Wilson Ultra Pro 16×19 Review

The Wilson Ultra Pro is a Wilson racquet that sprung out of the Pro Labs project based on the H19. Here is our Wilson Ultra Pro 16×19 Review.

The Wilson Ultra Pro 16×19 V4 is what this review is about. It has that eye-catching, color-shifting cosmetic that makes people say “Wow!” when they encounter it. Even the reel on our Instagram got people ready to pick up their wallets and head to Tennis Warehouse or Wilson.com.

The cosmetic is obviously not everything. Some might argue it is not anything. How the racquet plays is what matters on the court if you are serious about your tennis results. However, for some players the looks play a significant role.

Before we get into how the racquet plays, let’s have a look at the average specifications.

Racquet Specifications

These specifications are the average ones as measured by TW. Sadly, my test racquet had a swing weight of 296.5 strung with Toroline Super Toro 1.23 mains at 53 lbs and Toroline Caviar 1.24 at 51 lbs. This is way too low and needed a lot of weight to become playable again. I have ranted about quality control a lot and here I again had a reason to do so.

The Ultra Pro is what I would call a “platform racquet“, which means you need to add weight to it to increase its playability. This gives you room for customization, but if you don’t like that, it’s not what you should go for. I added two grams at 3, two grams at 9, and 2 grams at 12 for an increase in the strung swing weight to 320. The racquet was very head light so I did not need to add weight to the handle. Normally, if you customize, you want to counterbalance with weight at both ends to keep the balance of the racquet.

How does it play?

The Wilson Ultra Pro plays how I remember it from when it was called Ultra Tour and V3. Great feel, soft on the arm, smallish sweet spot that can be expanded with the right weight placement.

It is the first time I try the 16×19 string pattern Ultra Pro and it provided me with surprising spin potential and power. Even without weight added the racquet played with more power than I had imagined. And with weight added I could get more on my shots than I remember from other Ultra Pro reviews.

The open pattern with fewer strings helps to send the ball to the other side faster and with more RPMs. This, of course, comes at a cost. The control was not as good as with the 18×20 Ultras I’ve tried. Sometimes it went a little too much and being player with flatter strokes that prefer denser patterns, I could see why the 18×20 one would suit me better.

Still, with the weight added, this racquet played better than the current Pro Staff 97 V14. I felt more connected to the ball with the Ultra and I did not notice any difference in power and stability once I had customized it.

Summary

The Ultra Pro is the Wilson pro stock mold called H19, used by Gael Monfils before switching to Artengo. You can see why pros like this racquet. It has a bit of everything and alongside the Blade Pro, shows why the Wilson Pro Labs making pro player molds available to the average player was a great idea.

This mold has been around for a while and I did not notice much in terms of playability from V2 or V3. I think it is pretty much the same racquet with, arguably, prettier paint.

The Wilson Ultra Pro is still a great control frame for players who enjoy customizing their racquet. Two thumbs up, except for the quality control.

I’d personally prefer the 18×20 version, but for many players the 16×19 will be more forgiving and powerful.