Babolat AeroPro Racquet Playtest

[Doubles]

I'm hitting with my demo later today for a couple hours. I'll post my initial results shortly after that.

[Andyroo10567]

Tennis experience/background: Been playing tennis for 6 years. I am a 4.0 - 4.5 player. Love hitting indoors.
Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley): All court player. Love volleying. Using a Eastern Forehand. Continental One Handed Backhand. I hit mostly flat with my forehand.
Current racquet/string: Head Youtek IG Prestige Pro With Babolat Revenge 17G @ 52lb
Racquet model tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive LITE
How many hours did you play with the racquet?: 7 hours ( as of right now, still in progress. ) ** DONE 7 Hours**
Comments on racquet performance::

-groundstrokes:
1st play ( 2 hours ) Looking at the 2 videos i took trying to look at the ball spin difference, there wasn't much. Both racquets i had similar spin with the new APD having a tad bit more ( I was probably getting in with the groove of dat Nadal feeling ) but otherwise plow through wasn't great. The balls were going too deep though. I'm not sure if it was me or the racquet tension/stiffness.
2nd play ( 3 hours ) : Ok, The past week have been quite rainy so i had to go to my club to play. The racquet has been sitting in my bag for quite a while so the RPM's were very dead. The feel of hitting the ball was just disappointing to me. The racquet felt amazingly stiff, the strings were terrible. Going back to the groundstroke topic, my groundstrokes were fine but the feel i had when previously playing, was completely different. Back when i first received the racquet, i took it out for a hit, the racquet played just fine.... but the weight was just off to me. I swung too fast at times ( Switching from a leaded up Prestige MP that was 12.7 oz., most lead at 12 o' clock. )
3rd play ( 2 hours ) : After the racquet fell out of my hand while returning a serve with a forehand, the racquet slipped out and hit the floor. After hearing that thud, I then recognized that extremely hollow sound in the racquet. It sounds like its producing the same sound as a Wal-Mart racquet would make. Pushing this aside, as of right now, this would be the last racquet i would grab to use as my main racquet. I have the same feeling of ball depth as from Pt 1 of "groundstrokes".
Comments about this section : The racquet is strung way too tight. IMO, i would like to try it out at 52lb with my same strings to compare with my primary racquet. Pt 1 felt like i was at my best.
Pt 1 score : 7/10
Pt 2 score : 5/10
Pt 3 score : 4/10
Average score : ~ 5.3/10

-serves:
Pt 1 ( 2 hours ) : Serves were terrible. Warm up partner just told me to switch back after having some funky on and off serves. Kick serves were fine but need more power, flat serves were slow, topspin serves failed too much to judge.
Pt 2 ( 3 hours ). My serves has been getting better. Had good depth, spin, and occasional deep serves. The racquet was relatively different from all the frames i hit with.
Pt 3 ( 2 hours ) : I'm not sure if its because its been a while since my last part, but my serves were just off. Warmed up with my Prestige, Did warm ups for about 20 minutes, 1st serves a couple minutes, 2nd serves a couple minutes. Later transitioned over to the APD and i shanked about 30% of my serves, hit to the net 50%, hit too deep 20%. I just give up! I just suck. Hitting lite ( see what i did there. ) serves were fine. But when i did some 1st serves, thats when the percentages above took in place. 2nd serves were good, as stated in part 2, " Had good depth, spin, and occasional deep serves. ". While playing a friendly match, constant double fault. We just decided to wing the game and rally.
Comments about this section : I'm guessing its because i warmed up the wrong way, or it's too light. Gave it a disappointing score. Had problems with my directional control.
Pt 1 score : 3/10
Pt 2 score : 6/10
Pt 3 score : 1/10
Average score : ~3.3/10

-volleys:
Pt 1 ( 2 hours ) :Volleys felt great. Crisp and solid. The light weight was throwing me off at some cases while volleying but with the some lead ( Don't have any at the moment ), I think it would be easier for me.
Pt 2 ( 3 hours ) : I think this was my favorite part of the playtest! Volleys were on point, but still had some loss of control over the ball.
Pt 3 ( 2 hours ) : Volleys were fine. Got a bit ticked off about my serves so my mental game wasn't at its best. Just hit some balls too wide. Still had fun with my volleys.
Comments about this section : Good. Not bad. Felt good.
Pt 1 score : 9/10
Pt 2 score : 8/10
Pt 3 score : 5/10 ( Might be biased report )
Average score : 7.3/10

