TripleB
Hall of Fame
Spent several days playing singles and doubles with the Boris Becker Delta Core London, Volkl PowerBridge 10 Mid, Wilson BLX Six-One Tour, and Dunlop 4D 300. Here are my thoughts.
Specs of racquets with a rubberband and 2 overgrips:
Dunlop 4D 300: 319g, 5 pts HL
Wilson BLX Six-One Tour: 363g, 10 pts HL
Becker Delta Core London: 337g, 6 pts HL
Volkl PowerBridge 10 Mid: 353g, 9 pts HL
Wilson BLX 6-1 Tour: solid, solid, solid on groundstrokes and volleys; weight was just too much for me on forehands (my weaker side) – I was too lazy to prepare early in order to hit crosscourt shots off that side; serves had decent pop but after a few games I could feel the racquet head speed getting slower and slower; topspin was better than average (again, the weight of the racquet kept me from getting as much topspin off the forehand side as I would have liked); slice was so amazing – incredible depth, penetrating speed, stayed unbelievably low, favorite shot with this racquet by far; maneuverability was the downfall for me whether at the baseline or at the net; control however was spot on when I had time to prepare for the shots; overall a fun ride but way too demanding for this lazy tennis bum; this was my least favorite of the four
Volkl PowerBridge 10 Mid: nice combination of the London and the BLX 6-1 Tour – seemed like I got the solid feel of the Tour with the maneuverability of the London; more topspin than the Tour and very similar to the London; slice was definitely better with the Tour than with this racquet; serves were much more accurate with this racquet than with either the Tour or the London; movement on quick exchanges at the net in doubles were a bit difficult; had more pop on serves with the PB10Mid than the Tour but not as much as the London or the 4D 300; as far as kick serves I would say this one is better than the Tour, slightly less than the London, but not as good as the Dunlop; after a set under my belt in 95 degree heat, I found that I started to struggle with the depth of my groundstrokes with this racquet - there was a big dropoff in my racquet head speed; accuracy which groundstrokes was still impressive and volleys were rock solid; better than average touch at the net; the last time I demoed this racquet it had natural gut in it and it played much better than this one did (with Wilson NXT); the return of serve was my favorite shot with this racquet - block it back to the exact location you want; the swingweight of this racquet is about 9 points higher than my POG Mid and it certainly showed - I'm not sure I'm strong enough to use this racquet for 3 or more sets on a 90 degree day (ie: I'm far to lazy to work hard enough to play with this racquet); not as excited about this racquet on the second time around as a I was the first - last time I really thought this was 'the' racquet; I was really able to get a similar feel out of the two lighter racquets so this finishes as my 3rd favorite racquet in this demo session
Dunlop 4D 300: topspin and slice are superb with this racquet...heavy topspin available at will and the slice had a lot of speed (surprising, considering the weight of the racquet) and stayed extremely low; stability suffered a bit on balls hit towards the top of the frame, but overall this was a pretty stable racquet against most players; on return of serve against big servers I did have trouble getting the easy depth I got with the Volkl PB 10 Mid, however I was quite impressed by how solid the racquet felt on blocked returns; the return of serve was really the only place where the light weight really seemed to be a negative; serves had good pop, control was as good as with any of the other three racquets, and the kick was the best of the bunch (although with the kick serves I felt the ball moved a bit slower than with heavier racquets) – serving with this racquet as a whole was a pleasure and gave me a lot of confidence; on groundstrokes, control (both depth and side to side) was excellent...probably the best racquet I've tried in a while as far as depth control...I tend to leave the ball sitting shorter than I should, but not so with this racquet; really liked my forehand with this racquet - I typically have a harder time getting pop on my forehand but with this lighter racquet I could really get the racquet head moving; crosscourt shots were awesome (finally found a racquet that I can get angle, pace, and depth going crosscourt with my forehands) – hit one today in doubles that ran my opponent into the fence; volleys offered excellent put away power, middle of the road stability (worst in this 4some), and average touch; loved the fact that I could hold my groundstrokes to the last second and then go down the line or crosscourt; it’s a very close call but I think this is my favorite racquet in the bunch
