Best tweener racquets for 14-15 year old girl

Steadyhand

New User
My 14.5 year old girl (100lbs, 5'1") just moved into her first adult size racquet about 6 months back. I got her a Vcore Ace (265-270g unstrung) to get her started. But that thing (with pre-strung syn guts) feels underpowered and not easy to find sweet spot as well for her (and for me as a more intermediate player) as she improves upon her technique. She goes for private lessons twice a month and practices about 5 hours a week, and will be on high school varsity team next season. I think it is time to invest in a better racquet but we are at loggerheads as to how to choose one. I feel the 100 sq. in racquets are probably best for her now, and perhaps those around 285g unstrung, although perhaps 300g may work too. Not very sure what racquets to even demo. Our list looks like this for now: Blade 100L, Ezone 100L, VCore 100L, FX 500 LS, Head Extreme MPL, Wilson Ultra 100L. How do we select three perhaps? Should we also demo one 300g racquet to be sure that is too heavy for her? I am finding FX 500/FX 500 LS racquets on **** for around $100. Feel tempted to just buy those and save on demo costs and time given all others may be a lot more $'s anyway and not much different spec wise. Sadly a high school teen does not find Dunlop to be "cool" and is not an easy sell. Would love some advice.
 

jimdontcare

Semi-Pro
There might be others who can provide more detailed help, but I wanted to mention that a respected gear reviewer went out of his way to note that the Head Speed MPL was one of the best light racquets he’d ever tried.

I also saw a coach say he was really surprised how well the Dunlop FX 500 LS played. He also liked the regular. But I get teenagers can be worried about not fitting in. It is what it is. There’s value in being able to look down at your racquet and feel like it’s yours, you know?

Blade 100L probably more underpowered than needed.

If you’re going to try a 300 gram racquet, I recommend either the Dunlop or the Wilson Ultra. They can be a little more maneuverable than competitors.

Outside of that, she probably can adapt to anything in those categories at this point in her life. I’d maybe default to buying her a Yonex just because she’s used to it, but I don’t think you can go too wrong with what you’ve found. The Ezone 100L might go on sale soon.
 

jimmy8

G.O.A.T.
In my opinion the Prince Twistpower X100 is the best fit. But the smallest grip size is 4 1/4. It has the power, weight, head size, control.
 

KC!

Hall of Fame
Babolat Pure Drive L, Head Speed MPL or Team, Wilson Ultra L & Yonex Ezone L or SL. Demo 3 from TW for a week & see which she likes.
 
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socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Why don’t you let her play with what she wants to use? It will probably be a racquet that some of her friends play with on the high school team. At that age, what looks cool matters too and some brands might be cooler amongst her peers also. Don’t inflict a racquet chosen by ‘Dad’ on her. Or you could ask if her coach has any suggestions.
 

Mischko

Professional
300g will be too much. Vcore 100L is great. But first you could restring that Ace with some power multi, like Wilson NXT 1.30. And try to add 1g and 2g of lead at the top just to test if that feels better and if she gets more easy depth. Doesn't have to be lead tape for testing, just 1-2g of some tape
 

Steadyhand

New User
Thanks I have noted to include the Prince Twistpower X100, Speed L and Babolat PD Team onto the list. I will also try a multifilament string on the Vcore Ace and see if it helps.
Eventually the challenge will be to find something that is in a reasonable price point (<$150) and considered cool in that age group. If it were me, I would choose the FX 500 LS given its price point (<$100) and specs. I may just show this thread to her if you guys leave convincing enough selection points here . Hoping we can get the ideal racquet from the first set of demo racquets; each iteration just wastes more time where she keeps playing with something not suited to her.
 
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Mischko

Professional
There are also low powered multi strings, like Velocity MLT, avoid those, go for softer more elastic power multis, Tf NRG2, Xone Biphase, Wilson NXT
 

Shroud

Talk Tennis Guru
My 14.5 year old girl (100lbs, 5'1") just moved into her first adult size racquet about 6 months back. I got her a Vcore Ace (265-270g unstrung) to get her started. But that thing (with pre-strung syn guts) feels underpowered and not easy to find sweet spot as well for her (and for me as a more intermediate player) as she improves upon her technique. She goes for private lessons twice a month and practices about 5 hours a week, and will be on high school varsity team next season. I think it is time to invest in a better racquet but we are at loggerheads as to how to choose one. I feel the 100 sq. in racquets are probably best for her now, and perhaps those around 285g unstrung, although perhaps 300g may work too. Not very sure what racquets to even demo. Our list looks like this for now: Blade 100L, Ezone 100L, VCore 100L, FX 500 LS, Head Extreme MPL, Wilson Ultra 100L. How do we select three perhaps? Should we also demo one 300g racquet to be sure that is too heavy for her? I am finding FX 500/FX 500 LS racquets on **** for around $100. Feel tempted to just buy those and save on demo costs and time given all others may be a lot more $'s anyway and not much different spec wise. Sadly a high school teen does not find Dunlop to be "cool" and is not an easy sell. Would love some advice.
It may not be good advice from a price standpoint but from a cool standpoint its awesome. Wilson has custom options for the ultra 100L. She can customize the racquet to her taste and be the cool one on the team.

