A very surprising newcomer on the racket market is the American Diadem, known for its star-shaped strings. Mike tested the Diadem Elevate 98. This fully 'foam filled' racket offers a very solid playing feel, good precision and above average comfort!

Tested racket:

Brand: Diadem Model: Elevate 98 Head size: 98 sq/inch Weight: 305 gr Balance: 32.0 cm Stringing pattern: 16x20 Length: 27 inch RA: 64 Stringing: Diadem Flash 17 at 22/21 kg This Diadem Elevate 98 is now available in our webshop or can be requested as a test racket via our demo program .

Tester:

Name: Mike Playing strength: 4/4 Type of player: somewhat classic player, flat groundstrokes, generates little spin himself. Had shoulder problems in the past. Racket history player: Head Ti Fire, Babolat Pure Drive, Prince EXO3 Rebel Team, Wilson Steam 100 BLX2, Head Graphene Radical MP and the Prince Textreme Warrior 107. Also the Babolat Pure Strike 16/19 2017 in use.

Test scores Diadem Elevate 98:

Power: 7.5 Control: 8.5 Spin: 8 Arm friendliness: 8.5 Agility: 7.5 Touch: 9

About Diadem:

The innovative American brand Diadem is known for its 'Star Core Technology' or star-shaped strings . These provide a strong ball bite and low friction from string to string for extra snapback for solid spin. In addition, the brand now has a full range of strings and (over)grips for every player. Somewhat surprisingly, Diadem has also recently released rackets. The Nova series is in the range of the Pure Drive and is a real power frame. A review of the Nova 100 will follow later. This Diadem Elevate 98 is in the range of the Wilson Blade 98 CV and Babolat Pure Strike.

Baseline:

From the baseline, the Diadem Elevate 98 is a very solid weapon. The racket does exactly what you want if you make sure you get in front of the ball. What immediately stands out is the wonderful homogeneous playing feel: with this racket you get what you put in! No crazy swings or the like, the racket plays very predictably. This racket is fully (!) foam filled. This technology from Diadem is called Impact Shield Technology and provides above-average comfort for a competition racket without losing the direct playing feel. For me this was a relief for the arm and shoulder.

Although the racket has a 16x20 string pattern, the mesh in the sweet spot is relatively open. This makes it easy to play with ball rotation. The spin came out nicely, but especially my backhand slices felt wonderfully tight and above all also well controllable. The sweet spot feels more generous than the specs of this racket say. If you have this racket well behind the ball, then there is more than enough 'punching power' in it! From the baseline, the Diadem Elevate 98 is a wonderful racket!

Service:

I am not a huge service cannon myself, but the service power with this Elevate 98 was well in order. The racket does not go around as easily as for example a Yonex VCORE Pro 97 310 , but the ball impact is very solid. Kick and slice services also came off easily, probably because of the fairly open mesh. However, I will now play this racket with a leather base grip in combination with an overgrip to bring the balance down a bit more. This to make the racket even easier to maneuver.

Just:

The racket also feels very solid at the net. Hard balls can be parried well (controllably), and touch volleys can also be played well. I prefer to play with a racket with an even lower balance (approx. 31.0), which is why I am going to place a heavier leather base grip on this racket to make the racket even more manoeuvrable.

Power/control:

With this Diadem Elevate 98 it is control over power. The racket plays very solid and predictable, so to speak. Yet there is also more than enough power in this frame, only you have to put in the necessary swing and technique yourself. If you do this, however, you can really (controllably) deal out with this racket! In terms of power, this racket feels like a Babolat Pure Strike 16x19, only less stiff on the arm and shoulder.

Comfort/arm friendliness:

This is where this racket excels together with the baseline game: I didn't expect to find so much comfort in a racket with these specifications!

Overall:

With this Elevate 98 Diadem has brought a great 'players frame', which even offers room for customization. I personally find the racket great to play as it is, with the solid playing feel and excellent comfort being particularly noticeable! A must-demo! This Diadem Elevate 98 is now available in our webshop or can be requested as a test racket via our demo program .