Boris Becker Delta Core London: this racquet had a nice flexy feel to it but it also had excellent pop – not sure how BB combined these two characteristics in such a light weight racquet, but it’s nice; it played very similar to the KBlade 98 but with a more flexible feel – it didn’t seem to translate into any better touch than with the KBlade but was a bit easier on the arm; it has a 16x19 string pattern but it didn’t seem to give me any more spin (maybe even slightly less) than the KBlade 98…in fact this was the one area that this racquet a bit of a disappointment (although 16x19, the string pattern was a bit closed, looked pretty similar to my 18 main LM Rad MP); slice was better than average, staying low with some good pace, but not as much action on the ball as with the BLX or the Volkl and nowhere close to that of the Dunlop; topspin was better than average but not as good as I was expecting – when I tried to add some extra topspin balls tended to land short; control was spot on with this racquet whether on serves, groundstrokes, or at the net – best control in the group; the pop was pretty much perfect, which allowed me a few return winners and gave me the opportunity to be aggressive on my groundstrokes which offered a very solid feel; volleys offered a solid feel, good pop, and very nice touch; return of serve was slightly better with this racquet than the Dunlop because, with the extra weight, I could block back harder serves and still get them deep in the court; serves had good accuracy with very good pop but kick serves were difficult to get action on; while the Dunlop begged to be used to hit topspin, this begged to hit the flat ball; because my game depends so much on spin, this racquet finishes (ever so) slightly behind the 4D 300
Dunlop 4D 300 vs. Boris Becker Delta Core London in Categories:
Volleys: Becker
Topspin: Dunlop
Slice: Dunlop
Returns: Dunlop
Groundstrokes: Dunlop
Serves: Dunlop
Touch/Feel: Becker
Comfort: Becker
Stability: Becker
Maneuverability: Dunlop
Control: Dunlop
Power: Dunlop
Overall: Dunlop
I would love to try the Dunlop 4D 300 with a leather grip and natural gut mains…I think the weight would be excellent (maybe around 325g), feel would be improved, and power and control would just be enhanced to another level.
I’ve got 4 more demos coming Tuesday to put up against these – Volkl C10 Pro, Volkl DNX 10 Mid, Wilson KBlade 98, and Prince Ozone Tour…really looking forward to putting the 4D 300 and London head to head against the KBlade and Ozone Tour.
TripleB
Specs of racquets with a rubberband and 2 overgrips:
Dunlop 4D 300: 319g, 5 pts HL
Wilson BLX Six-One Tour: 363g, 10 pts HL
Becker Delta Core London: 337g, 6 pts HL
Volkl PowerBridge 10 Mid: 353g, 9 pts HL
Wilson BLX 6-1 Tour: solid, solid, solid on groundstrokes and volleys; weight was just too much for me on forehands (my weaker side) – I was too lazy to prepare early in order to hit crosscourt shots off that side; serves had decent pop but after a few games I could feel the racquet head speed getting slower and slower; topspin was better than average (again, the weight of the racquet kept me from getting as much topspin off the forehand side as I would have liked); slice was so amazing – incredible depth, penetrating speed, stayed unbelievably low, favorite shot with this racquet by far; maneuverability was the downfall for me whether at the baseline or at the net; control however was spot on when I had time to prepare for the shots; overall a fun ride but way too demanding for this lazy tennis bum; this was my least favorite of the four
Volkl PowerBridge 10 Mid: nice combination of the London and the BLX 6-1 Tour – seemed like I got the solid feel of the Tour with the maneuverability of the London; more topspin than the Tour and very similar to the London; slice was definitely better with the Tour than with this racquet; serves were much more accurate with this racquet than with either the Tour or the London; movement on quick exchanges at the net in doubles were a bit difficult; had more pop on serves with the PB10Mid than the Tour but not as much as the London or the 4D 300; as far as kick serves I would say this one is better than the Tour, slightly less than the London, but not as good as the Dunlop; after a set under my belt in 95 degree heat, I found that I started to struggle with the depth of my groundstrokes with this racquet - there was a big dropoff in my racquet head speed; accuracy which groundstrokes was still impressive and volleys were rock solid; better than average touch at the net; the last time I demoed this racquet it had natural gut in it and it played much better than this one did (with Wilson NXT); the return of serve was my favorite shot with this racquet - block it back to the exact location you want; the swingweight of this racquet is about 9 points higher than my POG Mid and it certainly showed - I'm not sure I'm strong enough to use this racquet for 3 or more sets on a 90 degree day (ie: I'm far to lazy to work hard enough to play with this racquet); not as excited about this racquet on the second time around as a I was the first - last time I really thought this was 'the' racquet; I was really able to get a similar feel out of the two lighter racquets so this finishes as my 3rd favorite racquet in this demo session
