Racquet Playtest Comparison:
| About the play tester | About the racquets |
Name: Cruzer on the Talk Tennis message boards
Playing Level: 3.0
Regular racquet, string & tension: Fischer Pro No. 1, Babolat VS 16/17 or Tecnifibre NRG2 18
Tell us about your game: Singles - full court, Doubles - serve & volley
Swing style: full, moderate Grip: Continental Hit flat or with moderate spin.
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Power
All three of these racquets provide plenty of power in terms of being able to hit shots without taking a big swing at the ball. I expected to be able to hit deep shots with less effort than I am used to with my regular racquet and generally this was the case. Someone with a short compact swing who hits the ball high over the net will probably get good depth on their shots and they will not a lot of strength to achieve that result. I did have to change my swing in order to keep the ball in the court. I found that if I stepped into forehand shots with my normal rotation and follow through it was difficult to keep the ball in the court with these racquets. Similarly with my backhand I had to shorten the stroke a little to keep the ball in the court. The consequence of this is that I got OK pace on the ball but the balls were not as heavy as I am used to hitting. Volleys had a lot zip behind them and as long as I set up properly for volleys I could still step into them and keep the ball in play. It definitely took a little while to get accustomed to the higher power level of these frames.
The Dunlop has the most power and I think this may be partially due to it being slightly heavier than the other two. Serves, ground strokes and volleys felt more solid with the Dunlop than the Wilson or Volkl although the advantage the Dunlop has is not much over the other two. Serves had pretty good pace and groundstrokes and volleys had good depth and pace as well.
I place the Wilson in second spot in terms of power. First serves were fairly easy to hit and felt good coming off the racquet. I did not get the same depth on serves using the service motion that I typically use but I could adjust to correct this. I found it harder to hit service winners with this racquet. Groundstrokes and volleys were OK having moderate pace. Overall I don't think anyone in the audience to whom this racquet is targeted would be disappointed by the power provided.
The Volkl is a close third in the power category. Serves with this racquet are slightly less powerful than the Wilson. Groundstrokes and volleys were good with OK depth and pace. Power is not the strongest aspect of the Volkl but it still has plenty.
Control
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of control that each of these racquets provided. I expected that with oversize heads, comparatively lighter weight and head heavy balance combined with my swing style that keeping the ball in the court would be an issue and it was initially. I think you can get good control from any of these frames with the proper technique, i.e. using a more compact swing. I think a player with shorter strokes would find control good with all these frames and more so with the Volkl and Wilson frames than the Dunlop.
The Volkl provided the best overall feel when it came to hitting the ball to a target. I could hit serves with the most accuracy with this racquet. Control of groundstrokes and volleys was good although I give the Wilson a slight advantage over the Volkl on groundstrokes. The Volkl had by far the best control on volleys. I could hit angle volleys (my favorite in doubles) with more accuracy with Volkl than the others.
The Wilson provided the second most control of the three. Service placement was OK but not spectacular. Groundstrokes with the Wilson were the most accurate of the three racquets. I found I could hit cross-court and down the line ground strokes with the most accuracy with the Wilson. Volleys were quite good and almost as good as the Volkl.
Controlling the Dunlop was the most challenging of the three racquets for me. This probably has something to with it being the most powerful of the three racquets. Placing serves was a little more difficult with the Dunlop and I found I needed to take a little pace off serves to hit them where I wanted them to go. Groundstrokes had power behind them but this was at the cost of giving up some control. If I tried to hit too close to the sideline or baseline I found there is a smaller margin for error. I could not get as much accuracy on volleys either.
Maneuverability
All three of these racquets have 115" head sizes and are 0.5" to 1.0" longer than standard and I found them to be quite close when judging them on maneuverability. Maneuverability was definitely favorably impacted by the lighter weight of all these racquets. The racquet weights ranged from 258 grams to 276 grams per my scale (my regular racquets range from 348 to 352 grams) and I found all three were pretty easy to move around in a variety of situations.
I found the Volkl the best when it came to maneuverability. It felt the most balanced and comfortable when volleying or returning serves. Getting this racquet around was easy on returns and during quick volley exchanges it was superb. From the way it maneuvered it did not feel like a 27.75" racquet and gave the best feeling of being an extension of your arm while playing.
The Wilson is a close second to the Volkl in this category. It is the lightest of the three frames and it is almost effortless getting it in position for volleys and returns. This is a long racquet at 28" but it is still quite easy to maneuver and the added length is a benefit for getting to shots that might be just out of reach with a standard length racquet.
The Dunlop is third in this category and the fact that is the heaviest of the three frames is a reason it came in third place. Nonetheless it is still pretty easy to get around on returns and it performs well at the net. It feels just a little more sluggish than Volkl or Wilson during volley exchanges.
