Diadora Releases Finale, New On-Court Tennis Shoe

Diadora has embraced the fishtail. The unique heel outsole construction of the brand-new Diadora Finale performance tennis shoe features a split. A fishtail split.

“That fishtail heel,” says Alexander Feldman, Diadora USA national tennis manager, “it keeps you going in a north-south direction on your serve and if there is an instability in your service motion, it keeps you grounded.”

The Finale is about more than a unique heel construction, falling into the Diadora performance line somewhere between the cushioned durability of the Torneo and the speed-oriented B.Icon. Feldman says the new Finale satisfies the vacancy left by the former Competition model and is similar in speed to the current Fly design. “The Finale fills that void [of the Competition] while taking a step up in usefulness,” he says. “There are a couple of unique traits about the shoe.”

The outsole heel is based off a similar concept to a runner’s gait moving through the strike to mid-point to toe-off. “Most shoes are rounded of flared out,” Feldman says, “this new unique design gives players a more grounded feeling, more centered on the court.”

Also underfoot, a footbridge connects the heel to the forefoot, complete with a medial stabilizer. A wider toe box allows additional ground contact on the outsole.

Ideally, Feldman says, they’ve created a fast shoe, a lightweight performance design that hugs the foot, but isn’t going to break down quickly. “It is a durable option for the lightweight, speed player,” he says.

Diadora uses the same Duratec 5000 outsole compound found on its premium tennis models for wear resistance. The midsole is a lightweight EVA foam already found in the Torneo, 15% lighter than standard EVA without losing reactivity and cushioning. The upper features the brand’s SuprellTech and air mesh, a weaved mesh that includes TPU overlays for wear resistance.

The $130 price point of the Finale will likely prove attractive to players going through multiple pairs of shoes a year to give them a more durable options that remains low to the ground and fast, Feldman says. Expect Diadora-sponsored juniors to continue switching to the Finale.

Bryan Poerner, Diadora North America CEO, says the Italian headquarters of the 75-year-old brand helps bring new performance models to tennis from the ground up. With the headquarters in Caerano di San Marco, Italy, attached to both a manufacturing facility and lab, designers can conceptually dream up a design and use compounds to build prototypes in house.

“If we want to build something not on the market, we build it in house,” he says. “The biggest part is you are connected to the whole process. If you sit down to make a new tennis shoe, you can go to the lab and test compounds, build the shoe at the factory and test at the San Marco courts then come back to the factory and adjust.”

Part of the creation process of the Finale includes a new insole, designed in house, for a more structured arch.

Poerner says he expects the Italian manufacturing facility to make a portion of the brand’s top-of-the-line tennis models in 2025, like what already happens with a share of running and lifestyle silhouettes.

B.Icon 2

Diadora launched the B.Icon performance tennis model in 2022. Now comes the 2023 update, the B.Icon 2.

Feldman says that while most of the shoe remains the same, the upper features a more durable mesh to eliminate any issues with delamination. The new mesh includes TPU layered over top at key slide points near the toes, offering a new level of durability for the B.Icon line.

The B.Icon 2 is worn by Martina Trevisan, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Jan Zielinski.

Across all the tennis lines, Diadora shifted its North American sizing. Previously the brand’s sizing was based on a half-size difference from the United Kingdom, but now they are on a full size, which Feldman says should help all the models fit truer to size throughout the line, a line that now includes an updated B.Icon 2 and a brand-new Finale, complete with a fishtail.