My Tennis Bag Comparison, What I’ve Learned

Written by: Sebastiano Sali | December 26, 2024
Tecnifibre Tour RS Endurance

A look at the Tecnifibre Tour RS Endurance Rackpack L, Dunlop CX Performance 8 rackets and the Prince Tour 9 rackets.

Since I restarted playing tennis in 2021, I have had (only) three different bags. In fact, I wanted to give my old Volkl C-10 series racket bag a chance but, after lying in the cellar for more than 15 years, all the zips gave in and broke off at the first attempt of opening them. It was clear that, together with a new racket, I also needed a new bag (too bad though, that yellow and black from the nineties was really iconic!).

I started my research online and, just like for the racquets, landing on Planet Tennis after fifteen years of hibernation, I felt completely at sea due to the large amount of tennis bags options: large backpacks, small duffle bags, gigantic racket bags and so on. 

What was the right one for me?

I consider myself a very tidy guy (some friends would even jokingly argue borderline OTD) and I like everything in its place, where it can be found easily and without having to through smelly, dirty socks, old, fuzzy balls and overused, sweaty overgrips. I also thought, maybe better something with not such a strange shape as a typical racket bag; that way, I can perhaps use it also for the gym, short hikes, little day trips and so on.

Tecnifibre Tour RS Endurance Rackpack L

That’s how my attention fell on the Tecnifibre Tour RS Endurance Pack L (and I only now realise that, when the name for a tennis bag is so long and complicated, is already a clear sign that things have gone too far South).

This is a Tecnifibre duffle bag, with removable compartments that can be fixed through velcro straps, thereby forming a large central compartment for up to three rackets and four smaller compartments for everything else. The one and only lid (an important detail that will resurface at a later point) features two zipped, mesh pockets; on the outer side there is also a small zipped pocket for accessories. In the main compartment, essentially under the racket handles, one could also use a separate shoe tunnel, accessible from the outer side opposite the accessories pocket. Brilliant! Wonderful!! Ecstasy!!! For a guy like me, that’s exactly what paradise looks like. Everything has its own, small, medium or little (I forgot a tiny inner pocket where I could fit Kleenex and dampeners) place! 

What then could possibly go so wrong that Tecnifibre, shortly after I bought it, decided to discontinue it (and at least until we speak they haven’t changed their mind – and if you, @Tecnifibre, have changed your mind and are reading this article and like to send the new model for an honest review, I am available! ?)?

Well, from my perspective there was one major issue. The tarpaulin material the bag is made of, is very soft and therefore folds, bends and creases whenever pulling and  transporting the bag; as a consequence, the velcro straps very easily come off and do not hold. The result is that all the neatly packed gear falls all over the place. Argh!! And to put the velcro strapped compartments back together is no easy task, especially with a full (and untidy) bag.

In addition, while the tarpaulin is for sure waterproof, it does not work as well as the more traditional thermic insulation other bags have. Both my Dunlop and Prince (which actually has two thermic insulated compartments), kept my drinks and food much cooler, despite being black, when laying in full sun. 

Another feature that in the long run annoyed me was having only one main compartment where one has to keep everything, from rackets to clothes, food and drinks. Because, while I perhaps want to keep my food in the bag, I also want to be able to have easy access to it during changeovers, without exposing my rackets to heat and sunlight, covering them in crumbs and perhaps even splashing them with some sticky energy mix. Details. Or not?

Dunlop CX Performance

As for the rest, the carrying system is very comfortable and the bag is very resistant and durable. The white colour doesn’t help to keep it clean but, at least for me, I didn’t mind that. The L size was also big enough to fit three rackets, a pair of shoes, a change of clothes, drinks, food, balls and smaller accessories. That notwithstanding, once I discovered that Dunlop offered a solution similar in terms of compartments, but with better insulation, I decided to switch to the cool-looking total black Dunlop CX Performance, in the eight racket size.

The first thing I noticed is how much bigger is this bag compared to the Tecnifibre; how much softer is the padding of the shoulder straps (it’s really cuddly!); how much stiffer, solid and sturdy the whole bag feels. The bag has three main compartments one of which has traditional thermic insulation (which, as I said above, my impression is that works better than the tarpaulin) and the other two have the option to be divided into two compartments by small bulkheads that can be folded and fixed with velcro straps. The advantage of this system, compared to Tecnifbre’s, is that the straps have to hold a much smaller piece and, combined with the generally sturdier structure of the bag, they do not collapse when carrying the bag around. The main compartment has actually two of these bulkheads: the second one separates from the shoe tunnel and, if one decides not to use the shoe tunnel, can fold it and use the central compartment to the full length. Genius!

Now the pain points. @Dunlop, please don’t take this the wrong way, but after only a few months of use, while carrying the bag on my shoulders, I could feel the bag making a dent in my hip: the carrying strap cut into the bag and made it fold in a strange way on the side without thermic insulation. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it. It was just not as comfortable to carry as before, but that was about it. But then I started to notice that opening the zip at the point where the bag folded strangely was slightly more complicated, until the zip got stuck and broke off. As a result, I could no longer close that large compartment of the bag! Everything would fall out! How annoying! What a disappointment!! 

I asked a shoe repair shop if it could be fixed and, much to my disappointment, it turned out to be way more expensive than expected. The man also rightly pointed out that the problem was not so much the zipper, but rather the fact that the bag was folding funnily at that point. In his opinion, because of that the zip would keep breaking even after being repaired.

Prince Tour

Very depressed about having to say goodbye to my much loved bag, I started the search for a new bag. In the conviction that one with two thermic departments would prove more solid on both sides of the bag, I found the Prince Tour three compartments.

Another total black, very cool looking racket bag with a very refined and elegant lining with smaller Prince logos, this bag does indeed feel more premium than both Tecnifibre and Dunlop. It is slightly smaller than the Dunlop, but I can fit three rackets in one of the insulated compartments and whatever else I need in the other two bigger compartments. Additionally, it features two outer accessory pockets (for a total of five pockets) on both sides which have an in-sawn dividers that prevent all the smaller things falling in the other half of the pocket. Energy bars and gels stay away from sweatbands, overgrips and strings, balls don’t roll all over the place, roller foams and rubber bands are always where I want them to be and so on. Love it! 

The shoulder straps are not as soft as Dunlop’s, but zips have so far proved way more resistant. The shoe tunnel in the front is perhaps smaller than Dunlop’s but, to be fair, I don’t use it for my perennial clay-dirty shoes (which I always carry separately) and instead I can just about perfectly fit all my toiletries and portable hair-dryer (yes, yet another obsession…).

The Winner…?

So far I could not find anything to complain about this Prince racket bag and my final take is that the Prince is by far the better of the three (and was also the cheaper of the lot!). 

Yes, the Prince Tour three compartments could do with softer shoulder pads and with a couple of centimeters in length and width, but: the two thermic insulated compartments leave me carefree about my rackets and strings been protected from the sun and allow me to keep my drinks always cool in the summer, without having to mixed the two; the nicely organised side accessory pockets indulge my OCD for all it concerns smaller items, the bag is proving overall very durable and it even looks cool. I would not want to change it, if not for its next iteration (can you hear me @Prince? I am ready for a new review!). Let’s wait and see if I can live up to my new year’s proposition.

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Looking for a new tennis bag?

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Sebastiano Sali

Sebastiano is a true member of the Tennisnerd community and likes to share his personal experiences at various tennis tournaments as well as reviewing players and events from the tour.