Wilson Blade 98 16x19 Countervail Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 86

All of our testers noticed the more dampened feel of the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail from the baseline. "The first thing I noticed was the softer, more muted feel that the Countervail technology creates," Jason said. "I thought the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail was fairly easy to swing, but it's not as whippy as my own racquet, the Yonex EZONE Ai 100. I was able to hit with lots of spin on my shots, but pace was just average. PlaySight data confirmed what I had assumed: On average, my power level was lower than usual, but when I did connect on a shot the max power was higher than with my own racquet. The one shot I absolutely loved hitting with this racquet was my backhand slice. I could really knife it low with tons of spin."

Hannah liked the muted, solid response of the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail, but she found it to be a little tricky to maneuver. She explained, "The first thing I noticed with this racquet was its heavy swingweight and how that allowed me to drive through my baseline shots. The comfort level is right there with some of my favorite racquets. There's a good combination of muted power and a stiff, solid feel. At first, the weight in the throat area of the racquet was a little bit too much for me. I couldn't maneuver the frame as swiftly as I needed to and seemed to catch most balls just a little bit late. However, once I started to shorten up my swings I was able to access this racquet's potential in terms of controlled power and loads of spin. In addition, slicing with this racquet was a treat. It cut through the slice very well, and contact felt clean and solid every time."

Andy found a good blend of power, control and spin for his groundstrokes, but the shock dampening technology just left him a little too disconnected from his shots. He shared, "I felt pretty comfortable rallying from the baseline with this racquet. I thought it offered more power and stability than the previous version, and the added spin I could get from the open string pattern (compared to the 18x20 version) allowed me to control that power and produce some heavy groundstrokes. The one downside of the racquet was the overly muted and dampened feel; it left me too disconnected from the ball as it left my strings. I thought the responsiveness of the previous versions of the Blade was one of their strengths, but unfortunately, it's not with this one."

With improved comfort and a solid feel, this Blade 98 is Michelle's favorite yet. She praised, "For whatever reason, I have never gotten along with the Blade line of racquets. Maybe it was a mental block, but even the beginning of this playtest was a struggle for me. One day I grabbed the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail, though, and everything came together for me off the baseline. The racquet felt solid and forgiving at contact. I was able to get the racquet into position for every ball and execute the shots I wanted. I could ramp up the power and attack balls, as well as consistently get balls back nice and deep. The Blade 98 16x19 Countervail was stable even though it's lighter than my racquet of choice, and it held up to my defensive shots and performed well even when I was being pulled wide. Although I felt like I was really getting some big shots back in the court, the power levels weren't as high as I thought they would be. I felt like the balls penetrated the court pretty well, but my PlaySight power numbers weren't earth shattering."

Volleys - Score: 85

Our team really liked the control and stability the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail offered around the net. "The stability on my volleys was great," Hannah praised. "The racquet offered good control at net and felt swift in my hands. If I could keep my volleys nice and short this racquet would reward me with its stiffness and stability."

"I really liked this racquet around the net," added Andy, who appreciated the stability, along with the amount of backspin he was able to generate on his volleys. "The 16x19 string pattern provided a large and forgiving sweetspot and good spin potential, allowing me to really knife my volleys and keep them low and moving through the court. The mass in the hoop helped with stability and produced easy depth. Maneuverability was just OK, but once the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail was in position I was in good shape. Once again, the muted and dampened feel bothered me a little when I wanted to hit a shot with a bit more finesse, but the other qualities of this racquet made up for this."

Self-professed baseliner Jason felt confident moving forward with the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail. He said, "I was surprised that I still felt well connected with my shots. I had success going for touch and drop volleys thanks in part to the feel as well as the spin. I also thought it was fairly stable, even on off-center shots."

Unlike Jason, Michelle thought there was too much dampening. She explained, "This racquet felt pretty stable at the net. It was easy to block balls back and point and shoot my volleys. There were times when I was craving just a little more weight to get a bit more power behind my volleys, but for the most part my volleys were pretty seamless. There's not a whole lot of touch built into the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail, but I still could carve out some biting volleys or hit some nice droppers."

Serves - Score: 79

Our playtesters found plenty of control when serving with the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail, and spin was easy to access, but all our testers found a noticeable lack of power when they really wanted to hit a big serve. "I felt like I was hitting some big and effective serves, but according to PlaySight my serves were much slower than what I was expecting," Michelle shared. "However, it was easy to change up my serve with the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail depending on if I wanted to hit hard and flat, wide or a kicker. I was surprised that my speeds were a good 10-15 MPHs slower than my serves with some other racquets we've tested recently."

Hannah missed some of the power she was finding on her groundstrokes. She offered, "I liked the feel of serving with this racquet. It felt comfortable, fast and solid on both flat and kick serves. However, the pop I was getting on my groundstrokes was missing on my serve. I was expecting to get more power from the high swingweight, but it wasn't there. It wasn't debilitating to my serve, though, and I was still able to start points off strong."

Jason was using his spin serves very effectively throughout the test to keep his opponents off-balance. He said, "For me, it was all about the spin I could generate on my serves because the power wasn't there. The open string pattern was the key to putting lots of spin on my serves. For some reason, whether it was the higher swingweight or something else, I couldn't generate the racquet head speed to up the MPHs."

Andy enjoyed this racquet on serve, saying, "I was serving very effectively throughout this playtest. The Blade 98 16x19 Countervail had the right combination of power, control and spin for me to find my targets consistently with good pace and get the ball moving off the court. The mass of the hoop felt a little cumbersome at times over head, but it also helped produce heavy serves that got through the court nicely."

Returns - Score: 83

Most of our testers really liked the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail's solid response and easy access to power and spin for returning serve. "Except for a bit more maneuverability, this racquet had pretty much everything I look for in a racquet when returning," Andy said. "The open string pattern gave me a good blend of power, control and spin, which I could use both offensively and defensively. I felt confident going for the corners of the court and putting my opponents on the run, but it also felt good chipping the ball back deep and neutralizing big first serves."

"Unlike my serves, I thought there was plenty of power on my returns," Jason said. "The excellent access to spin helped my shots drop within the lines. I couldn't find the sharpest angles with this racquet, but the combination of power and spin helped make up for that."

Hannah thought the Blade 98 16x19 Countervail worked well for her aggressive style. She raved, "This racquet had a great response on my returns of serve when I caught the ball in front of my body. Just like on groundstrokes, the stiffness on returns was ideal. It allowed me to successfully drive through returns when I had a little bit of extra time. When I had to reach for a return the Blade 98 gave me the ability to chip the ball back with enough power and force to stay in the point."

Michelle had more mixed feelings than the other playtesters. She explained, "When I had a chance to take a big swing this racquet proved to be too erratic. I would tee off and miss the easy returns. When I was being more defensive with my return, however, I found the control I was missing when I was attacking. I really had to focus on taking a compact swing or barely taking a swing at all for this racquet to work effectively enough for me when I was hitting a return. Otherwise I made too many careless errors on a shot I love hitting and enjoy striking big."

Overall - Score: 84