Prince EXO3 Tour 100 18x20 Racquet Review
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I must first say, that I’m partial to Prince and its technology. I’ve used Prince in the past, I’ve sold their rackets, shoes and strings in my shop years ago and have great admiration for the people who work there. I’ve been following their technology closely for months now, intrigued by a number of their rackets. So, when I received the Tour 100 this week. I was anxious, needless to say, to REALLY try it. I was not disappointed. Even though I’m not an 18x20 guy and prefer more spin to control. I may need to rethink that…just a bit.
Groundstrokes
I was very surprised by the control and feel I got with the Tour 100. I knew that this would feel like a player’s frame (4.5+), but I was pleasantly surprised by the comfortable feel, the amazing control—I mean amazing, and the really nice feel I got on my groundstrokes. I was able to pound away without feeling too constrained, like I do with some rackets, but I was also able to control and really feel what the racket was doing. Needless to say my forehand was blistering with the Tour 100 and my backhand felt excellent with a flat or a slice swing. My topspin backhand has gone on vacation and hasn’t decided to return yet. Lastly, I was able to place my shots with great accuracy, depth and pace with little worries. Again, even though this is a player’s racket and you do need advanced skills to utilize, certainly one of the best rackets I’ve ever played with.
Return of Serve
My game of late has suffered, greatly, from my backhand return of serve not coming back from where ever it is…possibly with my topspin backhand…in spite of that I loved taking very large swings at forehand returns with this racket. I could easily generate pace, control and spin with relative ease. My backhand fared well using a simple slice or flat block-back, but in either case my shots were deep, controlled and accurate. A 100% winner here, I got what I expected.
Volleys
I love Prince rackets for playing doubles and volleying. You know what you are going to get. With the Tour 100, I got what I expected—a comfortable, solid and amazing feel to the frame. A solid feel, comfortable for a players racket at the net.
Serve
I’ve had many issues with my serve in 2009 and 2010 and after switching rackets, my serve has come back to where it’s a weapon again…not a 110 MPH weapon, but pace and placement is my preferred style at my age. The Tour 100 didn’t disappoint. This was a solid and comfortable frame to serve with. I could easily generate power, spin, pace, control and feel with little issue. Great stick on the serve.
Overall
As expected going into this review, I knew that the Tour 100 would be a great racket and it didn’t disappoint me whatsoever. I liked the comfortable feel, control and pace that I generated. I even liked the spin I could generate with the dense string pattern. Even though my nature is a more open string pattern, I could easily see using this racket. I also really liked the grip Prince provided (Resi Pro). It was surprisingly very comfortable. I’m very pleased with the Tour 100 and think that it is definitely worth trying.
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