OliverSimon
Hall of Fame
the new design is aight
Andy Roddick new racket pics
- Thread starter toyota817
- Start date
poinconeru
New User
Well, I liked the new design in the pictures, but I saw the racquets in real life yesterday at the local pro shop and changed my mind. The Babolat dealer was there when I was and he had both the new PD and PDR (as well as a stack of flashy gaggy geezer frames). The PD and PDR are very similar, but the blue on both does look like a painted metal frame that you get at Wallmart. And once you get the racquet up close there are lots of little details that are distracting around the throat--like whitish airspray-ish looking highlights that are supposed to make it look like it's glinting in the sun (or something). What happened to the crisp, simple, and elegant paintjob of the Pure Drive Team?
The Roddick has more gloss around the hoop, I think (could have it backwards) and comes with a black grip (regular PD comes with white). One of the racquets has red on the throat cross and one is white/black. One cool part is that in the upper inside hoop on the glossier frame you can see the graphite weave, kind of like on the Pure Storm Tour. I pointed it out to the rep and he said "it's just paint." Ha. I've seen a billion attempts to paint carbon weave on road bike parts in an attempt to make them look high end, and this was not one of them. You'd think he would know more about the construction. He was going off on how they have added tungsten to center of the lay-up and that it makes a huge difference in control and feel blah blah blah. But he couldn't say why. Sound like liquidmetal titanium? I told him I had an old PD Team and he told me to "hang it in a glass case" because the technology of the new generation is so far and away superior. Sometimes I just can't stand sales reps. I didn't bring up the fact that Nadal doesn't play with cortex, but I didn't want to have to see this guy try to tell me otherwise, which I'm sure he would have because he probably has no clue.
The rep confirmed that the new sticks would hit the market in late May. He also said there would be a new version of the APDC coming out next year. No idea what the color scheme would be, he said. But if it's as ugly as these new PDs then I certainly won't be updating from the current model.
Yes. In a sport as beautiful as tennis, racquet aesthetics do matter to me.
The Roddick has more gloss around the hoop, I think (could have it backwards) and comes with a black grip (regular PD comes with white). One of the racquets has red on the throat cross and one is white/black. One cool part is that in the upper inside hoop on the glossier frame you can see the graphite weave, kind of like on the Pure Storm Tour. I pointed it out to the rep and he said "it's just paint." Ha. I've seen a billion attempts to paint carbon weave on road bike parts in an attempt to make them look high end, and this was not one of them. You'd think he would know more about the construction. He was going off on how they have added tungsten to center of the lay-up and that it makes a huge difference in control and feel blah blah blah. But he couldn't say why. Sound like liquidmetal titanium? I told him I had an old PD Team and he told me to "hang it in a glass case" because the technology of the new generation is so far and away superior. Sometimes I just can't stand sales reps. I didn't bring up the fact that Nadal doesn't play with cortex, but I didn't want to have to see this guy try to tell me otherwise, which I'm sure he would have because he probably has no clue.
The rep confirmed that the new sticks would hit the market in late May. He also said there would be a new version of the APDC coming out next year. No idea what the color scheme would be, he said. But if it's as ugly as these new PDs then I certainly won't be updating from the current model.
Yes. In a sport as beautiful as tennis, racquet aesthetics do matter to me.
Marc The Shark
New User
You should of asked! Should of said something like how do you feel about Nadal AND Roddick not using the cortex technology?
BigServer1
Legend
It's interesting to get your take on the racquets...
I just strung up a PD Roddick 27" and a PD 27" and I am going to hit with them tonight...I actually quite like the new cosmetics on the frames...I think it really stands out on court, and it's better than the black/blue PJs of the older PD/PDR.
The upper hoop on the Roddick frame is a matte finish, and you can see the Graphite Tungsten weave in the hoop near 12 o'clock. The PD has a glossy hoop and the "GT" weave looks a little bit more pronounced. The PD is the frame with the red bit in the throat, while the Roddick frame has black there.
All in all I think Babolat did a nice job with these looks wise, although that is personal preference. I am looking forward to hitting with them, as that will be the ultimate determinant in how they sell. The frames are due to ship May 15th, fwiw.
Like the poster above, I also heard about a 2010 APD update, but it looks like it could be as late as May 2010 to coincide with the French Open.
BigServer1
Legend
I hit with both frames last night, I played doubles for a couple hours, so I was able to serve with the frames, hit groundstrokes and spend a good amount of time at the net. A lot of people noticed the fact that I had them, that bright blue color (which I am fond of, fwiw) really stands out on court.
I play with heavy frames to begin with, so I was more drawn to the Roddick, though I made sure to pay some attention to the regular PD as well. Both were strung with Babolat Addiction at 61#. As a side note, addiction is a pretty nice string...
My initial thoughts were positive. The Roddick was a monster on serve and was great off the ground. Surprisingly, my touch and feel at net was pretty good and I was working a nice backhand slice that was quite effective. I got really nice bite on the ball and I used that to my advantage. I wasn't really expecting to like either of these racquets, but I thought they both had a nice feel to them.
I will say that these frames seem to be the closest thing to the original Pure Drives that I have hit with. To me they felt better overall than the older models...They have that crisp feeling that I've missed with a lot of the Babolat cortex frames that tend to be a bit more dampened (but not in a good way...). While this is a very, very quick reaction to the racquets, overall I think they will perform better overall than the previous models.
As I get the chance to hit with them more, I'll post more thoughts, but for now, hopefully this bare bones feedback will suffice.
I play with heavy frames to begin with, so I was more drawn to the Roddick, though I made sure to pay some attention to the regular PD as well. Both were strung with Babolat Addiction at 61#. As a side note, addiction is a pretty nice string...
My initial thoughts were positive. The Roddick was a monster on serve and was great off the ground. Surprisingly, my touch and feel at net was pretty good and I was working a nice backhand slice that was quite effective. I got really nice bite on the ball and I used that to my advantage. I wasn't really expecting to like either of these racquets, but I thought they both had a nice feel to them.
I will say that these frames seem to be the closest thing to the original Pure Drives that I have hit with. To me they felt better overall than the older models...They have that crisp feeling that I've missed with a lot of the Babolat cortex frames that tend to be a bit more dampened (but not in a good way...). While this is a very, very quick reaction to the racquets, overall I think they will perform better overall than the previous models.
As I get the chance to hit with them more, I'll post more thoughts, but for now, hopefully this bare bones feedback will suffice.
