That all sounds fantastic; I was kinda torn between demoing the MP and demoing the Pro, but went with the Pro because of the thinner beam and the fact that it's about the same weight and SW as my current racket (customized Diadem Elevate), so I want to see if it lives up to the hype. From your experience, how was the stability/maneuverability on the MP, and how well did you feel the ball on contact? I really want to try the MP before the free demo promotion ends, but was a bit scared away by the thicker beam and the low weight (300g). Everybody says it's powerful in stock form, but idk about the stability...that seems like the type of racket I wouldn't want to add hoop weight to if I can avoid it.
Other frames I'd try if I were you, coming from an IG Prestige Pro, would be the PS97 v13, Diadem Elevate and Elevate Tour, Yonex VCore 95 and 98, and maybe the Head G360+ Extreme Tour. I personally wouldn't choose the Strike just because the feel is very muted and there's too much power IMO, but that's just me. The new Pro Staff is most similar spec wise to your Prestige, but doesn't give you much for free. The Diadem Elevate is a great platform stick but needs weight for stability, but everyone says that the Tour is great in stock form. The ET seems to need weight as well but people seem to like it.
Well, you raise several good questions and make good suggestions. I'll try to answer them, but first, let me give you some background.
When I bought the IG Prestige Pro 7 years ago, I lived in California, had a tennis court 100 feet away from home, and didn't have kids, so I played quite a lot, year round. Now I live in Upstate NY and have two little kids, so it is more difficult to find time (and courts) to play. In fact, I hadn't played pretty much at all for 3 years before I started playing again about 4 months ago.
As far as racquets go, the thing that I like most about my Prestige is its stability against big servers/hitters. I'd say that both its mass and large grip size (4 5/8) help there. Overall, my playing style with the Prestige mostly relies on flat hitting, directional control, and consistency. But while I still like the Prestige, I find it increasingly difficult to generate racquet head speed (presumably for the same two reasons as above) and go for winners, especially when I am not playing my best tennis. So I'd say that I'm primarily looking for a racquet that would be easier to use and more powerful than the Prestige, but without sacrificing too much control or stability.
One final disclaimer before I move on to the new Radical MP. When buying the Prestige Pro, I only demoed four racquets (one of which was the APD). Prior to that, I had played with the Flexpoint Radical MP for many years, so I don't really have much experience playing with different racquets. Because of my limited experience, it's a bit difficult to me to say how I felt the ball on contact. I would say, however, that the MP felt really good when I practiced volleys against the ball machine (not the best setting, I know). To my surprise, despite the lower mass and smaller grip size (4 3/8), I was hitting volleys with more precision than with the Prestige Pro.
As far as stability goes, ideally I would have liked to try the MP on serve returns against someone who hits fast first serves. That's where my Prestige really shines. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test the MP in that setting. But based on how it felt at the net, and also on half-volleys when my hitting partner was hitting close to the baseline or long, I'd say that I didn't notice any instability.
The area where I couldn't get as connected to the MP as I would have liked is my backhand. Having said that, my backhand has been pretty erratic recently (which is a shame, because in the past it used to be a very reliable shot), and I had similar problems with the backhand with my Prestige. One other problem was that the MP's power was addictive, and sometimes I hit the ball long when I went for too much power. But when I was patient, I was able to place the ball well. As far as I can remember, I was spraying my shots when I demoed the APD back in 2013; I didn't have this problem with the MP.
Edit: sorry, forgot to mention. The launch angle of the MP is definitely higher than of my Prestige, but I was able to adjust pretty quickly.
So overall, I was very impressed. I understand that my experience with racquets is limited, and this is why I will certainly demo more racquets before pulling the trigger (I
asked Chris from TW for some suggestions and got a good list of racquets that has some overlap with yours). But I would say that the MP seems to provide a lot of free power (almost certainly not as much as the Pure Aero, but still a lot), while maintaining the level of control close to my Prestige. I didn't want to send the racquet back
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you (or someone else) might find it helpful.
