02
Stop two
Pustý hrad (the Deserted Castle)
Prokennex Black Ace 315 Tennis Racquet: More than four hectares, among the largest castle ruin complexes in Central Europe, built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries along a long ridge divided into an upper and a lower castle. Every stone of it went up that ridge on somebody's back, and not one of those names was written down anywhere. That is the job I would like properly costed. Archaeological excavation has found evidence of occupation reaching back to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, long before the medieval fortress, so people were working this hill for thousands of years before any lord took the credit for it. The oldest castle in the area, and the most honest, since nobody is left in it to take a bow.
03
Stop three
Church of St Elizabeth
Prokennex Black Ace 315 Tennis Racquet: Founded in the first half of the thirteenth century, late Gothic alterations around 1500, Baroque additions later: three separate generations of masons, plasterers and carvers on one building, and only the patrons ever get named on the sign. But look where they set it. Dead centre of the medieval market square, not off to one side, and that was the deliberate plan when the town received its town privileges. It puts the church among the traders rather than above them. It is the dominant feature of the square, and the people who laid out that square knew exactly what they were doing when they chose the spot.
04
Stop four
Námestie SNP, the main square
Prokennex Black Ace 315 Tennis Racquet: This is the workplace. The elongated medieval market square is the core of the town's plan, laid out to accommodate trade along the Via Magna, the great route linking Buda with Kraków, which passed through Zvolen. And the route came through because of position: the town sits at the confluence of the Hron and the Slatina, where several valley routes meet, and it was carters, traders and porters who turned that junction into money. The square was comprehensively redesigned in 2002 and still does its original job as the town's principal public space for markets and festivities. Same ground, same trade, same people doing the carrying.
Zvolen is a town that has spent eight hundred years absorbing impact and staying standing, which is the entire argument for this frame. The Black Ace 315 is a 100 square inch head hung on a 27 inch, 21 millimetre flat beam, strung 16 x 19, and weighing 315 grams unstrung with the balance at 310 millimetres. That is a heavy, head-light, control-first frame. Nothing about it is trying to flatter you.
The reason to buy it is inside the walls. ProKennex builds Kinetic Mass into the frame: sealed capsules of loose microspheres that are thrown into motion by the swing and by the ball, so a measurable part of the shock and vibration is spent moving beads around instead of travelling into your forearm.
It is a mechanical solution rather than a foam one, and it is why this racquet reads softer in the hand than its 58 RA stiffness rating suggests. Aurealian Carbon carries the layup. Grips run 4 1/8 through 4 5/8, so five sizes, which is more than most brands bother with.
The 100 square inch head with a 16 x 19 pattern is the forgiving half of the package — enough sweetspot and enough spin window that a 315 gram frame does not punish a late ball. Pair that with the mass and you get depth without swinging harder, which matters if you play three or four times a week and would like to keep doing that in ten years.
You will get use out of this everywhere from a windy afternoon under Pustý hrad to an indoor hall in Banská Bystrica, and by the way, it is perfect for the kind of Slovak Saturday that starts with bryndzové halušky and ends with somebody insisting on one more set — this is a frame that gets easier as the day gets longer, not harder.
One honest caveat, because a serious player deserves it: 315 grams is real weight. If you are coming off a 280 gram frame, expect a fortnight of your second serve landing short before your arm catches up. After that, nothing comes back at you that you did not ask for.
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