Wilson Burn with Countervail Review

Written by: Jonas Eriksson | January 9, 2017

Wilson Tennis has released a new version of the Burn line (took over from the Steams) with Countervail. The Wilson Burn racquets (including the FST update) were a relatively stiff line of racquets but the reviews talked about a relatively comfortable feel for strung RA ratings around 70(!). The Burn 95 (extended length) and especially the Burn FST 95 received some great feedback from customers and play-testers.

Now Wilson is putting the shock-reducing material Countervail into the Burn line and giving them a cleaner look with orange lines on the side, very similar to the green of the new Wilson Blades and the red of the Wilson Pro Staffs. Reviews so far of the new Wilson Burns has been good overall. If you have sensitive elbows or wrists, you might want to play-test this because the stiffness rating is quite high. I play-tested it a bit together with a hitting partner (he’s a full-time tennis coach) and it felt remarkably good for a stiff and modern frame. My hitting partner, who would be ranked around 5.5-6.0 NTRP is actually switching to the Wilson Burn 100.

Although I’m not as much on the bandwagon of the new Burns as he is, I’m impressed by how much Countervail has managed to dampen a quite stiff racquet. And I wouldn’t say too dampened, because the guy hit like 10 close to perfect drop shots and drop volleys during our two hour hitting session. The Wilson Blade 100 with Countervail was strung with Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour which is not my favorite string, but played pretty nicely in the Burn 100. I would recommend trying the racquet with my go-to-string Solinco Hyper-G or a soft co-poly such as Luxilon 4G soft or Solinco Tour Bite Soft.

I will however stick to my Tecnifibre Tfights, but you do get curious about the new Countervail line of racquets from Wilson tennis. Since I used to play with the Wilson Blade 98 (2015), the new Wilson Blade 98 with CV could maybe do the trick!

You can order the Wilson Burns with Countervail at Tennis Express here.

screen-shot-2016-12-05-at-10-40-18The new Burn line with Countervail consist of the following models:

  • Burn CV 100S
  • Burn CV 100
  • Burn CV 95



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2 comments

  1. hi!
    i recently aquired a used burn 100 cv with existing luxilon elements string on it. it played to my liking and i did not suffer any soreness from the stiffness of the racquet. my only concern now is i need to restring the racquet but i have no idea what the current tension is. all i can tell is it is strung low im guessing 45-50lbs and it looks like a 16 or 17 gauge.

    my string of choice is solinco confidential. can u recommend what gauge i should use and at what tension so that i can continue to use the racquet without potentially suffering from any wrist or elbow soreness? thanks!

  2. Hi,
    Element is a far softer string than Confidential. So keep that in mind. If you want to still use Confidential in the Burn CV, try a 1.20 gauge at 53 lbs and see how it feels. If you feel any pain, I would change the racquet or string.

Jonas Eriksson

Jonas has been known as "tennis nerd" mainly for his obsessing about racquets and gear. Plays this beautiful sport almost every day.