-serve returns:
Pt 1 ( 2 hours ) : Seemed fine but trying to return a 90+ mph serve with this racquet, no thanks. Only way for me to get my return accurate and in was to slice the ball. My initial thought when i first returned my hitting partners first serve was to beef this racquet up with some sort of weight. Felt very flimsy. When hit with a normal forehand, it still felt crisp, but flimsy.
Pt 2 ( 3 hours ) : Hitting kickserves were not so great for me. When returning a flat serve, theres an insane amount of recoil to my arm.
BEEF DAT RACQUET UP BABOLAT.
Pt 3 ( 2 hours ) : If you read before, the racquet flung out of my hands. Haven't put an OG on the racquet. After that, my partner just rallied with me. Before, it was a bit bothering to return serves with such a light racquet.
Comments about this section : No thanks. Wouldn't buy it at all based on this factor. Would rather buy the regular APD.
Pt 1 score : 3/10
Pt 2 score : 1/10
Pt 3 score : 1/10
Average score : 1.3/10

Overall score IMHO : 4.3/10. :O

General reaction/comments on overall performance: Too light. thats my main comment. TOO LIGHT. Maybe good for a junior player. But just not for me. Overall performance was so-so. Would like to lead it up, add some Poly/Gut hybrids.... But i just don't want to overspend on strings for myself. ( its for my customers that request me to order T-T ) Sorry for giving this racquet a pretty harsh review. Thanks for giving me the opportunity for playtesting the racquet! Appreciate it. Had a pretty interesting time with this racquet. I'm just pretty curious about how the regular APD turned out for the other playtesters. Seems like the racquet was aimed more towards the smaller/junior kids. I would recommend it to junior players. Active cortex seems to be doing something. Let my partner look around at it and he seems pretty sold on the idea of an "Active Cortex". Paintjob looks very nice. Nice flat color. New logo is a bit odd. Not sure why they would change that. Again, thank you TW.

NOTE: I did not spend 2/3 hours testing each individual part. Those were just in the time frame i was playing with the racquet. I was just playing like i usually would and sharing my thoughts.

[Doubles]

Here's my initial review.

Background: I played varsity in high school. Now I'm at the top of the ladder on my Universities travelling club team. I'm somewhere around a 4.0-4.5 and I'm primarily doubles player. Semi western forehand, eastern one handed backhand. I love to serve big and come into the net.


Current racquet/string: Head Youtek IG Prestige Pro, Black Magic/OGSM 49/52

Racquet model tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive GT

How many hours did you play with the racquet?: 2 Hours

Comments on racquet performance:

Groundstrokes: The APDGT was somewhat jarring at first, although that mostly has to do with the fact that I'm used to a softer racket with a poly/syn gut set up. As I adjusted though, I found it to be powerful with plenty of spin potential. My groundstrokes seemed to have a change in the height of their bounce, as well as a slight change in pace, although I think that might have just been related to me having a good day hitting. I really enjoyed hitting from the baseline with this racket, although the difference in feel compared to my Prestige's was an odd adjustment.

Volleys: I didn't like the feel, or lack thereof, but the APDGT was stiff enough that I could stick a putaway volley when necessary. If I were to seriously consider playing with this racket though, I would need to hybrid the poly with something softer, as full poly feels terrible in this.

Serves: I liked the free power I seemed to get from the racket, and the spin potential I had on kicks and slices. Babolat frames are just great for serving.

Returns: Similar to groudstrokes, if I had the chance to set everything up, it was nice, but if I was late, I got jarring feedback, that felt completely different than my HEAD.

This is still an initial review, but I am impressed with it. With that said, I'm not sold on it yet.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Doubles

Here's my initial review.

Background: I played varsity in high school. Now I'm at the top of the ladder on my Universities travelling club team. I'm somewhere around a 4.0-4.5 and I'm primarily doubles player. Semi western forehand, eastern one handed backhand. I love to serve big and come into the net.


Current racquet/string: Head Youtek IG Prestige Pro, Black Magic/OGSM 49/52

Racquet model tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive GT

How many hours did you play with the racquet?: 2 Hours

Comments on racquet performance:

Groundstrokes: The APDGT was somewhat jarring at first, although that mostly has to do with the fact that I'm used to a softer racket with a poly/syn gut set up. As I adjusted though, I found it to be powerful with plenty of spin potential. My groundstrokes seemed to have a change in the height of their bounce, as well as a slight change in pace, although I think that might have just been related to me having a good day hitting. I really enjoyed hitting from the baseline with this racket, although the difference in feel compared to my Prestige's was an odd adjustment.