Sure its more expensive so get her to pay the extra cost. Extra work around the house or holiday/ birthday money or bitcoin. Put a pricetag on the cool factor and let her decide how important being cool is. It may not be that important when she has to pay the bill

 

Steadyhand

New User
I spent some time with TW’s racquet comparison tool for the racquets discussed above. What I found was interesting. The Speed MP L had the highest swingweight (314) to stiffness (60) ratio. If low stiffness is needed this has to be the racquet in addition to Clash line, though I don’t think my kid needs such low stiffness.The Blade 100L remarkably had a swingweight of 323 with a weight of only 10.1oz. The Babolat Pure Drive Team has a similar swingweight, but is heavier at around 10.6oz. The Blade 100L, PD Team, and Speed MPL all have similar sweetzone sizes and similar scores on power. Ultra 100L and FX 500 LS both fall slightly lower on swingweight. The Prince Twistpower X100 is slightly heavier, closer to PD Team, but swingweight amd sweetspot is smaller.
 
Eventually the challenge will be to find something that is in a reasonable price point (<$150) and considered cool in that age group.
Is the racquet price really that important considering whole cost of playing tennis? I personally wouldn't mind throwing that additional 50$ to have a far wider range to choose from. I don't see it mentioned here but my first choice given your needs would be Head Boom MP L.
 

hadoken

Professional
My son at 13 used the FX500 LS and it’s an awesome racquet and highly recommended. Like you I am not dropping $250+ on a stick since I have to buy 2 and the LS when the LS went on clearance I also took a chance and bought them. We got the L1 grip but he outgrew it and so last XMas TW has the Prince sale and we switched to L2 grip Twistpower x100s. He loves that frame and just turned 14. The twistpower also looks super cool to a kid so that’s another selling point.
 

Steadyhand

New User
My son at 13 used the FX500 LS and it’s an awesome racquet and highly recommended. Like you I am not dropping $250+ on a stick since I have to buy 2 and the LS when the LS went on clearance I also took a chance and bought them. We got the L1 grip but he outgrew it and so last XMas TW has the Prince sale and we switched to L2 grip Twistpower x100s. He loves that frame and just turned 14. The twistpower also looks super cool to a kid so that’s another selling point.
This would be perfect to show them. I didn’t mention it before to not complicate things, but I need to buy two as well (not counting backups!) as I have two kids around the same age (one just slightly bigger than other) going for similar goals. So price does matter to some extent unless I am sure there is a performance/improvement benefit.
 
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AmericanTwist

Professional
What size is her grip? If size zero that limits selection. The Ace has moderate to good power. If she finds that underpowered she should just work on her technique. String selection and tension will affect performance of frame greatly. Most junior frames are 63-65ra for reference.

Pick frame size, weight, flex, and string pattern, then brand (relatively insignificant vs the other factors).
 

Steadyhand

New User
We thought it was 41/4 and got that but after an overgrip she says it feels a little big. I have heard that Yonex’s feel slightly larger and 41/4 with an overgrip may have been ok on a Head or Wilson.
 

hadoken

Professional
I probably would take a flyer on the Dunlop sx300 LS in 4 1/8 at $99 if u look around. My kid used the older sx300 lite before the fx500 LS and they were a solid frame.
 

Steadyhand

New User
I found a Head Graphene 360 Speed MP lite at a good price and my kids seem to like it. However it seems back in 2020 when it came out these Lite frames were only 275gm. Wondering if anyone has any experience with these as a fit for a 14-15 year old? I was thinking 285 gm would be more ideal. I can’t demo these older versions anymore and the new (full price) versions are at 285gms.
 

AmericanTwist

Professional
275g seems like a frame fit for 10-12 year olds. At 14-15 she should be using a 285-300g frame. Besides, a heavier frame promotes early back swing and good technique. Check out the radical team and gravity team. I find dunlop grips to be a little bigger than average, but then again probably because some of them still come with real leather.
 

Steadyhand

New User
275g seems like a frame fit for 10-12 year olds. At 14-15 she should be using a 285-300g frame. Besides, a heavier frame promotes early back swing and good technique. Check out the radical team and gravity team. I find dunlop grips to be a little bigger than average, but then again probably because some of them still come with real leather.
That’s is my gut feeling too but most advice seems to be geared towards men and women/girl specific advice seems rarer. I will have them demo a 285gm Ezone 100L strung with TF MultiFeel first and see where we need to go from there. If the Head Graphene Speed MP Lite was 285gm then I would not have second thoughts.
 

ChanterRacquet

Professional
Blade 100L is a great choice for a stiff frame that feels soft. My senior varsity daughter has played with it throughout high school. 5’3” and 100 lbs soaking wet.

My son, freshman on varsity, plays with the FX 500 but we’ve bought too many that ended up way over spec, we finally bought an FX 500 LS and weighted it up to match his favorite FX 500. So, I’d go LS for sure.

From head’s line up, the Boom Team (102”) is an awesome frame and better than the Speed MP L and other 100”, light models.

Babolat’s Team models would also be good.

