The new Wilson Ultra 100 CV tested by Mike. This racket combines solid power with easy access to spin in a user-friendly racket!

Tested racket:

 

Brand: Wilson

Model: Ultra 100 CV

Blade size: 100 sq/inch

Weight: 300 gr

Balance: 32.0 cm

Stringing pattern: 16/19

Length: 27 inches

RA: 74

Stringing: Wilson Revolve 16 on 23/22 kg

 

The Wilson Ultra 100 CV is now available in our webshop!

Tester:

 

Name: Mike

Playing strength: 4/4

Player type: Classic player with flat groundstrokes, generates little spin. Had shoulder problems until recently.

Racket history: Head Ti Fire, Babolat Pure Drive, Prince EXO3 Rebel Team, Wilson Steam 100 BLX2, Head Graphene Radical MP, Prince Textreme Warrior 107, and most recently the Babolat Pure Strike 16/19 2017.

 

Technology:

The Wilson Ultra 100 has not only been updated with the Countervail material for less impact for arm and body. This new version of the Ultra 100 has a special Crush Zone tubing heart piece. These new grommets provide more energy return to the ball and an enlargement of the sweet spot. Power Rib around the heart of the racket provides a very torsionally stiff shaft, good extra control when steering and placing the balls. Due to the well-known Parallel Drilling , the tubings through which the strings pass are drilled parallel to each other instead of with the curves of the blade. This opens up the sweet spot even further.

Baseline:

According to Wilson, the Ultra series is for the Allcourter, the player who covers the entire court. However, from the baseline, this Wilson Ultra 100 CV performs best! The racket offers a good dose of power with a very stable playing feel. The grip on the ball is also very nice. I could easily generate spin, usually not my strongest weapon. This spin is also necessary to be able to control the ball, that's how much power the racket offers. With off-center hits I found the racket to feel a bit stiff, stiffer than the previous version of the Ultra 100. The racket is of course also relatively stiff with an RA value of 74. The Countervail material certainly offers a bit of cushioning and additional comfort, yet the previous version of the Ultra 100 offered more comfort. In terms of power, the new version clearly wins. Shorter balls were easy to tackle and scoring directly was easy with this racket.

Service:

When serving it was noticeable that this Wilson Ultra 100 CV is stiffer than my trusted Prince Textreme Warrior 107. The racket gave a bit more impact on my shoulder, while there is still more than enough free service power in it. The grip on the ball is very nice: spin and kick serves are easy to produce with this racket.

Just:

At the net I missed some feeling with this Wilson Ultra 100 CV. Hard balls are easy to parry, the frame feels very solid. Only feeling volleys I got out a little less easily. Due to the high stiffness the racket gives in my opinion a little less connection with the ball, so that the ball is less 'caught' in the blade.

Power/control:

The power of this new Wilson Ultra 100 CV is very clearly present. As mentioned, you can easily deliver huge hits from the baseline. The frame feels very robust, which also makes steering the ball very easy. The racket only offers less finesse for finer balls based on feel. The racket absolutely lives up to the slogan "I am powerful" of the new Ultra series. The control is also more than sufficient, but I personally like a little more touch in a racket.

Comfort/arm friendliness:

I don't think comfort is the biggest weapon of this renewed Ultra 100. It's good that Wilson added the Countervail material for some extra damping. Now the Revolve 16 is not my favorite string choice for this frame. A full bed poly (polyester as length and cross strings) give this already stiff racket an even stiffer feel. I think a hybrid setup (poly with multifilament or even better poly with gut) would work much better for this frame. For the infrequent string breakers among us, a nice multifilament string (the Wilson Sensation 16 or Babolat Xcel 1.30) or even better of course a gut string could work great with this frame. The racket does have a relatively large sweet spot, but balls outside of that still give more impact on the arm than I'm used to.

Overall impression:

I find the Wilson Ultra 100 CV a strong weapon for the player who mainly operates from the baseline and who likes to do this dominantly. The racket offers a good dose of power and also easy access to spin to direct this power in the right direction. However, I found the racket to feel clearly stiffer than its predecessor, which meant that the comfort lagged behind somewhat. The stability is also certainly a plus point of this racket that offers fine control and placement. Players who are used to the previous version of this racket will be able to make the transition to this version with Countervail quite easily.

The Wilson Ultra 100 CV is now available in our webshop!