Head Graphene 360 Speed MP Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 82

The Head Graphene 360 Speed MP impressed our playtesters with its quick feel, excellent power and spin potential on groundstrokes. Zśofia, a playtester from Tennis Warehouse Europe, had success right off the bat. She said, "The Graphene 360 Speed MP provided easy access to power, especially on my groundstrokes. I was able to hit shots deep in the court and have them drop inside the baseline with little effort."

On the other side of the world, Tennis Only's Sara tapped into the power and was able to stay offensive from the baseline. She noted, "I could generate a lot of spin and power with the new Speed MP. I felt like the sweetspot was bigger, and it was easier to control than previous versions. The Graphene 360 technology helped with the feel massively; even if I mishit the ball, my shot still felt good and was still playable. I really enjoyed winding up on my topspin backhand with this racquet. I just gave it a rip and didn't have to worry about control or accuracy like I do with my racquet of choice, the Radical S. The Speed MP just felt more solid and stable in my hands. I found that it had great bite, and the ball stayed nice and low on my slice."

Tiffani, a longtime playtester for Tennis Warehouse in the US, has plenty of experience with Head racquets and has hit with many iterations of the Speed series over the years. She said, "This Graphene 360 Speed MP swings really quickly through the air. I immediately noticed a bigger potential for spin with this version over the Graphene Touch. Depth and pace were both easily attained, and I thought the feel was firmer and less dampened than the previous version, which I appreciated. I did find an occasional hot spot on the stringbed where my shot would fly a bit on me, but overall, this racquet was easy to use from the baseline."

Testing the racquet on the red clay in Germany, Tennis Warehouse Europe's Željko found both some positives and some negatives when it came to the Speed MP's baseline performance. He explained, "The Speed MP offered really nice depth and access to spin. Both power and spin were a big plus compared to the previous version. However, I personally found the racquet to be bit too stiff."

Marco, a lefty from Tennis Only, is known for his big groundstroke and serve. He commented, "I enjoyed the speedy feel of this racquet in my hand when hitting groundstrokes. Whether I was defending in the corners or moving through the court on approach shots, I never struggled to get head speed and control on the ball. I did notice, though, that it was a little tougher to get the necessary bite on my slices, and it was harder to hit them aggressively."

"The combination of this racquet's really large spin window, whippy head-light balance and low swingweight allowed me to generate a significant amount of racquet head speed and spin," added Tennis Warehouse playtester Sean. "This was necessary to control the natural power of the racquet, and it rewarded me for taking big cuts at the ball. Conversely, it was difficult to generate enough pace when I had to shorten my strokes."

Volleys - Score: 80

Just like with groundstrokes, the playtesters enjoyed the lightning-fast feel the Graphene 360 Speed MP offered when they were at the net. However, their opinions differed when it came to power and stability. Tiffani had nothing but good things to say when it came to volleying. She said, "The 360 Speed MP felt really quick up at net due to the head-light balance. It felt solid on volleys, and the open string pattern really shined at net. When I was picking up low shots I saw more of my volleys making it over the net than usual. I attributed this to the greater launch angle off the stringbed compared to my own racquet and its 18x20 string pattern."

"My volleys felt very stable and controlled," Zśofia added. "I felt like I could punch balls deep into the court without much effort."

"This racquet was great up at net!" Sara exclaimed. "I got a lot more touch than I was expecting, yet I was still able to generate power when I needed to. I think the Graphene 360 technology really helped with the feel on volleys for me."

Though Sean was left looking for more control up at net, he did appreciate the Speed MP's snappy feel. He described, "The racquet got into position very quickly, but it occasionally lacked the mass to handle heavy pace and spin. That said, I liked the feel on contact: it was very crisp and made it easy to carve the ball around the court."

Like Sean, Željko also had some mixed feelings about this racquet at net. He said, "Although I had good touch up at net when hitting volleys, the racquet was a bit unstable when I didn't hit the ball in the sweetspot. In all other cases, I really liked it and enjoyed the maneuverability."

