BABOLAT

Born in 1994, the Babolat Pure Drive is no ordinary piece of graphite. In addition to being exhaustively
imitated by other brands, the Pure Drive epitomizes the speed, spin and power of the modern tennis game. Although
the target specs have remained virtually unchanged over the years, the Pure Drive has seen a steady diet of
technological tweaks, resulting in changes to the feel and response. For the 2018 version, Babolat has not only
widened the string spacing, but it has also redesigned the grommet holes and updated the Cortex dampening
system. According to our playtest team, these updates were not made in vain. Compared to the previous version, we
found a noticeable bump in power and spin, along with a decidedly more muted and dampened feel. We also
detected a higher shot trajectory, which resulted in easier depth and also translated seamlessly into high arching balls
that dropped hard and exploded off the court. Having said that, the Pure Drive is not without its faults. Our team had
occasional issues harnessing the power and managing the robust trajectory. There were also some isolated
complaints about the muted response, which for one playtester didn't quite measure up to the crisp and connected
feel of past versions. Ultimately, though, for the fearless player looking to dominate the opposition with big serves,
piercing volleys and heavy, spin-loaded groundstrokes, the new Pure Drive is as good as it gets.