APD 2013 Review / Comparison with APDGT

[djdannyj25]

I have spent a couple of weeks with the new AeroPro Drive 2013 and here is my review of the racquet, along with a comparison against the AeroPro Drive GT (my main stick).

I would like to start off by saying that I hate the AeroPro Drive series, in stock form. I have the tried the AeroPro Drive Cortex, AeroPro Drive GT, and the AeroPro Drive 2013, sadly I have never been able to hit with the original APD. I feel the AeroPro Drives are really harsh, lacking plowthrough, and they are just too light (I like a racquet with a weight close to 12 oz or higher) in stock. BUT, the GT is my racquet of choice for two reasons:

1) I love Rafael Nadal, thus leading to the initial purchase of the racquet.
2) Lead tape is as good as magic when it comes to the APD and it makes the racquet go from something average to something amazing.

I feel that with lead tape, the Aero series really shines. Lead at 12 really enhances the spin, power, and feel of the racquets in my opinion. Balls seem to come off the string bed with more "oomph"/plowthrough and the feel of the racquets is a lot softer and more solid.


Lead Tape Setup for the Versions of the Racquet I Own (GT and 2013):

APDGT: 9 grams of Tourna Power Strips at 12 (3 power strips stacked on top of each other) with around 2 or 3 grams (not of sure exact amount) of lead tape under the buttcap

APD2013: This racquet took some time to experiment with because of the faster feel of the racquet and lowered swingweight compared to the GT. I am currently happy with what I have on it right now which is 12 grams (12 4 inch strips of 1/4 lead tape) at 12 o'clock and 2 grams under the buttcap. I feel this is the closest I have gotten to my GT's balance which is what is most important to me.

While the lead tape setup is slightly different on both sticks, they play and swing exactly the same to me now.

All of my racquets are strung with Volkl Cyclone 17 at 55 lbs.


Background Information about Myself:

I'm a 4.5 USTA rank, I'm in my twenties, and I mainly play singles. I like to stick back on the baseline and rip forehand winners, and I prefer to hit a slice backhand rather than a topspin one. I hit my forehand with with an extreme western forehand grip, and the ball loops over the net with a ton of spin and drops in deep. I never hit a slice forehand, and I am always looking to absolutely crush the ball whenever I can. My forehand shots do not sit after they bounce and they are fast and powerful. My backhand slice hangs right above the net and lands deep in the court with a lot of sidespin while my topspin backhand is just a rally shot. I am very capable at net because I have decent touch, but at times I get a bit fancy and lose net points. I like to mix-up my game by going to the net and sticking some solid volleys. My serves are decent, I rely on a big kick to throw opponents off-gaurd because my serves only have decent power, and placement is not my strong point.

My game plan is to get the serve in, and use my powerful and deep groundstrokes to win points. I will try to end points quickly at the net sometimes, but most of the time I am just searching for the forehand winner. Groundstrokes are my strong point, serves are probably the weakest.


AeroPro Drive 2013 Review (with lead) With Comparison to APDGT Throughout (leaded as well):

*Note* This review will not contain a segment on serve returns, simply because I do not feel it is necessary.

Topspin Forehands (Applies to Topspin Backhands as Well): The new 2013 APD has a really nice dampened feel on groundstrokes. The racquet feels more comfortable to me (all of my racquets are pretty stiff), yet still firm and stiff. The racquet whips through the air a lot faster than the GT which is great because the extra racquet head speed is always welcomed. The sweetspot on the racquet is huge and the racquet hits with massive spin, just like any other APD. When the ball is struck in the sweetspot, the sound that comes from the racquet is amazing! It sounds like a gunshot going off on the court. It's very loud and powerful sounding. Forehands were landing just where I wanted them too, and I felt really comfortable hitting any shot with the racquet because my western grip and the racquet gave the ball enough spin to keep it in court. Overall on forehands, I really enjoyed the control, spin, feel, and sound on the new 2013, it really gave me confidence to just swing out with freedom.

HOWEVER, I felt that power was lacking compared to the APDGT. The APDGT is just so much more explosive than the APD2013. While the extra control and tamed power was welcomed on the APD2013, I do not ever need to worry about control because the spin on my shots allows me to control the ball easily. I think the added control helps players with less extreme grips than my own. What I really missed on my forehands was the plow through that I had on the GT. The new APD feels solid, but at the same time it just always feels too lightweight (no matter how much lead I add) as if some of the weight at 3 and 9 o'clock had been reduced in the new model. That feeling of crushing the ball on a forehand winner is definitely still there, but it was much more apparent in the APDGT. My biggest disappointment with the new APD is the plow reduction and the reduced "raw power" that the previous iteration had, and that is really the only place where the racquet disappoints. I do think that the new feel of the APD2013 was an improvement over the GT though.

Backhand Slice: This racquet is absolutely stellar for slices in my opinion. I get a ton of backspin on the ball, and slices feel very controlled. Another thing that I really loved was that the ball hung so close to the net. There were multiple times when I thought my ball would hit the net, and it barely inched over. The balls also have a lot of wicked sidespin that would really catch my singles opponents off guard. Slices landed deep, and continued to hang low even after bouncing in the court, instead of sitting up. The feel on a slice is, dare I say, buttery smooth, at least for an AeroPro Drive. Slices with this racquet were controlled, deep, spinny, and most of all, low.

COMPARED to the APDGT, slices on the 2013 racquet were much improved. I always had trouble keeping a low slice on the APDGT for some reason, but this new racquet really dials in on the slice. Slices are also a lot more controlled because the flight path is lower. On slice, the new APD 2013 is a very strong improvement over its predecessor, as it improves on control and floating issues.

