Doc Hollidae
Hall of Fame
Background:
4.5-5.0 player. Counter puncher/All court singles. Serve and volley doubles. Flat groundies. 2HBH and SW Forehand. Previous stick: Radical Twin Tube Tour OS.
Initial Impressions:
You immediately notice the weight on this racket. At 11.6 oz unstrung, this racket isn't for the weak. However, it swings smooth and much faster than rackets of similar weight. It's about the same weight as my weighted Radicals, but much more head speed. The swing speed between the Tour and Pro Tour is pretty close, even though the Pro Tour is heavier unstrung than the Tour is strung. The grip size is larger than any other of the Prince rackets out there. The both the Tour and Pro Tour are larger than the Speedport grip sizes. I now will most likely abandon playing with overgrips due to this. I initially strung it at 59/60 with Pro Hurricane 17g mains and Duraflex 17g crosses. I've since restrung it with Blue Gear 17g mains and Duraflex 17g at 60/62. The Blue Gear setup made me wonder why people would even want to buy Pro Hurricane.
Groundstrokes:
No one will ever be able to convice me that there's a better racket from the baseline than the Radical Twin Tube Tour, not even the Ozone Pro Tour. However I'd put the Ozone Pro Tour in my "Fave 5." Stability never crossed my mind after feeling the weight of this racket. I knew this racket would have the necessary plow through when needed. Power for this racket is definitely a step up from what I'm used to with my Radicals. However it's a pleasant and controllable boost in power. Depth is very easy and you can really whip the racket around thanks to the O ports. Even through it's a dense pattern, spin is accessible and you can hit some really heavy balls with a ton of spin. I felt much more confident with my groundies with dense pattern of the Pro Tour versus the open pattern of the Tour. This racket hit topspin, slice, and flat all very well and I had no complaints. However, remember that I prefer a dense pattern to an open pattern.
Volleys:
Effortless. Controlled. Manueverable. What else do you need from a stick for volleying? The added stiffness and weight was really an improvement from the Ozone Tour. While I struggled to volley with the OT, I didn't skip a beat with the OPT. I was really impressed with some of the volleys I was able to pick up off my shoe laces and keep the ball low. The OPT did extremely well with low volleys and keeping the ball low. When facing pace, the OPT stays stable and is great in reaction volley exchanges. My one gripe about the Radicals at the net was that they were very sluggish when it came to reaction volley exchanges and I'd lose put away power at times due to the heft. The OPT keeps the same stability, but is much more manueverable with no absence of power during quick exchanges. Overheads are a dream with this racket. I hate hitting overheads and have very little confidence in my own, but this is no longer the case. You can really crush overheads with this racket though.
Serves:
The main reason I decided to abandon the Radicals was to get more pop on my serve. I hit some nice kickers with my Radicals, but I really didn't have enough pop to be hurting people at the 5.0 level. Serving with the OPT definitely is an improvement. You can really crank out some flat heaters with this racket, especially with the mass behind the racket and the head speed easily created. Once you get your swing going, the O Ports and weight do the rest. With the heft and ease of head speed, kickers were much heavier and were bouncing higher than average. Slice was good and had a little more pace than my usual slice serve. Really enjoyed serving with this racket and my arm didn't tire out like with the Radicals. I was able to sustain pace and depth a lot longer than with my Radicals with much more power and control.
Serve Returns:
Once again the weight of the racket, but low swingweight really shined here. Stability and plow through were there. I was able to keep the ball deep and aggressively block the ball back. The additional head speed from the O Port was very nice, as I was able to take a bigger cut at faster paced serves. The extra swing speed and manueverability really helped when late on the ball too.
Overall:
Definitely a player's racket. The heft alone is something that people should be cautious of. Despite the low swingweight and head speed, you can definitely feel the static weight of the racket. However, it does swing lighter than it actually is. While I thought the Ozone Tour was a great racket, the Ozone Pro Tour was an improvement in every category for me. This will be my new stick for a long time.
Comparisons:
I really liked both version of the Ozone Tour. However, the Pro Tour fit my game much more than the Ozone Tour. Had I not known that the Pro Tour was going to come out, I would have bought the Ozone Tour after my first night of demoing. While the Ozone Pro Tour is definitely more demanding due to its weight, the Ozone Tour is a great racket for those looking for an all around racket with player's racket qualities minus the heft of a player's racket. At 11.5 oz, it was very comfortable and stable. I really liked the weight of Ozone Tour more than the Ozone Pro Tour, but wanted that extra stiffness and the dense pattern.
In regards to the SP Tour, it plays very similar. IMO, is a compromise between the OT and the OPT. It has the open pattern and weight closer to the OT, but it's stability, stiffness, balance is similar to the OPT. I really enjoyed the SP Tour and the SP feeling is different than the O ports. I felt like the SP Tour felt much more like a traditional racket and I didn't notice the aerodynamic effect of the speedports like I did with the O ports.
For those that liked the Ozone Tour, but want something stiffer and can't handle the weight of the OPT, try the SP Tour.
