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Caratteristiche:
Tecnologia: Cortex System/Aéro Modular/GT
Ovale: 645 cm²
Peso: 300 grammi
Rigidità: 72 RA
Profilo: 26 mm
Lunghezza: 68.5 cm
Bilanciamento: 32 cm
Grip: Babolat Syntec bianco
Schema Corde: 16 x 19
Recensione di un utente su TalkTennis:
Personal Racquet of Choice - Pure Storm Tour GT
Hours played - 6
Groundstrokes- This is where all of the aeropro drives. excel Ripping, spinning, heavy groundstrokes off either side. For me, the best part of the experience. What I like about this racquet, is the 100" design, along with the aero throat. It gives the racquet a "sleek" feel for a stick with it's head size. By comparison, something like a pure drive ends up feeling more "fly swatter" like. The best way to describe hitting groundstrokes with this stick for me, would be a "carving" motion. It's hard to describe. When I use the APD I tend to hit more of an in between SW-W forehand. I still like to have a forward swing path but my angle of attack is a little more closed than other racquets. For me, the APD allows me to swing in a way that other racquets do not. I attribute it solely to the feel of the design, and I personally love it. I don't buy into that aero throat allowing you to swing faster marketing bit. Not at all. But it does impart a radically different feel to your strokes that I imagine people either love or hate. As stated above, I love it. I prefer full poly in this racquet, and I think a good poly makes this racquet come alive. Still plenty of power, and yet a lot of control. I felt that the GT version was very solid in terms of directional control and I knew where everything was going at contact. For people that like the feel of this racquet and it's design, I can hardly think of a better overall ground stroke racquet.
Serves- For me this this is the weakest part of the APD racquets, and it always has been. Not that it is bad, but it just lacks something compared to the PD. That would be the feeling of being able to toss it up and slam it into the back fence. You can still do that with this racquet, but I tend to add more slice to my serves with this racquet, and second serves are much more difficult. I know it's mostly the user for these things, but the feel on serves is the opposite of groundstrokes for me. In fact I am not sure what is up with the slicing. I know a toss to the right will make you much more likely to slice, but even a standard straight ahead toss seems to be more susceptible. I just feel unsure of myself, especially on second serves. In fact, I have lost sets because of strings of double faults where I just feel like I can't find the box. I don't really have this problem with a pure drive at all. Anyway, I know I could get to grips with the serving on this racquet with some focused and dedicated practice. It is just harder than other well serving racquets. Overall I think serves are "good" with the potential to be "great" with some work. It wouldn't prevent me from using this racquet regularly, but there are better serving racquets.
Volleys- I don't really have a problem volleying with any racquet, unless it's unstable. This one is no different. Solid response, stable for me, and able to punch the ball away pretty easily (unlike the AST GT, that you had to really work to stick). In fact I really like this racquet on volleys. With full poly you have the ability for shorter angled volleys, or deeper put away volleys…just no problem here and no complaints. Nothing "super awesome" but no deficiencies for me. In fact I think this would be a great doubles racquet in this sense.
Serve returns- Good, Sometimes I would have the tendency to overhit a bit, but that also has to do being lazy sometimes. When blocking back a ball, you can't have your racquet too open and send it flying…on smaller headed, less powerful racquets these can drop in (of course then you've just hit a sitter) but you don't really get away with that on this one. However, if you know how to utilize this you can be more aggressive with your returns overall, and you get a nice sweetspot for getting more balls back in play. I like it, and I like it a lot.
General comments - First up, lets look at the feel. At this point everyone knows what the GT "tech" is supposed to add. A better feel. That's about it. But I don't think the Babolat line really needs any improvement in terms of performance, so if they are focused on improving the feel in these things, I say great. Did they succeed? I think they did. The APD GT follows in the footsteps of the previous Babolats in improving the overall feel of the line. I would always play with my cortex racquets with a good amount of lead. I was fine with the feel, though I could see why people who liked a classic head or wilson feel wouldn't like it. Does the GT version remedy that? No not in that sense, I don't think the "physics" of the racquets would even allow that. There is so much more overall volume to the mold these things, if the density of the layups were the same I imagine they would be well over 15 ounces (total conjecture). But the feel is improved, and I certainly felt more connected to my shots. I think the GT racquets do this without being harsh, so I would say, definitely a success. Also, I felt the stock swingweight felt heavier than the previous version, though some are reporting that their racquets felt light. Hopefully the Babolat QC isn't going downhill…
Overall, a great racquet. I could easily use this as my main stick, and I think it can cover a wide wide range of players and settings. Doubles, singles, mens, ladies, anyone could benefit from using this racquet. Even people who think the kps88 is the manliest stick around. In fact, I am considering going back to it, as there is simply no denying the over all performance of a 100" racquet. Many people talk about how you have to be "good enough" to use something like a k90 or prestige mid, but I see it another way. While anyone can play with these, only a great player could fully utilize the potential of this thing. It can seriously be a wicked, wicked players stick with the right config, just as well as it could be a casual players "fun time" stick. I see very little downside to these. Highly, highly recommended, and easily in my top 5 overall racquets.
Sembrerebbe che sia migliorata rispetto alla APDCortex, spero di riuscire ad averla in prova quando verrà commercializzata qui in Italia.
