Rohith Kolli
New User
Racquet Received - Wilson Clash V3 100 Pro 16 x20
I really enjoyed this playtest. Sorry for the late response.
String and tension used for test: Used Yonex Poly Tour Pro at 52lbs
Tennis experience/background: 4.5 Player with some college background. Play about 3-4 times a week regularly now and play leagues and tournaments.
Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley): I am pretty tall so I modeled my game behind that. I would say I am an aggressive baseliner but do like coming forward quite a bit. My backhand and net games are my two biggest strengths in my game.
Current racquet/string setups: I currently use the same strings, Yonex Poly Tour Pro at 51 lbs in my Wilson Blade v8 18x20 racket. I like closed patterns for my rackets since I tend to hit a bit flatter. I also like the higher swing weight of the 18x20 string pattern version. This clash was interesting since the boxes were not as big as I was expecting and it was a pleasant surprise.
How many hours did you play with the racquet? I used this racket for 2 weeks fully. In terms of hours, roughly about 15-20 hours. I played a couple matches with the racket as well.
-Groundstrokes: I really enjoyed the groundstrokes with this racket because it was a bit of a change up from my current racket of choice. I was able to hit bigger groundstrokes and had access to more effortless power. However, I did find that the racket felt a bit sluggish on the forehand side. While I was swinging, I felt a little disconnect between the swing and the actual impact of hitting the ball. Overall, groundstrokes were a blast and I really enjoyed my backhand because of the stability.
-Serves: Serves were probably my favorite shot with this racket. I normally have a pretty big serve, but I was able to get even faster serves with this racket and it was a lot more effortless power. I thought it would be a bit sluggish especially since I found the forehands to be sluggish, but I was surprised with how fast the racket was moving through the air. I enjoyed hitting flat serves a lot but I think I found my kick serves had a very good amount of kick compared to my blade.
-Volleys: Volleys with this racket felt very nice on impact. Since this racket was very soft, volleys felt like butter but didn’t give up any stability. The only thing I didn’t like with the volleys were that when engaged in a back and forth at net, it was a bit slow trying to switch from backhand side to forehands side. I really enjoyed hitting overheads with this racket and I found that my overheads packed a lot more punch.
-Serve returns: Serve returns were great due to the big, sweet spot of this racket. It felt like I was able to hit anywhere on the string bed and still get a consistent serve return. I normally stand a bit further back to return serves but with this racket, I felt comfortable shortening my swing and staying up closer to the line. The stability was solid, but I did notice on some, the returns were a bit erratic on fast serve returns.
Power/Control- I felt like this racket gave a lot of free power and it was effortless power. I was able to generate the most amount of power, when I relaxed and let the racket swing through the air. However, the control was a bit erratic and didn’t always go where I was intending to hit. I thought I couldn’t gauge the exact combination of power and control to swing with which was a bit of a challenge to get used to.
Top Spin/Slice- I enjoyed the topspin of this racket especially on my forehand side. I normally hit a bit flat with my 18x20 blade, but this racket made me swing a bit higher and create some more arc on the ball. This felt good cause no matter how high of a net clearance I was hitting with, the ball was always looping back in. I didn’t enjoy the slice as much. I felt like there was not much bite and the racket didn’t really chop the ball. I tried adjusting my swing but something felt a bit off and I was not that big of a fan of the slices I hit.
Comfort- The comfort was off the charts. I thought coming from a blade, I wouldn’t notice much of a difference, but this was somehow even softer. I could barely feel the impact of the ball when I was hitting and even after long hours on the court, I noticed no pain or fatigue in my arms.
Feel- The feel was interesting because I thought given how soft the racket was, I would enjoy the feel, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much. I couldn’t really get consistent feedback from my string bed and was unsure of where I was hitting the ball on my strings every shot. I also couldn’t absorb the impact of fast shot well.
Maneuverability- I thought the maneuverability on most shots was solid. Given it’s a 100 square inch head size, I think it is very easy to swing for its class. I like the balance and think it is spot on for a racket like this. I wish it was a bit more head light, since it was a bit hard to swing on the forehand side at times.
Stability- Given how low the stiffness was with this racket, I thought stability would be an issue but I was pretty surprised. It felt very stable on all shots and I felt very confident with swinging out. The only knock I had with the stability was that on fast serves, it felt like it shook a little bit but that was not that common.
General reaction/comments on overall performance: I really enjoyed this playtest. I used the v1 when it first came out for a few months and have been using a blade since then. Super solid racket and I think it is an upgrade from the previous version which I was not a big fan of. I would say it is comparable to the ezone 100 but softer. Power is comparable but I think the ezone had a bit more stability.
