Babolat AeroPro Racquet Playtest

[Boricua]

Is this thread over? Been a few days without any posts or reviews.

[Bartelby]

They've skipped the country with the loot but the SLO police is in hot pursuit.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Bartelby

They've skipped the country with the loot but the SLO police is in hot pursuit.

Yeah, its a good excuse to play indefinitely with the racket, enjoy it and then say its plays so-so.

[TW Staff]

Playtesters,

This a is a reminder that your review comments are due by this Friday, December 14. Failure to post your review on Friday will result in exclusion from other Talk Tennis playtests. Remember to post detailed and thoughtful reviews as this will increase your chances on getting on further playtests.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the playtest!

Brittany, TW

PS- Reminder to return your playtest racquet back to Tennis Warehouse by December 20,2012.

[Rock Strongo]

Originally Posted by TW Staff

Playtesters,

This is a reminder that your review comments are due by this Friday, December 14. Failure to post your review on Friday will result in exclusion from other Talk Tennis playtests. Remember to post detailed and thoughtful reviews as this will increase your chances on getting on further playtests.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the playtest!

Brittany, TW

PS- Reminder to return your playtest racquet back to Tennis Warehouse by December 20,2012.

Where's the key to the DeLorean?

[TW Staff]

Originally Posted by Rock Strongo

Where's the key to the DeLorean?

Well played sir, well played!

Brittany, TW

[cluckcluck]

Tennis experience/background:
Been playing over a decade, NTRP tournaments, USTA Doubles League.

Describe your playing style (i.e. serve & volley):
4.5 Aggressive baseline play. I prefer to be at the baseline hitting hard with spin and depth.

Current racquet/string:
Donnay X-Dark Red 94 with L-Tec 5s/Os at 46lbs.
or
Head YouTek IG Radical Pro with with L-Tec 5s/Os at 48lbs.

Racquet model tested:
AeroPro Drive GT

How many hours did you play with the racquet? 16

Comments on racquet performance:

-groundstrokes:
Initially my impression was that the frame was awfully light and had low swingweight with an even balance. I normally hit with a quick long stroke on my forehand and a slightly compact one-handed backhand. I struggled with finding the mass through the swing resulting in balls in the net. The racquet seemed to have a lower trajectory (which could have been due to the higher tensioned strings) off the stringbed. I felt that I had to swing early to catch the ball earlier off the bounce to find the right zone to clear the net enough. On my backhand side, I had a really hard time coming up with pace, the frame felt too light and I felt like I was rushing to make contact. It felt unnatural and not very smooth. It almost felt like the stringbed was very springy, coupled with the stiff frame, there was very little feel from the frame.
Finding the spin was also a challenge. I would think the 16x19 would allow me to find easy access to spin, yet, I found I hit with less spin and weight with the APDGT.
-serves:
I only played a few sets with this racquet. I really struggled finding my range with any serve with spin. Flat serves were pretty simple, nice and controlled. The flat serves were zippy and not heavy. My opponents were easily able to pick up the flat serves because they were only quick and didn’t have any action on them.

-volleys:
Controlling volleys sure, that was easy. But actually making put-away volleys were disappointing entirely. Because the frame is so stiff (for me) and springing, low volleys would pop up and sit for my opponent to put away.

-serve returns:
My return is generally my favorite shot and it was with the APDGT. I didn’t have to do much other than time a short backswing and the ball would go back deep. Chip returns were pretty good also. I enjoyed the racquet during returns.

General reaction/comments on overall performance:
Because the APDGT is very stiff and light, I struggled. The stiffness did hurt my arm after each session, even though the active cortex was there, I was still sore. The stiffness could be countered with a little more mass in the frame; by not having to swing so fast to get depth that would be good.
Also, the string pattern would be better if it were opened up a little bit between the first 8 mains (the distance between holes). With a change like that, spin would be easier to come by.
The only real big change that I felt between this model and the previous APDGT was the active cortex. It dampens differently, but not more.
Thanks TW for allowing me to playtest.

[PED]

Originally Posted by cluckcluck

Also, the string pattern would be better if it were opened up a little bit between the first 8 mains (the distance between holes). With a change like that, spin would be easier to come by.

I agree on this point. I see you have the ig radical pro. I had that as well and use the Prestige S now. Head has a lot more openness in their drill patterns in the middle of the bed and also more easier depth and power IMO.

