Read a racquet like a grid: X, Y, Z
Updated: 2 hours ago
Our logo is a cubic tennis ball — a set of axes. It's not decoration: it's how we name our racquets, and how you can find yours. Three axes, one continuum, no decoding required.
X — the tight strike
The horizontal axis: flat, direct strokes, tight trajectories, control. If you take the ball early and drive through it in a straight line, you live on X. It rewards a thin head and a dense pattern.
Y — the brushed strike
The vertical axis: topspin, launch, ball bite. If you brush up the back of the ball for margin and heavy action, you live on Y. It rewards tolerance, energy return and snapback — the elastic snap of the strings after they slide — so an open pattern and an aero geometry.
Z — versatility
The third dimension: neither purely X nor Y. If you switch with the situation — flat here, topspin there, slice too — Z is the all-rounder that does a bit of everything well.
A continuum, not a box
Nobody is 100% X or 100% Y. Your style is where you spend the most time on the axis between them. Place yourself there first: that points you to the frame. The further you live on X, the closer you get to the Matcheur 97 — thin head, dense pattern, control. In the middle, the 98s: the 98 Y in 16×19 for spin, the 98 X in 18×20 for the tight trajectory. The further you live on Y, the closer you get to the 100s — tolerance, launch angle, snapback — from the 100 X to the 100 Z. Alongside the axis, the Matcheur 50 completes the range. Every Matcheur racquet starts from a stripped-back frame, built to be customised: the whole adult range is at 69 RA and tuned to order.
From axis to full setup
The axis chooses the frame. Your physique and stroke speed choose the setup — weight and balance, via MGR/I: the ratio of the racquet's gravitational moment to its inertia, that is, how fast it naturally swings at the end of the arm. Your feel, spin and string-breaking choose the string (N°1 to N°7, plus the N°4.5). One player, one honest answer: a frame + a setup + a string, all justified by the same physics. That's the Matcheur grid: a racquet that can be explained in full, line by line.
Placing yourself, in three questions
No test needed: three observations you can make at your next session.
Where do you take the ball? Early, on the rise, before the top of the bounce: you are on the X side. After the top, stepping back to let the ball drop: you are on the Y side.
What does your ball do at the other end? It skids low and fast: X. It kicks up into the opponent: Y.
When you miss, where does the ball go? Long, past the baseline: there is not enough rotation to bring it down. Into the net on a full swing: it is not leaving the string bed fast enough.
Three consistent answers place you unambiguously. Three mixed answers place you on Z, and that is an answer in its own right.
The three most common placement errors
Thinking you are X because you like control. Control is not an axis, it is a result. You get it through trajectory, by brushing up so the ball drops, or through ball tension, by hitting flat and aiming shorter. Two opposite routes to the same sensation.
Thinking you are Y because you brush the forehand. A sliced backhand, a continental volley and a flat serve move the average. The axis is read across the whole game, not on the favourite shot.
Placing a junior on Y by default. The racquet-head speed is not there yet, and the tangential stroke arrives with it. A child brushing without speed produces a short ball, not a topspin one.
What the grid does not say
It says nothing about your level, your tactics or your build. It places a frame, and nothing else.
The setup is decided afterwards, and it does not follow from the axis: it follows from your racquet-head speed and your build. That is the job of MGR/I, which says whether the racquet arrives on time at the end of your arm. Two players in the same place on the axis can need two very different setups.
Going further
The axis itself is explained in the truth of the strike. The setup is computed in the weight, balance and swingweight guide, and the string is chosen with the science of strings. The Understand page puts the figures in motion, and all three meet in the configurator.
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