Breakdown

Groundstrokes: 8.5

From the baseline, our team was delighted by this SX 300 Tour 2025’s handling and power. The easy depth, pace and spin made for lots of successful exchanges. Adding a little more aggression into his game, Mark found high levels of dependability with this version of the SX 300 Tour, which was a difficult combination for his opponents to handle. He explained, "I felt effective with the SX 300 Tour 2025 from the baseline. It was immediately easy for me to play with, and the racquet just kept feeling better and better from the backcourt throughout the playtest. The firm beam delivered easy power, and the square-shaped spacing of its 16x19 string pattern was both very topspin and slice friendly, making shot depth easy for me to gauge. Groundstroke-wise, this SX 300 Tour was one of the most obedient racquets I have played with in a long time."

Chris' experience proved to be a little trickier initially, and he found himself having to account for the extra power and higher launch angle. He noted, "I managed to hit with tons of spin on my groundstrokes with the SX 300 Tour 2025. The string pattern did a great job of spitting out a quickly rotating ball, which was a good thing because it helped me tame the high launch angle of this racquet. The feel was firm but comfortable. I felt decently connected to my targets, but I did play a little on the safe side due to the high launch angle. Every now and then I would hit my approach shot a little too flatly, and that was when I would miss long with this racquet."

As a fan of spin-based mechanics, Troy was able to find plenty of performance from the SX 300 Tour in stock form, although he wondered what it would play like if he customized it to his more preferred specs. He said, "One of the first things I noticed was the high launch angle and how easy it was to generate heavy topspin from the baseline. The open string spacing made it easy to grip the ball, especially with the Dunlop poly strings we tested in it, and I could hit some sharp topspin angles on my forehand. It was easy to generate topspin on my backhand, but even though I could hit my slice backhand effectively, I prefer a slightly softer and plusher feel on contact. I liked how fast and whippy this racquet felt, but for my preferences, I would like more swingweight and plow through. I would likely add a bit of head weight to get the swingweight spec closer to 330."

Michelle had a longer adjustment period than the other testers, and she ultimately found this a tougher playtest. She said, "The SX 300 Tour 2025 just didn't match up well with my playing style and strokes. Right away, I found the feel to be crisper than the previous version and noticed the ball was in and out of the stringbed quite fast. On a faster court, it felt like I didn't have enough time to make the right shot selection. Sometimes I feel like I can manipulate a ball even as it is leaving my stringbed, but I couldn’t do that with this racquet. I also noted a high launch angle, and I struggled to find the sweetspot from first to last hit. All that being said, I can see how tip speed would be rewarded with this racquet, and I tried to change up my swing path a bit through this playtest to unlock the racquet. Unfortunately, that left me mis-hitting a bit, which added to a lack of confidence. I tend to swing equally fast from the beginning of my stroke to the end, but some players really whip through at the end of their shots, and I think this racquet in stock form rewards that swing style more than mine." 

Volleys: 8.1

For our team members, volleys can make or break a hitting experience. Thankfully, the SX 300 Tour 2025 had a good response level and excellent spin access, which helped when shaping volleys. Troy found good feel and reliable control when volleying with this racquet. He said, “The feel was firm and crisp when I was hitting my volleys. The precision was pretty good, and I felt like I could place the ball well. It's not as pinpoint as my Dunlop CX 200 Tour 16x19, but overall I had good control over the ball. I typically like a bit more mass built into the racquet for some help with the stability, but this SX 300 Tour felt pretty stable on contact (I think due to the stiffness). The maneuverability was nice, and I could get the SX 300 Tour 2025 into place quickly during doubles. I wouldn't say the touch and feel was this racquet's strong suit, but I still felt fairly connected to the ball when hitting drop volleys. If I had a knock, it was that the feel was just a bit stiff for my liking at times. My wrist can be a little sensitive, and I prefer a softer feel, such as the CX 200 racquets." 

Compared to her baseline experience, Michelle had much more success at net. She noted, "At net, the SX 300 Tour was more predictable for me than on groundies, and it did what I asked of it. It was maneuverable and didn't flutter on me. Because I struggled a bit at the baseline, I did try to come to the net to finish points. As a playtester who has some of the firmest hands and not a ton of touch, I struggled with drop volleys and drop shots and was just missing at the top of the net."

For Mark, the SX 300 Tour 2025 handled quite effectively at net, which allowed him to put away points with ease. He said, "With the combination of its head-light balance and low 320 swingweight, the 2025 SX 300 Tour was nimble enough for me to get into position on time, and it also complemented my softer drop and half volley attempts. When push came to shove, the new SX 300 Tour was just as adept at ending points on a volley as it was extending them." 

