Adidas Metalbone Ctrl: Score, Specs & Is It Worth It?

How we grade, and how we make money. We don’t play-test rackets. We aggregate specialist reviews, video analysis, verified owner ratings and manufacturer specs into one comparable score, and we list every source at the bottom of this page. If you buy through a link here we may earn a commission, which never affects a grade: the score is locked before any link is added.

The Metalbone Ctrl takes Adidas’s power flagship and rebuilds it around placement, and the sources rate it more highly than almost anything else we have graded. Five specialist reviews and 144 verified owner ratings put it at 8.9, with a control figure of 9.3 that one source places in the top 1% of every frame it has tested.

Before you buy, two things worth knowing: the sources contradict each other on something as basic as the racket’s shape, and the same model sits on Amazon UK at two prices 97 £ apart.

The short version

The Metalbone name has always meant power — it is the frame Alejandro Galán plays. The Ctrl keeps the 16K aluminised carbon face and the octagonal frame structure, then swaps the profile and the core for a softer, low-density EVA. What you get is the same premium build with the punch dialled down and the precision dialled up.

The number that defines it is power: 7.5, and every source says a version of the same sentence — overhead pace has to come from your technique, not from the racket. If that is a dealbreaker, the standard Metalbone or the HRD is the frame you actually want.

Against the field, its closest rival is the Nox ML10 Pro Cup, which is more forgiving but noticeably softer. If you want control without giving up the smash, the comparison to read is the Bullpadel Vertex 04.

How it scored

Five independent specialist sources and 144 verified owner ratings across four Amazon UK listings. Specs come from Adidas’s own datasheet. Same weighting as every racket we cover — see how we grade.

Where the sources disagree: what shape is this racket?

Not an opinion this time — a fact, and they still can’t agree on it. Three sources describe the Metalbone Ctrl as round. One describes it as diamond. Balance is reported as 255 mm by one and “even” by two others.

Our reading: the round description is almost certainly right for the Ctrl, and the diamond reference has leaked in from the standard Metalbone, which genuinely is a diamond frame. It is an easy mistake to make when a brand ships four variants under one name, and it is exactly why we tell you which sources we used.

The practical consequence: if a review of the “Metalbone” does not say which variant it tested, treat its numbers with suspicion. The Ctrl, the standard, the HRD and the Team play very differently despite sharing a face material.

Specs

Ctrl vs the rest of the Metalbone range

Four frames share the Metalbone name and only one of them is this one. This is the distinction none of the top three results makes.

A pricing warning

The same 2025 model appears on Amazon UK twice at very different prices: one listing at around £121 with 54 ratings, another at roughly £218 with 53. Both are the Metalbone Ctrl 3.4 2025. Check which listing you are on before buying — this is not a quality difference, it is a listing difference.

Who it’s for

• Buy it if you are an advanced club player who wins points through chiquitas, lobs and placed volleys rather than pace.
• Buy it if you have elbow or shoulder history — the soft EVA core is repeatedly recommended for exactly that.
• Don’t buy it if you are still developing technique. Every source says the same: it demands competence and gives back nothing on power. Start with our guide to choosing a racket.

Verdict

Sources

Every source that went into this grade, with the month it was consulted. Manufacturer copy and retailer product descriptions count as specification data only, never as opinion.