Volleys: I didn't like the feel, or lack thereof, but the APDGT was stiff enough that I could stick a putaway volley when necessary. If I were to seriously consider playing with this racket though, I would need to hybrid the poly with something softer, as full poly feels terrible in this.

Serves: I liked the free power I seemed to get from the racket, and the spin potential I had on kicks and slices. Babolat frames are just great for serving.

Returns: Similar to groudstrokes, if I had the chance to set everything up, it was nice, but if I was late, I got jarring feedback, that felt completely different than my HEAD.

This is still an initial review, but I am impressed with it. With that said, I'm not sold on it yet.

"If I were to seriously consider playing with this racket though, I would need to hybrid the poly with something softer, as full poly feels terrible in this."

LTEC 5S (black) at 46 mains and LTec Premium Flex (black) at 50 in the crosses is a great setup in the 2010 Aeropro. Could feel good in the 2013 Aeropro.

[Doubles]

Originally Posted by Boricua

"If I were to seriously consider playing with this racket though, I would need to hybrid the poly with something softer, as full poly feels terrible in this."

LTEC 5S (black) at 46 mains and LTec Premium Flex (black) at 50 in the crosses is a great setup in the 2010 Aeropro. Could feel good in the 2013 Aeropro.

I don't care for L-Tec's over priced strings. If I were to hybrid in this, I would use a multi in the crosses, or Gut/Poly.

[PED]

Tennis experience/background: 10 plus years
Describe your playing style: baseline oriented, solid 4.0
Current racquet/string: Head Prestige S strung with Solinco TB 1.25mm at 43/42
Racquet model tested: APD GT 2013
How many hours did you play with the racquet? 4 so far

I can sum the whole experience as like this: it's an APD. If you like the PD or APD you will likely love this one. Babolat have made several improvements but the dna leaves you in no doubt that it's a Bab.

Improvements: 1. I did find that it feels much better on contact with the new cortex and handle: its much more solid overall and I would play it stock if I switched to it. In the past, I usually leaded mine up to roughly 342g.

2. It swings lighter than the older versions and that's a plus IMO. However, it does feel less mobile than my Prestige S. The S weights 5g more and has the same balance: 33cm. My apd13 weighted 324g with a rubber band and tournagrip.

Groundstrokes are just what you would expect: you can hit a nice heavy ball off both wings and I found that my 2hbh in particular improved with this stick: I could hit a nasty heavy deep bouncer with a touch of side spin cross court to set up a short reply.

I did find that the ball trajectory is a bit higher than with my last two sticks: Prestige S and IG Radical Pro. For my game, I usually prefer to produce a driving lower trajectory ball to take time away from my opponent. However, if you love to pound it hard and deep, this is your stick.

Volleys were solid, the new cortex system is solid on impact and gives a satisfying feedback; the 100” hoop makes it hard to miss. I tend to only come in to finish off points and the apd was great for that.

Serves: Nice on serve, it does swing lighter than previous versions which helped with my placement in the box, easy to produce serves from the deuce side that consistently painted the outside corner.

Return of Serve: one of my favorite shots: the APD shines on this side, especially on the BH side, you can take a full rip at the ball and produce a nice deep return that’s tricky for the server to handle.

Overall, the feel is much improved over the older versions. For comparison, my Prestige S feels like a wand in my hand, it comes around lightening fast and I'm rarely late on shots; the APDGT 13 swings faster than before but the 100" hoop and big beam is not as agile.

I’ve owned all the previous versions of this stick: Original, APDC and GT and this is the best version since the original: some things the original does better (overall it’s softer) but the GT 13 has better power and is superior on return of serve.

Thanks TW

[srvnvly]

Tennis experience/background: I've been playing tennis for over 20 years. I am a 4.0 all-court player.

Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley): More all-court, former strictly serve-n-volleyer; I quest for the net whenever I can

Current racquet/string: Wilson BLX Blade 98/ X-One Biphase 17 @ 48 lbs

Racquet model tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive LITE

How many hours did you play with the racquet? 3 hours of doubles play


Comments on racquet performance:

-groundstrokes: at 9.8 oz strung (TW's specs), the racquet is significantly lighter than my BLX Blade 98.
This racquet was SO easy to swing, and it felt incredibly light. There was a definite lack of plow through, though early
prep time for shots was easy and some power was there. I had to swing hard to get power and depth just on my forehand and
I rarely hit beyond the baseline. If my timing was perfect, I could get decent power/depth, but more than not I hit a shorter
ball. I have a 1HBH and I liked being able to get around the ball fast, but again, I had to work to get good power behind the shot.
A definite challenge for those with TE, as this still will tire your arm out and it's stiff, which with having to swing harder
to get power, puts more strain on the arm. Nothing remarkable about slice shots, though a few did land short and made it hard
for the opponent to hit the ball back.