Stability
Overall the stability of these racquets is average. I found that the combination of lighter weight and oversize heads makes all three susceptible to twisting when playing against harder hitting opponents or if the ball is not hit on the sweetspot. Since all three racquets have a very large sweetspot I found it almost impossible to miss-hit the ball. These are very forgiving frames. If you can get the racquet on the ball playing with one of these frames your net result will most likely be a successful return. For someone who plays against people with similar playing styles and abilities any one of these racquets is going to be fine from a stability standpoint. However if there is someone who hits a heavy ball on the other side of the net these racquets may be overmatched.
I found the Dunlop is the most stable of this group. On all strokes it feels solid and when returning heavy balls it is the least prone to any twisting. During quick volley exchanges there is some, but not a lot of twisting on off-center hits. This racquet feels like it moves through the ball with more authority than the other two frames.
In second place is the Wilson. I like the feel of the Wilson the best of the three frames but I had more twisting on off-center or mishits than with the Dunlop.
The Volkl comes up third in this category. It felt a little mushy compared to the Dunlop and the Wilson racquets and there was not as much oomph returning balls that come with a lot of pace on them.
Comfort
Given that these lightweight frames are pretty stiff I was not expecting too much in the comfort category particularly when compared to my regular racquet. However all three were much more comfortable than I expected.
The Volkl felt the most comfortable however the Wilson and the Dunlop are not far behind. The Volkl felt very comfortable on all shots with no shock or jarring to the arm or shoulder. The Volkl felt the most even balanced and this aspect certainly added to the comfort factor as far as I was concerned. I felt like I could play with the Volkl for hours and hours and not feel any fatigue caused by the racquet.
The Wilson came in second and this frame appears to use something like the Triad dampening system to enhance comfort however it is not mentioned anywhere on the frame. Whatever dampening system Wilson has built in to this racquet it certainly seems to work. I am not a big fan of head heavy frames however this frame was quite comfortable to use. There was practically no shock from this frame even when returning hard hit heavy balls.
The comfort level of the Dunlop is probably the weakest aspect of this frame. It excels in other categories (power, stability) however after playing with it for an hour which included hitting serves, overheads, volleys, and engaging in long rallies my arm was starting to ache a little. Anyone considering the Dunlop should keep in mind that while power and stability are superior with this racquet it comes at a price. I would not suggest that anyone with a sensitive arm or shoulder maybe consider the Volkl or Wilson frames instead.
Spin
All three of these racquets with their large head size and open string pattern provide very good spin potential. Slice shots had a lot of under spin or sidespin and for the slicers and dicers any one of these racquets would be a good choice. Topspin is also relatively easy to generate for those with the right technique. I would think that the spin potential of these racquets would be a primary reason for someone to look at getting one. I do not hit a lot spin so I probably did not achieve the maximum spin potential during my play test but when I tried hit slice and topspin shots the results were more dramatic than with my regular racquet.
I give Wilson has very slight edge of the Volkl in this category only because it feels a little more stable. This is a very spin friendly frame and it is very easy to generate both topspin and underpsin. My hitting partner, who generally hits a pretty flat ball was getting good spin on the ball with the Wilson frame and this surprised both of us since it was not something he was trying to do.
The Volkl frame is almost as as good as the Wilson in the spin category. I would rate the Volkl higher than the Wilson but I do not get the same touch feeling from the Volkl as the Wilson. Overall I would take either one since they are both very good in this category.
The Dunlop is third in this very close comparison. I found spin generation with the Dunlop a little less consistent than with the other two frames. It seemed to plough through the ball more for me which is great for generating powerful flat shots but getting the same amount of spin as the Volkl and the Wilson was a little harder.
| Comfort |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 80 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 72 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 62 |
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| Control |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 80 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 77 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 75 |
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| Groundstrokes |
| Dunlop 1000g | 78 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 75 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 72 |
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| Maneuverability |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 85 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 83 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 77 |
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| Power |
| Dunlop 1000g | 88 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 85 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 82 |
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| Serve Returns |
| Dunlop 1000g | 79 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 75 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 72 |
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| Serves and Overheads |
| Dunlop 1000g | 82 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 80 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 78 |
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| Slice |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 85 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 84 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 77 |
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| Stability |
| Dunlop 1000g | 74 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 70 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 66 |
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| Topspin |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 84 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 83 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 80 |
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| Touch/Feel |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 78 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 73 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 72 |
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| Volleys |
| Dunlop 1000g | 77 |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 75 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 74 |
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| Overall |
| Wilson nCode n3 | 79 |
| Volkl Catapult 2 | 78 |
| Dunlop 1000g | 76 |
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| Playtest date: November, 2004. |
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