After a decade of playing with some iteration of the Pure Drive Roddick, my recent elbow ailments and my desire to move toward a more "controlled" racket (relative to a Pure Drive Roddick, mind you) has caused me to finally look for a replacement that is more comfortable, provides better subjective feel, is lower powered, and provides better touch around the net. In this quest, I have decided to demo the Wilson Clash 98, Babolat Pure Strike Tour 3rd Gen, and the Diadem Elevate Tour. Below, you will find my subjective opinions of each demo racket, which I hope you find somewhat helpful as many players are moving toward this class of rackets. For context, I am a 4.5/5.0 player. I played D2 college tennis in 2010 and 2011. I am currently in grad school at Clemson and play on the "A" ladder for the club team.
Wilson Clash 98: I received this demo from TW with a full bed of Wilson Sensation. Not sure of the tension, but it felt higher than what I would have chosen myself (felt maybe in the 55-57lb range). Initially, I was hesitant to even demo this racket, both because 1) I have used an incredibly stiff set-up for over 10 years, and 2) I am always skeptical of "revolutionary" claims to "make all other rackets obsolete." However, for a demo, it was certainly worth trying, knowing if it lives up to just half the hype, it could provide a comfortable, plush racket that still offers great power. I took this racket out to hit singles with a friend who is at a similar level, has a huge serve, and serves and volleys most points. At first warm-up hit, it was...interesting. Flexy, buttery, but responsive and resulted in a deep shot with a respectable spin (even though I'm not sure how it got there). After the next 15 minutes of hitting, I started to get dialed into the feel and was starting to really enjoy how comfortable it was, but still offering great power and decent spin for a multi. Admittedly, the control was only marginally better than my Pure Drive Roddick, and with the full bed of multi, I was having difficulty getting the same bite I'm used to. Nonetheless, it felt pretty good (mostly like a more comfy PDR with less spin) so we started the match. From the baseline, this was a monster. I could play fantastic defense, I could trade deep groundstrokes, and could hit good passing shots when he came to net. Serve felt pretty solid as well, but was obviously going to be a drop-off from the PDR. Where I didn't like this racket? When I moved forward. When I stepped in for put-aways, I had no confidence in this racket to find the depth without changing my natural swing. I would hit what I thought would be great direction shot with put-away power and it would land a foot out. Sometimes, it would seem I hit the same shot, and this one would drop in. The stringbed is a bit unpredictable and hard to know "why" you are hitting a good shot or why it didn't go in. The next day, I played doubles and found similar playability. Great on serves, great for trading groundstrokes, but as someone who likes the net, this just didn't offer much better feel or touch than my PDR. Overall, I loved this racket to serve with and hit from the baseline. If I played mostly singles and didn't come to the net, this could definitely work as a more comfortable and SLIGHTLY more controlled PDR. It's also important to note that some issues could potentially be alleviated by using a soft co-poly at a lower tension, but I didn't have the ability to try that. Great racket, a lot will love it, but doesn't quite fit my "perfect" frame.
Pure Strike Tour 3rd Gen: I received this demo from TW with a full bed of Babolat Addiction at around the same tension. I felt at home with this being a Babolat and I actually have a used 2nd Gen Pure Strike that I have enjoyed switching to at times, but found that one was too stiff as well. The 3rd Gen iteration had a lower stiffness and TennisNerd even commented on its improved comfort, so I wanted to try it. This racket was, indeed, more comfortable the the second gen. I brought this racket out to the same singles and doubles matches as I mentioned above in the Clash summary. I played the first set of both days with the Clash and the second set of both with Pure Strike. The Pure Strike also offered great baseline rallies and decent serving. It felt more controlled and lower-powered than the Clash 98 did, but was obviously more stiff and didn't have as much spin or bite. Something important to note about this racket is the "dead" or "muted" feel. Some like this, some hate it...I did not like it at all. For this racket to feel like a board even with a full bed of multi was just not something I enjoyed. It made it difficult to trust my shots and gave me absolutely no feedback. The 2nd Gen Strike has a much better feel, in my opinion. This racket offered better control when I moved in toward the net, but that boardy feel neutralized any extra control I gained. An important note: I asked my singles opponent to comment on my game and my shots. He said that my shots were much heavier, more powerful, and more difficult to handle from the Clash than the Strike. I could hit with direction with the Strike, but just never felt comfortable hitting big shots, as I prefer more of a heavy, spin-focused stroke, where this seems to reward a flatter stroke. Definitely preferred the Clash to this racket, so it looks like this didn't answer my call either.
