Tennis experience/background:
Avid recreational player for several decades. 4.0 singles league matches twice a week, occasional local tournaments, rarely doubles, and I pound the practice wall between matches.
Describe your playing style (e.g., serve & volley):
Aggressive junkballer, loads of spin on almost every shot, moonballs, dropshots, your worst nightmare if you like to get in a rhythm. But I’m not a pusher and will knock off winners when the time is right. Best shot is my serve, with regular and reverse slices on either side. Two-handed backhand that’s probably a bit more powerful and reliable than my forehand. I’m mostly a baseliner, but will come in and stay at the net on short balls.
Current racquet/string:
Prince Warrior OS, strung with Topspin Cyber Flash mains and Gosen OG Sheep Micro crosses, both at 55 pounds.
String set-up in test racquet:
The string shipment only included a set of Origin, which I didn’t really want, so I played the first few sessions with the factory-strung Spiraltek. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I never got the RPM Blast and M7, and Babolat kindly sent me the missing strings in another shipment (terrific service, guys!), so I ripped out the Spiraltek and restrung with a hybrid of RPM Blast and Gosen OG Sheep Micro, at 50 pounds for another couple of playtest sessions
How many hours did you play with the racquet?
About 4 hours with the Spiraltek, and another 4 hours with the RPM/OGSM hybrid.
Comments on racquet performance:
-groundstrokes:
Wow, this thing is a club. Such great plowthrough without having to add any lead tape. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the spin when I was hitting with the Spiraltek, and really had to work at getting big topspin. I didn’t think the launch angle was particularly high, and had to adjust my game a bit around the racquet. But when I put in the RPM Blast, this was much better in the spin department. This is a great racquet for groundstrokes -- topspin, backspin, flat, all good, and with excellent control. Works best with fast swings, so maybe not the racquet you want if you like to baby your shots. I could still hit drop shots, but they had to be relatively fast backspin chops at the ball instead of soft, deft touch shots. This was a bit of an adjustment for me from the flexier frames I usually use, but I really like the heavy balls I was hitting on fast swings, and I could definitely get used to this racquet.
-serves:
I was hitting bombs, with both the Spiraltek and the RPM. It’s the plowthrough again, and it just works for serves like on groundstrokes. I don’t think I was getting as much side-to-side curving as usual, but that’s because the serves were just going faster, so straighter.
-volleys:
I’m mostly an accidental net player, when the opponent brings me up with a short shot, so I didn’t hit a lot of volleys, but a flat punch style volley worked very well with this racquet. Very stable and controllable. It’s less effective on drop volleys and touch shots where you want to take the speed off the ball. This thing wants you to hit through the ball, and it has a relatively big sweet spot that makes volleying easy. I wouldn’t say it’s the most maneuverable racquet around the net, but I learned to play when racquets were generally heavier than today, and really like the extra heft this gives at the net. If you’re strong enough to move the racquet around up there, you’ll get a nice firm volley.
-serve returns:
If you like light, fast racquets for the service return, then this is not for you. It’s a bit harder to get this racquet moving, but if you can handle it, it won’t get pushed around by hard incoming serves. I know I keep saying it, but it’s all about the plowthrough for me with this racquet.
General reaction/comments on overall performance:
I’m a little torn about this racquet. It makes me play a different game, and probably a better one. This racquet has lots of control, and rewards fast swing speed, but probably isn’t the best choice for touch and finesse shots. At my age, my game relies on a bag of tricks with lots of touch and spin. This racquet makes me want to outhit my opponent instead of outfoxing him. That might be fun for awhile, and is really the way to go for players with younger arms than mine, but as I get older, I like a more flexible racquet that’s easier on the arm and can pull off the sort of tricky shots I’ve gotten in the habit of hitting. The Pure Aero is going to be a great racquet for most younger players, though, who just want crack the ball for winners.
As always, thanks to Babolat and Tennis Warehouse for letting us try it out.
