The new entry enters the racket market with great personality. No wonder the technicians renamed it the Perfect Racket.
At Head they have no fear of proposing new projects capable of shaking up the tennis universe, and few brands are as dynamic and innovative. The Austrian house is definitely a champion in respecting the past and tradition, while at the same time adding fresh and modern frames.
By the way, the term “fresh” is no coincidence: the black and turquoise livery, simple but of great impact, is recognizable from miles away.
The technical specifications
Amazingly the measurement data is practically identical to the numbers given by HEAD. They claim that great care was given to the design and production of this racket, and as first impression you really have to agree with them. The result can definitely be seen from our tests. Furthermore, it seems to be a very balanced tool from every point of view. The not excessive inertia derives from a balance a little further back than the classic 320 mm.
The masses are not too polarized: instead they’re actually distributed quite evenly, as both the POLAR INDEX and the FLEXPOINT ANALYSIS graph show.
There would be a lot to say about all the technologies used, but here are the main key points.
The most important one, AUXETIC, is clearly very dear to HEAD designers. We are talking about materials capable of reacting differently based on the stress received, specifically fibers that acquire or lose thickness depending on the impact with the ball. This material is placed in the bridge of the racket, translating into an excellent feeling during every shot and a dampening of harmful vibrations even in not perfectly centered shots.
UNI PATTERN, on the other hand, is a regular hole placement, resulting in a string pattern with uniform spacing.
Finally MORPH BEAM refers to a totally innovative design of the frame and sections, with the only continuity of the enlargement of the impact area at 2 and 10, as already seen to work well in the GRAVITY line. The only true continuity is found in the reference material, namely graphene, used along the whole frame, therefore the name GRAPHENE 360°.
All lab instrumental data are available here: https://www.racketpedia.com/en-GB/tennis-racket/head-boom-mp-2022.
On court – Pros
Frame of great maneuverability: you immediately perceive the ease of moving it in every phase of the game.
The not very high inertia results in an easy tool: the ball comes out of the stringbed with good speed and the control of the different shots is excellent.
It’s good for the net game too: gestures that require a high speed of execution are no problem, and it’s possible to place the ball well with excellent precision.
The particular shape of the head designed to widen the sweet spot, together with the new AUXETIC technology, allows for excellent returns.
Fairly good comfort even in the serve, especially in flat and clean shots, where the speed of execution allows you to have a fast and precise ball.
On court – Cons
As expected, the light weight of the head has many advantages but also some drawbacks.
For starters, the spins don’t come out easily: to have a satisfactory result, the arm has to enter with great decision and speed, and perform a technically efficient impact.
The same goes for the serve: slice and kick serves require a decisive and fast arm to give you a good shot.
In general, the shots are easy and precise but not super effective: a pinch of nastiness is missing.
Who is it for
HEAD has definitely done a good job in proposing a highly versatile racket: if we want to exclude competitive and very experienced players, Boom MP can be used with good results by a very high percentage of players.
It’s very suitable for a female audience or young athletes looking for a tool that lets them use the arm at high speed, without tiring it too much.
Having a generous sweet spot and few vibrations makes it attractive even for the club players, especially for those who enjoy playing doubles.
The strings
We tested the HEAD Boom MP with the following setups:
- Head Hawk Touch Grey 120 @22/21 kg
- Head Sonic Pro Black 125 @21 kg
- Head Hawk White 120 @22 kg / Head Velocity MLT Natural 125 @23 kg
- Msv Focus HEX Soft Black 125 @21/20 kg
The stringing
16×19 string pattern with 3 passes at the throat. The double jump of the mains is positioned on the seventh and ninth grommet. Easy to string, preferable to be done with two lengths: 5.8 m for the mains and 5.6 m for the crosses.
We recommend a string that can somehow facilitate the spins. Among the strings used in the tests, the proven Sonic Pro still managed to give good feeling and playability.
Conclusion
An event such as the market release of the new Boom necessarily creates very high expectations. The parent company has certainly invested a lot, especially in the research, development and design of the innovative racket.
Also the marketing for the pre-launch and release phase looks great. At this point we expect to see it receive high sales numbers, be it in physical stores or online.
Thanks to HEAD Italia for supplying the frame!
