Breakdown

Groundstrokes: 7.9

The Black Ace (300) remains one of the most user-friendly racquets on the market, particularly for those with sensitive arms. For Brittany, the hitting experience was defined by comfort and power, but she had to be careful not to sail balls long. She explained, "The Kinetic technology in ProKennex racquets is something you can hear and feel, and that is really cool to experience. The first thing I did with the Black Ace (300) was pick it up and shake it. It always takes a couple of hitting sessions to get used to it, but after that, I didn't notice the sound anymore. The Black Ace (300) has very user-friendly specs, so it was easy to start hitting with it. I could feel the power and see the depth just warming up. I started to notice the Kinetic technology when I increased the racquet head speed. I could feel the beads inside the head migrating, and when I made contact the ball exploded off the stringbed. I had a love-and-hate relationship with this. I could definitely feel the extra MPHs and appreciate them on approach shots, but at the same time, the ball could launch well past the baseline. I had to be a little more cognizant of adding spin on each shot, and I never felt like I could truly get into a rhythm."

Tiffani was taken aback by how long her adjustment window proved to be with this racquet, noting a lack of consistency with her shots. She said, "I'm pretty familiar with ProKennex and its Kinetic technology, so I was surprised that I found this Black Ace (300) tough to adjust to. I could really sense the flex of the racquet when I started rallying from the baseline, which I liked. I tend to enjoy that bendy feel for what feels like good dwell time. However, as I pulled through my stroke, I could also sense the Kinetic technology, and sometimes I felt like it would just fling the ball. I appreciated the power boost the Kinetic was offering me, but I had a hard time replicating the response stroke after stroke. The Black Ace (300) always felt comfortable, however, and that was the highlight for me off the ground."

Jason also had to be more mindful of his shot selection, and he noticed his stronger wing felt somewhat hampered, while his weaker side experienced a boost. He noted, "My thoughts with this racquet varied depending on the shot. I found it a bit harder to maintain consistency on my forehand, which is typically my strongest shot and is where I generate a lot of topspin. That said, generating spin from both wings felt easy and natural, which I always appreciate."

The hitting experience was consistently comfortable for Oak, but that was the only consistent thing about it. He said, "This was a unique hitting experience to say the least. Love it or hate it, the feel of ProKennex's Kinetic technology is certainly unlike anything else out there. This 'secondary acceleration source' can offer devastating power and depth at times, but it also occasionally launches the ball to kingdom come. It was a strange feeling on groundstrokes, where the hitting experience oscillated between silky smooth and almost flimsy or unstable. That said, the comfort factor was extremely high, so it was nice to loosen up my wrist and let myself flow through the shot a little more. I felt like the launch angle was a little lower than I would've liked on my backhand. I felt myself trusting the one-hander more, which naturally has more net clearance compared to my flatter two-hander. I also felt like I could use the Kinetic tech more effectively with my one-hander, whereas it felt like my two-hander had more issues with swing speed and timing. Spin production was sufficient, although not as much as I would've liked given the open spacing and larger head size. For those struggling with tennis elbow or other discomforts, regardless of their string setup and tension, this manufacturer and racquet family is absolutely worth looking into and trying for yourself."

Volleys: 8

Most of our team continued to struggle with consistency in terms of feel, depth and stability at the net. Tiffani found instability when dealing with heavier pace, and she felt like this was an area where the Black Ace (300)'s Kinetic tech wasn't as practical for her. She described, "It was harder to get the Kinetic technology to give me that power boost at net, and sometimes the racquet felt pushed around. I especially struggled with higher volleys, particularly on the backhand side. I could feel the tip wobble, and I usually dumped those into the net."

Oak seemed to have a better experience up at net than the rest of the team. He said, "Volleys were an area where I felt like the Black Ace (300) excelled. This success was largely due to the comfort factor and the fact that the racquet's angle from the ready position to the volley doesn't change all that much, making the Kinetic components less impractical on most volleys. The Kinetic tech, however, inherently does a great job of absorbing pace, which made blocking back heavier shots super easy. So you kind of get the best of the benefits from ProKennex's unique construction with fewer of the negative side effects. I felt mostly connected to the ball, and I found myself going for more angled, short balls than deeper put-away volleys. The Black Ace (300) did a sufficient job of shaping the ball, but for a 16x19 100-square-inch frame, I would've appreciated more spin potential on the whole."

