Tecnifibre TFIGHT ISO 305: The Ultimate Modern Solution for Advanced Players

The Tecnifibre TFIGHT ISO 305 has been called the best racquet of the year by some of my favourite reviewers. It delivers an uncanny combination of plow through and speed with its aggressive swingweight of 338 and balance point of 33.3cm. At this time, the TFIGHT is one of my top candidates for a racquet switch and here’s why.

The TFIGHT’s ability to redirect pace is simply unmatched in the 305 weight class.  As long as you maintain decent swing speeds, the TFIGHT’s stability holds strong with big boys like the RF97, the Pure Strike Tour and the VCORE 97D. Against big, flatter hitters, like my friend Ale, I usually feel extremely rushed for time with my Extreme Tour. The TFIGHT gave me the confidence to hold my ground at the baseline and take balls earlier than I normally would. This is due to the racquet’s inherent stability, but also to its surprising maneuverability.

Maneuverability

The 305 static weight makes it very easy to set up with plenty of time when compared to heavier racquets with similar stability. Even if you are caught out a bit late, it's easy to make quick adjustments and whip the racquet through the strike zone.

Most racquets that have this kind of speed through the air will get caught up against big hitters. While you might be able to “catch up” to the ball with speed-oriented frames like the Extreme Tour or the EZONE 98, their lack of swingweight can lead to some instability if you get caught on the backfoot with a late contact point.

The rock-solid stability of the TFIGHT 305 lets you get away with these kinds of balls. So where exactly does this stability come from?

Stability

We’ve already talked about the average swingweight of 338. No doubt, this is a huge contributing factor. Another is the solid twistweight of nearly 15. This helps the TFIGHT deliver one of the most consistent and generous sweetspots of any 98 square inch racquet on the market.

The off-centre performance feels just as rock-solid as a pure, central contact point. There is plenty of spin, power, control and ball-pocketing available throughout the stringbed. That said, in the intro, I mentioned that you need to maintain decent swing speeds to take advantage of the TFIGHT’s stability. This will comeback to bite us later on…

Feel and Control

Most racquets that have such generous sweetspots feel a bit muddy. When the sweetspot is so big, it can be hard to locate where exactly on the stringbed you contacted the ball. Not so with the TFIGHT. The denser, 18x19 string pattern and combined with a firmer response make the TFIGHT feel much more precise than the 18x20 Pure Strike or the Speed Pro.

At a strung 64 RA, I think the TFIGHT feels quite a bit firmer. The firmness contributes to a consistent and confidence-inspiring feel, as it doesn’t feel like there is any twisting or bending of the frame through impact. Even though the racquet feels quite stiff, I didn’t experience any jarring or discomfort. Part of this is because I’m not very sensitive to wrist or forearm issues, but I think the foam filling does a great job in filtering out harmful vibrations. It also leads to a relatively muted response.

I think the TFIGHT feels more connected than the heavily dampened Yonex or Babolat racquets, but not quite as responsive as the lineup from Head. Overall, the feel is firm, slightly muted and very consistent.

With the lower launch angle of the 18x19 pattern, the control is excellent. I felt more than confident enough to flatten out shots and attack balls without any fear of over-hitting. So far, this racquet is absolutely living up to the hype, but it isn’t without its imperfections.

Downsides

First of all, I really hate the grip shape. It’s very rectangular which makes it feel quite large in the hand. If you aren’t used to rectangular grips, like those found in Prestiges, older Head frames and some Volkl racquets, I recommend you go down a grip size. I really struggled to figure out my forehand on low balls due to the grip shape. I’ve got a pretty extreme semi-western grip on the forehand. The rectangular grip felt like it either wanted me to push full Western or back to an eastern. I powered through and did get used to it after about 3-4 sessions of tennis.with the racquet.

Problems on my Backhand

The last issue is that I struggled with my two handed backhand. From the baseline, I really had to focus on keeping my swing speed higher than normal if I wanted my backhand to penetrate the court. A big part of this is the aggressive balance point.

I feel a lot more confident on my two-hander when I’ve got more weight in the handle and a lighter feeling racquet tip. I just find it easier to swing freely with this kind of setup, something that’s immensely important on every shot, but especially on the two-handed backhand where your body’s mobility is somewhat limited. I also felt instability on my two-handed backhand return.

The backhand return is the shot in my arsenal that is most vulnerable to a low swing speed. On returns, I like to keep my backswing short and compact. This is exaggerated on my backhand side, as the two-handed nature of the shot makes the swing a little less free. In my experience, the shots with lower racquet head speeds suffer the most when the recoil weight is not where you want it.

With a high swingweight and twistweight keeping this racquet torsionally stable and immensely powerful for its weight class, you simply can’t beat physics. Recoil weight is the one area where this racquet performs like an average 305g, 98 square tennis racquet. The average recoil weight for the TFIGHT is 164. My copy came in a little lower at 161.

According to the amazing research done by Brando in the linked Talk Tennis thread, the typical recoil weight range we see in the market is 158 plus or minus 7. While the recoil weight is higher than the market average, it just doesn’t quite hold up to the rest of the specs. Thankfully, this is a very easy fix with some added weight in the handle to dial in balance.

If you would like to know how I dialed in the balance, and how I customized the TFIGHT to best work for my game, I’ve posted that video under our membership page.

Final Thoughts

All-in-all, the TFIGHT ISO 305 is a fantastic racquet, well deserving of all the praise it's received thus far. I think it's an amazing choice for attacking players at 4.0 and above. The high swingweight makes it a difficult choice for players around the 3.5 level, but if you are looking for a racquet that forces you to play big, attacking tennis, it’s hard to go wrong with the TFIGHT 305.

If you are coming from something like a Speed Pro, Extreme Tour or an EZONE 98, but need some more stability and plow-through, the TFIGHT is a must-demo, or buy, specifically from Courtside Sports, where you can use my code TENNCOM10 at checkout for 10% off!.

The TFIGHT is truly an excellent racquet, however, maintaining long, full and fast strokes is critical for this racquet to perform at its best.