[Roforot]

Level & Style of Play: 4.0 Allcourt player. I use a Western FH and flip to an Easter BH for most strokes; continental for slices and net play.
Tennis XP: Play 50/50 singles/doubles primarily on hard courts. I typically enjoy doubles in USTA matches and get my fill of singles from the local tennis ladder or occasional tournament.

Usual Racquet: Babolat Pure Drive Roddick (2012) strung w/ multifilaments at 50-55#

Model Tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive (2013) strung w/ Xcel 16g. (Racquet tension measured to be 51# by Racquettune app)
Testing Modalities: Singles, Doubles, Wall, Ball Machine, Clinic, and of course serve practice. Total time was 15 hours.

General Reaction:
The racquet is geared to a different style of play than what I typically employ but it was a blast to use. I like to stay on the baseline and drive through shots looking for a short ball I can either put away or follow to the net. I lost a set pretty quickly before I thought about how I've seen other good players use this racquet against me. They typically would setup 5-6' behind the baseline and hit heavy loopy balls. When I adjusted my stance on the court, I found this racquet to be amazing for hitting heavy shots that drew a lot of errors. It felt like I was making the guy return kick serves by the back fence. At the same time, I enjoyed the feeling that I couldn't miss. It may be more than hype but I believe that the shape of the throat on the APD makes the racquet swing best on a more vertical plane than my PDR. If I played primarily singles, I would consider switching to this frame.

The main negative aspect though is that the frame is too light. My PDR weights 3/4ths of an ounce more. The APD was unstable when I tried to flatten out shots. It was uncomfortable while volleying heavy hit balls. Most important of all, I felt the lack of mass on serves. Placement was good which kept people from blasting return winners, but I rarely forced errors and did not hit any aces. In the last few sessions, I added 8g to 3/9'oclock and 10g to the handle. This improved the volleying but didn't seem to make a difference on the serve. I tried practice serves to see if I could figure this out in a non-competitive environment without luck. I would say this racquet is as good as any though in its weight class.

I felt the racquet to be a bit more flexible than the PDR 2012. Comfort is excellent (except for volleys unmodified). Touch and drop shots are decent. Despite spending these hours trying to groove the big looping stroke, I found rather quickly, how much more natural I feel w/ the PDR.

Nevertheless I offer my thanks to TW for allowing me to participate in this playtest!

Post playtesting: I got to hit w/ a regular Pure Drive a few days after I wrote up this review; I had similar complaints about weight/stability. I suspect if Babolat put out a tour version of the APD, I would be really interested in that frame!

[Andyroo10567]

Well, time to return the racquet.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Roforot

Level & Style of Play: 4.0 Allcourt player. I use a Western FH and flip to an Easter BH for most strokes; continental for slices and net play.
Tennis XP: Play 50/50 singles/doubles primarily on hard courts. I typically enjoy doubles in USTA matches and get my fill of singles from the local tennis ladder or occasional tournament.

Usual Racquet: Babolat Pure Drive Roddick (2012) strung w/ multifilaments at 50-55#

Model Tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive (2013) strung w/ Xcel 16g. (Racquet tension measured to be 51# by Racquettune app)
Testing Modalities: Singles, Doubles, Wall, Ball Machine, Clinic, and of course serve practice. Total time was 15 hours.

General Reaction:
The racquet is geared to a different style of play than what I typically employ but it was a blast to use. I like to stay on the baseline and drive through shots looking for a short ball I can either put away or follow to the net. I lost a set pretty quickly before I thought about how I've seen other good players use this racquet against me. They typically would setup 5-6' behind the baseline and hit heavy loopy balls. When I adjusted my stance on the court, I found this racquet to be amazing for hitting heavy shots that drew a lot of errors. It felt like I was making the guy return kick serves by the back fence. At the same time, I enjoyed the feeling that I couldn't miss. It may be more than hype but I believe that the shape of the throat on the APD makes the racquet swing best on a more vertical plane than my PDR. If I played primarily singles, I would consider switching to this frame.

The main negative aspect though is that the frame is too light. My PDR weights 3/4ths of an ounce more. The APD was unstable when I tried to flatten out shots. It was uncomfortable while volleying heavy hit balls. Most important of all, I felt the lack of mass on serves. Placement was good which kept people from blasting return winners, but I rarely forced errors and did not hit any aces. In the last few sessions, I added 8g to 3/9'oclock and 10g to the handle. This improved the volleying but didn't seem to make a difference on the serve. I tried practice serves to see if I could figure this out in a non-competitive environment without luck. I would say this racquet is as good as any though in its weight class.

