Breakdown

Groundstrokes: 8.3

Despite some minor complaints, each of our playtesters was impressed with the Boom Pro's quick handling and user-friendly performance on groundstrokes. Although it lacked the precision of his trusty Prestige, Chris appreciated how fast and forgiving it was. He said, "The Boom Pro 2024 felt decently light and whippy from the baseline. I was able to get some solid spin on my shots and the amount of pace I was able to generate was adequate. Compared to both my Prestige Classic 2.0 and Speed Pro racquets, my shots with the Boom Pro 2024 tended to sit up more and not have as much penetration through the court. The Boom Pro 2024 also doesn't feel as precise. On the upside, it was very easy to whip an angle, roll a lob or inject some pace into a shot. I found the response to be very forgiving, and if my timing was slightly off, I was often able to stay in the point."

"The Boom Pro 2024 was a fun racquet to hit," said Michelle, who ultimately had to make some stroke adjustments to crack this racquet's code. "Although I occasionally lost control when driving more linear strokes, I had a blast tapping into the power and spin, and I found the most success if I dipped into the shot and dropped my wrist a bit more to hit a more modern shot. I tried to keep my points short with a one-two punch. The serve-plus-one and return-plus-one were effective plays, especially when I could maneuver around the ball and get it angled off the court or behind my opponent. I also enjoyed teaching/coaching with this racquet because I could take some power out of my shots and consistently hit a rally ball that worked well for hitting with a variety of levels of players. There wasn't a ton of touch for my game, but the racquet was stable, and it was fun to create big spin and big power with it. While this might not be the Head frame for me (this playtest reminded me how much I love the Radical Pro), the Boom Pro 2024 is a fun racquet for the more modern player who accelerates fast and loves pulling their opponent off the court and creating fun points."

Given his penchant for high swingweights and thin beams, Troy craved a bit more feel and plow through from the Boom Pro 2024. That said, he definitely appreciated this racquets user-friendly combination of speed, power and spin. He said, "This Head Boom Pro 2024 felt easy to maneuver from the baseline, and I could generate easy racquet head speed. To go with that, I found easy access to power and spin. The feel on contact was different from the Yonex EZONE 98, but both racquets share a combination of easy maneuverability and easy power from a 98-square-inch head. The feel on contact with this Boom Pro 2024 was slightly on the firm side for my liking, but it did seem to dampen the vibration pretty well. I would say the feel overall was a bit muted. I liked taking big cuts at the ball on my forehand and backhand, which generated easy power and a lot of topspin. However, on touch and feel shots, like my backhand slice and drop shot, I thought the feel and response were a bit lackluster. When facing big ball strikers, I would have liked a bit more mass or swingweight to help with the plow through."

For Mark, the specs of the Boom Pro were perfect. He said, "I was really impressed with the Head Boom Pro 2024 from the backcourt. The energy return from its firm, yet comfortable layup of graphite, combined with the static and swingweight averages, was nearly perfect for me in terms of directional control of the ball, whether I was trying to add or absorb pace. In addition, the 16x19 pattern delivered easy access to topspin without compromising a low trajectory slice."

Volleys: 8.2

According to our playtesters, volleying with the Boom Pro was an exercise in comfort, power and maneuverability. According to Michelle, it was also fun. She said, "Easy maneuverability at the net and stability too. The Boom Pro 2024 was fast and blocked the ball back with ease. To be honest, this was another place where it was just fun to be in full on offense mode, swinging big and swinging fast."

For Mark, the Boom Pro 2024 proved to be fast and versatile at net. He said, "The directional ball control and great feel that was afforded while accelerating the Boom Pro 2024 through shots had precisely the same effect when hitting soft touch shots or punching through volleys, which adds to the all-court capability of this maneuverable racquet."

"I was able to work my volleys well with the Boom Pro 2024," said Chris, who had zero complaints about the Boom Pro at net. "It was easy to get it into position, and the racquet felt fast enough to easily cut under the ball for added spin. My drop shots and angles were working very well when I added some spin to my volleys. Again, I found the response forgiving, with the sweetspot feeling generous toward the tip of the racquet."