Diadem Elevate Tour: I got this through Diadem's demo program. More expensive, but also more customize-able in terms of string selection and tension ($30 vs $15). This young, American company has been on my radar since TennisNerd's first review. Their graphics/paint jobs are second to none and I have to admit that there was some appeal to try a racket from a company almost know one really plays with or knows about. I got this racket strung with Diadem Solstice Power in the mains and Diadem Evolution in crosses with both @ 52lbs. This racket has a 16X20 pattern and the entire frame is foam-filled. Just shadow-swinging in my house gave me a much different swinging sensation than any of my previous rackets. Felt a bit "slower" and seemed to have more drag, but felt incredibly solid in my hand. I took this racket out to do a hitting session against the board and then joined a friend who I'm giving lessons, probably around the 3.5 level. Immediate reactions from hitting: Incredibly solid, very stable, and feels great. Not as flexy or plush as the Clash, but not as deadened or muted as the Pure Strike, it fell somewhere in between. It was very comfortable and the foam filling seems to do a great job with shock absorption. My shots felt at least as spinny and heavy as with the Clash, if not more, but this does have a shaped poly in the mains to help. This was also somewhere in the middle of the two in terms of power, less powerful than the Clash, but more power than the Strike. Combining the better spin and slight power increase, I felt dialed in very quickly. I got my friend to rally ans then just feed me balls for a while and this racket offered a great blend of power and spin, giving me heavy shots that I felt comfortable hitting, as it had the spin to dip in. It had so much spin and control, there were actually shots I though would be near the baseline that were dropping at the service line, which gave me license to hit harder. The serve felt fantastic. Not as much raw power as the Clash, but more direction control and more bite on my slice and kick serves. When getting fed volleys, this had enough power for put-aways, but also offered enough feel and touch to hit drop volleys. One shot I noticed that had a huge improvement with this racket, compared to other two, was the slice. I'm not sure if it is the weight of the racket or the 20 main strings (probably both), but the slice was absolutely vicious with this racket. I still have it and will be playing a Doubles match tomorrow to finalize my thoughts, but as of now, this feels like a clear winner for me. It does nearly everything well, it is comfortable, and to completely honest, it is just really cool too. If you are an all-courter who likes baseline rallies, but you also come in a lot and/or you play a lot of doubles, I highly recommend this one.
I'll keep anyone who interested updated! Ask me any questions you may have about the three and I would be happy to offer any thoughts I had while playing.
Thanks for enduring my long-winded monologue!
Wilson Clash 98: I received this demo from TW with a full bed of Wilson Sensation. Not sure of the tension, but it felt higher than what I would have chosen myself (felt maybe in the 55-57lb range). Initially, I was hesitant to even demo this racket, both because 1) I have used an incredibly stiff set-up for over 10 years, and 2) I am always skeptical of "revolutionary" claims to "make all other rackets obsolete." However, for a demo, it was certainly worth trying, knowing if it lives up to just half the hype, it could provide a comfortable, plush racket that still offers great power. I took this racket out to hit singles with a friend who is at a similar level, has a huge serve, and serves and volleys most points. At first warm-up hit, it was...interesting. Flexy, buttery, but responsive and resulted in a deep shot with a respectable spin (even though I'm not sure how it got there). After the next 15 minutes of hitting, I started to get dialed into the feel and was starting to really enjoy how comfortable it was, but still offering great power and decent spin for a multi. Admittedly, the control was only marginally better than my Pure Drive Roddick, and with the full bed of multi, I was having difficulty getting the same bite I'm used to. Nonetheless, it felt pretty good (mostly like a more comfy PDR with less spin) so we started the match. From the baseline, this was a monster. I could play fantastic defense, I could trade deep groundstrokes, and could hit good passing shots when he came to net. Serve felt pretty solid as well, but was obviously going to be a drop-off from the PDR. Where I didn't like this racket? When I moved forward. When I stepped in for put-aways, I had no confidence in this racket to find the depth without changing my natural swing. I would hit what I thought would be great direction shot with put-away power and it would land a foot out. Sometimes, it would seem I hit the same shot, and this one would drop in. The stringbed is a bit unpredictable and hard to know "why" you are hitting a good shot or why it didn't go in. The next day, I played doubles and found similar playability. Great on serves, great for trading groundstrokes, but as someone who likes the net, this just didn't offer much better feel or touch than my PDR. Overall, I loved this racket to serve with and hit from the baseline. If I played mostly singles and didn't come to the net, this could definitely work as a more comfortable and SLIGHTLY more controlled PDR. It's also important to note that some issues could potentially be alleviated by using a soft co-poly at a lower tension, but I didn't have the ability to try that. Great racket, a lot will love it, but doesn't quite fit my "perfect" frame.
