soggyramen
Professional
So I've had the Pure Storm Tour for a little while now and I have to say I completely love this racquet if any of you have read my posts on other storm topics you'll know that I think this is the best racquet Babolat has every made.
So I hit the courts with my racquets for a three day five hour a day hit session and then a best of five set match.
The racquet I used was strung with Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power at 56 lbs.
Volleys: This racquet was a joy to volley with, it has a ton more touch and feel than any of the babolat racquets on the market. I have not tried the Aero Storm so don't quote me on that just yet. It feels as if you can take any low percentage volley and make it work for you. Drop volleys were solid, forehand and backhand volleys were crisp and and easy to put away with out worrying of going for too much. Backhand volleys felt better which is odd because usually my forehand volleys are better. Swinging volleys felt great as it was easy to hit hard and out without it going out.
Volleys: 8.5/10
Spin: Again the storm scores big points with me. Maybe it was because the beam was thinner that my slice was so easy to perform (kept knocking it on the beam of the PD W/ Cortex) either way the amount of spin that this racquet helps create is massive. You should expect some good topspin shots as well as massive slice, on serve and on the defense. Drop shots were easily executed as the stringbed gives you a nice feel when you nail that perfect drop. You'll pretty much know when it's going to go over almost every time when you get that nice crisp feeling from the stringbed.
Spin: 9/10
Returns: Here's where the racquet is dead on. The weight and the balance of the racquet make it wonderful to return serves. It's very manuverable and stable so you can easily zone in on your return weither it's just a first serve block or a second serve attack, this racquet can take it.
Returns: 9.5/10 (would give it a 10 but nothing's perfect)
Groundstrokes: Good stuff here as well though the backhand felt so much more crisp and powerful than the forehand which is odd since my backhand is usually so much more powerful. You could always tell from the string feedback if you got a good deep shot coming or a short one. Approaches needed a little more kick than usually from me as well as a little more topspin but after a small adjustment I was rolling with them once again. It was easy to rocket shots cross court and down the line. Shooting for the lines and going for low percentage shots was no problem here as well as the racquet is very forgiving which was a big surprise to me. Very solid in this department and very forgiving which I think even 4.0 players can use this racquet not just the 4.5+ like TW recommends.
Groundstrokes: 8.5/10
Comfort: The storm was darn comfortable on shots without sacrificing touch and feel which was a big plus. I don't see a reason to bring out a cortex version for this racquet as I think it would ruin the volley department for me. Still though very comfortable on groundstrokes, serves, and volleys. Even though all these good things have been said it was uncomfortable on hard first serve returns or even sometimes the second serve return as well as some slight miss hits which knocked it down a point. Still not bad though.
Comfort: 7.5/10
Stability: We all are sceptical about technologies and different types of materials used in racquets like *cough*Karophite Black*cough* but I am here to say that the "Carbon Extreme" around the head I think is the real deal as volleys were extremely stable at all times as well as ground strokes. Thus I was no doubt amazed that I never had a point in the session where the racquet rotated in my hands because of a hard shot or even a mis hit.
Stability: 9.5/10
Manuverablity: Again great stuff here as the racquet is said to have a 333 swingweight but it swung so much lighter like maybe 315-320. Manuverability on volleys was wonderful, I felt I could get almost every shot that went by me. This racquet is a good choice if you like to serve and volley because of this as well. I was able to switch from aggressive baseliner to S&V throughout the match with almost no difficulty of transition. S&V fans put this on your demo list.
Manuverablity: 9/10
Control: Control was darn good as it was easy to pinpoint shots with no problems. All you needed was to keep your swing and position good and you were set. Line shots weren't that difficult to execute but would go off at times. To get the full benefit of the control you really need to swing full and out to keep the control there. Short swings and bad position will get you no where with this racquet. Probably the best controlled oriented racquet in Babolat's aresenal with the Pure Control Team behind it.
Control: 9/10
Serves and Overheads: Slice and Kick serves can get some massive spin with this racquet the ball would really kick up on the kick serves with good height and slice serves looking great going down the T or out wide. Despite the specs this racquet has quite a lot of power on serves for me it was easy to bomb an ace or two with my kick serve and maybe one ace with the slice I got during our match. Honestly this is a biased catagory because can not tell the difference in overheads I feel if you have good technique all your overheads are going to be good and vice versa. Overheads were solid nothing more, nothing less, and nothing special.
Serves and Overheads: 8/10
Power: The Tour has a good amount of power to get shots deep but short swings again won't cut it here unless you like bring your opponent to the net. This racquet has less power than the old storm and it feels much more rewarding to hit winners knowing that most of the time you can get them in with just solid technique. Babolat has been getting a bad rap for making most of their racquets into shotguns but this one is more of a pistol requiring again good technique to really hit the strong winner or that hard line forehand.
Power: 6.5/10 (To me that's a good thing)
Flex: Everyone complained about the pure control being a good racquet but being too stiff well there are no problems here as the flex contributes to the comfort and feels wonderful on every shot. This racquet tends to flex in my opinion more at the throat than the head which is not a bad thing but I am pretty sure no one will complain about tennis elbow from this racquet, but then again nothing's impossible.
Flex: 9/10
Overall: Great all court racquet that's ready for any match situation. Those who didn't like Babolat in the past should check this one out as it breaks Babolat's traditional mold in a good way by reinventing the Pure Control series. If the trend continues with this line then i'll be using it for as long as Babolat keeps producing and keeps updating them.
