The new
Babolat Pure Drive 2018 tested by Mike! The latest version of the Pure Drive offers a more consistent playing feel and more power and spin than its predecessor.
Tested racket:
Brand: Babolat Model: Pure Drive 2018 Head size: 100 sq/inch Weight: 300 gr Balance: 32.0 cm Stringing pattern: 16/19 Length: 27 inch RA: 71 Stringing:
Babolat RPM Team 1.25 on 23/22 kg
The Babolat Pure Drive 2018 is now available in our webshop! 
Tester:
Name: Mike Playing strength: 4/4 Type of player: more classic player, flat groundstrokes, generates little spin. Had shoulder problems until recently. Player's racket history: Head Ti Fire, Babolat Pure Drive, Prince EXO3 Rebel Team, Wilson Steam 100 BLX2, Head Graphene Radical MP and the
Prince Textreme Warrior 107 . The Babolat Pure Strike 16/19 2017 has recently also been used.
Technology Babolat Pure Drive 2018:
The latest version of the Pure Drive not only has fresh cosmetics. The necessary technical adjustments have also been made to the racket. First of all, Babolat's well-known Woofer technology is now fully integrated into the frame, just like with the
latest version of the Pure Aero . With this technology, the strings lie over saddles, as it were. At ball impact, these provide more energy, spin potential and an enlargement of the sweet spot. Cortex gets an upgrade to
Cortex Pure Feel . Cortex Pure Feel is incorporated into the shaft of the racket. Cortex Pure Feel has a thin layer of visco-elastic rubber incorporated into the material mix of the shaft. This technology provides more vibration damping and therefore a cleaner, more stable playing feeling.
FSI Power is not new in itself: the new Babolat Pure Strike series also uses this technology. However, this is now being used for the first time in the Pure Drive series. The
previous Pure Drive had the strings placed more compactly in the sweet spot for some extra control and connection with the ball. With the Babolat Pure Drive 2018, Babolat goes back to the roots of the Pure Drive as 'the power machine'. The racket has the same 16/19 stringing pattern, but the strings are, as it were, pulled apart more. This provides more power and a larger sweet spot. The ball rotation also becomes a bit easier thanks to this FSI Power. This results in more power, even with off-center hits. The tubings have also been adjusted for more freedom of movement of the strings. These tubings are now hexagonal. In the past I have also played the Babolat Pure Drive. I also tested the previous version (
Pure Drive 2015 ). In this playtest I also included this 'old' version of the Pure Drive for a comparison of both frames.
Baseline:
The Babolat Pure Drive 2018 plays wonderfully solid from the baseline. The new Pure Drive performs well over the entire track, but I like it best from the baseline. What I noticed is that the racket feels more solid at ball impact than the previous Pure Drive. This gives you better feedback from the racket, but above all a more consistent playing feeling. Whether this is due to the Cortex Pure Feel and/or due to a more homogeneous RA value (stiffness) of the frame, I don't know. The racket just feels more solid. This was also noticeable with my slice backhands. It was very easy to transfer the mass of the frame through the ball. Good plow-through, as it is so beautifully called.
The spin and power also came out a bit easier for me. With my flatter groundstrokes, an extra bit of ball rotation and therefore margin is nice for my game. Perhaps I was able to place a little more precisely with the previous Pure Drive, but in terms of power and spin the Pure Drive 2018 certainly wins. Another striking feature is the ball feeling. In my opinion, the new Pure Drive has more touch than its predecessor. I hit some really nice drop shots with it.
Service:
My sensitive shoulder can sometimes act up when serving. Partly because of this I chose my current Prince Textreme Warrior 107. I noticed that I had to put a little more effort into putting speed into the ball with this new Pure Drive, but that is more my problem than the racket's fault. I found the service power to be more than sufficient. What is clearly noticeable is that the grip on the ball has improved. I could produce a slice and/or kick serve more easily. In particular, my slice serve on the right outside (I'm right-handed) went very well.
Just:
Tasty! Another point where I could clearly notice the improved stability of the frame was at the net. The racket feels nice and stable upon ball impact. Hard balls are easy to handle. What I liked best was that there is a lot of feeling in the racket. I hit some wonderful stopping volleys with it, where I always had the feeling that I knew exactly what the ball was going to do.
Power/control:
The power is, so to speak, abundantly present in the Babolat Pure Drive 2018. From the baseline it is a blast with this racket. The previous Pure Drive may have provided slightly more precision in terms of placement due to the closer meshing of the strings in the sweet spot. Still, I like the overall control of the new Pure Drive better. The racket feels more stable, as in that it twists less. As a result, I found the racket to perform more consistently. You get better feedback about how you hit the ball. This is also nice for players who want to grow. But the racket simply feels more stable upon ball impact.
Comfort/arm-friendliness:
Always a point of attention for me! I like the comfort of the new Pure Drive. Because the racket twists less, there is less shock load. I don't know whether Cortex Pure Feel itself dampens more, but the overall vibration damping of the frame was nice. I tested this racket with a full bed (length and width) polyester string. This Babolat RPM team is the less stiff and therefore slightly more comfortable brother of the well-known RPM Blast. This string worked great with the new Pure Drive. You could give the racket even more comfort by using a hybrid string setup with, for example, polyester in the length with a synthetic gut or multifilament in the width. Infrequent string breakers can opt for a multifilament or even better for a gut string for maximum comfort. With polyester strings or a hybrid, my advice would be not to go too high in terms of kilos due to the already stable nature of the frame.
The Babolat Pure Drive 2018 is now available in our webshop!
Coveralls:
I am impressed with the new Babolat Pure Drive 2018! I think that the racket has clearly improved in terms of stability and playing feel. It is also nice that Babolat has brought back the familiar power and spin potential of the Pure Drive. The racket offers more than enough comfort and a surprising amount of touch. Great update!