Although Troy appreciated this racquet's quick handling and power, he could have used a little more mass and feel. He explained, "This racquet felt fast (easy to maneuver), and there was easy power or energy return on my volleys. When playing doubles, this racquet worked well for the most part because it was easy to get into position, and the power allowed me to keep the ball deep in the court when I needed to. Like I mentioned on my groundstrokes, the feel was a bit firm and slightly muted, so I wasn't as confident when hitting softer volleys, like a short angle or drop volley. Not that I couldn't hit or execute those shots, but I tend to prefer racquets with a bit of a plusher feel and more mass behind the ball; for example, the Head Radical Pro 2023 is one that I prefer and really like the feel of on contact. I think I was pretty effective on my volleys and have no huge complaints. However, I would probably add some weight to the hoop around 3 and 9 o'clock for a bit more solid feel, and maybe tinker with the string and tension in search of more plushness."

Serves: 8.5

By combining user-friendly speed with easy access to power and spin, the Boom Pro 2024 proved extremely impressive on serve. In fact, serving with the Boom Pro was Troy's favorite part of this playtest. He explained "The serve was my favorite shot to hit with this Head Boom Pro 2024. The easy power, fast feel and good spin potential helped me serve aggressively. The easy maneuverability, along with some of that free pop on the ball, helped me go big on my flat first serves. The 98-square-inch head size made my targeting effective, and it was easy to mix up my spots. I also found plenty of pace on my spin serves; I could get a lot of kick on the ball to get my serves jumping off the court. The slight issues I had with feel and plow through on my groundstrokes and volleys didn't really matter on serves because the ball is basically sitting still on contact. I loved serving with this racquet, and I think it would only get better if I added a little bit of weight in the hoop for more swingweight. I'd also like to try an extended length version (like my Yonex EZONE 98+)."

For Michelle, the Boom Pro's spec profile came with a license to serve big. She said, "I leaned into this racquet's strengths when serving and just went big — big flat serves, big kick serves, big spin serves. I could execute first serves well, so I kept the pedal to the metal most of the time I was serving. I found more than enough access to spin with my kick serves too, and I enjoyed pulling my opponents out of their comfort zone."

According to Mark, the Boom Pro 2024's uniquely high sweetspot translated into easy power. He said, "This is where I discovered that the sweetspot is located closer to the tip than most other racquets I play with, which seemed to make it easier to generate pace."

"As with the first version of the Boom Pro, the serve was the shot that required an adjustment period," said Chris, who ultimately needed to tinker with tension to make this stick sing. "I found a low margin for error with this racquet. I wasn't getting my usual net clearance and dip into the box when adding spin. Instead of the ball arcing into the box my serves were going straight, and I would either miss into the net or hit long. I played around with tensions and found that lowering it to 48 pounds from our regular 52 pounds helped me get more arc on my serves. From then on I served more consistently and with improved confidence during point play."

Returns: 8.0

With the Boom Pro's quick handling, easy power and spin-friendly targeting, it's not surprising that the majority of our playtesters loved returning serve with this racquet. Needless to say, Mark was more than a little impressed with how it performed on serve. He said, "Returning serve has never been a shot that came naturally to me. However, when I took a step back from the baseline (a la Medvedev), the return of serve became my favorite shot of the playtest."

"I preferred returning with the Boom Pro 2024 over serving," said Chris, who settled into a confident groove on service returns. "I was taking a good cut at as many serves as possible with the confidence that I could swing big without overhitting. I liked the amount of spin I was able to get on my shots, and that helped me return aggressively and still get the ball dipping to its intended target. I found ample control to let me knife my slice backhand return to hit a low, skidding ball."

Although Troy prefers racquets with higher swingweights and more stability, he quickly warmed up to the Boom Pro's fast and powerful response. He said, "Like I mentioned above on my groundstrokes, this racquet felt quick and easy to use, and there were times when I appreciated the fast feel on my returns. When I was in a defensive position trying to make something out of nothing, I could get the ball back without a lot of effort. I also found that it was fun to take a big rip on my forehand side; that free power was tempting me to try to hit forehand return winners, which is something that I enjoy with my Yonex EZONE 98+ as well. On my backhand returns I enjoyed this racquet when I was attacking and being aggressive, once again due to that fast feel and easy power. That said, I do use my slice backhand return and chip the ball back a lot (like in doubles, a chip lob return), and for that I would have liked a plusher feel and more mass to stabilize the racquet on contact."

"The return was a tough spot for me with this racquet because this is where I need more control, and I struggled to find it with the Boom Pro 2024," said Michelle. "However, I had two ways of returning that really seemed to work. The first was a big return through the middle and then taking the next shot and angling the ball off the court. The second was if I could rip an angle right away and then take the next shot to the open court. I tried to pounce on any slow, high second serves, and I found the most success with shorter points."

Breakdown Summary