Overall: 9/10
So I hit the courts with my racquets for a three day five hour a day hit session and then a best of five set match.
The racquet I used was strung with Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power at 56 lbs.
Volleys: This racquet was a joy to volley with, it has a ton more touch and feel than any of the babolat racquets on the market. I have not tried the Aero Storm so don't quote me on that just yet. It feels as if you can take any low percentage volley and make it work for you. Drop volleys were solid, forehand and backhand volleys were crisp and and easy to put away with out worrying of going for too much. Backhand volleys felt better which is odd because usually my forehand volleys are better. Swinging volleys felt great as it was easy to hit hard and out without it going out.
Volleys: 8.5/10
Spin: Again the storm scores big points with me. Maybe it was because the beam was thinner that my slice was so easy to perform (kept knocking it on the beam of the PD W/ Cortex) either way the amount of spin that this racquet helps create is massive. You should expect some good topspin shots as well as massive slice, on serve and on the defense. Drop shots were easily executed as the stringbed gives you a nice feel when you nail that perfect drop. You'll pretty much know when it's going to go over almost every time when you get that nice crisp feeling from the stringbed.
Spin: 9/10
Returns: Here's where the racquet is dead on. The weight and the balance of the racquet make it wonderful to return serves. It's very manuverable and stable so you can easily zone in on your return weither it's just a first serve block or a second serve attack, this racquet can take it.
Returns: 9.5/10 (would give it a 10 but nothing's perfect)
Groundstrokes: Good stuff here as well though the backhand felt so much more crisp and powerful than the forehand which is odd since my backhand is usually so much more powerful. You could always tell from the string feedback if you got a good deep shot coming or a short one. Approaches needed a little more kick than usually from me as well as a little more topspin but after a small adjustment I was rolling with them once again. It was easy to rocket shots cross court and down the line. Shooting for the lines and going for low percentage shots was no problem here as well as the racquet is very forgiving which was a big surprise to me. Very solid in this department and very forgiving which I think even 4.0 players can use this racquet not just the 4.5+ like TW recommends.
Groundstrokes: 8.5/10
Comfort: The storm was darn comfortable on shots without sacrificing touch and feel which was a big plus. I don't see a reason to bring out a cortex version for this racquet as I think it would ruin the volley department for me. Still though very comfortable on groundstrokes, serves, and volleys. Even though all these good things have been said it was uncomfortable on hard first serve returns or even sometimes the second serve return as well as some slight miss hits which knocked it down a point. Still not bad though.
Comfort: 7.5/10
Stability: We all are sceptical about technologies and different types of materials used in racquets like *cough*Karophite Black*cough* but I am here to say that the "Carbon Extreme" around the head I think is the real deal as volleys were extremely stable at all times as well as ground strokes. Thus I was no doubt amazed that I never had a point in the session where the racquet rotated in my hands because of a hard shot or even a mis hit.
Stability: 9.5/10
Manuverablity: Again great stuff here as the racquet is said to have a 333 swingweight but it swung so much lighter like maybe 315-320. Manuverability on volleys was wonderful, I felt I could get almost every shot that went by me. This racquet is a good choice if you like to serve and volley because of this as well. I was able to switch from aggressive baseliner to S&V throughout the match with almost no difficulty of transition. S&V fans put this on your demo list.
Manuverablity: 9/10
Control: Control was darn good as it was easy to pinpoint shots with no problems. All you needed was to keep your swing and position good and you were set. Line shots weren't that difficult to execute but would go off at times. To get the full benefit of the control you really need to swing full and out to keep the control there. Short swings and bad position will get you no where with this racquet. Probably the best controlled oriented racquet in Babolat's aresenal with the Pure Control Team behind it.
Control: 9/10
Serves and Overheads: Slice and Kick serves can get some massive spin with this racquet the ball would really kick up on the kick serves with good height and slice serves looking great going down the T or out wide. Despite the specs this racquet has quite a lot of power on serves for me it was easy to bomb an ace or two with my kick serve and maybe one ace with the slice I got during our match. Honestly this is a biased catagory because can not tell the difference in overheads I feel if you have good technique all your overheads are going to be good and vice versa. Overheads were solid nothing more, nothing less, and nothing special.
Serves and Overheads: 8/10
Power: The Tour has a good amount of power to get shots deep but short swings again won't cut it here unless you like bring your opponent to the net. This racquet has less power than the old storm and it feels much more rewarding to hit winners knowing that most of the time you can get them in with just solid technique. Babolat has been getting a bad rap for making most of their racquets into shotguns but this one is more of a pistol requiring again good technique to really hit the strong winner or that hard line forehand.
Power: 6.5/10 (To me that's a good thing)
Flex: Everyone complained about the pure control being a good racquet but being too stiff well there are no problems here as the flex contributes to the comfort and feels wonderful on every shot. This racquet tends to flex in my opinion more at the throat than the head which is not a bad thing but I am pretty sure no one will complain about tennis elbow from this racquet, but then again nothing's impossible.
Flex: 9/10
Overall: Great all court racquet that's ready for any match situation. Those who didn't like Babolat in the past should check this one out as it breaks Babolat's traditional mold in a good way by reinventing the Pure Control series. If the trend continues with this line then i'll be using it for as long as Babolat keeps producing and keeps updating them.
Overall: 9/10
