Head Graphene Touch Radical MP Racket Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 82 / 100

The Head Graphene Touch Radical MP had excellent access to spin and easy depth, but the TW playtesters wanted more feel. The playtesters raved about the combination of power and feel and loved the easy access to depth on their groundstrokes. Spin was easy to hit and the playtesters could pull their opponents wide off the court. Additionally, the racket was stable enough for slice and hard hit groundstrokes. Brittany has playtested four iterations of the racket, and she found a lot of similarities to the past versions. She started, "Like before, the Radical MP is still one of my favourite rackets to groove groundstrokes with during a practice session. There is a pretty even balance of control and power as well as stability and manoeuvrability. I really enjoyed taking the ball early and redirecting it using my opponents pace. Even my slices were effective whether they were offensive or defensive. Once I started playing points, I lost my accuracy and had to dial back and aim for larger targets. This caused me to hit an additional two to three balls to finish a point because my opponent was able to get more shots back. I think this was due to the feel. I didn't have a sense of where the ball was going to go once it had left the stringbed."

Volleys - Score: 80 / 100

Volleying with the Graphene Touch Radical MP, the TW playtesters were surprised with the stability for its weight. They were also impressed with the pace and found themselves ending points with power versus touch. Like with groundstrokes, some playtesters were looking for a little bit more feel. Tiffani summarized, "It wasn't as manoeuvrable as other 310 gram rackets I've played with, but I liked the pop off the stringbed I could get on volleys, so I gave the slight dip in manoeuvrability a pass. I'm one to keep it simple on volleys, so even though I felt like there wasn't much feel, I didn't miss it as much as I did from the baseline. It actually helped keep the response comfortable since I miss the sweetspot much more often at the net."

Serves - Score: 80 / 100

The TW playtesters were able to tap into the power potential of the Head Graphene Touch Radical MP and able to generate pace with ease. There was enough control to keep the playtesters satisfied and they were consistent in both first and second serves. However, some testers were left wanting a little more spin. TW playtester Jason was more than happy to hit serves. He explained, "I enjoyed serving with this racket from the get-go. I was able to serve with a high percentage, and the muted feel didn't bother me as much on this particular shot. Probably because I wasn't trying to control my depth of my serves, rather just the direction. The open string pattern was great in helping me put lots of spin on my serves."

Serve Returns - Score: 79 / 100

The TW playtesters continued to be impressed with the stability that the Graphene Touch Radical MP offered. However, like with some other areas of the playtest, they were left feeling a little disconnected from the ball. While Brittany appreciated the stability, she was also missing a more responsive feel on her returns. She stated, "I liked the fact that I never felt pushed around when it came to returns. I could start on the baseline and even take a step forward to return a serve. I still found myself aiming for big targets and being conservative. I was mainly focused on the depth of my returns. I preferred returning first serves because I felt I had more control blocking back the return. When I had to step in and take a bigger cut at a second serve, it was very easy to overhit and send my return out past the baseline."

Overall - Score: 80 / 100