The CX200 Made Me Fall in Love with Tennis Again
Every once in a while, a racquet comes around that reignites the spark. These racquets are the ones that fuel my obsession. As many Pure Aero’s and EZONE’s pass through my bag, tempting me to the dark side, daring me to play better tennis, to win more points, I find myself always returning to my racquetholic ways… I’ll always go back to the racquets that make tennis feel fun.
That’s what it’s all about for us rec players right?
I’m not a pro.
My match results don’t matter.
I don’t care about local ranking points.
To me, tennis is more about self-exploration. That search for the most perfectly struck ball, it’s meditative, quieting the voices in my head, so that all I hear and the sounds of shoes shuffling across the court and the ball thwapping against the strings.
Maybe it’s the Federer influence, being a player who grew up around the same time that Roger was breaking new ground, but there’s something about red racquets. The Head Prestige. The Wilson 6.1 95. The Yonex VCORE 95. The Pure Storm. These are the racquets I looked up to, the ones I wanted to be “good enough” to use when I got older. Well, now I am older. I have my own money. And I can do whatever I want.
So even though I’m not really good enough for those racquets, I still put one in my bag from time-to-time. But I’m not sure I need to anymore, since lately, I’ve been absolutely loving the Dunlop CX200 and it almost feels like it helps me win more points than my Whiteout.
Questions on Quality Control
The CX200 brings so many attributes that we love from those player racquets in a package that feels so much easier to use than it has any right to be. I feel like I can hit, quite literally, any shot I want I want with this racquet whenever I want. Sadly, this racquet has one major demon that we need to talk about.
That’s quality control.
Weight and balance weren’t too bad, at 301g and 31.4cm… but things got spooky with the swingweight. My first CX200 came in a 262 unstrung, which translates to about 290 strung. Tennis Warehouse’s spec at the time quoted 314, but they noted this measurement was only based on a single sample. 314 strung is already lower than I feel comfortable with, but 290? That’s something you’d see with a junior racquet. Even the Babolat Pure Aero Lite, a 270g option, comes in a 304.
I did what any sane person would do, shit posted all over Talk Tennis and Instagram. I’m wondering, in what world is it acceptable for racquet’s spec to be 25 points off? In what world is 290 an acceptable swingweight?
Well, Dunlop caught wind of my whining and gave me an update.
Apparently, demo-stock, AKA the stock that Tennis Warehouse used to generate 314 strung, is not subject to the same QC standard as following production batches. I don’t know why this is.
Various sources have reported to me that the average swingweight of an unstrung 2024 CX200 should be 270. So I got a frame that was underspec and TW got one that was overspec. As frustrating as this is for all of us, my interactions with Dunlop as a company have been overwhelmingly positive. As soon as they heard my first racquet was off-spec, I was sent a replacement unit from the production batch. That was on-spec, coming in at a near perfect:
305g
31.5cm
274SW
Strung with Tourbite Diamond Rough 16 in the mains and Sync 18 in the crosses, this translated to
323g
32.8cm
308SW
With a deviously low twistweight of 13.2, something that is right up my alley.
Finding the Light Despite the Light Specs
So still, 308 is way way below any spec I’ve ever felt comfortable with and a 13.2 twistweight is tremendously low for a modern frame. Combining them both, we should be looking at one of the most unstable racquets I’ve ever tested. So why do I like this racquet so much?
Well, to understand what makes this CX200 special, we have to look back at what made classic control racquets like the 2018 VCORE 95 so special. Those classic player’s frames offered amazing feel and control in a brutally unforgiving package. High swingspeeds were an absolute must because the beams were so thin it was tremendously difficult to access power. The combination of low stiffness and a small headsize meant that the user’s inputs translated directly into the quality of the shot. It felt like you were solely responsible for any smoking winner or deft drop shot. Of course, the blade was always two sided.
Thin beams and small head sizes are unstable, unforgiving and immensely punishing on off-days. Any and every time you missed, you knew it was 100% your fault. Slow feet, bad spacing, late takeback, the list goes on. Critically, with those old frames, so much of the magic came from weight. High swingweight and static weights meant that if you really leaned into your shot, you were almost guaranteed a heavy ball. However, the CX200 is lighter than a diet beer, and yet, by some holy miracle, it just doesn’t feel that unstable.
I was pleasantly surprised using the CX200 against Luca, my friend and fellow racquet reviewer from Rackets and Runners, who, off his forehand side especially, hits a pretty heavy ball. Despite using this frame completely stock, I felt like the racquet had just barely enough stability and power to hit through the court. This is the result of some pretty epic engineering.
The Japanese engineering team subtly increased the beam width by adjusting the shape and thickness. The crosses are also more evenly spaced apart, offering a deeper trampoline effect. There’s also more vibration dampening tech at 3 and 9 to help reduce jarring on off-centre shots. These small technical changes culminate so that the CX200 has just enough stability to justify its incredible low spec.
This lightness opens up tremendous shot selection, and when paired with the uniquely plush, responsive and organic hitting feel, so that shotmaking is tremendously rewarding. While I still feel more connected to my shot with my stiffer feeling Whiteout, the CX200 offers some of the deepest ball-pocketing I’ve felt since my 2018 VCORE 95.
Feel and Spin
The dwelltime is so long and the feel is so plush that you’d never guess this thing has a 65RA. And even though my Whiteout is more responsive, it’s also more restrictive to my style of tennis. When I’m feeling fit, I like to take my time in the rally, slowly building the point before coaxing my opponent to net and counter punching with a well placed pass.
The CX200 works perfectly for that style of tennis. It’s precise and it loves hitting big spin. Even though it’s not a spin racquet, per se, it’s easily one of the most spin friendly options I’ve encountered in my career. The low swingweight makes the racquet insanely easy to accelerate and the low twistweight makes it ridiculously easy to modulate the angle of your racquet face to find the right spin application for every shot I hit some of my best passing shots in years with this frame. It helped me play the tennis I love to play and I’m having a hard time letting it go.
There’s No Replacement for Mass
Sadly, hitting against Ale, a former ITF player who’s really been playing well lately, gave me the reality check I needed. She takes the ball so early, hits it so hard and deep that the 308 swingweight just falls apart. If you don’t have time to take a full rip at the ball, you’ll be punished. That low twistweight rears its ugly head on blocking shots.
Off-centre contact does lead to significant twisting and it’s just tough to use unless you are at or above the level of your opponent. Fortunately, the CX200 does take weight well.
I brought mine up to 341g, 32.3 and 326SW and found it much easier to play normal tennis with, but it left me wondering why I had to add 12 grams to the hoop of my first racquet to make it feel “normal.”
Player Recommendations
So how do I recommend this racquet? Well it’s tough.
As much as I personally enjoyed using this frame, I have a hard time recommending a 98 square inch player’s racquet with a 300 swingweight to anyone, unless you just love to prospect of a big customization job. I personally would way rather use this frame than almost anything else.
I think it feels more special than the Extreme Tour. Even stock, I was able to hit a much bigger ball with the CX than the v9 Blade. It feels better, swings faster and hits more spin than the Prestige MPL. It’s way more comfortable and predictable than the Diadem Elevate.
UItimately, for competitive play against strong players, I’ll always long for the rock-solid upper hoop of my Solinco Whiteout.
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Check out the CX200:
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