made solid contact. The Defyer 98 Pro was just less forgiving than other frames on off-center shots. He said, "The Defyer 98 Pro is a breeze to use at net, and I found it to be pretty effortless to get it into position to hit a volley. That 'whippability' also really helped me execute overheads. The downside for me was the torsional instability at times. I especially noticed it on off-center hits against bigger hitters. I did enjoy the feel when I felt well connected to my shots."

Despite having a penchant for heavier frames, Troy found surprisingly good stability and performance when volleying with the Defyer 98 Pro in stock form. He said, "Once again, the theme was super fast maneuverability; it was very easy to get this racquet into place, which is a good attribute to have when playing doubles and going to the net. Now I'm not saying that it felt as stable as the Wilson Pro Staff 97 Classic, but it held up pretty well. I thought that the feel on my volleys was nice; there was some stiffness to the racquet, sort of medium firm but with nice dampening to it, like a Yonex EZONE or VCORE in that sense. There was nice pop on the ball if I really squeezed down on the grip and punched my volleys. However, I typically like a beefier racquet to help with depth and power, so I think I would enjoy volleying with this Defyer 98 Pro even more with some added weight overall, and specifically up in the hoop."

Although he found some occasional instability, Munish liked being crafty with the Defyer 98 Pro by mixing up the type of volleys he was hitting. He explained, "I really liked the feel of the Defyer 98 Pro at net. I was able to be crafty with some drop shots and sharp angles, but I could also ramp up the power and go for deep penetrating volleys to finish points. I would like to mention that I found this racquet really whippy at net, and that was both good and bad. The good part was that I felt like I could get to any ball regardless of how fast it was coming at me, but the bad was that the racquet felt a bit unstable. It wasn't that big of a deal, but it did make me consider some mods for this racquet."

Serves with the Defyer 98 Pro proved to be pretty formidable, characterized mostly by faster racquet head speeds over the shoulder and more spin. After getting used to the lighter weight (for him) and the fast-swinging nature of the frame, Munish was able to rifle off heavy serves with both good pop and spin. He said, "I was getting a lot of pop on my serves, and I was able to serve to my spots. I hit very consistent and reliable first serves with the Defyer 98 Pro, and I liked hitting kick serves with this racquet. At times I felt like the racquet needed a bit of weight at the tip for added plow through; I was getting good rotation on my ball, but it didn't seem to be moving very fast through the air. It took a while to get used to serving with the Defyer 98 Pro because I felt like the racquet mainly gave me power from its technologies and not from the mass of the racquet, which is what I mostly utilize to feel confident serving. My serves and overheads were off at first because the racquet was super fast through the air, but I was also getting a ton of pop on the ball. Figuring out the timing to hit the sweetspot on overheads and serves took a while."

Jason was able to serve consistently with the Defyer 98 Pro, but he would have liked a little more free power on this particular shot. He said, "Hitting serves with the Defyer 98 Pro was super easy. The racquet is very maneuverable, making it effortless to whip through contact, and the easy access to spin helped my slice serves dive into the box. However, I did find the ceiling for flat out power to be slightly lower than expected. The ball didn't jump off the stringbed quite as explosively as I hoped, even when I redlined my swing.”

The lightning-quick nature of the Defyer 98 Pro made Chris' serves more potent down the stretch, and he was pleased with the amount of spin and precision the racquet gave him. He said, "I served pretty well with the Defyer 98 Pro. I don't hit the biggest serves, so I rely on spin and placement to start points strongly. The Defyer 98 Pro proved a willing partner in both departments, and I was happy with the spin and my success level in finding my spots in the service box. The easy swinging nature of the racquet also made longer matches or long service games a breeze because I never felt taxed. The response felt comfortable, yet decently connected, so I always felt confident stepping up to the line with this racquet in hand."

Troy appreciated the speedy handling of the Defyer 98 Pro on serve, but he would have liked more mass-based power at times for increased plow through. He explained how the Defyer 98 Pro was "very very fast, whippy and snappy on serves. What I mean by snappy is how easy it was to pronate and snap my wrist when hitting my serves. This racquet was amazing on slice and kick serves, making it easy to get net clearance and get a lot of rotation on the ball. I had pretty good control and placement, although it wasn’t quite as precise as the Wilson Blade 98 18x20 v10 when I was going for my spots, but still pretty good. If this racquet is lacking anything on serves, it’s that common theme of lacking plow-through power. I would like to increase the swingweight to get more weight behind my serves to create a bit more of that pancake effect on the ball when going for a big flat serve. I also think that this Wilson Defyer 98 Pro, like my Yonex EZONE 98+, would be really fun to serve with if it were extended by half an inch. In concept, that would give me that plow through and added boost I’m looking for."

Returning with the Defyer 98 Pro was mostly a positive experience for our team, with the racquet giving our playtesters plenty of time to prepare early for returns and enough power to drive through them. However, the Defyer 98 Pro left Troy looking for more plow through. He explained, "I sort of had mixed feelings when it came to returning serves. The fast feel and maneuverability helped me when I was rushed or when I was stretched out wide, and the racquet was easy to flick and manipulate to help me pop the ball back into the court, like for a chip lob or something of that nature on a return. However, when my opponents were clocking serve speeds of about 90 mph and above, I felt like this Wilson Defyer 98 Pro needed a bit more mass to hold up. This racquet lacked a little bit of plow through when I went to strike the ball against those big hitting servers. The feel and the stability were OK; I just found it hard to drive through the ball and get depth on my returns. My racquet of choice has a swingweight around 334, so I am used to much easier plow and depth on my shots."

Chris had more success returning with the Defyer 98 Pro, feeling confident enough to stay on the gas from the get-go. He noted, "Having a maneuverable racquet like the Defyer 98 Pro to swing on returns always gets me in the mood to be aggressive and to try to take the return a little earlier. I had good success applying those tactics to my return game with this racquet. I continued to enjoy the comfortable response of the Defyer 98 Pro, and I definitely appreciated it when I hit off center. As from the baseline, my backhand slice was working well when returning serves. I had success both knifing my slices and chipping them, depending on whether I wanted to be aggressive or buy some time on my return."

Munish appreciated the consistent levels of pace he found, and he enjoyed the handling capabilities he experienced. He explained, "Easy power and maneuverability were the driving factors for easy returning. The ball would go over the net with enough depth to keep me out of danger even when I was stretched out and could barely touch the ball. However, I had to tell myself that 'less is more' when I was returning second serves, because there were many times when I wanted to be aggressive with the return but ended up hitting the ball straight into the fence."

Jason felt comfortable applying pressure and attacking serves with his return. He said, "I felt like I could really trust the spin I was generating and really swing out on my returns. It was fun to just try to rip returns, whether they were bigger first serves or not. I never really felt like I was making contact late on my returns because of how whippy the Defyer 98 Pro is.”