Jason's main knock in this category was the Black Ace (300)'s trouble against heavier pace, whereas spin and power were more easily implemented. He noted, "The Black Ace (300) felt solid in most situations. However, I did notice it getting pushed around a bit when I was volleying heavier shots."

For Brittany, the Black Ace (300)'s overall lack of feel made touch shots harder to pull off, and as such, she opted for more powerful shots. She explained, "I found punching volleys deep the best way to end a point. I was the most consistent that way. While the Black Ace (300) is comfortable, I didn't have the best feel and couldn't execute my touch shots to the best of my ability. I also struggled with stability at times and could feel the racquet twisting in my hands. The deep punch volley eliminated that issue most of the time."

Serves: 7.8

Serving with this Black Ace (300) was a mixed bag for our team, with some testers appreciating the power and spin access and others acknowledging the racquet's control limitations. For Brittany, serving with spin proved to be the best way to rely on this racquet when starting a point. She said, "When I could get the Black Ace (300) up and over my head with good racquet head speed, I was rewarded with a heavy first serve down the T or into the body of my opponent. I wasn't as consistent with it as I would have liked, so I saved those for big points or when I was up significantly in a game. Therefore, I opted for a lot of slice serves out wide to bigger targets. Second serves were OK; nothing stood out as a good thing or bad thing, and I was able to get most of them in without being too defensive."

The serving experience was the highlight of this playtest for Jason, and he greatly enjoyed both the power and control of the Black Ace (300). He noted, "Serving was easily one of my favorite shots to hit with this Black Ace (300). I felt like I was getting great pop on my first serve, and the spin potential really helped make my second serve more effective. On top of that, I was consistently hitting my spots, which gave me a lot of confidence in my placement."

Oak, however, had trouble serving with the Black Ace (300). He didn't feel confident with his precision or pace, saying, "Serving with this racquet was tough for me. On paper, it seems to be the opposite of everything I tend to look for in a racquet on serve. Control-oriented head size? Nope. Precise stringbed? Nope. Stable through contact? Sometimes. Decent spin for slices and kicks? Sometimes. Its sibling in the line, however, the Black Ace Pro, was an absolute gem on serves, so be sure to check out that review. My favorite serve with the Black Ace (300) had to be the body serve on either side because I didn't feel confident enough to go for aggressive spots."

Although it wasn't always reliable, the Black Ace (300) provided Tiffani with solid power, giving her serve a lift. She said, “When I swung with a smooth motion, there was some good power on my serves with the Black Ace (300). However, like with groundstrokes, the challenge was to do it serve after serve. It was easy enough to access spin, and net clearance was not an issue either. I just struggled with consistency."

Returns: 8

Returning with the Black Ace (300) seemed to be a little more reliable for our playtesters compared to their other strokes. The Black Ace (300)'s ample comfort and good pace absorption made returning a pleasurable experience for Oak. He explained, "Returns of serve were plenty viable for me, and I felt confident the Black Ace (300) would do a good job of absorbing and redirecting pace. I enjoyed how the racquet handled flat serves the most, while kicks and slices proved more difficult to deal with. At times, the Kinetic tech would launch the ball without me expecting it to, but I found that this was less likely to happen if I concentrated on keeping my motion and take-back more compact. Thankfully, the Black Ace (300) is maneuverable despite the moving particles, which made returning easier than expected."

As one of her favorite shots in general, Brittany was happy to report good results when returning serves with the Black Ace (300). She noted, "Returns were my favorite shot to hit with the Black Ace (300), which I believe was due to taking a compact swing and blocking the serve back. Similar to volleys, I had some instability if I took too big of a swing or just had to return too big of a serve. However, there was plenty of power when returning second serves, so I was able to step in and start points off on offense."

For Tiffani, a more compact stroke facilitated an easier time returning with confidence, and she could get the racquet in position quickly enough. She said, "I had more success on my returns than on my groundstrokes, perhaps because I used a shorter stroke."

Jason did have a little more difficulty trusting his preferred wing, but he was still able to find inroads to success. He said, "Much like with my groundstrokes, I found my topspin forehand returns to be a bit inconsistent. I felt like I would hit two identical shots, but one would land in and one would sail well long. I ended up relying more on chipping and slicing from both sides, which actually worked out well. I was getting solid net clearance and plenty of action on those returns."

Breakdown Summary