Tecnifibre Slash Review – Mostafa Asal’s brand new squash racket

Taking the Tecnifibre Slash rackets on court

Strings

One huge selling point for Tecnifibre squash rackets is their high quality stock strings. The Tecnifibre Slash is no exception. The 120, 125 and 130 each come with Tecnifibre’s 305 1.20 string – used by countless players on the PSA World Tour. These strings are so popular, they’ve become known simply as ‘the green string’.

The 135 comes with Tecnifibre’s Synthetic Gut – which in itself is still a good string. However, right now the 130 costs around £20 more than the 135. Given this is less than the price of a restring, this is something worth keeping in mind when choosing a racket.

Power

While traditional shaped rackets are billed as being less powerful than their teardrop counterparts, I was delighted with the power I found myself generating with these rackets – especially the three ‘larger rackets’.

The 125, 130 and 135 all have 485cm head sizes, which is very large, especially for a ‘traditional’ racket. Combined with their longer stringbed and thicker frame, generating pace on the ball was a simple task.

On the other hand, the 120 weighs less (theoretically), has a smaller head and thinner frame, plus a denser stringbed. Naturally, I found I had to hit the ball a little harder to achieve the same result as the heavier rackets.

However, this isn’t to say the 120 isn’t capable of delivering powerful shots. The difference is very subtle. If you need any convincing – take one look at how hard Mostafa Asal hits the ball. This should put any worries to bed.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find myself hitting the ball quite as hard as Mostafa, though relative to other rackets on the market, I had zero complaints.

Manoeuvrability

I found the rackets easy to manoeuvre – taking the ball early was very easy, especially with the lighter rackets in the range. Even with the ‘heavier’ 135, I still found an excellent amount of playability and never felt in any way overburdened by the weight. 

In fact, it’s easy to write the 135 off as Tecnifibre’s ‘heavy’ racket, and look towards the lighter rackets in the range. In reality, it isn’t heavy at all. For many players, the 135 is actually an ideal weight as it provides an excellent balance between power and manoeuvrability.

Under normal circumstances, the 120 should be the most manoeuvrable racket, owing to its lighter weight and smaller head. With the batch of rackets I tested, the 130 had much less weight in the head, helping it to feel very, very fast through the air.

Still, manoeuvrability is a relative term. These rackets aren’t as lightweight as something like the Ashaway Meta ZX, which feels considerably faster through the air, but lacks substantial power as a trade-off. 

Touch, control and feel

Traditional rackets are often commended for their increased control. This was very much the case with these rackets. 

The 120 is the stand-out racket in this aspect. Combining a small head, thin lightweight frame and dense stringing pattern, this racket is clearly geared towards touch and feel. And it delivers.

Putting the racket through its paces with a range of drop shot routines, you can feel exactly how the ball has made contact with the strings. This gives lots of confidence when it comes to taking the ball in short and attacking.

The larger rackets in the lineup still offer a great amount of feel, though it’s comparatively less than the 120 due to their thicker frames. Again, the differences are very subtle. They’re still excellent rackets in this aspect.

Forgiveness

I found myself able to play really consistent shots with the 125, 130 and 135 variants within the Slash range.

With their larger head shapes and sparser stringing patterns, the heavier rackets in this range are wonderfully forgiving. Their sweet spot feels amply sized, meaning hitting the ball off-centre won’t land you in hot-water in the middle of a rally. Every drive I hit felt like I’d ‘middled’ it, right out of the centre of the stringbed.

The 120, owing to its denser stringing pattern and small head is much less forgiving. Though when you hit the ball in the sweet spot, you really feel it. A good technique will undoubtedly be rewarded with this racket.

Durability

Durability is, as ever, a challenging aspect to measure in the short span of time I had with the rackets. Tecnifibre has a stellar reputation with the durability of their rackets, so I’d expect nothing to change here.

The X-Top is the only potential downfall here. There has been a very small number of reports across the internet of the top of Tecnifibre’s latest rackets wearing down after heavily extended use.

If the rackets had a bumper strip, this would be an easy swap out/swap in, extending the life of the racket for around £10. With the X-Top, once it’s gone, it’s time to buy a new racket.

In the grand scheme of things, Tecnifibre is likely selling tens of thousands of X-Top rackets, so only having a small handful of issues reflects positively on the new technology as a whole.

Design

I’m quite happy to give near top marks to Tecnifibre for the design of these rackets. My bugbear with the previous Airshaft rackets had been the bright-yellow ‘X-Top’ painted across the top of the frame. Thankfully, this has been swapped in favour of a much more subtle black logo.

The all-white design of the Tecnifibre Slash is really clean, and the green, somewhat grungy artwork is a nice subtle touch, without being overbearing. I also really like how the whole racket range has near-identical paint – it’s very hard to tell the more expensive rackets apart from their lower priced counterparts – a nice move from Tecnifibre.

The inclusion of Tecnifibre’s grip cover is always a lovely addition, hiding away the tape used to secure your grip in its place.

I’m still not sold on the name ‘Slash’ – it’s an odd choice of name, but of all the things to be concerned about in a racket, this rightfully sits at the bottom of the list.

Overall though, a fairly faultless design from the French brand – their earned reputation for producing the best looking kit on the market is well and truly in tact with their latest rackets.

Purchase links
Amazon
PDH Sports

Overall

Once again, Tecnifibre has hit the ball out of the park with its latest squash racket. The Slash is a well rounded range that caters to a wide variety of skill levels.

I genuinely believe the larger head size of the 125, 130 and 135 is the better choice for 90% of squash players. I found my shots to be incredibly consistent, thanks to the extra forgiveness they provide. Every drive felt arrow-straight and moved like a bullet towards the front wall.

The pick of the bunch for me has to be the 130. Its extra weight compared to the 125 is negligible in most cases, and the cost savings can’t be ignored.

I would reserve the 120 for highly skilled squash players. Those who are able to consistently hit the sweet spot on every drive. This isn’t to say it’s a bad racket for less-skilled players, I just think the larger rackets are really, really good.

Take a look at the fraying on your current string-bed to work out which racket is right for you. If the fraying area is larger than the size of a squash ball, I can all-but guarantee the bigger rackets will be the better choice.

The verdict: An excellent range of rackets and a marked improvement over the previous Suprem lineup. If you’re a fan of the Tecnifibre brand and want a formidable all-round racket, then look no further than the Slash.

Previous page: What’s new with the Tecnifibre Slash and the one problem with Tecnifibre squash rackets