Prince ATS Textreme Tour 95 Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 84

The ATS Textreme Tour 95 impressed our team with the way its specs worked in unison to create a smooth and classic response. It encouraged Chris to hit his shots with authority. He explained, "I loved the way the ATS Textreme Tour 95 came through the ball on a full groundstroke swing. There's something about how a smaller head size cuts through the air that helps hide a racquet's heft. I found the elusive blend of maneuverability and a rock-solid response. My favorite shot was my topspin one-handed backhand. I was getting excellent drive on that shot and had the confidence to be very aggressive. My backhand slice was also working well. I liked how the mass of the racquet helped me hit a knifing slice. I was getting lots of grab from the stringbed for spin. Although this 95 doesn't have as generous a spin window as the larger head size Tours, I was still very happy with the spin I was generating."

Sage also noted the maneuverability as a big upside. He said, "The Tour 95 asked for a slight adjustment period, but once dialed in, I ended up enjoying it. When I stayed aggressive the ball had plenty of power behind it and gave me big margins to work with. The frame was comfortable and flexed nicely on impact. Despite being on the heavier side, I never thought the maneuverability suffered thanks to the head-light balance and reasonable swingweight. The open pattern, while not giving me the same lift as the Tour 98, still performed well when I wanted to make the ball dip into the court. Slicing isn't a tactic I use with regularity, but this racquet felt great when I wanted to keep a slice low and deep or drop it short."

It was a story of comfort for Mark. He described, "I spend most of my tennis time exchanging groundstrokes from the baseline, and I definitely enjoyed every swing from the backcourt with Prince's new Tour 95. Within an hour of play, I realized its weight, head size and balance made absorbing pace and changing the direction of the ball pretty easy for me. The open 16x19 pattern and low RA in the throat helped me maintain shot depth and also offered supreme comfort, even with a full bed of a monofilament string."

Although the Tour 95 is not her favorite racquet within the family, there were plenty of positives for Michelle. She said, "I have to preface this playtest by saying the Tour 95 unfortunately fell into the shadow of the Tour 98 for me. Because I loved the 98 so much, I found myself always wanting to hit that racquet. With that being said, I started the playtest by blindly testing the 95, 98 and 100P, and I had zero complaints for the Tour 95. I was impressed and surprised with how much power and access to spin the Tour 95 had; I couldn't believe it was a 95-square-inch head. The sweetspot was large and forgiving, and the racquet packed an arm-friendly feel and good plow through. I really had no complaints and I couldn't find any missing components from the baseline. It wasn't all that different from the Tour 98 either; I just felt more confident constructing points with the larger head and quicker racquet."

Volleys - Score: 84

Simple. Accurate. Stable. Our team unanimously agreed on the effectiveness of the ATS Textreme Tour 95 at the net. It gave Mark the ability to hit his targets, consistently setting himself up for winners. He said, "The volley was another shot that was enhanced with the Prince ATS Tour 95 in hand. The 8-points head-light average balance kept things maneuverable enough for me, and I had zero stability issues with its 11.9-ounce strung weight. I especially noticed my backhand volley feeling more solid. I was able to punch it, which is typically more natural to me on the forehand side."

Sage struggled to find the sweetspot at times, but he liked the well-rounded nature of the racquet overall. He said, "At net, I appreciated the maneuverability during reaction volleys and the stability if I was caught out of position. I settled into punching volleys at my opponent's feet in doubles and most often dropping the ball short in singles. I was able to utilize a variety of different volleys, and that helped keep my opponents guessing. It's always tough to discern what is in my head, but I did feel I was contacting the ball just outside the sweetspot more than usual with the smaller head size."

Michelle added, "Point-and-shoot simplicity! I had no real issues at the net with the Tour 95. This racquet was maybe a tiny bit more demanding than the 98, but it felt firm, comfortable and easy to maneuver."

