I've been playing the Graphene 360 Extreme MP for the last few months and lately kind of switched to the new Extreme Tour, but I've always liked Pure Drives – my favourite so far being the black 2012 one – and always give their latest versions a try. There's something inherently beautiful about a racket that you can just grab off the shelf and play, and to me the Pure Drive is the very definition of a pick up and go racket. No mods needed, at least for a certain style of play. Plus its got heritage. So of course I had to buy the new one.
I used the TWE matching service when I ordered and of the 12 frames they specced, 9 frames were measured at 68 RA, 2 had 67 RA and 1 had 69 RA. Curious, as the official Babolat spec lists the frame at 72 RA unstrung. I've asked TWE if their RA is an estimate for the strung frame or if the frames indeed measured that low and will hopefully receive an answer on Monday. Or maybe it's just their RDC that's off.
Anyway, the new paint job is cool and all, alright, but what's more interesting to me are the new, longer bumpers that are slightly widened at 3 & 9, a tiny bit similar to the original Pure Drive.
I got it strung with Hyper G 1.25 (due to
@JGads vouching for it and from reading
@Power Player's glowing posts about the PD/HG combo – thank you both, as I never played HG before) at 23kg.
First impressions, straight from the honeymoon: this is seriously one of the best and most enjoyable rackets I've played in quite a while. Better feel and touch than any Pure Drive in recent history, easy power and spin as you'd expect from a PD and surprisingly comfortable.
As with all Babolats, especially the power frames, you have to commit to your shots. A half hearted stroke will more than likely result in a flyer. Been there, done that. What really surprised me is the stability of this new Pure Drive. It lets you take the ball super early, half volleys are a dream. It just doesn't wobble or twist. It packs quite a bit more power than my Extreme Tour, 80% balls can be 50% balls with the PD, saving energy. Control is as expected – not pinpoint, sure, but more than sufficient for my game on clay courts. Touch is very good, but I can not say how much of that is due to the frame or the strings, as I've never played Hyper G before. Anyway, PP nailed it – HG 1.25 is an excellent fit for the new PD.
Woofer grommets – always a hot topic if not a bit overblown IMO on these boards – never bothered me much, to be honest. So the new one does not have woofers and that's ok, I guess. The response of the new PD is more traditional, yes, resulting in maybe a few less fliers, but I need more time with it to really gauge it.
The sweetspot is generous. Whats really interesting is that even on balls outside the sweetspot, like say a mistimed overhead I hit way high in the stringbed, there is basically zero bad vibration in the frame. It's really very well muted in this regard. Serves are not on the level of my Extreme Tour just yet, but that's to be expected on the first few outings. Nevertheless I can see great potential, especially for slice serves. Kickers worked well right away and flat serves clicked towards the end of the first session. Very pleased with that.
To sum it up I think both the Extreme Tour and this new PD will stay in my bag in the foreseeable future. The ET is just so versatile while the PD is just so much fun and easy to play with. Thing is legit.