Stiga has grown bored with dominating the top of the professional table tennis world, so when they heard that succeeding in the tennis racket manufacturer game was more of a challenge, those Swedish engineers eyes lit up. And apparently they swear up, down, left and right that this was not an outsourced, your-brand-here job, all literature available and press releases say this was all Stiga from the word go. Oddly, the packaging calls this the "Arena Series" referring to multiple frames, despite the fact that there's only one racket in said series.
So how's the aesthetics? Pretty good looker in my opinion. A mix of smooth-ish matte sections with high gloss piano black in others. A sleek, hard edge box beam shape but the beam is wider than most traditional box frames. They also make some other tweener type sticks like the Supreme, but this Arena is supposed to be their tour level players-spec frame, and all indications say it is! At $280 one should expect top of the line quality, and besides a bit of grip movement from the stock plush main grip (solved by re-wrapping a bit tighter) I have no complaints about quality. Frame comes in at 330g strung, Swingweight of 328, 98sq in.
comes in its own box, always neat:
strung it with LXN Element Black @52lbs
They're definitely not shy about all the tech they've implemented, even created little logos for each, how cute!
stamped/textured aluminum trap door
So here's the first play test. My opponent here was some random person who reached out to me on facebook the other day. Figured why not since no one else was available. My serve had a bit more kick than usual here, I might actually string it a bit tighter next time. control is high, frame feels quite stable and it's great for hitting powerful groundies. Dampening was excellent without feeling vague or disconnected. Anyone who says this frame is harsh or hollow feeling, I will be VERY skeptical of. Volleys were ok, tried a few drop volleys and that shot wasn't there yet. Slices felt natural and the 18x20 pattern is more open than most others I have. Overall I think this thing is excellent and was money well spent, might try using it for league play and see if it becomes my new main. Give the footage a watch.
I'm in the red shirt.
