Solinco Confidential String Review

Solinco were keen to play on the name of this string’s name, making out it is a secret weapon that needed to be kept quiet when the string came out.

This is all a bit of fun but it does ring true to a certain extent, because Solinco Confidential is a bit of a secret recipe. Solinco were keen to keep the construction of the string, the materials used and the players that were involved in developing it strictly confidential, adding to the allure of the string.

That being said, the string is built to produce spin and control thanks to its four edged construction. Solinco’s polyester strings are renowned for being a little on the firm side, and this is definitely the case with the Confidential.

You definitely won’t get any easy power from this string like you would do with a softer multifilament or natural gut.

Confidential is the type of string that encourages you to hit the ball big and take big cuts at your swings.

You get rewarded for imparting as much energy into your shots as possible when using this string, but if you do things by half measures, the string doesn’t give you much power at all.

Confidential is a string that rewards intensity, thanks to its spin and control. In the power department, it is somewhat lacking and this is to be expected from a shaped poly.

It is on the stiffer side of the polyester string spectrum, so if you have suffered from arm issues in the past or simply prefer a more plush feel, it is definitely worth supplementing Solinco Confidential with a multifilament.

If you are a big hitter looking for an under powered string that will tame your raw power, Solinco confidential could well be the string for you.

Control is an area in which Solinco Confidential really excels. The stiffness and spin friendly nature of the string makes it ideal for placing the ball exactly where you want to, and the firmness also adds to how crisp the string feels.

The ball pings off the string bed but is not overwhelming from a power perspective, so you can focus on ripping ground strokes with huge racket head speed and trusting that the string will take care of keeping the ball in the court.

The edged surface gives you plenty of access to spin, and Confidential sits somewhere in between Solinco’s popular Hyper G and Tour Bite Soft models in terms of control.

This is a real point and shoot string that you can trust will deliver a consistent response and allow you to hit with pace whilst keeping the ball well inside the lines.

If you are after a little extra pop from the string but still want to benefit from the spin and control that it offers, then try stringing it down a few pounds to free up some power. This will also help with ball pocketing.

Given this is a stiffer string, the tactility of it compared to a softer string like a multifilament or natural gut was not amazing.

You do get a good feel from the string in terms of knowing where the ball is going to go, but it is a little bit ‘dead’ feeling due to the stiffness. This is pretty typical of most polyester strings, and Solinco Confidential definitely follows this trend.

Once you start to dial in and get used to the string, you can carve out some nice angles and get your drop shots and stop volleys checking nicely with plenty of side spin.

You also get a pretty crisp response when slicing the ball, which is an element of the string that I really like.

Polyester strings do tend to lose their tension and have a fairly big performance drop off after a few hours of hitting, which is why a lot of advanced level players opt for a pre-stretch on their strings.

The tenison did drop off a little as time wore on with Solinco Confidential, but it was not so pronounced that it ruined the experience.

The string does feel crisp and is responsive, but at the same time it is very firm and I would not recommend it for a player that has previously suffered from arm issues like tennis elbow.

However, when it comes to out and out feel and touch, Solinco confidential is not the most communicative string out there.

Spin is an area that Solinco Confidential really excels in. Like most shaped polys, it grips the ball exceptionally well and produces a lot of spin. It is comparable to Tour Bite or Alu Power Rough in terms of how much spin it produces, making it one of the most rippable strings out there.

You can really feel the string bed catching the ball and spitting it out with tonnes of spin when you rip a big forehand.

Confidential is the type of string that really rewards heavy hitters that like to take big cuts at the ball and generate a lot of racket head speed.

This is one of the string’s major assets, and you can carve out both slice and kick serves really well with it. As I’ve mentioned, Confidential felt great on slices and this was an area of my game I felt comfortable with when using the string.

It was nice to be able to rip a heavy topspin forehand and then cut a nice short slice around the service line with confidence to send my opponent off balance. You can attack the ball with aggressive swings and be confident that the ball will not only land inside the court, but also be difficult to return thanks to the spin.

This spin and control also means players that like to swing at their volleys can do so without having to worry the ball will fly on them every time!

Unlike powerful multifilament or even some of the softer polyester strings out there, the fact that Solinco Confidential is so stiff means you can swing at the ball and it will reward you for it, rather than having to tame the power of the string bed.

The Durability of Solinco Confidential is definitely a strong suit. The stiffness of the string lends itself to lasting a long time, so you won’t need to re-string it too often.

In terms of the duration of the performance, Confidential does have a tendency to drop its tension slightly over time. However, this is no bad thing as it does make the string a little bit more supple which actually balances out the feel of it nicely.

After a few hours of play, you still get the heavy spin and control that the string is so renowned for, but the ball pocketing and comfort of the string also improves slightly too.

As with most stiffer strings, Solinco Confidential did feel a little tinny at times, but this didn’t detract from its performance and again was easy to get used to.

Comfort wise, Solinco Confidential was a little bit lacking it’s fair to say. This is not something that we would expect this type of string to be particularly good at, given it is geared towards big hitters that want to add more control and spin to their game.

After a couple of hours hitting with a full bed of Confidential, don’t be too surprised if your arms are a little tender.

If you are used to hitting with a relatively stiff poly string, Confidential won’t feel too out of the ordinary. However, if you are more familiar with a softer setup, it may well be worth using this string as part of a hybrid or dropping the tension by a few pounds to soften it up.

Overall, Solinco Confidential is a great control oriented string that has been designed from the ground up to offer as much spin and precision as possible.

It is a low powered string that is best suited to big hitters that need a control focussed string to tame their raw punch.

The comfort of the string is not necessarily its strongest suit, but it does pair well with a softer multifilament like Wilson NXT for example. The spin from Solinco Confidential gives you a great deal of confidence and means that players that like to take big cuts at the ball can do so freely.