Babolat Pure Aero playtest
Tennis experience/background: I am 42 years of age (5’-6” and on the husky side). I started playing tennis seriously when I was 13 years old. I took a couple lessons at a local park but basically I am self-taught. I would tape pro tennis matches on ESPN and use the slow-mo function on our VCRS. I played High School Varsity for 2 years then I stopped playing when I started college (1991). By 1999, I picked up tennis again playing weekly until about 2004. I started playing seriously in 2010. I had my rackets stolen from my car and I had decided why not pick up tennis again. I have been playing ever since with even more dedication and enthusiasm!
Describe your playing style (e.g., serve & volley): I am baseline/counterpuncher who likes to hug the baseline. I am not afraid of the net however. I like playing singles but I can play doubles if needed.
Current racquet/string: Wilson Blade 2013 98 16x19 (11.8 oz with leather grip/overgrip and lead at 3&9) Pro’s Pro Ichiban Spin 17g at 50lbs
String set-up in test racquet: (1) Pre-strung with Babolat Spiraltek Black 17G @ mid-range (2) Prince Poly Exp 16g @53lbs strung with drop weight stringer (3)
Diadem Solstice Power Tennis String 17g @53 Lbs strung with drop weight stringer.
How many hours did you play with the racquet?: Listed according to string set up listed above
(1) 6 hours (2) 7 hours & (3) 1hour; Total: 14 hours
Comments on racquet performance:
-groundstrokes: In general with whatever string you used, groundstrokes were really great with this racket. It’s even better if you use topspin and have good low-high strokes and RHS. The sweetspot on this racket is HUGE. Even when I didn’t hit the sweetspot or I shanked, I did not get any excessive vibration. There is some good power from this racket. I would think with the open pattern, flat shots would be hard to control but I didn’t have any issues. But I would suggest using medium to stiff poly to reign in control. Prince Poly Exp is kinda springy which I didn’t have a problem with. With the Diadem string, control is improved. The spin that comes on the racket is tremendous. The launch angle is high. A lot of groundstrokes that I thought were going to fly out were dropping in. Crosscourt short angles passing shots (both forehand and backhand) happened with ease. The string pattern reminds of POG Mid (14x18) very open! Slice backhands were great as well. Even when hard hit groundstrokes were hit to my backhand and the only option is to slice, the ball comes off nicely with good bite on the ball.
Usually when a deep looping topspin shot comes to my forehand I usually just respond with deep looping forehand with myself leaning back. But for kicks I decided to really go for it and see that this type of racket can do. So in this situation, I hit the ball at the apex but at the same time leaned back and gave the ball a good whack. The first time (Spiraltek) I did that I missed by an inch and my friend was in shock I was able to hit almost a winner from a defensive position. The second time I decided to this I had Prince Poly Exp in the racket. I was interested to see if poly would make a difference and it did. I hit a forehand winner from my corner to my friend’s backhand corner. He was still amazed I was able to go from defense to offense in one swing. I guess this goes with Playtester Chris’ sentiments. Overall, this racket is a baseliner’s dream.
-serves: I am not the biggest server. I have to really concentrate to hit a nice hard hit serve. With the racket strung with Spiraltek 17g, kick serves had too much spin it seemed and were landing short and sitting up. With poly strings, I was getting more depth on kick serves. The big difference for me were flat serves. I really liked it for flat serves. I could hit and direct flat serves with ease. With the Blades and my other previous rackets, I really had to swing hard to get a hard flat one down the tee. With the Pure Aero, I didn’t have to use a lot of effort. I just let the wide beam of the racket power the ball thru.
-volleys: Touch volleys were hard for me with this racket. You definitely have to use medium-stiff poly for touch ( that’s doesn’t sound right huh?). With Prince Poly EXP, I couldn’t hit any touch volleys to save my life. I wanted the ball to drop close to the net and die but each time it would land mid court. But with Diadem string I was able to hit nice touch volleys. This racket is good for regular volleys. It had good stability with hard passing shots. Just put out the racket in front and let the racket do the work.
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serve returns: The way I know if a racket is good for service returns is if I can hit a couple good drive drive backhands for winners. It took me a couple sets until a cracked a couple. But in general this racket is stable enough for hard-hit flat serves. If you can just get good contact on the ball you will hit the ball deep. A friend who I hit with regularly hit a nice kick serve to my backhand in the ad court. The ball kicked up high and I was able to hit service return winner with an abbreviated swing. I knew something was special about this racket because I usually play with rackets 11.8-12.2 oz and I didn’t expect a lighter racket would be able to do that.
General reaction/comments on overall performance: As mentioned I am used to playing with heavier rackets. Also I like SW’s in range of 325-335. I have been telling myself that eventually I will be playing with rackets with wider beams and light static weight. I just didn’t think it would be so soon. The last couple months I noticed I was getting more tired while playing with a 11.8z ~ 335 SW racket. I didn’t think I was going to get picked for the Pure Aero since a lot of people would be interested. I tried getting on the TW Pure Drive playtest last year but I wasn’t picked. I think I got picked because not a lot of people use L2 grip size. Anyhow I am switching to this racket immediately. I am already thinking of selling my Blades and getting another Pure Aero. I am still getting groundstroke spin and power I am used to but in addition I am getting some serve power. Also in defensive positions, the Pure Aero is enabling me to get the ball back deep even if I stab at it. With my previous rackets (POG, PCG100, EXO3 Graphite, Vantage/Angell,Wilson Blade) I wasn’t able to do that. I was thinking of putting a leather grip because I like bevel feel (which I did on all my previous rackets) and I like the added weight. But now I am used to just adding a overgrip and a lower static weight. Surprisingly my arm is not as sore after playing Also I am not as tired after playing since I am exerting as much energy during serves and groundstrokes. For now I am going to leave the Syntec Pro replacement grip. If I really do want to bevel feel I may install Gamma Hi-Tec replacement grip.
Just to add, in the middle of the playtest, I added some lead to the handle. I layed 10 grams on the replacement grip (not using the adhesive) and just wrapped overgrip to hold it in place. I did this to see how it would play if I were to add a leather grip ( just static weight-wise and not for more feel). The rackets felt played well too. I think I would add leather grip only if I were to push around by a hard-hitters. For about almost the majority of the playtest I hit with my usual tennis partner who is a flat hard hitting, rush the net kinda player. We would always play sets. He mentioned he didn’t “like” my racket because of the more spin and more balls coming back to him. On my second to the last go-around for the playtest I was able to hit my friend who is also a frequent contributor (Props to DJNeight!) to the TW forums for an hour or so. We just hit groundstrokes for the most part and then practiced our serves. He hits deep topspin groundstrokes which I haven’t been hitting against in a while. I wanted to make sure this racket was stable and powerful enough to stand against these type of strokes. In the end, the Pure Aero was able to withstand the deep topspin strokes but also respond back with deep topspin shots as well. This confirmed my switch to this racket. Might as well I am not getting any younger and I want to keep playing for the rest of my life!
Thanks TW and Babolat for the playtest!