Dunlop 4D 300: topspin and slice are superb with this racquet...heavy topspin available at will and the slice had a lot of speed (surprising, considering the weight of the racquet) and stayed extremely low; stability suffered a bit on balls hit towards the top of the frame, but overall this was a pretty stable racquet against most players; on return of serve against big servers I did have trouble getting the easy depth I got with the Volkl PB 10 Mid, however I was quite impressed by how solid the racquet felt on blocked returns; the return of serve was really the only place where the light weight really seemed to be a negative; serves had good pop, control was as good as with any of the other three racquets, and the kick was the best of the bunch (although with the kick serves I felt the ball moved a bit slower than with heavier racquets) – serving with this racquet as a whole was a pleasure and gave me a lot of confidence; on groundstrokes, control (both depth and side to side) was excellent...probably the best racquet I've tried in a while as far as depth control...I tend to leave the ball sitting shorter than I should, but not so with this racquet; really liked my forehand with this racquet - I typically have a harder time getting pop on my forehand but with this lighter racquet I could really get the racquet head moving; crosscourt shots were awesome (finally found a racquet that I can get angle, pace, and depth going crosscourt with my forehands) – hit one today in doubles that ran my opponent into the fence; volleys offered excellent put away power, middle of the road stability (worst in this 4some), and average touch; loved the fact that I could hold my groundstrokes to the last second and then go down the line or crosscourt; it’s a very close call but I think this is my favorite racquet in the bunch
Boris Becker Delta Core London: this racquet had a nice flexy feel to it but it also had excellent pop – not sure how BB combined these two characteristics in such a light weight racquet, but it’s nice; it played very similar to the KBlade 98 but with a more flexible feel – it didn’t seem to translate into any better touch than with the KBlade but was a bit easier on the arm; it has a 16x19 string pattern but it didn’t seem to give me any more spin (maybe even slightly less) than the KBlade 98…in fact this was the one area that this racquet a bit of a disappointment (although 16x19, the string pattern was a bit closed, looked pretty similar to my 18 main LM Rad MP); slice was better than average, staying low with some good pace, but not as much action on the ball as with the BLX or the Volkl and nowhere close to that of the Dunlop; topspin was better than average but not as good as I was expecting – when I tried to add some extra topspin balls tended to land short; control was spot on with this racquet whether on serves, groundstrokes, or at the net – best control in the group; the pop was pretty much perfect, which allowed me a few return winners and gave me the opportunity to be aggressive on my groundstrokes which offered a very solid feel; volleys offered a solid feel, good pop, and very nice touch; return of serve was slightly better with this racquet than the Dunlop because, with the extra weight, I could block back harder serves and still get them deep in the court; serves had good accuracy with very good pop but kick serves were difficult to get action on; while the Dunlop begged to be used to hit topspin, this begged to hit the flat ball; because my game depends so much on spin, this racquet finishes (ever so) slightly behind the 4D 300
Dunlop 4D 300 vs. Boris Becker Delta Core London in Categories:
Volleys: Becker
Topspin: Dunlop
Slice: Dunlop
Returns: Dunlop
Groundstrokes: Dunlop
Serves: Dunlop
Touch/Feel: Becker
Comfort: Becker
Stability: Becker
Maneuverability: Dunlop
Control: Dunlop
Power: Dunlop
Overall: Dunlop
I would love to try the Dunlop 4D 300 with a leather grip and natural gut mains…I think the weight would be excellent (maybe around 325g), feel would be improved, and power and control would just be enhanced to another level.
I’ve got 4 more demos coming Tuesday to put up against these – Volkl C10 Pro, Volkl DNX 10 Mid, Wilson KBlade 98, and Prince Ozone Tour…really looking forward to putting the 4D 300 and London head to head against the KBlade and Ozone Tour.
TripleB
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