Dunlop Srixon Revo CX 4.0 Racket Review

This racquet is definitely a low power racquet, which makes it quite unusual for a racquet designed for the low to medium club level player.

Normally racquets for the low to medium club level player are loaded with easy power and a big sweet spot to make people think they’re playing really well, regardless of the fact that they’re missing a lot of balls.

For me, this is counter intuitive for the club player.

At this level, the people who win are the people who get the ball in the court the most often.

In fact, it could arguably be said that this is also true in many high levels of tennis, with myself included in that.

Only at very high levels is simply putting the ball in not enough to win matches.

So, when it comes to picking a racquet to succeed at the club level, why choose a racquet that’s giving you tons of power?

The likelihood is that you’re going to miss and give your opponent, who’s plodding away, an easy win!

The Srixon Revo CX 4.0 allows easy control and spin, but you do need to have a free-flowing technique.

If you’re a club player with a medium to large swing, then go for this racquet! You’ll get enough power off your swing and the racquet will give you plenty of control of both flanks.

Alternatively, if you have a plodder technique (nothing wrong with this; as I said above -you’re probably the one winning the club over 40s tournaments!) then I wouldn’t advise this racquet.

If you have a short take back and follow through, you will want a heavier racquet to give you more power.

With a shorter technique you’ll be able to hit the ball in the sweet spot more often and probably be better equipped to control your tennis shot as there is less to go wrong in your technique.

Quick Tip: Every time you enhance the length of your swing, you increase your power potential, but you create potential problems that can disrupt your tennis shot and end in a fault.

I was able to get a good amount of slice as well as top spin on both sides.

The flexibility of the racquet means the ball lingers on the string for that millisecond extra that gives your wrist enough time to either get over the top of the ball to create topspin or get underneath the ball to create good slice.

Unfortunately for the Srixon Revo CX 4.0, the comfortable feel of the racquet and good control it gives was offset by its lack of power.

But as I said before, this can only be expected from a racquet so light.

Also, this racquet is not built for an intensive player which makes the lack of power kind of redundant.

As a racket for low to medium standard club players, I think this could be a great option.

For anyone above a certain level, or for someone who needs to either be able to control heavy powerful shots, or create them, this is not the racquet for you.

In summary I’d give this a 7 out of 10 for groundstrokes.

Hitting volleys with this racquet almost felt like swinging around a larger extension of my hand it was so light.

Although the racket is 300 grams, which isn’t the lightest racket on the market, its swingweight has been purposefully kept low.

Other light rackets often have a strong swingweight and are made for juniors who need a light racket but want to create a good amount of power on their groundstrokes.

Up at the net this encouraged me to overswing on my volleys.

My biggest issue on my volleys is overswinging; I think this originates from a lifelong desire to smack every ball as hard as I can, but ultimately it doesn’t help me consistently put away volleys.

As you can imagine, the manoeuvrability was not the issue, my racket was never late in getting into position.

The problem was the opposite; often I found I was swinging it so fast, the racquet face had past the correct contact point when it was time to hit the ball.

When I was able to create a short, punching technique needed for the volley and timed it out of the middle of the strings, I felt a lot of control.

But it was hard to gain depth on the volleys as a result of the lack of power.

This was especially true on reaction volleys; I dropped most short as the racquet took the pace off my opponents shot.

This wasn’t a particularly bad thing in match play as a short volley that doesn’t bounce high is very hard to play against, but the racquet not giving me enough power to do what I want up at the net is not something I enjoy.

Up at the net, I could really get a feel for how big the sweet spot is on the racket, which was very rewarding.

The Dunlop Srixon Revo CX 4.0 is very forgiving; I felt this a little on my groundstrokes, but I was striking the ball well and middled most shots.

With my big swing, I was mistiming a lot at the net, but it didn’t seem to make that much of a difference to the way my volleys moved off the strings.

Again, for a club player, this would be extremely helpful as it increases your margin for error.

There’s a player down at my local club who is infamous for using the whole racket whilst playing; in fact, he hits framed winners so often, you wonder if he has specifically taught himself to do so.

He embraces the banter down at the club, and rightly so, as he knows he is one of the better players at the club!

It doesn’t matter where you hit the ball at certain levels or how good your strokes look, it’s about consistency!

Once you have consistency, you can then work hard to raise your level of play and go for more power.

I would give this racket a 6 out of 10 for volleying.

Hitting serves with this racquet was a little underwhelming but I did feel a good amount of control.

On my first serve I was surprised my entire right arm didn’t fly over the net and down towards my opponent, I was able to swing so fast with the racquet.

In fairness, this was completely my fault as I went for a huge serve without warming up my shoulder.

However, it did give me some good feedback useful for reviewing the racket.

You can swing this racquet extremely fast, but it isn’t going to give you a lot in the way of power.

Just like on the groundstrokes, this racquet offers up a lot of feel and control and it provides easy spin as a result of the 16 x 19 string pattern.

For those of you wondering what the hell that means, a 16 x 19 string pattern means there is more space between the strings, which in theory, allows the strings more space to move, creating easier power and spin.

As we have seen in this review, the Srixon Revo 4.0 doesn’t always create a huge amount of power, but as with all racquets, it is about the combination of factors that create the makeup of the racket.

What this racket does achieve is easy spin and I could really feel this on my second serve.

I was getting my second serves to kick a hell of a lot.

Lighter rackets do make it easier to hit a kick serve as it’s easier to accelerate your wrist sideways across the ball, as if waving to it.

This create a spin that should kick up and out upon the ball’s landing.

I was able to create this easily with this racket but unfortunately there was no power behind the kick.

So, for a returner comfortable in seeing the kick serve, they could simply wait for the ball to fall and then hit a ball that sits up nicely for them to attack.

I would give this racquet a 7 out of 10 for serves.

If you can get past the paint job on this racquet or have a certain outfit that would go with a blue and yellow multi coloured racquet, then this could be the one for you.

It’s not a competitive, or intensive players racquet as it’s too lightweight, but for a low to medium club player, this is a good racquet.

It provides plenty of comfort, and looks after your joints, it creates easy spin although lacks a little power, and has boundless amounts of control and feel.

Up at the net it’s extremely easy to manoeuvre and its stability at the back of the court make for a nice hit.

If you think you fit into this category of player, with a medium to large swing, a low to medium club level and you’d like something that’s going to help you get more balls in the court with less pace, then this is a very good fit.

The only way of finding out whether it is a good fit for you is to try it out.

As with any racquet choice, I would advise, first giving the racquet a go before spending that hard-earned cash.