By Pierre Bastien, squash equipment blogger at squashsource.com
Ah, summer. While things can be a bit slow around the squash courts during the warmer months, it’s an exciting time in the squash equipment world, because this is when many brands release their new racquets for the upcoming season. In this article we’ll take a look at three new designs from Tecnifibre for the 2015 / 2016 season. These are all part of Tecnifibre’s Carboflex range, which are teardrop-shaped racquets.
Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 S
The Carboflex 125 S is an updated version of last year’s Carboflex 125, used by a significant number of top pros, including world No. 1 and reigning U.S. Open champion Mohamed Elshorbagy, as well as women’s U.S. Open finalist Nour El Sherbini. The previous model was head-light and had a fairly flexible shaft, giving the racquet lots of feel. The newer Carboflex 125 S is also head-light, and the frame still feels flexible, but less so than the previous model. Elshorbagy and a few other pros have already switched to the new 125 S, so you can spot it on SquashTV.
The new 125 S frame has a slight difference from the previous version: a deeper channel to hold the strings around the outside of the frame, which should cut down on wear and tear on the strings as you scrape shots off the walls. The cosmetics have also been updated to a black and red color scheme, which looks fantastic.
Tecnifibre Carboflex 130 S
The Carboflex 130 S is five grams heavier and feels a bit more evenly balanced. This is a good choice if you’d like to feel a little more mass behind each shot. Several pros used last year’s version, the Carboflex 130, so we will see this new version on the pro circuit soon enough. The frame has also been updated to include the deeper string channel, and it has been given a nice cosmetic makeover, boasting a classy white and red color scheme.
Tecnifibre Carboflex 135 S
Last year the heaviest Carboflex racquet was 140 grams. It was promoted by retired great Thierry Lincou. We can’t all be as strong as Lincou, so lucky for us Tecnifibre has cut out five grams from this racquet’s weight, making the 135 S only five grams heavier than the 130 S. It feels like the weight of this racquet has been spread across the upper two thirds of the frame, so it isn’t one of those head-heavy racquets that want to come down steeply through the shot. Instead it encourages a smooth arcing swing, which feels great when you have time to hit the ball, but it is a little difficult to maneuver in tight corners.