Caratteristiche:
Tecnologia: Cortex System/Aéro Modular/GT
Ovale: 645 cm²
Peso: 300 grammi
Rigidità: 72 RA
Profilo: 26 mm
Lunghezza: 68.5 cm
Bilanciamento: 32 cm
Grip: Babolat Syntec bianco
Schema Corde: 16 x 19
Recensione di un utente su TalkTennis:
Personal Racquet of Choice - Pure Storm Tour GT
Hours played - 6
Groundstrokes- This is where all of the aeropro drives. excel Ripping, spinning, heavy groundstrokes off either side. For me, the best part of the experience. What I like about this racquet, is the 100" design, along with the aero throat. It gives the racquet a "sleek" feel for a stick with it's head size. By comparison, something like a pure drive ends up feeling more "fly swatter" like. The best way to describe hitting groundstrokes with this stick for me, would be a "carving" motion. It's hard to describe. When I use the APD I tend to hit more of an in between SW-W forehand. I still like to have a forward swing path but my angle of attack is a little more closed than other racquets. For me, the APD allows me to swing in a way that other racquets do not. I attribute it solely to the feel of the design, and I personally love it. I don't buy into that aero throat allowing you to swing faster marketing bit. Not at all. But it does impart a radically different feel to your strokes that I imagine people either love or hate. As stated above, I love it. I prefer full poly in this racquet, and I think a good poly makes this racquet come alive. Still plenty of power, and yet a lot of control. I felt that the GT version was very solid in terms of directional control and I knew where everything was going at contact. For people that like the feel of this racquet and it's design, I can hardly think of a better overall ground stroke racquet.
Serves- For me this this is the weakest part of the APD racquets, and it always has been. Not that it is bad, but it just lacks something compared to the PD. That would be the feeling of being able to toss it up and slam it into the back fence. You can still do that with this racquet, but I tend to add more slice to my serves with this racquet, and second serves are much more difficult. I know it's mostly the user for these things, but the feel on serves is the opposite of groundstrokes for me. In fact I am not sure what is up with the slicing. I know a toss to the right will make you much more likely to slice, but even a standard straight ahead toss seems to be more susceptible. I just feel unsure of myself, especially on second serves. In fact, I have lost sets because of strings of double faults where I just feel like I can't find the box. I don't really have this problem with a pure drive at all. Anyway, I know I could get to grips with the serving on this racquet with some focused and dedicated practice. It is just harder than other well serving racquets. Overall I think serves are "good" with the potential to be "great" with some work. It wouldn't prevent me from using this racquet regularly, but there are better serving racquets.
Volleys- I don't really have a problem volleying with any racquet, unless it's unstable. This one is no different. Solid response, stable for me, and able to punch the ball away pretty easily (unlike the AST GT, that you had to really work to stick). In fact I really like this racquet on volleys. With full poly you have the ability for shorter angled volleys, or deeper put away volleys…just no problem here and no complaints. Nothing "super awesome" but no deficiencies for me. In fact I think this would be a great doubles racquet in this sense.
Serve returns- Good, Sometimes I would have the tendency to overhit a bit, but that also has to do being lazy sometimes. When blocking back a ball, you can't have your racquet too open and send it flying…on smaller headed, less powerful racquets these can drop in (of course then you've just hit a sitter) but you don't really get away with that on this one. However, if you know how to utilize this you can be more aggressive with your returns overall, and you get a nice sweetspot for getting more balls back in play. I like it, and I like it a lot.
General comments - First up, lets look at the feel. At this point everyone knows what the GT "tech" is supposed to add. A better feel. That's about it. But I don't think the Babolat line really needs any improvement in terms of performance, so if they are focused on improving the feel in these things, I say great. Did they succeed? I think they did. The APD GT follows in the footsteps of the previous Babolats in improving the overall feel of the line. I would always play with my cortex racquets with a good amount of lead. I was fine with the feel, though I could see why people who liked a classic head or wilson feel wouldn't like it. Does the GT version remedy that? No not in that sense, I don't think the "physics" of the racquets would even allow that. There is so much more overall volume to the mold these things, if the density of the layups were the same I imagine they would be well over 15 ounces (total conjecture). But the feel is improved, and I certainly felt more connected to my shots. I think the GT racquets do this without being harsh, so I would say, definitely a success. Also, I felt the stock swingweight felt heavier than the previous version, though some are reporting that their racquets felt light. Hopefully the Babolat QC isn't going downhill…
Overall, a great racquet. I could easily use this as my main stick, and I think it can cover a wide wide range of players and settings. Doubles, singles, mens, ladies, anyone could benefit from using this racquet. Even people who think the kps88 is the manliest stick around. In fact, I am considering going back to it, as there is simply no denying the over all performance of a 100" racquet. Many people talk about how you have to be "good enough" to use something like a k90 or prestige mid, but I see it another way. While anyone can play with these, only a great player could fully utilize the potential of this thing. It can seriously be a wicked, wicked players stick with the right config, just as well as it could be a casual players "fun time" stick. I see very little downside to these. Highly, highly recommended, and easily in my top 5 overall racquets.
Sembrerebbe che sia migliorata rispetto alla APDCortex, spero di riuscire ad averla in prova quando verrà commercializzata qui in Italia.