Marco never quite got the depth he wanted with the Speed MP on volleys, but he did like how speedy the racquet felt. He explained, "I was struggling to get my volleys to penetrate through the court. On the plus side, I did feel as though I was getting the racquet to low volleys faster than I typically would, which was giving me more options on those shots."

Serves - Score: 80

For most of the playtesters, great spin potential was the best part of serving with the Head Graphene 360 Speed MP. Željko was a big fan of this racquet on both first and second serves. He described, "I could be very accurate and place the ball right where I wanted, which made it easy to start the point off on the offensive."

Sean found that he could whip the 360 Speed MP fast enough to get some real heat on his serves. He said, "Easy acceleration and pop were consistent themes for me as I swung confidently up at the ball on serve. I think this racquet performed best when I was generating my own pace. Needless to say, serving was a definite strong point in this playtest."

"I liked this racquet when I was hitting first serves, as I felt like I could generate a lot of power easily," continued Zśofia. "However, I was missing control when I had to hit slower second serves."

On the other hand, Marco was looking for a little more power and plow through. He said, "Spin was effortless and easy to come by on all serves. I noticed my ball jumping and moving more than usual, which was a great benefit. Power on first serves was a little harder for me to access, though, and the ball just wasn't pushing through the court enough for my liking."

Tiffani agreed with Marco's sentiments. She said, "Spin was definitely the feature that stood out to me here. This racquet felt easy to swing over my head, and I saw more spin on my serves than I'm used to without any extra effort. Although the pace was decent, I was wishing for a bit more plow through since the extra spin occasionally made my serves sit up a bit too much."

It took some time for Sara to adjust to the Speed MP, but once she did, she found she could use it as a weapon on serves. She explained, "At the beginning of the playtest I was missing a lot into the net with this racquet. I think this was due to the fact I'm used to playing with a lighter racquet (Radical S). My serves were great once I adjusted to the weight difference, and I had the confidence to serve at a smaller target area. I got a lot more spin on my second serve, and I really enjoyed hitting body serves, as the ball moved a lot on my opponent."

Returns - Score: 78

With a wide variety of playing styles, it's no surprise that our playtesters had some differences of opinion when it came to returns. The Graphene 360 Speed MP continued to offer a fast feel, but some of the playtesters were wishing for a little more stability. That wasn't a problem for Sara, who felt that the Speed MP could stand up to any serve that came her way. She said, "This racquet was awesome on returns! I found that even when I was defending a hard first serve I could still attack the ball and get back into the rally. On second serves it was really easy to step up and attack the ball to start the point on the offensive. I found that I could connect solidly with the ball no matter the pace."

Zśofia also felt that the Speed MP let her start points aggressively. She said, "My returns were solid, especially my forehand. I could step in and hit back with power and depth against any serve."

Marco appreciated the maneuverability that this racquet offered, saying, "I never felt rushed on my returns thanks to my ability to snap the racquet into position quickly. I felt more comfortable stepping into the court and taking the return early, as I knew I wasn't going to be caught dragging the racquet behind me."

"When it came to returns, I was successful on the forehand side," said Željko. "However, I was having some issues with stability on my one-handed backhand, especially against bigger serves on the clay."

It took some time for Tiffani to acclimate to the Speed MP on her return due to the wider string pattern. She explained, "While it was easy for me to add a bit of extra spin to my groundstrokes to get them to land in the court, it took me a lot longer to find my range on returns. The open string pattern created a higher trajectory than I'm used to, and I had to dial back the depth. Even after I adjusted, if I missed a return it tended to be long past the baseline."

Unfortunately, Sean was never able to feel fully confident on his return of serve. He wrapped up the playtest saying, "This is where I was running into some trouble. I had no difficulty maneuvering the racquet, but I often found some torsional instability due to the lack of mass when I was trying to redirect pace."

Overall - Score: 80