Diadem Axis - Svitolina's new racket

konstantinos kalfountzos

konstantinos kalfountzos

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Before the launch of the V3 Elevate, Diadem had teased us about a "spin" frame they were working on. Their "norm" with both the V3 Elevate and V3 Nova was, demo-day in Netherlands in September before the official release in the upcoming January. This time, I didn't come across this new frame in September, maybe missed it.

Name: Diadem Axis.

Diadem have been making their presence more and more relevant in Europe these last couple years with both tennis and pickleball. Don't know their revenue, but it's good to have another player in the market.

I got the V2 Nova and V2 Elevate 3-4 years ago from them free-of-charge, when I started tennis, so I'm positively biased towards them. Bought the V3 Elevate, just didn't like the rubbery cosmetics. Other than that, I can say they make pretty damn solid and not "hollow" feeling rackets.

I'll share any news I can get from Diadem.

Looks like a 16x20 pattern.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/sponsorship-changes-for-2025.778209/post-18531153

image.png
 
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They tend to just launch their lines without a ton of lead in. They launched their Dream line (player improvement line) last year with relatively little advertising.

I suspect this is their spin line they mentioned 1-2 years ago as being in development
 
Tennisist said:
No wonder, not much fanfare before release. After “years of development”, all they managed is to procure shady copy frames, mass produced in China, and put their name on it. Let’s see if the specs are any different from the Chinese originals…
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Shady copying aside, the mass-produced-in-China piece is no different from most everyone else (save for Yonex's upper-end frames and some smaller batch stuff here and there). On that front, there's a very high likelihood that Diadem uses the same Chinese OEM that most of their peers do (YMA Univers). So at least the quality of the end-finished good will be in the same ballpark.
 
Trip said:
Photos of the frame from face-on (click to enlarge):

2025-australian-open-previews.jpg
2025-australian-open-previews.jpg

​
A foam-filled 16x20 Aero clone could be mildly interesting. From the looks of it, I'd guess her head size is a 100, though we can't be sure.
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Trip said:
Shady copying aside, the mass-produced-in-China piece is no different from most everyone else (save for Yonex's upper-end frames and some smaller batch stuff here and there). On that front, there's a very high likelihood that Diadem uses the same Chinese OEM that most of their peers do (YMA Univers). So at least the quality of the end-finished good will be in the same ballpark.
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You're most probably on-point with your take. I've taken a deep dive into chinese manufacturers these past 2 months.
As I've said to some Greeks on a Greek forum, if the Chinese made up their minds to start a tennis racket brand, they could launch it and in my estimation, could place themselves in the Big-5 brands pretty easily, especially if they would be willing to sell them at 200€ per piece before discount.

I don't know if these manufacturers are satisfied enough just by being the producers for the big brands and have solid relationships with them that could be cut-off on launching their own Chinese tennis racket brand. After all, what these big brands (except for Yonex) could do? Manufacture elsewhere? No way.

It wouldn't surprise me if some kind of Chinese fund or businsess coalition of somekind is "behind" Diadem, but these guys have been going strong in Social Media. I've seen Diadem accounts run for many regional/countries worldwide in a hurry. Suddenly, within 1.5 years, they have established a big network of distributors.

I think the Pickleball-frenziness, showed them the way to make big profits in collaboration with Chinese manufacturers + follow the Toroline-marketing model, the same model that Head roadcopied for their promotion for the Gravity 98 + the condom-alike / Toroline-signature string packaging.
 
Whats with all the "mass produced in China" hate? Thats virtually every single tennis racket in existence. The bulk of manufacturing is in China, this doesn't surprise anyone. It boggles my mind that if a smaller brand releases a new racket some perceive it as "mass produced chinese knock off" where as if one of the larger brands releases a new frame, its perceived as some novel piece of engineering? It makes no sense. Please don't tell me that you believe your Apple iphone is handcrafted in Cuppertino by tech artisans.

Please let me know which Chinese knock off their Nova and Elevate frames are considered. Then lets talk about how the entire Babolat line of rackets is a knock off of the Pro Kennex Destiny mold from the early 90s.
I've been impressed with some of Diadem's offerings. I've hated some of their offerings as well. I'll gladly try out their new frame and judge it on its own merit. Hell if its a PK5G clone with a aero-style throat, that'd be welcome by me. They've been doing the 16x20 game forever.

I don't play pickleball, but their pickleball stuff is fairly popular in my area.
Diadem had Sasha Vickery uses their gear, now Svitolina. Good for them.
 
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Soundbyte said:
Whats with all the "mass produced in China" hate?
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No hate at all by me. Quite the opposite I must say. Glad to see more brands, more competition shaking-up the more-established brands.
Since early last year, Luxilon is trying to do some Instagram-marketing campaign. That was not the case before Toroline took social-media by storm.
Head followed the same path with the Gravity 98 promo accompanied by a string with a packaging that's straight-off Toroline-inspired.
Don't get me started with Wilson infamous QC. At least, it seems they improved it with the Blade V9 line.

