Dberger820
Rookie
I recently had the opportunity to demo the Boom Pro against the Clash 98 V2 over a couple of days. Both racquets were strung with RPM Blast which made for a great constant in the comparison. I am a 4.0 baseliner.
First impressions: The BP felt better in hand. It felt more manageable balance wise when doing phantom swings. The beam looks and feels more natural for the racquet being thinner. The paint on the Clash looks great, but has the velvety feel that I just can’t see holding up over time. I don’t mind the color of the Boom, but I wish it was more of a typical green. Fun side fact, my local club has a large Boom marketing banner and it shows the racquet as a more emerald green and looks great. Makes me wonder if that was the original color until Coco got attached to it and they went with the teal…
Groundstrokes: I was correct that the Boom went through the air better for my game and contact felt solid. The Boom had a touch more power than the Clash. The Clash had more spin and felt overall more controlled, but the Boom was not at all uncontrollable. I definitely felt the Clash stiffen up the harder I swung which gave me more confidence to swing out. The stock grip on the Clash was garbage compared to the Head, so keep that in mind if you don’t like to use overgrips. I give the edge to the Clash here and my opponents mentioned the balls were coming off heavier from the Clash.
Volleys: I honestly couldn’t determine and huge differences between the two here. If I were to split hairs, I would say the whippiness if the Boom was preferable over the plushness of the Clash and the balls were easier to stick with the Boom. Slight edge to the Boom here.
Serves: This wasn’t even close. I played with the Clash 100 V1 and I had the same experience with it as I did with this V2 98. I believe it is from the flex of the racquet but I serve absolute bombs with the Clash series. Even bigger with the 98 than the 100. Flat serves noticeably easier for me to get down than the Boom. Slice serves were more similar with the Boom, but still an edge to the Clash.
Final verdict: I would happily play with either of these racquets in their stock form. Both played extremely well with RPM 17g and no major comfort issues. You can feel the higher stiffness in the Boom when hitting and feel the ball better. Although I didn’t like the Clash’s balance and chunkiness when holding it, I had no issues while playing.
One thing of note: I did accidentally drop the Clash and the paint simply vanished from the frame. I cannot fathom why this paint was put on this racquet. It’s a shame the Roland Garros edition is only available in the 100 as it appears to be or normal durability.
First impressions: The BP felt better in hand. It felt more manageable balance wise when doing phantom swings. The beam looks and feels more natural for the racquet being thinner. The paint on the Clash looks great, but has the velvety feel that I just can’t see holding up over time. I don’t mind the color of the Boom, but I wish it was more of a typical green. Fun side fact, my local club has a large Boom marketing banner and it shows the racquet as a more emerald green and looks great. Makes me wonder if that was the original color until Coco got attached to it and they went with the teal…
Groundstrokes: I was correct that the Boom went through the air better for my game and contact felt solid. The Boom had a touch more power than the Clash. The Clash had more spin and felt overall more controlled, but the Boom was not at all uncontrollable. I definitely felt the Clash stiffen up the harder I swung which gave me more confidence to swing out. The stock grip on the Clash was garbage compared to the Head, so keep that in mind if you don’t like to use overgrips. I give the edge to the Clash here and my opponents mentioned the balls were coming off heavier from the Clash.
Volleys: I honestly couldn’t determine and huge differences between the two here. If I were to split hairs, I would say the whippiness if the Boom was preferable over the plushness of the Clash and the balls were easier to stick with the Boom. Slight edge to the Boom here.
Serves: This wasn’t even close. I played with the Clash 100 V1 and I had the same experience with it as I did with this V2 98. I believe it is from the flex of the racquet but I serve absolute bombs with the Clash series. Even bigger with the 98 than the 100. Flat serves noticeably easier for me to get down than the Boom. Slice serves were more similar with the Boom, but still an edge to the Clash.
Final verdict: I would happily play with either of these racquets in their stock form. Both played extremely well with RPM 17g and no major comfort issues. You can feel the higher stiffness in the Boom when hitting and feel the ball better. Although I didn’t like the Clash’s balance and chunkiness when holding it, I had no issues while playing.
One thing of note: I did accidentally drop the Clash and the paint simply vanished from the frame. I cannot fathom why this paint was put on this racquet. It’s a shame the Roland Garros edition is only available in the 100 as it appears to be or normal durability.
