Click Here to Buy the Wilson Clash Tour!
Table of Contents
– Introduction
– Wilson Clash Tour Weight
– Plays Similar To – Stiffness
– Racket Design & String Pattern
– Who The Wilson Clash Tour Is Good For
– Big Takeaways & Recommended String
– Ground Stroke Performance
– Serves
– Slice
– Control
– Should You Buy The Wilson Clash Tour?
– Conclusion
Introduction
This is the Wilson Clash Tour racquet review. The Wilson Clash is one of the most hyped tennis racquets. In recent years, I wrote very positively about the prototype version, but I felt like it played best with some extra weight. And that’s why I was really excited to do this Wilson Clash Tour racquet review. So the background to this Clash line of racquets; Wilson have been working on these racquets for about five years. They really wanted to set the bar high. If you read the Wilson LABS website, you find the goal to make a racquet that renders all racquets obsolete.
So that’s very brave of course. They also go on to write the result was two proprietary technologies, which is called FreeFlex and StableSmart. And these technologies construct the carbon fibers at unconventional angles while creating a unique frame, geometry that optimized the modern swing pattern.
Wilson Clash Tour Weight
Well, does it work? You have to read this Clash Tour racquet review to find out. So first of all, the Wilson Clash Tour is the heavier version of the Wilson Clash that I tested in the prototype version before. The standard version weighs 295 grams unstrung, the Clash Tour weighs 310 grams unstrung. So 15 grams difference, and that makes it a bit more stable and gives it a bit more swing weights.
Plays Similar To – Stiffness
Still plays relatively similar to a Babolat Pure Aero or HEAD Graphene 360 Extreme Pro, is that the difference here being that it’s far more headlights, so easier to swing and significantly more flexible. If you look at the stiffness rating, which is usually measured in RA, the Clash has a mid 50 to a high 50 stiffness rating, which is really low and similar to what Donnay is trying to do with their line.
This one place a bit more similar, however, to a Pure Aero than the Donnay racquets. So they have managed here to create a racquet that place like a powerful spin friendly frame, but it’s much easier on the arm and has a flusher feel. That’s what they set out to do and It’s something I think they’ve really managed to do well. The clashes are funky racquet, looking at the very headlight balanced.
Racket Design & String Pattern
Thick beam and flexible and responses also rare in the market or quite unheard of. It also has a very funky throw design. I’m not sure what that is about, but we’ll look at the specs of the Wilson Clash Tour, standard length, head size, a hundred square inches. Weight I said 310 grams unstrung, usually add 15, 16 grams per strings. The balance is very headlight for this kind of racquets, 11 points head light, which translates to 30.6 centimeters.
So that makes it quite easy to swing. The beam width is 24.5 millimeters. So the beam is quite thick and that might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that makes it a bit more stable and makes it play more similar to these powerful spin friendly racquets I mentioned before. The string parent is 16, 19, nothing strange there. So the stiffness and the headlight feel of this racquet is what makes it stand out. If we talk about the technologies first, we have freeflex.
What it does is that it bends the racquet from the horizontal and vertical directions so players can swing freely and powerfully while still controlling the ball. But this means this is Wilson’s marketing texts. But what this means is that this racquet is engineered for players that play this windshield wiper motion that I’m trying to adapt to a lot more. And that’s more of the modern way of hitting the tennis ball, hit with more spin, to get more margins and be able to swing faster without launching the ball or hitting out. That’s what this rocket is engineered for.
Who The Wilson Clash Tour Is Good For
So if you’re a flat hitter and you’re really curious about this, obviously you can give it a try. It’s a nice racquet, but the issue when playing too flat is that the ball is going to fly on you. That’s not something new with the clash, it’s similar when you play with these powerful spin-friendly racquets. They are made for a particular style of tennis and particular style of technique. And then they have StableSmart, which maintains, so I’m going to quote “maintains high performance stability while also enhancing the flexibility of the racquet”.
Click Here to Buy the Wilson Clash Tour!
Not sure exactly what is behind the scenes here. I’m sure they wouldn’t tell us either because it’s kind of a trade secret, but it really seems to work since the racquets, despite being headlight, despite being flexible, actually plays really stable. Many other flexible racquets they have really noticeable, flatter end vibrations. When you hit the ball off center, the Clash Tour has a really generous sweet spot. So quite easy racquet to play with for a lot of different levels of tennis players. And that’s a big benefit. I think that’s what they set out to do.
So that’s all about the innovation and the marketing jargon. They put a lot of effort into this. The launch campaign was really good I think. Having worked in marketing for around 15 to 20 years, usually I can tell when it’s just jargon and not real, and this one actually backs up all the talk with a racquet that is innovative and quite unique. It doesn’t make all the racquets obsolete.
Big Takeaways & Recommended String
I can already say that, but it does push the market in a new direction. And I think it really puts up our stern tests for Bubble up and Hedge and other manufacturers to try to come up with something similar or at least try to move more into a flexible direction to help people’s elbows and wrists.
The comfort is one of the key selling points I think of the Clash and the Clash Tour. I tried with a sixth string strong point of five kilos, and I did not see any jarring to the arms so that the dampening really seems to work well. So I tried it both with the Luxilon Smart string, their new string and Solinco Tour Bites at 25 kilos. Solinco Tour Bite and Tour bite itself are two of my favorite trolley strings. And I tend to go to them when I’m testing these kinds of racquets. And I got good control both with the Smart and the Tour Bite.