-serves: serves were a challenge, though I had occasional power on a flat serve (the whole timing thing again, with added frustration
at this point); spin serves just ok and the ball seemed to sit up in the wheelhouse for some players. I could get a funky, fall-away
spin second serve that frustrated one power opponent who hits out on EVERY shot, but I would get too frustrated if I had to rely on
that all the time, I would become more frustrated.

-volleys: this is probaly the shining star of this racquet; I had a couple of tough low, hard-hit balls at my feet and I was able to
hit a good volley back at my opponents. On shoulder-high volleys though, it was more of the same lack of put-away power. It was interesting
that when I picked my Blade 98 again just to compare, I was more focused at the net and hit some fantastic put-away volleys. I wanted a
comparison specifically on volleys, and the Blade (unsurprisingly) rocked, compared to the two racquets

-serve returns: serve returns were just ok, but lacked pace, and the racquet got pushed around by hard/ fast serves. I liked that I could
setup early, but the lack of plow was not good.


General reaction/comments on overall performance: Too light for me and not enough plow through. If you are already using this type of racquet, or want to get a a racquet that would be good to customize, it's worth at demo. I look forward to trying the non-light version.

Thank you, TW, very much for the opportunity to demo and provide feedback.

[downs_chris]

hitting with Aeropro Drive 2013 for a 2nd time tonight in a match situation -- first impressions were very positive...

[Doubles]

I've hit with the Aero Pro for another 3 hours now. I'm not going to write another full review (I'll save that until my final comments) but I have something interesting to report.

Now, bear in mind I'm used to playing with the Prestige Pro, and before that the MG Radical so two different rackets with feel; but the APD has absolutely no feel to it. I'm not sure how much of this is from the RPM blast, and how much of this is due to the stiffer Babolat, but I can't feel the ball on the strings.

While I'm still able to hit the ball nicely, often getting good depth and spin, half of the time I can't tell whether or not my shot is going to fall in or not. I feel completely disconnected from the ball.

Just something to report for now.

[PED]

Doubles, The feel is def less on the apd than with the prestige.

I see to use the pro myself and have been using the prestige s. while the feel is less on the new apd, the power and spin I was getting made up for it in my book. Part of it might be the rpm string as you mentioned, solinoco tour bite gives better feedback IMO.

Not sure if you are using a dampener but the feel really opens up on the apd when playing without one, you get a much better idea of what the ball is doing.

[Doubles]

Originally Posted by PED

Doubles, The feel is def less on the apd than with the prestige.

I see to use the pro myself and have been using the prestige s. while the feel is less on the new apd, the power and spin I was getting made up for it in my book. Part of it might be the rpm string as you mentioned, solinoco tour bite gives better feedback IMO.

Not sure if you are using a dampener but the feel really opens up on the apd when playing without one, you get a much better idea of what the ball is doing.

I never use a dampener. It's just odd to me because I can't actually tell where the ball is going when I hit. That's not to say that the racket hits poorly, but I like being able to tell where the ball is going when I hit it.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Doubles

I've hit with the Aero Pro for another 3 hours now. I'm not going to write another full review (I'll save that until my final comments) but I have something interesting to report.

Now, bear in mind I'm used to playing with the Prestige Pro, and before that the MG Radical so two different rackets with feel; but the APD has absolutely no feel to it. I'm not sure how much of this is from the RPM blast, and how much of this is due to the stiffer Babolat, but I can't feel the ball on the strings.

While I'm still able to hit the ball nicely, often getting good depth and spin, half of the time I can't tell whether or not my shot is going to fall in or not. I feel completely disconnected from the ball.

Just something to report for now.

Excessive stiffness and an unpredictable stringbed, that is what is preventing me from buying this new APD. I am buying a Vcore Tour 97 instead.

[mad dog1]

Originally Posted by PED

Not sure if you are using a dampener but the feel really opens up on the apd when playing without one, you get a much better idea of what the ball is doing.

i found this to be true hitting w/ JGads' playtest APD GT, too.

