Head Graphene Touch Radical MP Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 82

The Head Graphene Touch Radical MP offered excellent access to spin and easy depth, but the TW playtesters wanted more feel. Tiffani was feeling a tad disconnected from her shots, but she loved the blend of stability and maneuverability. She explained, "The first time I looked at our strung specs of this Graphene Touch Radical MP I was a bit shocked to see that this racquet weighs just 11 oz. It certainly felt more stable than that, and perhaps its heavier swingweight has something to do with that. Initially, I was testing this alongside the new Tecnifibre TFlash 300 PS, and this racquet swings much heavier than the TFlash. I liked the mass that the Radical put behind the ball, and I'm more impressed now that I know the static weight of this racquet. Depth was pretty easy to come by, and I felt pretty confident hitting groundstrokes. The feel was a bit too disconnected for my liking, and that's really the only performance drawback for me with this racquet. Although I like the playability of this racquet, I do miss the flexible feel and the tight string pattern of the MicroGEL Radical Midplus. The Radical is a different playing racquet these days, and I like this version, but fans of the older Radical models will find the line has changed quite a bit over the years."

This is the fourth iteration of the Radical that Brittany has playtested, and she found a lot of similarities to the past versions. She said, "The Radical MP is still one of my favorite racquets to groove groundstrokes with during a practice session. There is a pretty even balance of control and power, as well as stability and maneuverability. I really enjoyed taking the ball early and redirecting it using my opponent's 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 once it had left the stringbed."

"For a racquet that weighs only 11 oz, the Radical MP offered pretty easy power and depth," added Jason. "Access to spin was really good as well. I liked hitting angles with this racquet to pull my opponents out wide. Performance wise, I really didn't have too many issues with the Graphene Touch Radical MP. I'd probably just add a bit of weight to get it up to my preferred specs. My problem was with the feel. It was so muted that every shot I hit felt like a good shot. That may sound like a good thing, but in my opinion, it's not necessarily so. I couldn't gauge the depth of my shots and adjust my swing if I were to mishit a shot. A ball that I hit long by a few feet felt just as good as a ball that landed inside the baseline. It just made it tougher to judge my shots because I felt disconnected from the feel."

Although Mark is used to racquets that are a little heavier than the Graphene Touch Radical MP, he was pleasantly surprised with the playability. He noted, "Relative to my personal racquet and most of the racquets I have tested lately, the Head Graphene Touch Radical MP is a lighter setup. What I got was a bit of a surprise with the Touch Radical MP, in that it felt quite stable from anywhere around the baseline. Typically I prefer heavier racquets, and the surprise came after I played with the new Touch Radical Pro; although it is heavier, I had a much harder time playing effectively with it from the backcourt. Throughout the entire playtest I was able to hit confidently off of both wings with the Graphene Touch Radical MP, easily accessing spin and consistently landing my shots near the sidelines with it."

Volleys - Score: 80

The TW playtesters were surprised with the stability of this 11 oz racquet when volleying. For the most part, Mark was able to end points at the net with the Graphene Touch Radical MP. He remarked, "Up until the point where there was an extreme level of pace and spin on the ball, volleying was my favorite part of the playtest. The Graphene Touch Radical MP was very stable for me at net, even on off-center shots. That said, when I had to stretch to reach Troy's hard hit passing shots this racquet did feel a little unstable at contact."

"I was, once again, surprised by the stability of this racquet," Tiffani continued. "It wasn't as maneuverable as other 11 oz. racquets I've played with, but I liked the stability and pop off the stringbed I could get on volleys, so I gave the slight dip in maneuverability 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. The extra dampening actually helped keep the response comfortable since I miss the sweetspot much more often at the net."

The sweetspot appeared to be pretty generous for Jason, and he liked the ball pocketing on his volleys. However, he had some ups and downs at the net, saying, "When I had to react to a shot the Graphene Touch Radical MP didn't feel sluggish, which allowed me to get the racquet in position to hit a clean volley. When I didn't hit the ball cleanly, though, I could feel the lack of weight in the hoop. I had some torsional stability issues when I volleyed harder hit shots, but that could easily be addressed with a bit of tungsten tape. Again, the touch was too muted for me, which didn't help when I tried to hit drop volleys."

Brittany didn't have any issues maneuvering the Graphene Touch Radical MP at net, and she was impressed with the stability, even on off-center shots. She detailed, "I struggled with the feel so I was hitting most of my volleys deep with power. Toward the end of the playtest I could hit a wider variety of shots, but I never felt like I had great touch. Volleys (especially touch volleys) are not my strong suit, so I didn't worry too much about it throughout the playtest."

Serves - Score: 80

The TW playtesters were able to tap into the power potential of the Head Graphene Touch Radical MP and hit consistent, controlled serves. However, they were split when it came to the spin potential. Jason had nothing but praise for the Graphene Touch Radical MP. He said, "I enjoyed serving with this racquet from the get-go. I was able to get a high percentage of my serves in, and the muted feel didn't bother me as much on this particular shot because I wasn't trying to control the depth of my serves, just the direction. The open string pattern helped me put a lot of spin on my serves."

There was another pleasant surprise waiting for Mark when he served with the Graphene Touch Radical MP. He found a perfect blend of power and control for starting points. He explained, "My directional control was spot on when I was serving with the Radical MP, and it actually offered enough weight behind the ball to help get my serve up over the 100 MPH barrier."

"I could generate plenty of racquet head speed on my first serves, which translated into easy power and depth," raved Brittany. "However, I felt very limited in where I could aim, as I was missing some accuracy. I hit a lot of first serves down the middle to get a higher percentage of serves in. On my second serve the Radical Midplus forced me to hit extra spin to bring the ball back down into the box. Overall, though, I was pretty successful when it came to holding my serve in matches, so I don't have any complaints."

While Tiffani received enough power from the Graphene Touch Radical MP, she was left wanting a bit more spin. She commented, "The pace I got on my serves was about what I get from my own racquet, so I was happy in that department. However, I wasn't quite getting the spin I get with my Prince Textreme Tour 100P. Serve performance was average for me. I'm not looking to hit a big serve for a quick one-two punch; that's just not my game. I hope to start the point in a neutral position and work the point from there, and this Radical was able to get the job done for me in that regard."

Returns - Score: 79

The TW playtesters continued to be impressed with the stability the Graphene Touch Radical MP offered. However, as with some other areas of the playtest, they were left feeling a little disconnected from the ball when hitting returns.Tiffani enjoyed the control she found on her returns. She described, "I was happy to return with this racquet. Lately, I feel like I've been hitting with racquets that focus more on power, so it was nice to have something that I could control a little bit better. For its weight, this Radical was plenty stable, too. The feel was too muted for me, but I otherwise thought this racquet played well."

While Brittany appreciated the stability, she was 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."

"This was the one area of the playtest where I wished the Head Graphene Touch Radical MP had a little extra weight on it," critiqued Mark. "Once the velocity and spin became extreme on the serve, my typical chip style of return was not very effective."

Like with his groundstrokes and volleys, Jason was not loving the muted feel. However, he was able to find some success. He concluded, "I shouldn't complain too much as my results were pretty good. The combination of the maneuverability and access to spin allowed me to put a lot of shots in the court and in play."

Overall - Score: 80