I really enjoyed this playtest. Sorry for the late response.
String and tension used for test: Used Yonex Poly Tour Pro at 52lbs
Tennis experience/background: 4.5 Player with some college background. Play about 3-4 times a week regularly now and play leagues and tournaments.
Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley): I am pretty tall so I modeled my game behind that. I would say I am an aggressive baseliner but do like coming forward quite a bit. My backhand and net games are my two biggest strengths in my game.
Current racquet/string setups: I currently use the same strings, Yonex Poly Tour Pro at 51 lbs in my Wilson Blade v8 18x20 racket. I like closed patterns for my rackets since I tend to hit a bit flatter. I also like the higher swing weight of the 18x20 string pattern version. This clash was interesting since the boxes were not as big as I was expecting and it was a pleasant surprise.
How many hours did you play with the racquet? I used this racket for 2 weeks fully. In terms of hours, roughly about 15-20 hours. I played a couple matches with the racket as well.
-Groundstrokes: I really enjoyed the groundstrokes with this racket because it was a bit of a change up from my current racket of choice. I was able to hit bigger groundstrokes and had access to more effortless power. However, I did find that the racket felt a bit sluggish on the forehand side. While I was swinging, I felt a little disconnect between the swing and the actual impact of hitting the ball. Overall, groundstrokes were a blast and I really enjoyed my backhand because of the stability.
-Serves: Serves were probably my favorite shot with this racket. I normally have a pretty big serve, but I was able to get even faster serves with this racket and it was a lot more effortless power. I thought it would be a bit sluggish especially since I found the forehands to be sluggish, but I was surprised with how fast the racket was moving through the air. I enjoyed hitting flat serves a lot but I think I found my kick serves had a very good amount of kick compared to my blade.
-Volleys: Volleys with this racket felt very nice on impact. Since this racket was very soft, volleys felt like butter but didn’t give up any stability. The only thing I didn’t like with the volleys were that when engaged in a back and forth at net, it was a bit slow trying to switch from backhand side to forehands side. I really enjoyed hitting overheads with this racket and I found that my overheads packed a lot more punch.
-Serve returns: Serve returns were great due to the big, sweet spot of this racket. It felt like I was able to hit anywhere on the string bed and still get a consistent serve return. I normally stand a bit further back to return serves but with this racket, I felt comfortable shortening my swing and staying up closer to the line. The stability was solid, but I did notice on some, the returns were a bit erratic on fast serve returns.
Power/Control- I felt like this racket gave a lot of free power and it was effortless power. I was able to generate the most amount of power, when I relaxed and let the racket swing through the air. However, the control was a bit erratic and didn’t always go where I was intending to hit. I thought I couldn’t gauge the exact combination of power and control to swing with which was a bit of a challenge to get used to.
Top Spin/Slice- I enjoyed the topspin of this racket especially on my forehand side. I normally hit a bit flat with my 18x20 blade, but this racket made me swing a bit higher and create some more arc on the ball. This felt good cause no matter how high of a net clearance I was hitting with, the ball was always looping back in. I didn’t enjoy the slice as much. I felt like there was not much bite and the racket didn’t really chop the ball. I tried adjusting my swing but something felt a bit off and I was not that big of a fan of the slices I hit.
Comfort- The comfort was off the charts. I thought coming from a blade, I wouldn’t notice much of a difference, but this was somehow even softer. I could barely feel the impact of the ball when I was hitting and even after long hours on the court, I noticed no pain or fatigue in my arms.
Feel- The feel was interesting because I thought given how soft the racket was, I would enjoy the feel, but I didn’t really enjoy it that much. I couldn’t really get consistent feedback from my string bed and was unsure of where I was hitting the ball on my strings every shot. I also couldn’t absorb the impact of fast shot well.
Maneuverability- I thought the maneuverability on most shots was solid. Given it’s a 100 square inch head size, I think it is very easy to swing for its class. I like the balance and think it is spot on for a racket like this. I wish it was a bit more head light, since it was a bit hard to swing on the forehand side at times.
Stability- Given how low the stiffness was with this racket, I thought stability would be an issue but I was pretty surprised. It felt very stable on all shots and I felt very confident with swinging out. The only knock I had with the stability was that on fast serves, it felt like it shook a little bit but that was not that common.
General reaction/comments on overall performance: I really enjoyed this playtest. I used the v1 when it first came out for a few months and have been using a blade since then. Super solid racket and I think it is an upgrade from the previous version which I was not a big fan of. I would say it is comparable to the ezone 100 but softer. Power is comparable but I think the ezone had a bit more stability.
