Low heel drop shoes

[Mten]

Really hard to find this information on tennis shoes so wondered if anyone has any ideas? Tried new balance which I know are 8mm but the sole isn't flat (it's curves along the whole foot so sort of rolls). Asics used to be about 10mm I believe across the board roughly but cant find this info easily anymore? Plus I've found them narrow. Just tried the head sprint pro which states it's low but doesn't give figures. It's a good shoe to wear but the uppers are tearing on the stitching after 3 weeks! It's a real shame but I can't be buying new shoes that often!

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm essentially looking for light/low to the ground, but doesn't break too quickly

 

[johnmccabe]

Barricade

 

[Delouie9154]

If you could find it, Zach the Foot Doctor used to sale his shoe data in a PDF. It has Heel to toe drop data by shoe. I am not sure if he still sales it digitally, but useful tool. Updated with shoes from 2021 to Jan 2023 if I remember properly.

 

[Yamin]

Court FFs kinda felt like I was on my heels..

 

[Jaymats]

I'm extremely fussy with shoes that are low to the ground aswell. I usually wear Vivobarefoot outside and at gym. I play in Australia and usually on synthetic grass so I can get away with the Dunlop Volleys but on hard court they are a little too fine.
I am currently on the New Balance 796 v3... I ordered extra wide 4E which is a bonus with NB as you stated. These shoes are decent and relatively low to the ground but not a typical minimalist fit and definitely one of the lightest available @ 11.3 oz ( size 10.5).

From my homework there is not many tennis specific shoes that are low, flat and minimal as they tend to focus on lateral support with a thicker base generally speaking. Love to be proven wrong though!!
Your definitely correct by saying most are narrow.... it's almost criminal

I think some of it is improvisation ie find a shoe that's not specifically for tennis but fits your needs. Just look for minimalist type shoes. New balance again make them, vivobarefoot, dunlop volley. Last year's Nike Vapour appeared quite flat but I have not tried them.
As suggested Zac the foot doctor would likely know. He usually cuts shoes in half for a clear view of a shoes construction and therefore thickness etc.
Be keen to hear other ideas.

 

[Mten]

I'm extremely fussy with shoes that are low to the ground aswell. I usually wear Vivobarefoot outside and at gym. I play in Australia and usually on synthetic grass so I can get away with the Dunlop Volleys but on hard court they are a little too fine.
I am currently on the New Balance 796 v3... I ordered extra wide 4E which is a bonus with NB as you stated. These shoes are decent and relatively low to the ground but not a typical minimalist fit and definitely one of the lightest available @ 11.3 oz ( size 10.5).

From my homework there is not many tennis specific shoes that are low, flat and minimal as they tend to focus on lateral support with a thicker base generally speaking. Love to be proven wrong though!!
Your definitely correct by saying most are narrow.... it's almost criminal

I think some of it is improvisation ie find a shoe that's not specifically for tennis but fits your needs. Just look for minimalist type shoes. New balance again make them, vivobarefoot, dunlop volley. Last year's Nike Vapour appeared quite flat but I have not tried them.
As suggested Zac the foot doctor would likely know. He usually cuts shoes in half for a clear view of a shoes construction and therefore thickness etc.
Be keen to hear other ideas.

So this is essentially my dilemma but worse. I'm a tennis coach by profession on hard courts, so I can't just use something that isn't tennis specific as it just breaks within a week. I'm also concerned with needing some cushioning. Being on hard courts that long a day, plus the fact that at a certain level you have to heel strike on some balls to get them makes a proper tennis shoe a necessity. Outside of tennis I do wear 'barefoot' shoes like vivobarefoot so my main thing to look for is that low heel drop, otherwise I move poorly on the court. Wilson made the original rush pro perfectly. Wide, 6mm drop and ideal support. However they totally ruined it on the 3.0 making it 9mm, narrow and taller in general. Since then I used ASICS speed solutions for a bit. Not bad at 9mm, fairly light but a bit narrow on the toe box. Then swapped to new balance 996 for a a year and a bit. They actually break on the fabric upper quite quickly from putting lots of lateral pressure on them, plus I think their overly curved soles have giving me some knee issues. Recently tried their head print pro and like the new balance it fell apart on the upper where it meets the sole.

Thinking of trying ASICS again in the Gel resolutions as they seem low and offer support.

If someone made a shoe with a proper low drop, wide toe box, but proper tennis durability/support I'd be all over it

 

[Agparj]

Same boat here - minimal drop shoe user. Try Wilson Rush pros marketed to pickleball. Those are (or used to be) 6mm drop.

 

[Mten]

So I got the shoe info from Zach the foot doctor. Some interesting ones. Babolat jet mach 3 is 0.6 drop. Kswiss hypercourt express and supreme are both 0.7. ASICS court FF coming in at 1.2 is surprisingly high. Gel res 9 in 1.0. new balance 996 5 is 0.7. so some fairly low shoes out there it seems if you find them. Now a question of trying to find which is cushioned/durable enough for a lot of hard court use, plus has a firm enough upper it doesn't tear on me....

 

[Jaymats]

So this is essentially my dilemma but worse. I'm a tennis coach by profession on hard courts, so I can't just use something that isn't tennis specific as it just breaks within a week. I'm also concerned with needing some cushioning. Being on hard courts that long a day, plus the fact that at a certain level you have to heel strike on some balls to get them makes a proper tennis shoe a necessity. Outside of tennis I do wear 'barefoot' shoes like vivobarefoot so my main thing to look for is that low heel drop, otherwise I move poorly on the court. Wilson made the original rush pro perfectly. Wide, 6mm drop and ideal support. However they totally ruined it on the 3.0 making it 9mm, narrow and taller in general. Since then I used ASICS speed solutions for a bit. Not bad at 9mm, fairly light but a bit narrow on the toe box. Then swapped to new balance 996 for a a year and a bit. They actually break on the fabric upper quite quickly from putting lots of lateral pressure on them, plus I think their overly curved soles have giving me some knee issues. Recently tried their head print pro and like the new balance it fell apart on the upper where it meets the sole.

Thinking of trying ASICS again in the Gel resolutions as they seem low and offer support.

If someone made a shoe with a proper low drop, wide toe box, but proper tennis durability/support I'd be all over it

I'm definitely hearing you.
You would likely have to wrestle with me for that same pair of shoes !!.
From your other response below, Zac seems to of put you in the right direction.
I will definitely follow some of these suggestions. It would be easier if they marketed or labelled them minimal or low drop to make the find easier, but I guess it gives you more product knowledge and awareness.

 

[Mten]

I'm definitely hearing you.
You would likely have to wrestle with me for that same pair of shoes !!.
From your other response below, Zac seems to of put you in the right direction.
I will definitely follow some of these suggestions. It would be easier if they marketed or labelled them minimal or low drop to make the find easier, but I guess it gives you more product knowledge and awareness.

Yes totally agree. It's very difficult to find those sort of numbers. I believe Zach measures them himself as they aren't readily available. I've emailed companies and got little to no response for the most part. Nike replied saying they don't actually know!

 

[Jaymats]

Yes totally agree. It's very difficult to find those sort of numbers. I believe Zach measures them himself as they aren't readily available. I've emailed companies and got little to no response for the most part. Nike replied saying they don't actually know!

crazy how they couldn't know such details. Probably more lack of being proactive to look into it. The good thing about Zac is he actually cuts the shoe in half for a clear visual. They could definitely create or category of shoe called "coaching shoe" which is minimal and less aggressive and along the lines of what we are after.