[PED]

Originally Posted by Boricua

Excessive stiffness and an unpredictable stringbed, that is what is preventing me from buying this new APD. I am buying a Vcore Tour 97 instead.

Boricua, come on over to the racketholics thread and we can discuss the new apd stringbed if you like.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by PED

Boricua, come on over to the racketholics thread and we can discuss the new apd stringbed if you like.

I posted a similar comment already (today) in the racketholics thread. But, will repost with a bit more insight.

[DrewRafter8]

Tennis Experience/Background:
4.5 USTA Rated Player, was a decent junior an have played/coached quite a bit the past few years. I have not played nearly as much in the past year and a half. Lucky to get out other then for league matches.

Playing Style:
I'm an all court player, but I serve and volley behind both my first and second serves. I'm a first strike player, I hit a big serve and attack returns. That's the A game, but I can grind with the best if I need to.

Current Racquet/String:
I don't actually have one. I'm transitioning from a 2012 PD that gave me tennis elbow. Have played the past two months with a 350 gram Ti Radical strung with poly and a Donnay Pro 1 16x19. Waiting to demo some of the new sticks for 2013 before I switch.

Racquet Model Tested: Aeropro Drive

Hours Tested: Around 5 hours

Racquet Performance:
As a former Babolat user, I have used a APDC+ and 2012 PD+ for quite a while. I also have hit with the PD swirly, APDGT, and other Babolat offerings. Honestly, the new APD is a really nice racquet, but it seems to be too stiff for my liking. It seems to be very dead feeling around the upper hoop. After hitting with it for five hours, I have not had any elbow pain. I attribute that more to taking some time off since experiencing elbow pain in August. As far as play goes, here's the breakdown:

Serves:
Fantastic, although it is a bit light. The spin serves are excellent and it really whips through the air. I never really could dial in the flat serve to the level that I like to hit. Coming from 330+ gram sticks to this 313 gram Babolat would explain the majority of the issues there. If I put about 15 grams in it, I think it would be excellent.

Returns:
It's light and it can be pushed around a bit. For me, I was able to really be aggressive on second serves by turning up the racquet head speed. Blocking back heavy first serves isn't too awful, but let someone crush a serve and catch it outside the sweetspot. That wasn't comfortable at all.

Groundstrokes:
Since I've taught so much tennis over the past five years, I've learned to hit at a decent level with a variety of grips. When I play a match, I'm generally a moderate SW guy on the forehand. I think this racquet really is built for a more extreme grip on the FH. I really liked migrating to a more western grip and watching the ball jump off the court. I had trouble flattening out the ball with a great deal of accuracy. I'm again used to a heavier stick with a lower flex so if it will take me a couple of times out to get this part of my game going. Accuracy was ok, I again have to adjust to the huge power of this racquet. Compared to say the Donnay, I couldn't hit my crosscourt forehand inside the service line with the Babolat with any consistancy.....yet. Backhands were a little bit of a problem. I normally hit a two hander in competitive match play. I hit a one hander with this APD. I don't know if the grip is a bit short, but my big hands would not fit comfortably on the racquet. I wrapped an overgrip up on the racquet and that helped considerably. I hit good backhands, but again it's tough to really reign in the power of the APD.

Volleys:
What a pleasant surprise! This APD volleyed very well. Combine the stiffness with the light weight and you have a really nice volleying stick. The problem again was with harder hit balls. If I volleyed a couple of hard struck passing shots, I could see where my elbow would act up. Touch shots were a little iffy, but I think stiffness plus full RPM pretty much sums up that there's just not much touch here.

Overall:
It's a nice stick and I think a lot of APD users will like this racquet. It's a much better stick to me then the APDGT. However, I prefer the softer feel of the APDC then the much more solid feel out of the new APD. The real knock for me with the APDC was a hollow feel. This 2013 APD does not have that, but it really seems to stiff to me. I really feel that the 2012 PD is softer then this offering as well. Overall, it's a great offering from Babolat for those who really like the Babolat line up and feel. I would caution anyone who is not really into a stiffer feel on this one though. I guess that is where I find myself and why I continue to look elsewhere from Babolat. Thanks to TW for the opportunity, I'm going to hit a bit more with it and will post any additional thoughts!

[Francis27]

how is the aeropro drive 2013's stiffness compared to the babolat pure drive 2012?

[tennisnut09]

Please post more of your play test reviews.

Thank You!

