The Metalbone Carbon CTRL 2026 is adidas's €260 round control frame, sitting one tier below the standard Metalbone CTRL 3.5 in the same season. What you pay for at this price point is a soft, forgiving round: 6K carbon face, Soft Performance EVA core, 38 mm beam, and a slightly extended handle in the Extra Power Grip mold. What you give up compared to the CTRL 3.5 is the tunable hardware. There is no Power Groove rail and no Weight & Balance System, so the balance is fixed where the factory set it.

How it plays

The sweet spot is the headline. On a round frame with a soft low-density EVA, the centred hitting zone is wide and honest, and off-centre balls do not punish you the way a diamond would. On the bandeja I could shape the ball to the fence without feeling like I was chasing timing. On the volea de red the frame stays quiet and the head does not turn on a firm incoming ball. On the smash the core flexes and gives back a bit of extra ball speed, more than the CTRL label suggests. Defensa and salida de pared are where the fixed balance and the mid-to-high weight range show up: the racket felt heavier and more planted than I expected in the hand, which is a plus when you are settling a defensive globo and a minus when you are trying to whip a quick víbora.

The trade-off

The trade is maneuverability. Even with a round shape, this one plays sturdy rather than quick, and I felt it in fast net exchanges where I wanted an extra tenth of a second. That is the pattern I have come to expect from the Metalbone series in general: solidity over snap. The other trade is versus its own stablemate. If you want to change the balance mid-session or bias the head for a heavier ataque, this is not that racket, the standard CTRL 3.5 is.

Best for, avoid if

Best for intermediate players stepping up from a first pala who want a wide sweet spot without the punishment of a hard 12K face, and for advanced control players who play the corners, build points patiently, and prefer a settled, planted feel to a whippy one. The €260 price makes it a cleaner entry into the Metalbone family than the tunable CTRL 3.5 for anyone who does not want to fiddle with weights. Avoid if your game runs on quickness at the red and you want a racket that snaps through fast intercambios, or if the reason you would buy a Metalbone in the first place is the Weight & Balance System. This one does not have it, and the CTRL 3.5 does.