Hey everyone, Simon and Alex here with top tennis training and today we have another
rocket review for you today we'll be reviewing the Babolat pure drive 2021 version now I've
done the unboxing of this uh racket which you can check out in some of our earlier
videos but today we'll be doing a playtest and letting you know exactly what it feels
like how different it is and whether it's a good racquet that would suit your game
now this is the 300 gram version of the racket there will be a 315 gram version coming out uh
later but this is a 300 gram version it's strong with a polyester string so this is a signum pro
poly plasma string it's a similar string i guess to the rpm blast from babalat
or the laxillon big banger it's that kind of string it's the monofilament string a little bit
maybe less forgiving uh than some of the synthetic gut strings but this is the string i used to play
with and it's a string that i uh strain this racket with now strung at 54 pounds usually
i string it between 54 and 58 54 being because it's a slightly uh stiffer string that's where
i strung it at 54 just to give the racket a chance to perform and see what it does with that tension
oh
ah
so first thoughts just hitting a few balls with it it feels a little bit less stiff than my arrow
so the area that i was using before it feels a little bit softer feel i don't quite feel as
powerful as i do with the aero which is quite interesting because i would have thought
they would have felt a little bit more pingy but the ball doesn't seem to be flying off
quite as much but i do feel that there's quite a lot of control on it from both my ground strokes
so yeah it's a a more well balanced racket rather than a power racket
one more
sorry now i also don't feel like i get quite as much spin as i do with the arrow uh the the
racquet doesn't seem to grip it quite as much i don't feel like it flies through there as quick as
the arrow so it feels a little bit more dampened it's like a dampened version of the aero is what
it feels like to me at the moment for topspin it doesn't generate quite as much topspin but
it does have a really nice comfortable feel on it so when i hit the ball i don't feel any vibrations
there's less vibrations going through my arm compared to the arrow and it yeah it feels like
it's well dampened a really forgiving softer racket which is nice to see but i feel like
i would have loved to have a little bit more power out of the frame even when i really go
for it i didn't feel like the ball was pinging off i want to feel like i'm almost struggling to
control that ball and it's something i felt some of the earlier versions of the bubbler this feels
more of a control racket where they tried to bring down maybe the power aspect and made it feel more
controlled
uh
yep
sorry
ugh
so so far it feels very soft very forgiving and it feels really easy to maneuver with
this racket it's giving me a bit more power than my normal dunlop 200 cx tour racket so of course
anything compared to that's kind of stiff racket is going to give me more power it doesn't give me
as much power as the pure aero does but i still feel like i'm getting more than my normal frame
good for top spin and also very surprising on the slice
i really felt what i was doing with that slice i could really control it well with this racquet
which isn't always the case with the babylock racket sometimes you feel like you hit a slice
and it pings off too quickly but with this one i had really good control that
i could really impart that under spin on my slideshot now it's time for the
volleys
hey off center is a bit dead when it comes off center you know on the edges
okay
so on the volleys when i'm hitting in the sweet spot it feels quite nice
you can see that they've really gone for control with this racket over the power you still get
more power than your average racket but much less than traditionally you would get with a babble up
now the bad thing about the volleys is when you hit it off center it starts to feel a bit dead
so you have to be really precise with that contact point when you're heading at the neck
ah
now i really like this racket on the volleys because it just feels like it's
quite easy to maneuver it feels quite head light whereas on the ground strokes i felt
like it wasn't giving me enough on the volley i feel it gives me quite a lot of
time and quick i can have quick hands here and it still feels quite stable in the shot which is nice
so the stability part is really good um i do feel like it's yeah it's quite well balanced but
it feels like it's a little bit more into the handle i would have liked it for it to
be a bit more head heavy for the baseline shots in order to get that extra power
it feels like they've taken that from the baseline but actually the net game it feels like it's
quite easy to handle power and quite easy to give power and a very maneuverable racket at the net
huh
so on the serves a little bit similar to how i felt from the baseline with my shots i feel like
it's a good all-round racquet i don't feel like it's giving me a particularly high amount of power
i feel like uh it's just very similar to other racquets i feel like with the arrow i was getting
a little bit more ping out of the strings i also feel like if i hit the ball a little bit
off center it doesn't quite fly the same way i feel like the sweet spot has maybe been reduced
slightly and because of that slightly lighter head how it feels that it's a lighter head then
um i think perhaps it's not giving me quite as much power on that serve as i would have liked
i do like it on the slice serve so when slicing i feel like the racket flies through there quite
quick on that slice possibly again because of the the way it feels with a lighter head but
and it gives you a good curve on the ball but that crazy power aspect isn't quite there so you know
it's become more of a control racket whereas i was expecting for it to be an absolute beast
so alex what did you think of the racket overall so overall i really liked the feel
of the racket like the comfort levels of the racket like the vibration dampening
of the racket but i feel like the damning has taken away a little bit from the power aspect
of the rack and i expected it for it to feel more powerful um it didn't um i used to use a vibration
damner before when i played with these rackets now i feel like i'm not gonna have to use it simply
because it's already done within the frame which i don't particularly think was needed for this frame
yep i could agree with that what kind of players do you think this racket would suit well i think a
suit more of a player who likes to be precise more of that precision player someone who likes control
so likes to build points but without the power necessarily so an all-round player it suits the
baseline suits the net quite good on the serve as well so someone who has that all-round game style
this would be the kind of racket you would choose if you want that precision in your game now if
you are someone that doesn't quite generate as much power themselves easily like me currently
i feel like i would prefer to stick with my aero simply because it gives me more power
this one does feel a lot very comfortable on the arm so if you are someone who's got an injury
maybe carrying an elbow shoulder wrist injury this racket feels great because it just feels
less stiff than the arrow it feels quite soft to play even with the strings that are quite stiff
but yeah it just doesn't have that ping that power that that i was waiting for
so what out of 10 what would you give this racquet out of 10. i'd give it a 7 out of 10
overall yep i would give it a 6 out of 10 simply because my previous ones i would have given it a
9 or a 10 and i'm just a little bit disappointed in the power so the 6 is just there thank you
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you