About this Review: This review is my honest opinion of the tennis racquet, which I tested for 5 days from February to May of 2023.

My take

The Volkl V-Cell 9 is a great racquet for players who like to take big cuts at the ball and bring it back into the court with plenty of spin. With a maneuverable 317RDC swingweight, the V-Cell 9 lets players generate plenty of racquet head speed to attack from anywhere on the court. While stability could be better against big-hitting opponents, intermediate to advanced players looking for something outside the mainstream modern player's racquets should give this a test.

About the racquet I tested

• Model: Volkl V-Cell 9
• Grip Size: 4 ⅜ / EU 3
• String and Tension: Volkl Power Fiber II. Strung at 56lbs
• Head size: 100in2
• Racquet Length: 27in
• Any Customizations: Yonex Supergrap Overgrip

About me

• Height: 5’11”
• Weight: 185 lbs
• Previous Racquet Played With: Head Graphene 360+ Gravity MP
• Experience: 29 years of tennis
• NTRP/UTA Rating: 5.0

Test conditions

• When I tested it: February, May 2023
• Days tested: 5
• Court Surfaces: Hard, Hard Indoor
• Match Play/Practice Session/Both: Both
• Where I’ve used it: Kingsford High School, Kingsford, MI, Marinette County Rec Plex

How it performs

What I was looking for

Going into my third season with my current Head Graphene 360+ Gravity MP, I am starting to get the itch to switch gear. I truly enjoy my current setup, but I notice the racquet gets pushed around by some of my bigger-hitting opponents, so I would like to find something with a bit more stability while keeping the large sweet spot and outstanding feel and control of the Gravity MP.

Why I chose to test this gear

As a newer partner of Curated, Volkl wanted our Experts to get the full experience with their lineup so we could confidently point out the pros and cons of each model that they make. I received a whole assortment of frames to try earlier this winter and then I picked up some more demo racquets to give them another test once the weather has turned. The V-Cell 9 is right in the wheelhouse of my ideal specs, so it was an easy choice to spend a lot of time with. In the end, there were a couple of other racquets in the line that I liked better and am actually going to switch to one of them this season.

What I love about it

• Control: The open 16x19 string pattern and softer feel of the V-Cell material gives the V-Cell 9 some really good ball pocketing. I am able to be confident in going for my targets on ground strokes because I can use that spin and precision to put the ball where I want.
• Maneuverability: With a 317RDC swingweight, the V-Cell 9 is built for the modern game that is predicated on speed and spin. It’s easy to generate all the racquet head speed I need with this racquet
• Power: The V-Cell 9 takes advantage of its thick 26mm beam in the sweet spot of the racquet to generate easy power.
• Serves: Hitting serves with the V-Cell 9 is a blast. I am able to get big pop on my first serve and plenty of spin on my second serve thanks to the open string pattern and moderately low swingweight.
• Groundstrokes: With lots of power, easy spin, and that nice ball pocketing I mentioned earlier, the V-Cell 9 is a really fun racquet to rip groundstrokes with.

Issues I’ve encountered

• Feel: Volkl is known for having some very arm-friendly racquets, often despite having high stiffness ratings, which is usually contradictory in the tennis world. The V-Cell 9 does a better job of dampening its 68RA stiffness rating than other racquets such as the Babolat Pure Drive, but it is still a bit too firm feeling for my preference
• Stability: While the V-Cell 9 has adequate stability for most intermediate to advanced players, I found that some of my big-hitting 5.0 opponents could overpower the racquet on hard-passing shots and heavy groundstrokes.
• Volleys: While the maneuverability of the V-Cell 9 is great at the net, overall volleys are a bit of a struggle for me when using this racquet. Hard-hit passing shots are tough to control, and there isn’t enough touch for more delicate drop volleys.

Favorite moment with this gear

The first serve I hit with the V-Cell 9 while playing indoors with my wife just exploded off of my racquet. We were the only tennis players on court, but there was a pickleball league going on in the facility and many of them stopped and looked over because the ball made such a noise when it hit the backstop. That was a great feeling.

Value for the money vs. other options

The Volkl V-Cell 9 is a great value for the money, as it is priced slightly less expensive than similar racquets such as the Head Extreme Tour and Yonex Ezone 100.

Final verdict

The Volkl V-Cell 9 is an ideal match for big-hitting, aggressive, intermediate to advanced players looking for easy access to spin, loads of power, and a more arm-friendly feel than other competitors’ models.