Mike tested the Babolat Pure Drive VS the past few weeks and dares to say that this is his favorite Babolat racket of the moment. Read on!

Tested racket:

Brand: Babolat Model: Pure Drive VS Head size: 98 sq/inch Weight: 300 gr Balance: 32.0 cm Stringing pattern: 16x19 Length: 27 inch RA: 68 Stringing: Babolat RPM Blast 1.25 on 23/22 kg The Babolat Pure Drive VS is now available as a bundle of 2 pieces in our webshop including free stringings of your choice!

Tester:

Name: Mike Playing strength: 4/4 Type of player: somewhat classic player, flat groundstrokes, generates little spin himself. Had shoulder problems in the past. Racket history player: Head Ti Fire, Babolat Pure Drive, Prince EXO3 Rebel Team, Wilson Steam 100 BLX2, Head Graphene Radical MP and the Prince Textreme Warrior 107. Recently started using the Diadem Elevate 98 .

Baseline:

From the baseline, the Babolat Pure Drive VS plays solid and fast. The stable and 'full' playing feel is particularly noticeable. The racket does not have the punching power of the regular Pure Drive , but plays more consistently and has a more homogeneous playing feel. It is also noticeable that the frame thickness (beam) is slightly narrower than the regular Pure Drive 2018. This makes the racket faster to maneuver. You have excellent access to spin, in this respect the racket is in my opinion no less than the Pure Drive. The Pure Drive VS offers nice controlled power from the baseline. What was also noticeable was the ease with which I could play tight slice backhands. The racket glides through the air very easily and offers, so to speak, a nice full ball touch.

Service:

I am not a service gun and will not become one with the Pure Drive VS. Nevertheless, the racket is easy and fast to get around, which allowed me to get speed and rotation in my serve relatively easily.

Just:

Very nice! Here the solid playing feel of the Pure Drive VS comes in very handy. The racket feels very stable with hard balls, but there is also more touch and finesse in it than in the regular Pure Drive. I was very pleasantly surprised in that respect.

Power/control:

With the Pure Drive racket family, it remains power over control. This is also the case with this Pure Drive VS. However, this racket is a lot more balanced in terms of power and control. The 'regular' Pure Drive is a bit more playable for a larger audience. That racket plays a bit easier, has a larger blade size and offers a bit more free power. This Pure Drive VS in turn offers great power, but then a bit more controlled. And the Pure Drive VS plays more stable under pressure. 'Legendary precision' as a slogan for this racket goes a bit too far for me, but the fact is that the racket offers a nice balance in terms of power and control. There is also a bit more feeling and finesse in it.

Comfort/arm friendliness:

Despite the smaller 98 sq/inch blade size, I find the Pure Drive VS more comfortable to play than the regular Pure Drive. This racket does require a bit more technique from the player, but feels a lot more homogeneous and more dampened. Excellent comfort for Babolat standards! And I've said it before: this racket feels exceptionally solid. The Babolat Pure Drive VS is now available as a 2-pack in our webshop including free stringing of your choice! 2-pack packaging with increased quality control: both rackets weigh within 1.9 grams of each other.

Bottom line:

At first I didn't have too high expectations of yet another version of the Pure Drive. After all, there are already enough. However, this Pure Drive VS is fundamentally different from the rest of the family. This racket has a nice balance of above-average power with additional stability and control. And because of the solid playing feel, the racket feels very comfortable with a nice touch. The Pure Drive VS is my favorite Babolat racket of the moment!