4.5-5.0 player. Counter puncher/All court singles. Serve and volley doubles. Flat groundies. 2HBH and SW Forehand. Previous stick: Radical Twin Tube Tour OS.
Initial Impressions:
You immediately notice the weight on this racket. At 11.6 oz unstrung, this racket isn't for the weak. However, it swings smooth and much faster than rackets of similar weight. It's about the same weight as my weighted Radicals, but much more head speed. The swing speed between the Tour and Pro Tour is pretty close, even though the Pro Tour is heavier unstrung than the Tour is strung. The grip size is larger than any other of the Prince rackets out there. The both the Tour and Pro Tour are larger than the Speedport grip sizes. I now will most likely abandon playing with overgrips due to this. I initially strung it at 59/60 with Pro Hurricane 17g mains and Duraflex 17g crosses. I've since restrung it with Blue Gear 17g mains and Duraflex 17g at 60/62. The Blue Gear setup made me wonder why people would even want to buy Pro Hurricane.
Groundstrokes:
No one will ever be able to convice me that there's a better racket from the baseline than the Radical Twin Tube Tour, not even the Ozone Pro Tour. However I'd put the Ozone Pro Tour in my "Fave 5." Stability never crossed my mind after feeling the weight of this racket. I knew this racket would have the necessary plow through when needed. Power for this racket is definitely a step up from what I'm used to with my Radicals. However it's a pleasant and controllable boost in power. Depth is very easy and you can really whip the racket around thanks to the O ports. Even through it's a dense pattern, spin is accessible and you can hit some really heavy balls with a ton of spin. I felt much more confident with my groundies with dense pattern of the Pro Tour versus the open pattern of the Tour. This racket hit topspin, slice, and flat all very well and I had no complaints. However, remember that I prefer a dense pattern to an open pattern.
Volleys:
Effortless. Controlled. Manueverable. What else do you need from a stick for volleying? The added stiffness and weight was really an improvement from the Ozone Tour. While I struggled to volley with the OT, I didn't skip a beat with the OPT. I was really impressed with some of the volleys I was able to pick up off my shoe laces and keep the ball low. The OPT did extremely well with low volleys and keeping the ball low. When facing pace, the OPT stays stable and is great in reaction volley exchanges. My one gripe about the Radicals at the net was that they were very sluggish when it came to reaction volley exchanges and I'd lose put away power at times due to the heft. The OPT keeps the same stability, but is much more manueverable with no absence of power during quick exchanges. Overheads are a dream with this racket. I hate hitting overheads and have very little confidence in my own, but this is no longer the case. You can really crush overheads with this racket though.
Serves:
The main reason I decided to abandon the Radicals was to get more pop on my serve. I hit some nice kickers with my Radicals, but I really didn't have enough pop to be hurting people at the 5.0 level. Serving with the OPT definitely is an improvement. You can really crank out some flat heaters with this racket, especially with the mass behind the racket and the head speed easily created. Once you get your swing going, the O Ports and weight do the rest. With the heft and ease of head speed, kickers were much heavier and were bouncing higher than average. Slice was good and had a little more pace than my usual slice serve. Really enjoyed serving with this racket and my arm didn't tire out like with the Radicals. I was able to sustain pace and depth a lot longer than with my Radicals with much more power and control.
Serve Returns:
Once again the weight of the racket, but low swingweight really shined here. Stability and plow through were there. I was able to keep the ball deep and aggressively block the ball back. The additional head speed from the O Port was very nice, as I was able to take a bigger cut at faster paced serves. The extra swing speed and manueverability really helped when late on the ball too.
Overall:
Definitely a player's racket. The heft alone is something that people should be cautious of. Despite the low swingweight and head speed, you can definitely feel the static weight of the racket. However, it does swing lighter than it actually is. While I thought the Ozone Tour was a great racket, the Ozone Pro Tour was an improvement in every category for me. This will be my new stick for a long time.
Comparisons:
I really liked both version of the Ozone Tour. However, the Pro Tour fit my game much more than the Ozone Tour. Had I not known that the Pro Tour was going to come out, I would have bought the Ozone Tour after my first night of demoing. While the Ozone Pro Tour is definitely more demanding due to its weight, the Ozone Tour is a great racket for those looking for an all around racket with player's racket qualities minus the heft of a player's racket. At 11.5 oz, it was very comfortable and stable. I really liked the weight of Ozone Tour more than the Ozone Pro Tour, but wanted that extra stiffness and the dense pattern.
In regards to the SP Tour, it plays very similar. IMO, is a compromise between the OT and the OPT. It has the open pattern and weight closer to the OT, but it's stability, stiffness, balance is similar to the OPT. I really enjoyed the SP Tour and the SP feeling is different than the O ports. I felt like the SP Tour felt much more like a traditional racket and I didn't notice the aerodynamic effect of the speedports like I did with the O ports.
For those that liked the Ozone Tour, but want something stiffer and can't handle the weight of the OPT, try the SP Tour.
. OK racquet but it didn't really shine at anything. Different strokes as they say
