Sweet! I got an email! Shoes are shipping on the 20th! Thanks so much TW!
Same here, I got an email a few hours ago.
Thanks TW and Babolat.
Sweet! I got an email! Shoes are shipping on the 20th! Thanks so much TW!
thank guys, I wont fail you. I am going to wright such a phenomenal review.
All emails have been sent out for those selected to participate in Playtest Opportunity #2. We had a ton of applicants and thank everyone for their interest. We will be sending out emails for Playtest Opportunity #1 on Monday. For those of who that were selected, congratulations! For those of you that were not picked, we will be having several more playtest opportunities for strings and racquets coming up so keep you eyes peeled.
Brittany, TW
All emails have been sent out for those selected to participate in Playtest Opportunity #2. We had a ton of applicants and thank everyone for their interest. We will be sending out emails for Playtest Opportunity #1 on Monday. For those of who that were selected, congratulations! For those of you that were not picked, we will be having several more playtest opportunities for strings and racquets coming up so keep you eyes peeled.
Brittany, TW
To TW or anyone in the know: would these be about the same sizing as the Vapor 9? Just want to be sure I'm putting in for the right size. Any need to size up for a wide foot?
Aww, man! Better luck next time eh?
To TW or anyone in the know: would these be about the same sizing as the Vapor 9? Just want to be sure I'm putting in for the right size. Any need to size up for a wide foot?
Thanks TW for the email and my selection! I wonder what colorway we'll get.
Maybe TW will tell us?? Are the play test shoes all the same colorway, or some of both colors? If all the same color, are the play test shoes the black or the white?
Mine came in today! They're the black and yellow ones
Nice, what zip code did they ship from? I hope I get mine before the weekend!
Mine came in today! They're the black and yellow ones
Great! Hope mine are black/yellow too!
Not quite as wide as the 3, but still roomy; I have Elite socks on with them and they are still roomy.
Just some first impressions....
Up to Level 3 Thorlo socks now....better.
I was worried the 11.5 I ordered was just too big, but I think an 11 would be too short in length. Thick or double socks needed with these.
I found the 3s to be really roomy and sometimes too much while also wearing level 3s. Did you order true to size?
I just got back from the Babolat Faster To The Ball event held at the beautiful Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis & Swim Club in the nice upscale city of Laguna Hills. The weather was perfect. Beautiful blue skies, sunny and warm. Babolat and Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis put on a first rate event. I arrived at 12:20 and the event started at 12:30. Registration was a breeze. I stepped up to the sign in table and was handed a name tag holder on a necklace with my nametag and a raffle ticket in the holder as well as a pair of Black/Yellow Propulse 4s w/ my name on the box. More details on the raffle later. I had to quickly slip on the new Propulse 4s as the event was starting.
We were split up into a 6 groups which were based on USTA ratings. I joined the 4.0-4.5 group and we headed off to begin the tennis clinic portion of the day. There were 6 different doubles drills being run on 6 courts. We'd spend ~10 minutes performing a drill and then rotate to the next court for another drill. The final court had some footwork drills involved as well. We started off with the ladder and then moved into a hitting drill where we tried to hit a hand feed through a tire. Then we zigzagged around a slalom course of Michelin tires to test out the outersole traction of the new Propulse 4s exploding from one gate to the next and got back in line to repeat. After the conclusion of the clinic session, we went inside to relax and enjoy some food and libation. They had prepared a bountiful spread of veggies and dip, egg rolls, beef and satay chicken on skewers, chips and salsa and fresh fruit. Beer and water was provided to quench our thirst. Yummy stuff indeed! But the fun wasn't over yet. Remember the raffle ticket I had mentioned earlier? Yeah, the raffle was next and boy, were there some really awesome giveaways!
Raffle Prizes:
- Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year
- 2 Baseline Box seat tickets for both day and night Friday Semifinal matches at the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tournament
- Three 2013 Babolat AeroPro Drive Racquets
- Three Babolat Aero Line 12 Pack bags with the Intelligent Strap System.
