adidas Metalbone Ctrl 2026 Padel Racket

Hit a defensive lob off the back glass with it and the ball comes out deep with very little arm. Padelful's testers put the rebound at 9.3 out of 10, the highest number on the sheet, and the sweet spot at 9.1. Together those two scores describe a racket that forgives a mistimed ball and still sends it somewhere useful. Bandejas and víboras are the shots reviewers single out as dependable.

Power sits at 8.0 and control at 8.3, which is not the order you might expect from something called Ctrl. The 16K aluminised face is stiff and quick, so the racket gives you a bit more bounce than a soft-faced control frame would. In medium-paced rallies that liveliness can run away from you, and one Reddit user called it more wild than controllable in those exchanges, another an excellent control and power blend. Both are describing the same racket on different days.

Volleys are the weak spot. Padelful's reviewer found them awkward at first, and the long handle gets a mention for smaller hands. Give it a few sessions and a fresh overgrip before you judge it.

Start with the arithmetic. The sheet says 345 to 360 g, and a separate line says 0 to 11.2 g. That second figure is the removable weights in adidas' weight system, so a racket set up with all of them lands somewhere near 371 g at the top end. Padel.fyi reports 352.5 g for a standard one. If you are used to a 365 g racket, the Ctrl in its basic form will feel noticeably lighter in the hand.

Balance is where shops disagree. Tennis Warehouse lists it low, Tennis Nuts lists it even, and the All For Padel sheet that we use for specs says medium. adidas has not published a balance point in millimetres that we could find, so we will not invent one. What every source agrees on is that this is not a head-heavy racket, and that is the whole point of the shape.

Practical advice: add weight slowly. One gram on a light frame changes the feel more than the same gram on a heavy one, and the Ctrl's strength is a quick, forgiving head.

This is the question behind most searches for the name. Both are round and both are aimed at control. The difference is the face and the weight band: the Metalbone Carbon Ctrl uses a 6K carbon face and is listed at 360 to 375 g, so it is heavier and softer. Retailers and Racket Central describe it as the more approachable of the two.

The Ctrl is the racket for a player who already likes a stiff carbon face and wants it on a round head. The Carbon Ctrl suits someone coming from a fibreglass racket or someone whose elbow notices stiffness. Last season's version, the Carbon Ctrl 3.3, is still around for anyone who wants the 2024 racket. If you want the attacking version of the same family, the diamond Metalbone uses the same 16K face with a head-heavy balance, and the Metalbone Carbon is the 6K, lower-priced diamond. For an even bigger sweet spot in a round head, see the Arrow Hit Ctrl, or the firmer Cross It Ctrl for quicker hands, or the lighter, livelier Cross It Light.

Padel.fyi and the reviews agree on one thing: despite the round shape, this is not a first carbon racket. The face is stiff and quick, and a beginner will find the rebound hard to judge. If you are still learning where the net post is, start with our beginner padel rackets or the soft adidas Match Light or RX Series instead.

A stiff 16K face on a light frame takes knocks from the glass, so fit a racket protector before the first session; adidas' own antishock protection tape is a cheap place to start. Because the handle runs long, a tacky overgrip helps. The adidas overgrip pack is a sensible match, and the full range sits on our padel grips page.

Fresh balls make a lively face behave, so try a tube of adidas Speed RX balls and read our padel balls page on how long a tube stays good. To carry it, adidas makes a matching Control racket bag, and every other option is under padel bags. A racket that rewards quick feet is wasted on a sole that slides, so look at padel shoes built for sand-filled turf, such as the adidas Crazyquick range.

Comparing round rackets from other brands? The control padel rackets page lines them up, Nox's Ventus Control 3K is a close round-headed rival, and the advanced padel rackets page covers the players' end of the range. New to shapes? Our guide to choosing a padel racket starts from first principles, the carbon padel rackets page explains the faces, and the full padel racket range covers the rest.