Volleys: I really liked the improved maneuverability of the racquet at the net. Volleys were very easy to put away and I enjoyed the added comfort on shots that would normally be jarring. I have never found the AeroPro series to be particularly strong on volleys, but I felt that this newer model had the most touch and feel of all of the models I tried (Cortex, GT, 2013). Approach shots felt very nice and I could place them really well, and touch volleys and drop shots were decent. The new 2013 still lacks the feel of a Wilson 90 to make touch volleys and drop shots easier, but I wasn't expecting it to. It's an APD, it's a baseliner's stick, and therefore was only really intended to put away points when used at the net. On volleys, the added maneuverability made the racquet easier to handle (especially with my lead placement making the racquet slightly head heavy) and the new feel and comfort allowed to put away volleys at the net with ease, but, it was nothing special at net.

COMPARED to the APDGT, the racquet was slightly improved on volleys. I only really noticed the added maneuverability and cleaner, improved feel. Approach shots were improved, but the racquet is still only meant to put away points at net.

Serves and Overheads: The new APD was very nice on serves and overheads. Serves had newfound power that I did not find in the GT, and the racquet came through the ball faster which allowed for more spin. Slice serves placed pretty close to where I wanted them to be, and kick serves had some really high kicks on them. One of my kick serves kicked over my opponents head and I was pretty surprised that I was capable of such a thing. Overheads felt good, and I could easily get the job done with this racquet. Very fun racquet to smash overheads with. It's a fine racquet for serves and overheads with more power and more kick than ever before.

COMPARED to the APDGT, the new APD was a lot better on serves on overheads. The plowthrough was not as good as it was on the APDGT, but I still found a lot of power and spin on serves that was not there before. I thought that Babolat really did a good job at making this a solid serving racquet.


Overall

I would give the new AeroPro Drive an 8.5 out of 10 with lead tape. Just like every other APD racquet, I highly recommend the use of lead tape in this frame because the lead makes the racquet multiple times better. It is a really great racquet and definitely outshines the GT in just about everything. But the two things I really miss are the two most important things to my game, raw power and plowthrough. The new feel of the racquet is very improved and spin generation and control are top notch in this frame. I will be using this racquet as a backup for my GT, because I simply enjoy the extra plow from the GT. The new APD is definitely a winner in most areas and I really enjoy playing with the racquet. BRAVO BABOLAT

[sundaypunch]

Thanks for the detailed review. Did you find the grip to be bigger than on previous versions? It was a full size bigger on the demo racquet I hit.

[ohcaptain]

nice review.
also enjoyed the description of yourself ;D mainly that "rip forehand winners from the baseline"... you don't like high-percentage tennis?! ;D

[djdannyj25]

Originally Posted by sundaypunch

Thanks for the detailed review. Did you find the grip to be bigger than on previous versions? It was a full size bigger on the demo racquet I hit.

I thought the grip was a little bigger, but it wasn't too big of a difference. With the new APD I would definitely recommend going one grip size down from your regular if you are coming from another company like Wilson.

Originally Posted by ohcaptain

nice review.
also enjoyed the description of yourself ;D mainly that "rip forehand winners from the baseline"... you don't like high-percentage tennis?! ;D

LOL no. High percentage tennis is just too boring for me. I want to attack!

[Nostradamus]

have you guys figured out true Swingweight of 2013 aeropro ? Who is right TW or midwes-t ?

[djdannyj25]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

have you guys figured out true Swingweight of 2013 aeropro ? Who is right TW or midwes-t ?

it feels a lot like TW is right, it swings a lot easier and faster than the previous APD

[ohcaptain]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

have you guys figured out true Swingweight of 2013 aeropro ? Who is right TW or midwes-t ?

What is the difference in swingweight?
Can u explain?

[Nostradamus]

Originally Posted by ohcaptain

What is the difference in swingweight?
Can u explain?

TW had it as being Lighter than before like around 325-326. In the past Aeropro plus had always been around 330-335 or so. and Mid-west has it as being same as before like 333-335 or so.

But the playtesters also confirmed that 2013 version seem like it swings easier than models from the past years. so he was confirming that babolat has taken Swingweight down a notch on 2013 version. Likely they have done this by re-distributing the weight as they had done with pure drive plus as well.

[ohcaptain]

Originally Posted by Nostradamus

TW had it as being Lighter than before like around 325-326. In the past Aeropro plus had always been around 330-335 or so. and Mid-west has it as being same as before like 333-335 or so.

But the playtesters also confirmed that 2013 version seem like it swings easier than models from the past years. so he was confirming that babolat has taken Swingweight down a notch on 2013 version. Likely they have done this by re-distributing the weight as they had done with pure drive plus as well.

Ok, got it!
So lower swingweight -> easier swings. Funny, I had the opposite idea, the higher SW the easier was to put the ball in the same place.

[parasailing]

Originally Posted by ohcaptain

Ok, got it!
So lower swingweight -> easier swings. Funny, I had the opposite idea, the higher SW the easier was to put the ball in the same place.

That is true but there is another variable called static weight you have to consider. Two racquets with the same SW but different static weight can hit totally different as I have encountered with a few racquets.

[djdannyj25]

So here's a little update guys.

I have noticed that the strings are for some reason really tight on the frame for 55 lbs, and as they have loosened the power is starting to return to the stick. TW strung up my new APD 2013 and I think I string a bit lower than they do. As the strings are loosening up, the racquet is starting to feel more lively and powerful and I'm really starting to groove with it.

I'm trying to break the strings as quick as possible (cutting strings is a waste of money to me) and then I will restring the racquet on my machine and see how it feels when I do it.

APDGT still hits groundstrokes a little better, but I feel that might change soon enough.