I usually don't win anything, however I was fortunate enough to win the Free Babolat Shoes for 1 year! :shock: WOOHOO!!! 8)
On our way out, each participant was given a Babolat goodie bag that included a nice nylon mesh Babolat cap, sunscreen, lipbalm, Michelin CA road guide, and a canned soft drink cooler.
I did meet the 3 other TW members, Frunk, samprasbackhand and embot. Nice guys. Good to put a face to the usernames! I also met Daniel Becker and Steve Stricker of Babolat. Wonderful folks!
Anyways, this wraps up the play by play recap of today's Babolat Faster To The Ball Propulse 4 Event. It was alot of fun, indeed!
A big thank you goes out to TW and Babolat for selecting me to attend the event and to playtest the new shoes!
Wow. What a day. I too was a playtester at Nellie Gail. First and foremost, congrats to mad_dog who won the Babolat shoes! I know I was really jealous and I thought it was cool that one of us from TW managed to win something.
Anyways. Onward to the experience, and then the shoes.
I arrived at Nellie Gail at about 11, early, and managed to strike up conversation with Wes and Daniel from Babolat. They're my new best friends from Babolat - very personable guys, very kind, funny, and of course, good tennis players. I also managed to snag an exclusive babolat hoodie and t shirt from Wes! Towards noon we started getting our name badges/raffle tickets and shoes. I got a pair of black/yellow ones. I read on here earlier that it was better to double sock and I spied that each of the babolat pros was double-socking/thorlo-ing it, so I decided to double sock.
With the double sock, the shoe felt really nice. This is my second Babolat shoe, the first being the All-Court 4 - which i wore twice and then threw away. The ProPulse 4 felt nicer. A little plush and wide around the heel, but thats what the strap is for!
The group was split up based on their performance tennis-wise. I was placed on the highest level, 5.0+ court. The first of the 7 clinic courts was also the most physically demanding one. Kevin Jackson, a well known local trainer, was leading the court and of course had us do an obstacle course and hitting drill. I was very surprised at the Propulse's lateral movement capabilities. I got low to the ground on side steps but never slipped. Sliding on command, also, as I found out later, was also very possible and easy.
The remainder of the courts were mainly net drills for the older folks in the club. Since I'm more of a baseline monster, there were several older ladies who wanted to be my partner for the games involving the baseline.
After almost two hours, they served food and drinks. Food was phenomenal. Egg Rolls and Chicken and Beef Kebobs, fruit and chips and this delicious salsa. The day was only getting better and better. Again, there was the raffle, but I didn't win anything.
Wes and Daniel both wanted to hit with me, but they had to tear down the stuff so I watched and waited.
At about 3:30, we started hitting. Two on Ones. I was alone on one side, them on the other. I had to win 7 points in the doubles court, while they had to win 11 points with only the singles court. Each time was pretty close at times, although they are the superior tennis players. A fourth guy joined us - forgot his name! - and we played two up two back, loser does 30 pushups. Wes and I didn't lose at all . Our fourth friend had to leave, so we played out serve points. After winning five, we switched to the winner's side and returned. I was very pleased with making it to the winner's side. I'm by no means a bad player, but both Daniel and Wes are simply great. Wes played for UNLV, and I am not sure were Daniel went but he is also very good.
Sweaty and tired, we finished at 5:30. I examined the shoes after a day's work. Not much wear on the sole or toe, as I am a toe dragger. On my slides, I tend to drag by back left foot on the inside face of that foot, if that makes sense. This was the only real damage to the shoe, as there was noticeable wear on the sides from it.
Overall, incredible day. I don't care if I make it to the commercial or not, as I had such a blast. I met tons of cool new people and played some solid solid tennis. Thanks to Tennis-Warehouse, Babolat, Nellie Gail Club, and the other TW playtesters for being so friendly!
I will post my full shoe review in a couple weeks.
first day wearing the new shoes around the house. fit seems pretty normal to me. full review to follow in the upcoming weeks. my only question is, does anyone know what the straps on the heel and front of the shoe are for?