I felt the racquet to be a bit more flexible than the PDR 2012. Comfort is excellent (except for volleys unmodified). Touch and drop shots are decent. Despite spending these hours trying to groove the big looping stroke, I found rather quickly, how much more natural I feel w/ the PDR.

Nevertheless I offer my thanks to TW for allowing me to participate in this playtest!

Post playtesting: I got to hit w/ a regular Pure Drive a few days after I wrote up this review; I had similar complaints about weight/stability. I suspect if Babolat put out a tour version of the APD, I would be really interested in that frame!

Yes a Tour racket with more mass is necesarry. A racket with Nadals or Tsongas racket specs or similar would be a posibility speciallly for people who dont like or dont know how to customize themselves.

[Doubles]

Here's my final review. Any updates are in bold:

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 full bed, transitioning to a Tour Bite hybrid.

Racquet model tested: Babolat AeroPro Drive GT

How many hours did you play with the racquet?: 14 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 different. 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. In the end, I could not adjust to the lack of feel that this racket provided. I hit some nice shots, but I could never tell whether or not they were going to land in. Some did, some did not, but I like to be able to feel a connection with the ball when I hit it. I couldn't do that with this racket.

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. Simply using the stiffness of the racket made it good enough to hit volleys, but I never felt comfortable placing them where I wanted to.

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. Nothing really new here. I could really power the ball on serve. This is pretty much the only place where I felt like I could connect with the string bed.

Returns: Similar to ground strokes, 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. Same results as ground strokes. Nice power, I just couldn't feel it.

In the end, I was really not thrilled with the racket. Maybe I was expecting too much coming from a feel and precision oriented scalpel like the Prestige, but the APD felt like a toy to me. Either way, I want to thank TW for giving me the opportunity to playtest this racket.

[Ross K]

No offence to anyone but it would be great to read more reviews from people who are past APD users or ppl for whom these kind of racs are intended. I personally wouldn't volunteer to playtest and post reviews on something like, say, a heavy, closed pattern mid. I'm not sure of the merit of reviews when the reviwer's playing style is so obviously not a great match for the frame.

[crosscourt]

Agreed. We have a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the playtesters rather than the rackets.

[djdannyj25]

Originally Posted by Ross K

No offence to anyone but it would be great to read more reviews from people who are past APD users or ppl for whom these kind of racs are intended. I personally wouldn't volunteer to playtest and post reviews on something like, say, a heavy, closed pattern mid. I'm not sure of the merit of reviews when the reviwer's playing style is so obviously not a great match for the frame.

so true, these reviews are making the racquet sound abysmal even though the complaints are all relative to playing style :/

[ArliHawk]

Originally Posted by Ross K

No offence to anyone but it would be great to read more reviews from people who are past APD users or ppl for whom these kind of racs are intended. I personally wouldn't volunteer to playtest and post reviews on something like, say, a heavy, closed pattern mid. I'm not sure of the merit of reviews when the reviwer's playing style is so obviously not a great match for the frame.

Agree completely. Tried to get in on the playtest, and my current racquet is the 2010 APD. Did not make the cut.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by Ross K

No offence to anyone but it would be great to read more reviews from people who are past APD users or ppl for whom these kind of racs are intended. I personally wouldn't volunteer to playtest and post reviews on something like, say, a heavy, closed pattern mid. I'm not sure of the merit of reviews when the reviwer's playing style is so obviously not a great match for the frame.

I agree totally with your statement.

[cluckcluck]

Originally Posted by Ross K

No offence to anyone but it would be great to read more reviews from people who are past APD users or ppl for whom these kind of racs are intended. I personally wouldn't volunteer to playtest and post reviews on something like, say, a heavy, closed pattern mid. I'm not sure of the merit of reviews when the reviwer's playing style is so obviously not a great match for the frame.

Except, for a product to be successful in any market, it needs to be looked at from all angles.

A product can't be great if it's based on a biased review.

[Boricua]

Originally Posted by cluckcluck

Except, for a product to be successful in any market, it needs to be looked at from all angles.

A product can't be great if it's based on a biased review.

Also true. But, I think the majority of the testers are not APD users. It would be good to include also current APD users to see their thoughts on the new APD and see how it compares to prior APDs they used in the past for a great deal of time.

[TW Staff]

To all Babolat AeroPro Playtesters,

This is the final reminder that your reviews are due TODAY. Please post your reviews to this thread before the end of the day. Failure to do so will result in exclusion from future playtests.

Hope everyone enjoyed the playtest!

Brittany, TW

PS- Please return your racquet to Tennis Warehouse by Friday, December 20.