[JGads]

Tennis experience/background: On-again, off-again relationship with tennis since childhood until a knee injury and surgery took me away from tennis just as I was getting serious about it on a very good, state-ranked high school team... Gave it up through college, but not long after college I returned to the game and have been playing pretty much 3-4 days per week for the last five years, playing casually and in league play. And overly obsessing about frames ever since discovering the TW message boards.

Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley): Baseliner. Will come in after the occasional approach shot, or to shake hands. I rely on a big first serve to get me a handful of free points every match, and tend to hit with a lot of spin on my forehand.

Current racquet/string: ProKennex 7G primarily for the last year, along with the PK Black Ace Mid. In the last month, though, I've been playing more and more with an extended pro stock MG Radical MP (231.2). Tour Bite/Nvy hybrid is my preferred string setup in most frames.

Racquet model tested: AeroPro Drive

How many hours did you play with the racquet? 10

Comments on racquet performance:

-groundstrokes: From the first to the last ball, I did enjoy this APD more than the previous two iterations of the frame. The feel is 'cleaner', a bit more refined, a few less hollow vibrations than I recall. BUT: it's still very much an APD, which for me means a very stiff frame that simply does not really flex, and, in the end, has a little bit too much stiffness and power for my taste. The result is a frame that sometimes wows you with its 'get-out-of-jail-free' power cards where you can create great pop and spin even from defensive positions, which gets you out of jams and grabs a handful of points you almost don't feel you deserve ... but that free power also bites me vexingly when I don't expect it to -- a simple block-back can sail long, or a put-away shot where I think I've hit the ball cleanly launches past the baseline. In other words, this frame steals some points for you each match, but it also gives others away that you feel should have been yours. Because I've veered more towards control sticks -- heavier, softer, tighter patterns, lower powered -- this frame remains a bit out of my personal comfort zone. Spin is required to keep the ball in with this one, and it was easy to over-spin it at times where the ball wouldn't pierce the court enough and simply sit up in the other guy's strike zone. Slices were possibly my most vexing problem -- I couldn't seem to keep them from floating, more often than not. A regular hitting partner who also played with the frame figured out how to keep slices low eventually, but I never seemed able. Except for the one day when we played with damp tennis balls. Overall, groundies are big and spinny and absolutely require that spin to keep them in the court. Flatten out your shot just a touch and the ball can very easily shoot long, thanks to the very trampoline-like stringbed -- the ball REALLY springs out of this particular sweet spot when you nail it, a classic Babolat trait, sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.

-serves: Very solid. That trampoline-like sweet spot that can both help and hurt you on groundies mostly helps in this department, as you can pop heavy serves pretty nicely. Not quite the CRUSHing serves like I'm able to get with some other sticks, probably due to the more even balance, but wasn't difficult to get a heavy-enough serve. Not the most accurate serving stick, but pop is there. As is the spin capability for second serve kickers and slices. Overall, solid at the service line.

-volleys: Another department, like on serve, where a more headlight balance might give the stick a bit more maneuverability to take it to another level, but just like on serve, can't really complain. Did the job. Pretty stable up there. Though I didn't spend much time on volleys, as I tend to stay back.

-serve returns: A bit unpredictable. This is where I much prefer the feel and confidence of control sticks rather than pop-sticks like this one. With control frames, I can block or chip back the heaters, the ball stays low, and I can work my way into the point. Or if I get one in my wheelhouse, I can let loose and rip it back, using the pace the server gives you against him. With the APD's big pop, those block-backs or chips sometimes trampoline long or float up for a sitter, and when I get one in my wheelhouse, the server's power PLUS letting loose with this racquet can just be too much and the ball can very easily end up hitting the back fence.

General reaction/comments on overall performance: For those who already like APDs, this frame will please. It has that classic APD power and spin, with fewer bad vibrations. But although the feel is improved from previous versions, for me it is still MILES away from the softer, fuller, flexier feel of my preferred frames. Other than the Pure Storm line, the feel of Babolats just don't do it for me -- too rigid, too brittle. I also prefer stringbeds that are deader rather than springy, leaving ME to bring the power with racquet head speed, as that gives me more confidence to swing out and rip, and more predictability as well. With the APD, I can hit some huge shots, sure, and they often come from nowhere and surprise me. But that's just it - too often it's a surprise, whether it's the unexpected winner or the unexpected long-ball. I never feel like I know exactly where the ball is going to end up on the other side of the court, which saps some of my confidence to really free up and swing away, which is when tennis is most fun for me.

A big thanks to TW for letting me be part of the playtest. While this frame isn't quite for me, I still think it will please very many.

[Power Player]

Great review Gads. Really nails it.