Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver Racquet Review

You might be asking yourselves: “Why another Donnay racquet review?” Well, I had a bunch of Donnays to review and so far I really like them. There will be other racquets on Tennisnerd soon, but first, here is the Donnay X-Dual Silver 99 Racquet Review.

The Donnay X-Dual Silver 99 is not a new racquet. There is a Penta edition called the Donnay Penta Silver 99 and has similar specs, but an even lower stiffness rating. Also, the color is black on that one and not the nice, shiny silver of the X-Dual 99.

What stands out most about the Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver besides the sharp design, is the thin beam. This racquet line is for people who want to slice and dice their opponents and move in towards the net to finish the point. It is a touch racquet with a good comfort that invites you to hit droppers on a whim and my favorite shot with it is the backhand slice as this racquet really carves through the air like a knife.

Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver Racquet Review – Specs and performance

Head size: 99 sq in
Unstrung weight: 300g
Unstrung balance: 320mm
String pattern: 16×19
Racquet stiffness (RA): 64
Recommended tension: 20 kg (+/- 10%)
Beam width: 15/18/17mm[1]
Length: 68.6 cm
Technology: Dual XeneCore™

The specs of the Donnay X-Dual Silver 99 are quite interesting. The head size gives you a forgiving response and offers you decent spin, but it is far from a power racquet. It does play more stable than its weight, but Donnay also offers a customization kit where you can easily add weight to the butt cap or the sides of the racquet (you need to buy this separately though). I thought the racquet played well in stock form, but there is ample room for customization.

This racquet definitely performs best in the hands of a crafty player who likes to move his opponents around, not through pace but through placing the ball. The racquet, like most other Donnay racquets, is rather flexible which is great for arm comfort, but not so great to inject easy pace into your shots. If you have the game to create your own power, this can be a really fun racquet to use, because it moves fast through the air and has a quite intoxicating feel in the string bed.

I used the Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver with MSV Focus Hex 1.23 strung at 22 kg. I think this racquet performs best at low tensions and I would recommend using a dampener because otherwise, you get a pingy sound, kind of like hitting with a spoon :)

Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver Racquet Review – Who is it for?

If you are a baseliner who want to put loads of spin on your ball to push your opponents back into the court, the Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver is not your best friend. But if you are a smart player who has good hands and can read the game of your opponent, I think you will really like this racquet. It really encourages you to put the ball where you want to and to play clever tennis. So serve-and-volley players and doubles player would probably like this racquet.

To summarize this is another good racquet from Donnay. It is not new so I am late with my review here, but since I heard Mats Wilander liked this racquet so much he bought three of them a year ago, I just had to try it. And it really does play nice, I would only have liked a bit more power on serves and ground-strokes to be completely satisfied.

Donnay X-Dual 99 Silver Racquet Review – Video review

Have you tried the Donnay X-Dual Silver 99 and what did you think about it?