It’s been a loooong time coming this Prince Phantom 100G LB Review. I’ve been pretty busy and I also found it quite difficult to get used to.
You got to give it to Prince. They keep producing racquets that most other brands would say: “there is not much of an audience for this one, let’s scrap it.” That’s why the brand has its fair share of die-hard fans. They do create excellent racquets, although sometimes they seem to be a bit “all over the place” with their selection. The most recent Prince review I did was the Prince Vortex, with its funky design and 14×21 string pattern. That racquet suited me better than this one. This Prince Phantom 100G LB wasn’t the first racquet I went towards in my tennis bag.
The reason is simple: it’s a bit too difficult to wield for me. I have never found 28-inch racquets easy to get into and I did struggle also with the Serena Williams Autograph racquet. This one offers plusher feel and more control, but I still found it difficult to maneuver and hard to generate top spin with.
Specs
As you can see from the specs, there are not many “ordinary” things about this frame. A very thin beam, low stiffness, high swing weight, and extended length. I really enjoy the Prince Phantom racquets such as the 100P, 93P and the 97P and the 100X versions as well. But the extra length and the crossbar made this my least favorite racquet so far. It’s nice on serves, volleys and offers a good feel and comfort. But when you need to rally from the baseline, the weight can hold you back a bit and it becomes more difficult to time the ball.
Who is it for?
This racquet is not intended for me. I can groove with 27.5-inch racquets but never found it easy to use the 28-inch frames. But if you enjoy longer frames, want a lot of plow-through, help on serve, good comfort, feel and touch – this racquet is good. I think advanced players with a double-handed backhand who like to attack using a flatter game can really found something nice here. The target audience is small, but it will have its group of fans for sure.
Do you like extended frames? Would you consider a 28-inch racquet? Please let me know in the comments below.
If you want to buy the Prince Phantom 100G LB, please check it out at one of our affiliates: Tennis Warehouse, Tennis Warehouse Europe and Tennis Only.
3 comments
When I looked at the specs of this racquet, I immediately thought this could be something interesting to take out for a hit, since I played for many years in the 90s and 00s with the Head Radical TT 630 XL, which has similar specs (thin beam, 28 inches, flex in the 50s, high SW—though in the Head’s case it was an ungodly 369), and I used to love that racquet. Of course, my style of play maybe fits this sort of frame better than yours (especially on the backhand side, where I do have a relatively flat 2HBH that I like to hit down the line or at sharp angles crosscourt). Currently I’m playing with the Prince Classic Graphite 107, but have considered moving to the 93P 14X18 (the 107G is also intriguing but I wish it were 20g heavier), and maybe I’ll have to give this one a try to.
Great review, I want longer raquets too min 28.00 inches .can you suggest ,more vaieties to explotre otehr than sw blade and this PRINCE PHANTOM 100G LB raquets.
Check out longbodies.com