Initially, Chris was missing some of his regular shots a bit long, which caused him to have to dial back his depth and placement. He explained, "I had a slight adjustment with the SX 300 Tour at net. When initially hitting drop volleys and angles, I was floating them too deep. I adjusted by adding more spin to my volleys and soon got used to cutting under the ball rather than just trying to place it. On deep volleys, I could hit with enough margin for error to be aggressive without fear of missing long or wide."

Serves: 8.4

The power and spin of the SX 300 Tour 2025 were a hit for our playtesters when starting points. Chris enjoyed serving with this racquet, finding it to do everything he asked of it and then some. He said, "The SX 300 Tour was a fun racquet to serve with. I was very happy with the pace I was generating on both flat and spin serves. I also felt pretty accurate with this racquet. I was making a good percentage of first serves and felt confident enough to take risks by adding more pace and aiming closer to the lines. On spin serves, I liked the amount of action I could get on the ball on spin serves, and my slice serve was breaking away from the returning player nicely." 

The SX 300 Tour 2025 was a highly effective serving racquet for Mark, and he loved how he could seamlessly move into his next shot after serving. He described, "The overall performance of the SX 300 Tour 2025 was great from most anywhere in the court, but I especially liked serving with it. My serves into the body on the deuce court and out wide on the ad side were consistent and pretty effective. What I liked most about serving with this racquet was how easy it was for me to transition to playing out the rest of the point."

The serve was a highlight for Troy as well. He said, "Easy maneuverability, easy power, easy spin — that pretty much sums up how I felt on serves. I found a lot of bite on the ball from the open pattern and easy net clearance when going for a topspin or kick serve. The maneuverability gave me a boost in spin and power, and I found it really easy to pronate my wrist and go for that added snap and power on a flat first serve. This maneuverability also made it easy for me to snap my wrist for extra kick and spin on serves. Overall, I loved serving with the SX 300 Tour. I don't know much that would make this racquet better, other than maybe trying an extended-length version; that would make the power go crazy!"

Michelle had some overarching issues when it came to placing her kick serves, but she still had a good time with the SX 300 Tour 2025 when starting points. She explained, "I enjoyed hitting kick serves and pretty fast slice serves with this racquet. I struggled with getting my kicks to land where I was aiming, but anything I hit bigger went where I wanted. Bigger flat and slice serves were effective, and even if my kick serve wasn't placed exactly where I was aiming, it did have some good jump to it, so it was fairly effective."

Returns: 8.0

Returning serves with the SX 300 Tour 2025 proved to be a mixed bag for our team, with some testers liking the power and depth and others looking for a little more precision and stability. Michelle didn't fully trust the SX 300 Tour 2025 when hitting returns, and she found herself having to opt for bigger targets to make up for the lack of accuracy. She described, "The launch angle was a bit high and erratic for me on my returns, and I felt like I made more mistakes than I should. I tried ripping my returns, loading my returns with spin and hitting heavy, middle-of-the-court returns and angling my returns off the court. Picking bigger targets and slowing the swing speed down worked, but it isn't how I prefer to return."

Troy greatly appreciated the maneuverable nature of this racquet, and he liked the easy depth as well. He noted, "Like I have mentioned in the other sections, this SX 300 Tour 2025 felt fast and maneuverable. When it came to facing big-hitting servers, I had no issues with timing or catching up to the pace of the serve. If anything, I might add just a bit of weight to the racquet to help with plow through against some of those hard-hitting servers. With that said, if I had enough time on my forehand I could hit deep returns aggressively, with easy net clearance. On my backhand returns I was left wanting a bit more plow through, especially on my slice backhand returns. On those slice returns, the SX 300 Tour 2025 felt a bit firm, and my shots lacked a bit of the depth that I was hoping for; I think some added weight in the hoop could help with that."

The SX 300 Tour helped improve what otherwise tends to be a weaker part of Mark's game. He explained, "If there's a part of my game that suffers from lack of shot depth, it's my return of serve. I typically absorb more pace on my return than I develop, and I have to admit that the SX 300 Tour 2025’s firm layup of graphite was lively enough for me to easily get my returns past the service court and closer to the baseline."

When he managed to implement spin on his returns, Chris was able to get nice shape and depth on the ball. On flatter balls, the response wasn't quite as predictable. He said, "When driving my returns with either topspin or slice, I was very pleased with how the SX 300 Tour 2025 complemented my returns. My topspin returns were jumping nicely and my slice returns were skidding low. If I caught my return flatter than expected, I struggled to control my depth a little, but most of my shots were still landing in." 

Breakdown Summary