The Tour Bite works a bit better for me, because the Smart just die out a bit quicker to hit with a lot of spin, which you need to do. When you play with this racquet stress this enough that this racquet really works for you if you hit with alot of spin. If you’re a flat hitter, you’re gonna struggle more trying to maintain good control. But if you hit with a lot of spin, it’s high likely that you will really love this racquet because it does that style of play really, really well.
Ground Stroke Performance
Let’s talk about the different performance areas and start with ground strokes. Definitely the Clash Tour is a baseline, great spin enough power, not really pure drive level power, to be honest or extreme pro, which was really powerful. One of the more powerful racquets I played in a while, but you can play offensive and defensive from the baseline. As long as you put spin on the ball, that’s the most important thing. This is really our ground stroke weapon. I would love this from the back of the court, playing a clay court tournament or something.
The sort, when you need to put a little spin on the ball, if you like a pure arrow, your drives extreme pro, those kinds of racquets, but they’re a bit stiff. You’ll feel it on the arm a bit when you’re stringing it high to maintain control. I think you will really enjoy testing the Clash because it has a similar performance, but a much softer feel. We’re looking at the volley area.
The stability is there with the weight point and shoot, the racquet is quite nice. So I didn’t find quite the touch I get with more control oriented racquets, which I’m used to, but it’s a large sweet spot. So I mean, I think it’s a very good doubles racquet. We have to be quite fast, you’ll always hit it clean. So I think double players would really appreciate the Clash Tour and the Clash, a good stability despite the low weight.
Serves
If you look at the serves, Clash is more controlled and a pure drive, and you don’t really get that pop on the serve that you get with the Bubble up racquets. Clash does however offor you a lot of good spins, so I felt most of the time I really wanted to work on the placement, trying to get good spin what this racquets kind of forced me to do was play with more spin. Place the ball, play a bit more smart tennis, which is something I really need because I tend to go for too much too soon.
So for me, this racquets does an awful lot in trying to be a bit more controlled, trying to play longer rallies and work my opponents a bit more. But it’s not a massive serve power weapon. It’s more for the control than the power.
Slice
One thing I really liked with this rack, this is a slice shot. Usually the slice is an issue with many hundred square racquets. You feel you get a bit more floaty response. This is where the Clash does pretty well. I felt like I could really get a nice low bite with this racquet had really nice to slice with even better than my beloved soft drives. That’s top notch, area comfort. We’re talking comfort. This is where the class is exceptional, similar to the Donnay racquets that I’ve been talking about before. Good spin and power without any jarring sensations or excessive vibration. Simply top of the line here and one of the key selling points for this racquet.
Control
So when it comes to control, it’s good. It’s very good for a hundred square inch racquet, I think, but as I said, flatter shots, the ball can sail a bit, but if you play with spin, you’ll definitely get all the control you need.
Many times the Clash seems to magically dip the ball inside the court. If you talk about feel, it’s plush and nice, I did struggle a little bit with the view that response at times when it came to hitting that drug shots or drop volleys, my friend and ex pro that I hit with, he explained when he tested the racquet that the ball lands in, but I don’t know why or how. And I think the lack of direct feedback will scare some more advanced players off. I know there are advanced players and pros already playing with this racquet, but I think that will be something that you need to get used to the feel. It will take a bit longer to get that feel that you have from more traditional players games. So that’s good to keep in mind.
Should You Buy The Wilson Clash Tour?
Who is this racquet for? Well, it has a wide group of players, every one from juniors or intermediate players and seniors who want a bit of extra help on their strokes without sacrificing arm comfort. So I think it has a really wide target group, as long as you’re open to playing with Spin or you’re a Doubles player. I think you’ll really like the Clash Tour and the Clash.
So I really enjoy playing with this raquet myself. I’m hitting with spin and going for angles. I rarely do with more control oriented frames. The muted response can be a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes I did struggle a bit to know exactly where my shoulder is going, but if I look at the results, when playing with this racquet, I really play with better depth. Just seems easier for me to play tennis with this record, which is really what most players are looking for and might not be enough to make a switch, but it’s definitely a racquet that stays in the bag.
Summarize this racquets, Wilson boasted about rapid revolution, bringing something completely new to the market. Obviously your natural response is often to be highly skeptical of any such claims, but after doing this Wilson Clash Tour review, I can really confirm that they’re backing up the talk with a racquet that is innovative and fresh might not be for everyone. It’s definitely not a racquet that makes everything else obsolete. It’s a fun and excellent racquet to use for many, many players.
Conclusion
Definitely a top notch choice baseline is that hit put a lot of spin. I think it also not just the tennis industry in the direction towards making more flexible Rapids, what was still with decent power and it hopefully pushes competitors to try even harder, to find new ways to make racquets, arm friendly and still easy to use. Because I think that’s with this one really shines the most. It’s an easy to use racquet. It makes tennis fun, so that’s something I’m really impressed with.
So well done, Wilson, tennis, you outperformed my expectations at least. And I think you have a real best seller on your hands here and that this is not just a good racquet, but something new and their friends. I think this one is definitely a must try for a lot of players. Thanks for reading this Clash Tour racquet review as always.