The Head Extreme range has been given a massive face-lift for 2023. The Extreme has always been synonymous with spin, spin and more spin. Im really excited to play with this racket. It is a racket I had dabbled with over the years. I know Richard Gasquet has been synonymous with this racket and Head had always included a yellow Extreme flash.
I have seen Matteo Berrittini use this racket to devastating effect on the grass at Wimbledon. I have played with the Head Radical MP for many years and always looked at the specifications of the Extreme and due to their similarity I felt it was going to be a good choice. In the most recent Extreme launched in 2020 I really enjoyed the spin generation from the Tour model.
String Set up
I played with a new Head Extreme MP strung with Head Lynx Tour 54lbs. Played outdoors in damp conditions over a period of two weeks. I would have loved to have played with this longer but such is life.
First thoughts
The new Extreme has an interesting new colour scheme? Brave choice by Head don’t you think? I must say I would never have picked it myself but I do like it. I have had lots of positive comments on the colourscheme. It is definitely a conversation starter and eye catching. What else catches eye with the new frame? I guess it has quite a narrow beam and has a very streamlined look. Good for racket head speed and ploughing through that ball. Let’s see.
From the baseline the Extreme MP feels just about as good as my favourite rackets. It absolutely mullers the ball from the back of the court. The racket swings fast and moves through the air quickly and really works well with my long fast swings. I found myself able to dictate easily with the Extreme and the ball really fizzed off the strings. With my string set up I enjoyed the pocketing of the racket.
Narrow Aero Beam
The Extreme MP beam really cuts through the air quickly and is helpful for generating racket head speed. It is not the most aero racket I have played with but I find the power I get just astonishing. Serving wise the racket it also performs more powerfully than expected and the beam obviously contributes to this performance.
On the Head Control Power Index they have it as 500CPI which is not the most powerful or most control but a nice blend of both. Perhaps I just imagined this but the Extreme definitely feels to have a little more pop than the Radical MP. Ofcourse this could be down to string setup and is not based on any kind of scientific measurement. Radical MP CPI is 400 for reference. I guess a real measure of performance will be in trying different string jobs and tensions.
CPI: 500
WEIGHT (UNSTRUNG): 300 g / 10.6 oz
STRING PATTERN: 16/19
HEAD SIZE: 645 cm² / 100 in²
BALANCE: 320 mm / 1 in HL
LENGTH: 685 mm / 27.0 in
BEAM: 23/26/21 mm
Fun fun fun
The new Head Extreme is a fun racket to play with. Is it going to appeal to you? What is likely to convince you one way or the other is the serve. We know the serve is such a key shot and the Extreme performs admirably in this area. There is a bedding in period with the serve and I couldn’t get to grips with the serve off the bat. The swing weight which really produced great groundstrokes was really manoevrable on the serve. I could create a lot of topspin and slice on my second serves. Power wise my flat serve have plenty of zip.
Topspin
Players who want a racket which accentuates their topspin will definitely gravitate towards this racket. Extreme is all about topspin and adds extra RPM to your ball. Ofcourse this isn’t the only racket or range which is marketed as a spin racket. We have recently played with the Ultra which is a power racket and the Pure Aero which is seen as the blue riband of the Babolat range. As I have already mentioned the Extreme is such a fun powerful racket to play with. It gives me loads of spin. If anything it is probably a more dynamic racket than the Pure Aero which seems to work really well for forehands but for our playtesters found some difficulties with the backhand.
Concluding Thoughts
The Head Extreme really covers the bases well and forehand, backhand, serve and volley are all solid with this racket. It’s manoevrability, I feel may fall under the radar but it is such a selling point for this frame. As a Radical player I really do have a great alternative to consider for my 2023 racket. Trust me that is really saying something. The Extreme really enables me to hit a heavy ball with loads of spin.