Avoid 300 g frames as it will be a formidable barrier to proper forehand technique that I see over and over again at every varsity match I attend. And you can always add tungsten/lead tape to refine weight/balance/swingweight whereas you can’t remove weight from a heavier model.
 

Steadyhand

New User
we got to demoing multiple racquets (ezone 100L, blade 100L, head speed MP L, Pure Drive Team). One of my kids really loved the ezone, and she was hitting hard and with good top spin and control. Seemed like they were made for each other. My other daughter, about 5 pounds lighter, preferred the PD. She said it helps with her serve a lot and it is easy for her to put the ball back in play. However, she seemed to blocking the ball back mostly without putting much work (topspin) onto the ball unlike her sister. When she tried to put some work, it seemed she was making unforced errors. This has me worried if she will just misuse the easy power of the PD and won’t work on improving her technique as at this level putting the ball back deep may suffice to have good results. She also tried the ezone and somehow prefers the PD. What should my advice be to her? I will post a more detailed review of each racquet later so it helps someone else going over this thread.
 

ChanterRacquet

Professional
Trust your kids. Your kid will play MORE with the racquet they like instead of the one a bunch of random people on the internet suggest who don’t really know anything about her.

Go with the Pure Drive Team for the one that likes it. Technique will come with willing practice with a racquet she likes, it will not limit her.
 
Trust your kids. Your kid will play MORE with the racquet they like instead of the one a bunch of random people on the internet suggest who don’t really know anything about her.

Go with the Pure Drive Team for the one that likes it. Technique will come with willing practice with a racquet she likes, it will not limit her.
That is good advice i believe the parent/coach should choose a few racquets that they know are all good quality then ultimately let the child decide which racquet they like this way it’s a win win for all involved.
 

Steadyhand

New User
Thanks everyone. We chose the Ezone 100L for one and Babolat Pure Drive Team for the other. I am writing out a brief review of the racquets we tested and the differing opinions.
Testers:
Kid1 (K1) 14 year old female 5’3”, about 105 pounds, 3-3.5 unofficially, high school varsity player.
Kid2(K2) 14 year old female 5’2”, about 98 pounds, 3-3.5 unoficially, high school varsity player
Adult (A) Male, mid forties, 5’9”, about 180 pounds, 4.0 rated unofficially
Both kids played with Vcore Aces using factory syn guts for the months prior, with some lead added. Adult used to play with a Prince TT Scream OS with Head PPS syn gut.

Racquets:
Ezone 100L 2021, Strung with TechniFibre Multifeel 16G at 55lbs
Babolat PD Team 2025, strung with Babolat Xcel 16G at 55lbs
Wilson Blade 100L v9, strung with Wilson Sensation 16G at 55lbs, 16x19
Head Speed MPL, strung with Head Velocity MLT 16G at 55lbs
The last one was 280gm unstrung, while all others were 285gm unstrung according to specs.

Impressions:
a) Ezone: K1 took to it like a fish to water. Strokes suddenly had a lot of power and topspin to boot. Defensive shots still carried over the net from bad positions, and the racquet felt great for everything. Serve may have been the only one where there wasn’t a noticeable surge in improvement. K2 like this racquet for the forehand but somehow it wasn’t turning out well with her backhands. She preferred more of a launch angle it seems. For the Adult, the Ezone had nice pop and a plush feeling, but felt underpowered when not loading up for a hit from the sweet spot.

b) PD Team: K1 liked this for most things, but wasn’t able to impart as much topspin as the EZone. Was her number 2 choice. K2 loved this from the start. She felt her serve had a lot more power, her strokes had depth, and she could hand in defensively. Benefits all around she felt. For the adult, this serve was great for the serve and volleys. Sweet spot hits were nice, but in other cases maybe not as stable.

c) Blade: K1 found it underpowered and so did K2. Both wanted more power from the racquet and this wasn’t giving it. They were able to impart more spin, but that was the only positive. For the adult, this felt the most fun. Lots of topspin, and the ball had good pop even without full swings. Slices worked great and precision of getting to spots chosen was good. Only negative was that the serve didn’t have good pop.

d) Speed MP: K1 gave up after one hit saying it felt too light and had no power. K2 played with it more amd got some good spin and strokes came good. Manueverability helped in many ways. She said it did everything well, but did not blow her away in anything. It was not useful from defensive scenarios and the serve felt weaker. For the adult, this felt nice to swing, had great spin and control, amd power was good when I caught it in the sweet spot. Off cemter hits were weak however, and slice didn’t have much going for it.

So there you have it. First playtest for a newish family to tennis. This only made us realize that we all needed to move to better racquets to keep developing and competing. Thanks to everyone for getting us thinking about the right things. If we could keep demoing, we may have added the Vcore 100L, Prince Twistpower X100, Dunlop FX 500 LS and Wilson Ultra to the list. Hoping for those opportunities in the next year.
 

KC!

Hall of Fame
Ezone 100 L, Pure Drive 100L, Extreme MPL, Speed MPL is what I see most of the young girls at my club playing with. The Ezone & Vcore by far are the most prevalent though for girls at my club.
 
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