Pure Strike Tour 3rd Gen: I received this demo from TW with a full bed of Babolat Addiction at around the same tension. I felt at home with this being a Babolat and I actually have a used 2nd Gen Pure Strike that I have enjoyed switching to at times, but found that one was too stiff as well. The 3rd Gen iteration had a lower stiffness and TennisNerd even commented on its improved comfort, so I wanted to try it. This racket was, indeed, more comfortable the the second gen. I brought this racket out to the same singles and doubles matches as I mentioned above in the Clash summary. I played the first set of both days with the Clash and the second set of both with Pure Strike. The Pure Strike also offered great baseline rallies and decent serving. It felt more controlled and lower-powered than the Clash 98 did, but was obviously more stiff and didn't have as much spin or bite. Something important to note about this racket is the "dead" or "muted" feel. Some like this, some hate it...I did not like it at all. For this racket to feel like a board even with a full bed of multi was just not something I enjoyed. It made it difficult to trust my shots and gave me absolutely no feedback. The 2nd Gen Strike has a much better feel, in my opinion. This racket offered better control when I moved in toward the net, but that boardy feel neutralized any extra control I gained. An important note: I asked my singles opponent to comment on my game and my shots. He said that my shots were much heavier, more powerful, and more difficult to handle from the Clash than the Strike. I could hit with direction with the Strike, but just never felt comfortable hitting big shots, as I prefer more of a heavy, spin-focused stroke, where this seems to reward a flatter stroke. Definitely preferred the Clash to this racket, so it looks like this didn't answer my call either.
Diadem Elevate Tour: I got this through Diadem's demo program. More expensive, but also more customize-able in terms of string selection and tension ($30 vs $15). This young, American company has been on my radar since TennisNerd's first review. Their graphics/paint jobs are second to none and I have to admit that there was some appeal to try a racket from a company almost know one really plays with or knows about. I got this racket strung with Diadem Solstice Power in the mains and Diadem Evolution in crosses with both @ 52lbs. This racket has a 16X20 pattern and the entire frame is foam-filled. Just shadow-swinging in my house gave me a much different swinging sensation than any of my previous rackets. Felt a bit "slower" and seemed to have more drag, but felt incredibly solid in my hand. I took this racket out to do a hitting session against the board and then joined a friend who I'm giving lessons, probably around the 3.5 level. Immediate reactions from hitting: Incredibly solid, very stable, and feels great. Not as flexy or plush as the Clash, but not as deadened or muted as the Pure Strike, it fell somewhere in between. It was very comfortable and the foam filling seems to do a great job with shock absorption. My shots felt at least as spinny and heavy as with the Clash, if not more, but this does have a shaped poly in the mains to help. This was also somewhere in the middle of the two in terms of power, less powerful than the Clash, but more power than the Strike. Combining the better spin and slight power increase, I felt dialed in very quickly. I got my friend to rally ans then just feed me balls for a while and this racket offered a great blend of power and spin, giving me heavy shots that I felt comfortable hitting, as it had the spin to dip in. It had so much spin and control, there were actually shots I though would be near the baseline that were dropping at the service line, which gave me license to hit harder. The serve felt fantastic. Not as much raw power as the Clash, but more direction control and more bite on my slice and kick serves. When getting fed volleys, this had enough power for put-aways, but also offered enough feel and touch to hit drop volleys. One shot I noticed that had a huge improvement with this racket, compared to other two, was the slice. I'm not sure if it is the weight of the racket or the 20 main strings (probably both), but the slice was absolutely vicious with this racket. I still have it and will be playing a Doubles match tomorrow to finalize my thoughts, but as of now, this feels like a clear winner for me. It does nearly everything well, it is comfortable, and to completely honest, it is just really cool too. If you are an all-courter who likes baseline rallies, but you also come in a lot and/or you play a lot of doubles, I highly recommend this one.
I'll keep anyone who interested updated! Ask me any questions you may have about the three and I would be happy to offer any thoughts I had while playing.
Thanks for enduring my long-winded monologue!
... would you say the Elevate Tour is solid enough to play in stock form? The reported swingweight seems on the lower side (320ish) but reviewers don’t seem to have an issue with stability...
