I was not particularly fond of the rectangular shape of the handle, as most Head racquets have, but the feel of the racquet was good. A good sized sweetspot and access to spin helped keep my shots inside the lines. "After getting past the more circular, or rounded look of the head, I found this racquet to feel pretty solid from the baseline. When hitting my backhand slice I found I could hit through the ball with plenty of racquet head speed, getting enough slice to keep the ball deep and low."įinding the swingweight, weight and balance of the racquet inline with his preferences was Spencer. I also liked the way I could whip the racquet around for topspin angles or putting a little curve on down the line passing shots. I was getting lots of action on the ball and didn't have to worry about hitting long when pounding shots, as most of them dipped sharply inside the baseline.
When ripping the ball with topspin, I found it easy to control depth and direction. I was able to generate plenty of topspin and found the racquet to perform at its best with faster swing speeds. I found a good blend of maneuverability and stability. Excellent feel at contact and great results."įinding lots of control from the amount of spin he was generating with the MicroGel Extreme was Chris. Otherwise, good depth and spin were generated with this racquet. The only time I had trouble was hitting off hard, heavy, extreme spin shots: I had a little bit of twisting going on, like the racquet just needed a bit more heft. Softer strings were very preferable as there was a little bit extra vibration, especially with off-center hits. "Great control! I hit from the baseline extremely well with this racquet. Most impressed with the controlled response of the racquet was Ryan. Our team found a high level of control and lots of spin when hitting groundstrokes with the MicroGel Extreme.
Read on to find out how the MicroGel Extreme and the heavier MicroGel Extreme Pro fared in the hands of our playtest team. With several touring pros already making the switch to the MicroGel Extreme racquets, including Ivan Ljubicic and Svetlana Kuznetsova, we eagerly hit the courts for some playtesting. The MicroGel Extreme Pro offers the specs of a player's racquet, weighing in at 11.8 ounces and having a healthy 332 (RDC) swingweight. The MicroGel Extreme features a light and mobile 11.2 ounces of weight and measures just a tad over standard length at 27.25 inches. HEAD offers two versions of the MicroGel Exreme. HEAD states the increased real estate allows the ball to slide across the stringbed further, making for more spin-friendly hitting.
The MicroGel Extremes also feature a redesigned hoop shape, with a rounder shape to the head of the racquet. HEAD says the result for the player is a rock-solid feel with improved comfort and stability from the racquet.
HEAD claims that the MicroGel material can deform and compress upon ball impact, uniformly absorbing and distributing the impact load around the entire frame. The HEAD MicroGel Extreme racquets combine carbon composite fibers in the racquet head with a new material called MicroGel. However, beneath the paint the MicroGel Extremes are all new. Introducing an all new technology, the MicroGel Extremes feature a paint scheme reminiscent of the early Radical racquets, especially the early Twin Tube Radicals. We couldn't help but notice some heritage in the cosmetics of HEAD's latest performance sticks, the MicroGel Extreme and MicroGel Extreme Pro.