The following review was one that I performed for Tennis Warehouse. I was selected for this play test based on my participation on their message boards and this post is a reprint of the review I created for TW. You view the original review by selecting the following link. TW Review

 

Racquet Recieved:
Head MxG 5

String and tension used for test:
Mains: Ashaway Kevlar 16g @ 60 lbs.
Crosses: Ashaway Monogut ZX 16g @ 53 lbs.

Tennis Experience/Background:
I have only been playing seriously for the past three plus years. Most of my tennis is being played in group drills 3 to 5 times a week which are primarily doubles based. I am not rated, but play in 3.5 to 4.0 level drills.

Describe your playing style:
Primarily a doubles player with an attacking style, always moving forward. I spend more time at net than I do at the baseline.

Current Racquet/String setups:
Modified Wilson Blade 104 (2015) 380g, 10 pts Head Light.
Ashaway Kevlar 16g mains @ 57 lbs, Ashaway Monogut ZX 16g crosses @ 50 lbs.

I am currently transitioning from the Blade 104 into:

Modified Prince Tour 98 ESP 380g, 10 pts Head Light
Ashaway Kevlar 16g mains @ 57 lbs, Ashaway Monogut ZX 16g crosses @ 50 lbs.

How many hours did you play with the racquet:
Unmodified Stock configuration: 15 hours
Modified configuration: 3 hours
Total hours: 18 hours

Comments on racquet performance:

–Ground Strokes: I was quite surprised how well I hit ground strokes with the MxG 5. It was relatively easy to generate good depth, spin, and pace. Normally, when I hit with a racquet as light as the MxG 5 my timing is off due to my preference for much heavier racquets, but I was able to transition into the MxG 5 relatively quickly without being too far out in front with my swing. While the racquet felt good in my hands on ground strokes, there was a noticeable lack of plow through when playing against heavier hitters. Stability was good, but against heavier hitters the racquet tended to flutter a bit more than I am used to. The MxG 5’s highlights were top spin ground strokes from either side. It was almost automatic to hit hit good,deep, top spin groundies with this racquet with my forehand while my one hand backhand was nearly automatic. I would have preferred some more weight for the backhand groundies, but it did not detract too much from my normal set up. Slice/underspin groundies were not nearly as automatic as the top spin shots. The ball tended to float and launch a bit higher than my normal setups when using underspin which set up my opponent quite nicely on several occasions. I could hit some nice low slice shots with this racquet, but the margin of error from low to floating high was minimal which resulted in more higher slices than normal. Top spin groundies were probably my favorite shot while using the MxG 5.

–Serves: The MxG 5 is a decent serving racquet out of the box. I like an extended length racquet for serving and the MxG 5 did not disappoint. Good solid flat serves with decent pace and control. My kick serve was working well with the open pattern producing a good amount of spin. While the serving aspects of the racquet were good, I did feel as though I was leaving some pace on the table. Without a radar gun for direct measurement I can not quantify how much I was missing if any at all, but the ball just did not seem to be traveling as fast and I also found a few more balls being returned to me during serving drills against the same group of players I normally play against. Again, the MxG 5 is a good serving racquet, it just seemed to be missing a little bit of speed at its stock spec.

–Volleys: I was a little worried about the volleys when I was reading the specs with the light weight and near even balance, but the MxG performed better than expected. I was quite surprised how maneuverable the extended length racquet was up at net and was able to adjust to it fairly rapidly. When I transitioned to my Blade 104 there was a lengthy period of adjustment with volleys, but with that experience in hand, I was hitting solid volleys with the MxG 5 right away. As long as the ball was above the net, I was hitting solid deep volleys. Once the ball got below net level, I started having some issues with my touch volleys and depth/height control. Kind of like my slice groundies, I had a hard time keeping the ball low and controlling the depth. I would on occasion hit a nice touch volley or half volley, but it was the exception more than the rule. I did, however, hit some killer drop volleys with the MxG 5. As long as the ball was above the net, again, I could hit some nasty spinning drop volleys. The racquet performed well on reaction volleys and was more maneuverable than I was expecting. I had no issues getting the racquet into position on quick reaction shots, and as long as the ball was above the net, was able to block the ball back with decent control. Against harder hitters, there were some stability issues. The racquet would flutter a bit on off center hits.

–Serve Returns: Service returns were probably my least favorite stroke to hit with the MxG 5. I had a difficult time controlling my service returns off both wings and there was some definite instability when facing harder hitters. For whatever reason, I just could not get in the groove with my service returns. The lack of plow through really showed up in this phase of the play test. On slower serves and second serves it was less of an issue, but harder/flatter first serves left me begging for the return to stay in more often than normal. Even when just blocking a ball back, I was having depth control issues. It was here where I missed the weight the most.

General reaction / comments on overall performance:
Out of the box, the look and feel of the MxG 5 is quite stunning. The paint and finish are perfect and not overily flashy. The silver magnesium bridge stands out on first glance, but once the racquet is strung up and you start playing it does not stand out as much and is not a distraction. While it is a light racquet, it was not noticibly light in my hand and did not seem to impact my swing speed as much as other racquets have in the past.

I did have a couple of minor issues when stringing MxG 5, but nothing that could not be worked out. Surprisingly, when stringing the crosses I found it hard to feed the string through the grommets without a little more effort than normal. It felt as though there was some kind of restriction resisting the string entering the grommet. Not a major deal, but it slowed the process down a bit. Additionally, the lower two grommet strips unseated themselves when stringing the outer mains. Holding the grommet in place while stringing solved the issue, but slowed the process down a bit.

The racquet was fairly comfortable in stock configuration. It’s flex rating is way higher than I normally play with so I was a bit concearned, but it did not feel as stiff as it’s RDC rating. The longer mains may play into this, but it definitely felt flexier that its 68 rating, it felt more in the low to mid 60’s range. I was also quite pleased with its sweet spot size. It has a large and forgiving sweet spot and I never really felt any great power fall off unless I framed a ball.

Full power top spin strokes are where the MxG 5 shined. Top spin groundies and serves are its forte and I hit those as well as with any racquet I have played. Underspin and touch shots left me wanting more weight and control. In addition to the issues mentioned above, I also had a hard time controlling the depth of my top spin lob. I was either launching the ball beyond the baseline or leaving it short in the “get your net partner killed zone”. I could never get the shot dialed in at stock weight.

In stock form, the MxG 5 is a solid racquet. If you are more of a baseliner style player, the MxG 5 could work for you right off the stringer with no modifications. It’s is solid, comfortable, forgiving, and can generate some good top spin. With some modifications, I could play with this racquet on a regular basis without feeling as though it was weak in any area. It will be interesting to see how Head progresses with this line of racquets.

The modifications:

Prior to my last two sessions, I decided to modify the MxG 5 up to my specs to see if I could find some performance gains. I added a leather grip, lead at 3&9 for some stability, lead at 12, and a lot of BluTack in the tubes to get it to my desired 380 grams and 10 pts head light.

What a difference the weight makes. Immediate gains in plow through and stability across the whole spectrum of shots. More importantly, most of the lost control on touch shots was regained. Sliced groundies were easier to keep low, touch volleys and half volleys had easier height and depth control, top spin lobs depth control returned, service returns were signifantly improved, and that extra boost on my serves was back. Directional control was still not as good as on my racquets of choice, but it was close enough that I could use the modified MxG 5 as a replacement for any of my racquets without giving up too much.

In my opinion, Head has produced a racquet that can be used as a solid platform racquet as well as a good transition racquet for juniors. The MxG 5 is playable in its stock form, particularly at lower ball speeds, but really opens up once it is modified with additional weight.