Upper destroyer

[FIRETennis]

I'm mostly playing on red clay and my feet seem to be the absolute destroyer of the upper of shoes.
The ones that lasted well were the older model Adidas Barricades and the Asics Gel Resolution 7s. Both models no longer available.
Not sure if it's my wide feet or my movement but recently on all the new tennis shoes that I have tried upper breaks at around 80-100 court hours.
Asics Solution Speed, Adidas Ubersonic, Yonex Eclipsion, Nike Air Zoom Vapor X, K-Swiss Hypercourt Supreme - all uppers broke where the shoe bends at the bottom of the big toe and little toe. Sometimes the left shoe, sometimes the right shoe.
The Barricades and Gel Resolution 7s are made out of solid plastic upper, where as all the ones that break "quick" are flexible mesh and/or fabric.

I expected a clay shoe to last me around 500 miles ~ 250h on clay, am I expecting too much?
This is a new problem for me. I know most manufacturers give a warranty on the outsole but how about the upper?
Anyone have a similar issues and have successfully approached stores/manufacturers about this?

 

[Tennis_Hands]

You have wide feet and you wear mostly narrow shoes?

That might be one of the reasons why you waste shoes as fast as you do.

Other than that, try SCB: they have a solid upper and are actually accommodating wide feet. You can also still find Gel Res 7s for sale, they have not disappeared from the market.

 

[FIRETennis]

You have wide feet and you wear mostly narrow shoes?

That might be one of the reasons why you waste shoes as fast as you do.

Other than that, try SCB: they have a solid upper and are actually accommodating wide feet. You can also still find Gel Res 7s for sale, they have not disappeared from the market.

How would one designate a shoe model as narrow or wide? I never felt any of those shoes as narrow.
I never bought online, only in store after trying on. I especially found the Vapors and the Hypercourt the widest and most stable, yet broke the fastest.
Playing mostly in Europe so specific wide sizes are not available here.
What is SCB?

 

[Tennis_Hands]

How would one designate a shoe model as narrow or wide? I never felt any of those shoes as narrow.

That is strange as tennis shoes have different fit, and most of those shoes are considered narrow/medium-narrow. If you know that you have wide feet, at some point it probably occurred to you that no all shoes have the same fit, otherwise who and how brought to your attention that fact?

From there most stores (online or physical) indicate the fit of the shoe one way or another. In a physical store you can ask the people there for an advice.

Lastly, when you put a shoe on and your toes or in general your foot becomes numb, you experience toe jamming and other symptoms of ill fitting shoe, at latest then you know that something is not right, especially when you compare to your normal shoes, right?

I never bought online, only in store after trying on. I especially found the Vapors and the Hypercourt the widest and most stable, yet broke the fastest.
Playing mostly in Europe so specific wide sizes are not available here.
What is SCB?

SCB stands for Sole Court Boost. It is an Adidas model that has an especially generous toe box. It also has a decent upper protection (not the most sturdy as material, but the construction is clever, and so relatively good).

IMO, you should address first the fit of the shoes, as it may be the main reason why your shoes have that problem. Many of the shoes you mention I have worn and they never failed on me in the same way. That might, or might not mean much, but at least you should try to isolate the issue somehow.

 

[FIRETennis]

That is strange as tennis shoes have different fit, and most of those shoes are considered narrow/medium-narrow. If you know that you have wide feet, at some point it probably occurred to you that no all shoes have the same fit, otherwise who and how brought to your attention that fact?

From there most stores (online or physical) indicate the fit of the shoe one way or another. In a physical store you can ask the people there for an advice.

Lastly, when you put a shoe on and your toes or in general your foot becomes numb, you experience toe jamming and other symptoms of ill fitting shoe, at latest then you know that something is not right, especially when you compare to your normal shoes, right?



SCB stands for Sole Court Boost. It is an Adidas model that has an especially generous toe box. It also has a decent upper protection (not the most sturdy as material, but the construction is clever, and so relatively good).

IMO, you should address first the fit of the shoes, as it may be the main reason why your shoes have that problem. Many of the shoes you mention I have worn and they never failed on me in the same way. That might, or might not mean much, but at least you should try to isolate the issue somehow.

Yeah I see what you mean, TW does list a property under each shoe as far as the fit goes but not really possible to filter for it.
Just checked the major brands on TW for clay and which have wide as the width and there are few and far in between....
I usually tried on dozens of pairs at the shops and bought over the years the ones that fit the best without checking the specs before hand.
Anyway, all the ones I mentioned, fit me well without any of the symptoms you mention.
As a side note, every person I have met with clay Vapor X shoes has the upper fabric torn in the same spots.
I'll check Sole Court Boost, thanks.