I saw and listened to straight-up hate on a recent TennisNerd video podcast, in which a big-brand representative expressed his hard feelings about "new" brands that got into the string market with products with little-to-zero RnD, while the same brand manufactures most of their strings in Taiwan...
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
You're most probably on-point with your take. I've taken a deep dive into chinese manufacturers these past 2 months.
As I've said to some Greeks on a Greek forum, if the Chinese made up their minds to start a tennis racket brand, they could launch it and in my estimation, could place themselves in the Big-5 brands pretty easily, especially if they would be willing to sell them at 200€ per piece before discount.

I don't know if these manufacturers are satisfied enough just by being the producers for the big brands and have solid relationships with them that could be cut-off on launching their own Chinese tennis racket brand. After all, what these big brands (except for Yonex) could do? Manufacture elsewhere? No way.

It wouldn't surprise me if some kind of Chinese fund or businsess coalition of somekind is "behind" Diadem, but these guys have been going strong in Social Media. I've seen Diadem accounts run for many regional/countries worldwide in a hurry. Suddenly, within 1.5 years, they have established a big network of distributors.

I think the Pickleball-frenziness, showed them the way to make big profits in collaboration with Chinese manufacturers + follow the Toroline-marketing model, the same model that Head roadcopied for their promotion for the Gravity 98 + the condom-alike / Toroline-signature string packaging.
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I think you are missing one of the aspects of international production. Tennis racquets are one of many, many products produced in China for well known North American and European countries, so yes, if a Chinese manufacturer really wanted to, they could launch a knock off brand and appear to have an immediate large market share. There are several problems with this approach. The main one is that without doing their own development and designs, they would need to use an existing (patented and copyrighted) design, and incur the wrath of every company who uses them for production. Then they would have to build a brand, which for tennis is a long, long road of marketing and sponsorship. Quite frankly, the Chinese generally are inept in these fields. They already have a huge local and Asian gray market--a production run of say 20,000 items turns into 40,000, with the last 20,000 used by the factory manager to increase profits on the gray or black markets in Asia. Don't think the Taiwanese and Koreans don't do that also.

As for a Chinese consortium behind, Diadem, don't bet on that either. The production runs for Diadem are paltry compared to the Head, Wilson, Babolat, Prince, Yonex etc crowd, so wouldn't be worth their time to "build" another small brand in a crowded, mature market.
 
Westerwick said:
The main one is that without doing their own development and designs, they would need to use an existing (patented and copyrighted) design, and incur the wrath of every company who uses them for production.
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I'm pretty sure that by this point, they can make or already have made their own molds. Some patents may have expired and could be used and rebranded (Carve sports - Diadem Axis?).
With the Axis, I see a Pure Aero with a minor difference - if there is one actually - just inside the bottom part of the throat.

They have the machinery to do it and have been doing it for too many years not to have the knowledge by now. Maybe, they are in a profitable comfort zone they don't wish to dirsupt for now. Agree with all the rest of your comment.
 
flyhome said:
From her Instagram's video It does not seems so thick, but as we say in Italy "il nero snellisce" black streamlines, a 99" 16x20 max 24 mm would be very intesting
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Usually, these kind of spin-tweeners a la Aero 100 / SX 300 go for a 16mm beam width at 9 and 3 o' clock. The Nova is 24.5mm all the way, almost. I do also hope for a 23.5-24mm max. I didn't like hitting the ball early and flat (chest-high) with the Nova. I always had to weight a bit and hit at a lower hitting zone. But anyway, we'll learn more soon.
 
Hmm if I had a choice, it would be 100 16x20 with 21.5 or 22mm beam and a stiffness of 68RA unstrung.
 
topspn said:
Hmm if I had a choice, it would be 100 16x20 with 21.5 or 22mm beam and a stiffness of 68RA unstrung.
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You can easily go with YPF Fusion Custom, 100" 16x20, 22mm, foam filled, 66RA, and you choose weight, length, balance and SW
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
Usually, these kind of spin-tweeners a la Aero 100 / SX 300 go for a 16mm beam width at 9 and 3 o' clock. The Nova is 24.5mm all the way, almost. I do also hope for a 23.5-24mm max. I didn't like hitting the ball early and flat (chest-high) with the Nova. I always had to weight a bit and hit at a lower hitting zone. But anyway, we'll learn more soon.
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Dunlop CV 3.0 F tour was 23/24/23,even RF01 it's similar
 
So, Svitolina is for sure on Team Diadem. Racket can't be less thin than 24mm. It's an Aero 16x20 modern kind frame a la Carlos Alcaraz with easy power and spin, I guess. She has a Diadem Bag on her bench. Will get official soon. I've only used a Pure Aero 100 for 15 minutes, the throat felt too thick for my taste and I thought myself, if I were ever to get one, it would be an extended version. Very steady frame through.
 
