Several playtesters compared playing with the T-Flash 300 and its slightly heavier brother, the 315, to the whip-like feeling of swinging a driver in golf. That’s the intention behind the Speed Flex technology in the shaft, which is stiff at the bottom and flexible at the throat. It enables a user with a clean, medium-to-long swing to build tremendous racquet-head speed as the swing progresses, and to use the momentum of the incoming ball to snap it back deep, much like the 315’s most famous user, Marcos Baghdatis, does. The T-Flash also provides a crisp response at net. “It has the kind of control that helped me place the ball pretty much where I intended,” one playtester said. The 300 is the more maneuverable of the two, while the 315 is best for slightly more accomplished players who generate their own power.

The Zeus caricature on the throat is perfect for this thunderstick of a hybrid.