Multi-surface shoes on clay

[jiddy-p]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for new shoes. Looking at Barricade 8, Babolat Pro-V 2, and some Head.

I've just moved to Germany and all the courts here are clay, but I feel a little apprehensive buying 'clay' shoes. So how do multi-surface shoes (the regular ones) do on clay? The grip patterns are honestly not so radically different, so I'm curious.

Thanks!

 

[Kevb22]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for new shoes. Looking at Barricade 8, Babolat Pro-V 2, and some Head.

I've just moved to Germany and all the courts here are clay, but I feel a little apprehensive buying 'clay' shoes. So how do multi-surface shoes (the regular ones) do on clay? The grip patterns are honestly not so radically different, so I'm curious.

Thanks!

No problem dude. I use the VPro 2 (and Propulse 4) all court in clay and is fine. Is a little better with clay specific shoes but is almost the same.

 

[Chotobaka]

Anything close to a relatively tight herringbone pattern will be a fine clay court shoe. Almost anything else will be more than serviceable. Caveat: this advice does not apply to heavy red clay.

 

[jiddy-p]

Thanks guys, good to know. How are the VPro 2 by the way? They are priced well below barricades here. How would you compare them with other good shoes, including the propulse?

I slide my left inner toe toward the net on my one handed backhand, which wore my last shoes right through to the sock! Nike doesn't really have great protection there, but the Head, Babolat and Prince do.

 

[mikeler]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for new shoes. Looking at Barricade 8, Babolat Pro-V 2, and some Head.

I've just moved to Germany and all the courts here are clay, but I feel a little apprehensive buying 'clay' shoes. So how do multi-surface shoes (the regular ones) do on clay? The grip patterns are honestly not so radically different, so I'm curious.

Thanks!

The Herringbone mentioned above is the best pattern to use. My feet are ultra wide and I cannot fit into any shoe with that pattern so I have to buy New Balance shoes that have a non-marking sole. Those shoes have been battle tested in Berlin on the red clay, so they work just fine.

 

[Kevb22]

Thanks guys, good to know. How are the VPro 2 by the way? They are priced well below barricades here. How would you compare them with other good shoes, including the propulse?

I slide my left inner toe toward the net on my one handed backhand, which wore my last shoes right through to the sock! Nike doesn't really have great protection there, but the Head, Babolat and Prince do.

The VPros are really good, almost the same as the Propulse.
Of course the herringbone is better for clay but it don´t make a lot of difference. I´ve tried the Nike CB 4.3 Clay and those are better than the regular ones but i used a lot of all court shoes for play on clay (red clay) and i never have any trouble with that. If you find clay specific shoes is a little better, but usually they are harder to find and it costs more, but a lot of all court shoes has patterns similar to the herringbone (Barricade 8, NB, etc)