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Soundbyte said:
Whats with all the "mass produced in China" hate? Thats virtually every single tennis racket in existence. The bulk of manufacturing is in China, this doesn't surprise anyone. It boggles my mind that if a smaller brand releases a new racket some perceive it as "mass produced chinese knock off" where as if one of the larger brands releases a new frame, its perceived as some novel piece of engineering? It makes no sense. Please don't tell me that you believe your Apple iphone is handcrafted in Cuppertino by tech artisans.

Please let me know which Chinese knock off their Nova and Elevate frames are considered. Then lets talk about how the entire Babolat line of rackets is a knock off of the Pro Kennex Destiny mold from the early 90s.
I've been impressed with some of Diadem's offerings. I've hated some of their offerings as well. I'll gladly try out their new frame and judge it on its own merit. Hell if its a PK5G clone with a aero-style throat, that'd be welcome by me. They've been doing the 16x20 game forever.

I don't play pickleball, but their pickleball stuff is fairly popular in my area.
Diadem had Sasha Vickery uses their gear, now Svitolina. Good for them.
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Some people have never read the "I pencil" essay, and it shows.

But in solidarity, I am going to grow my own graphite, and mine my own steel, to create a truly in-house produced mold and racket.
 
She is even using the Diadem overgrips, so looks like they have most everything she doesn't wear. I'd be interested in strings as well, but almost impossible to determine that with the photo resolution here.
 
Diadem have copied the Tecnifibre-name written on the side of the throat extending towards the hoop.
Head have copied the Toroline-packaging that accompanied the Prototype-Gravity 98. There's no way they wil offer the condom-Toro packaging with any of their new strings.
Carve and Diadem have copied the Aero mold (expired patent of some kind?). I don't know if it's banned to "make" a mold 99% similar to another one. I've seen some Artengos very similar to Head Extremes, especially at the bottom part of the throat.
 
Westerwick said:
She is even using the Diadem overgrips, so looks like they have most everything she doesn't wear. I'd be interested in strings as well, but almost impossible to determine that with the photo resolution here.
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I string with Diadem regularly and (assuming she is even using Diadem string in the first place) that looks a lot like Diadem Pro X. It doesn’t look like it has extrusions in the string and it looks very grayish.
 
also, when will diadem release the info about the axis? they’ve sent out pictures themselves with this racquet and yet I still see nothing about it from them.
 
part of the email I got from Diadem about the Svitolina endorsement

“We are excited to support her journey with our cutting-edge Diadem rackets, strings, bags, and grips, crafted to meet the demands of champions. Together, we aim to push boundaries and achieve new heights in the tennis world. Welcome to the Diadem family, Elina – let’s create greatness together!”

it does say strings in there. is this just another company suggesting the player uses certain equipment or can this be evidence she is using diadem string?
 
WJ155 said:
part of the email I got from Diadem about the Svitolina endorsement

“We are excited to support her journey with our cutting-edge Diadem rackets, strings, bags, and grips, crafted to meet the demands of champions.
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This takes no interpretation other than she's using a Diadem string. Could be Pro-X, we'll know next week I guess. Either way, it's a strong move from Diadem that, as I've said before, have been growing rapidly in Europe.
 
konstantinos kalfountzos said:
This takes no interpretation other than she's using a Diadem string. Could be Pro-X, we'll know next week I guess. Either way, it's a strong move from Diadem that, as I've said before, have been growing rapidly in Europe.
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eh... just because they supply her with string doesn't mean she uses it - vague enough to mean whatever - I'd be very surprised if she had switched.
 
aus89 said:
eh... just because they supply her with string doesn't mean she uses it - vague enough to mean whatever - I'd be very surprised if she had switched.
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So you’re more surprised she would change a string than change a racquet and completely different small brand? So one actually occurs but string, just not possible? Lol don’t get the logic there
 
switching from a steam 100 to a diadem racquet with people’s speculations have given similar specs… I’ll lean towards switching strings too. besides, I think diadem really tries to get their pros to use all of their gear, not just racquets.
 
topspn said:
So you’re more surprised she would change a string than change a racquet and completely different small brand? So one actually occurs but string, just not possible? Lol don’t get the logic there
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still using the luxilon dampener, ubiquitous silver string used by many many many players on tour... you guys are reading way too much into some dumb marketing spiel lol - yeah racquet change i can see for sponsor reasons or whatever - but yeah no reason to suspect she changed strings just based on this lol
 
aus89 said:
still using the luxilon dampener, ubiquitous silver string used by many many many players on tour... you guys are reading way too much into some dumb marketing spiel lol… …but yeah no reason to suspect she changed strings just based on this lol
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can we speculate in peace? it’s kinda fun to do so and I noticed the dampener too, but as a diadem user i’d like to at least hope for a second that svitolina funny changed
 
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