Chris looked to move forward and put pressure on his opponents with aggressive net play. He described, "The ATS Textreme Tour 95 was a fun racquet to volley with. I loved the stability since it gave the racquet a very accurate feel. I felt like I could line up the stringbed with my targets and punch volleys away with solid pace and placement. My touch volleys were also working well. I had lots of control when hitting angles and drop volleys. There was a lot of touch to be had from this racquet, and I felt very connected to the ball. This racquet is a high recommendation for me for those who like to attack the net."

Serves - Score: 84

You name the spin and spot, and the ATS Textreme Tour 95 will deliver in spades on serve. Michelle was grooving with it early and often. She said, "I was really happy with the performance of the Tour 95 on serve. I never felt limited with any of my serves, from flat to kick to slice. Again, I hate that the 98 took precedent, but that racquet felt just a tiny bit easier to serve with. However, there was really nothing that didn't work with the Tour 95 on serve."

"Serves were my favorite shots to hit with Prince's latest update to the Tour 95," added Mark. "I was not able to swing it very fast to generate an extremely heavy ball, but with that said, it was fast and effective enough to keep my opponent from hitting an offensive return."

The Tour 95 gave Chris the option to effectively hit any serve in his arsenal. He explained, "I'm a fan of serving with racquets that have enough mass to plow through contact and help me add some pace to my shots. The ATS Textreme Tour 95 fits that bill. It was heavy enough to produce pace without being so heavy it would tire me out. My favorite serve to hit was one primarily with pace but with a little slice on it to give me more margin for error. I found lots of control and solid accuracy on my flat serves, which are a somewhat high-risk serve for me since I'm never the tallest guy in the tournament draw. On second serves, I was able to get ample spin to allow me to stay consistent while keeping up the pace."

When Sage serves well, the rest of his game usually follows suit. He said, "The Tour 95 gave me everything I wanted on serve. I rely on my serve to allow me to dictate the point, and this racquet gave me a silky smooth combination of spin and control. The theme of the playtest continued, with the specs working in harmony to produce effective shots. Overhead, it snapped through contact and allowed me to keep my targets to small areas of the service box. I loved slicing the ball to keep it low and either away from my opponent or into their body. Just like the feel from the baseline, the overall weight of the racquet is hidden extremely well. In other words, it felt lighter in hand and never led to fatigue. "

Returns - Score: 81

From the stability against a big first serve to taking a step inside the court to attack a second, the ATS Textreme Tour 95 offered our team the options they needed to play high-percentage tennis. Chris loved the feel off the stringbed. He said, "The ATS Textreme Tour 95 offered a very solid and consistent response on returns. I always felt like I could trust the racquet, which allowed me to go after my shots. My favorite returns to hit were drive returns with just enough spin on them to allow me to clear the net and still get to ball to drop on target. The mass of the racquet came in handy when blocking back bigger serves, and I was impressed by how comfortable the racquet felt."

Michelle typically likes to attack her returns, so she appreciated how the Tour 95 redirected and controlled big serves. She explained, "I enjoyed returning with this racquet and found it to be really stable and predictable even against big hitters. I was happy with how it performed. I could step up and dictate, but I also felt good against big serves. Sage hits a big lefty kicker that can throw me off, and some racquets feel unstable against it; this Tour 95 was solid against his kicker and allowed me to get into the point instead of making silly mistakes right away."

"Keeping my foot on the gas pedal was the road to success on returns," added Sage. "I quickly learned that the quality of my return dropped if I tried to push the ball or played too conservatively. The controlled nature of the racquet gave me the best results when I adopted a crisp and authoritative swing. I was able to put the ball deep in the court with lots of spin, and even with an aggressive swing could still maintain reasonable margins and net clearance."

For Mark, some strategies worked better than others. He said, "The head-light balance of the new Tour 95 made the 11.9-ounce strung weight manageable enough for a high-quality chip return of serve, but not enough for me to consistently take the topspin route."

Overall - Score: 85