Racquet Playtest Comparison: Dunlop AG 500 Tour vs. PD Roddick vs. Babolat AP Drive

About the play tester

Dunlop Aerogel 500 (5Hundred) Tour Racquets Impressive stability and comfort combines with excellent spin potential, some nice pop and a clean and crisp feel in this Tour version of the Aerogel 500. Headsize: 100sq. inches. Standard length. String pattern: 16/18 Strung weight: 11.1 ounces. Babolat Pure Drive Roddick Racquets Some added heft and a stiffer frame combine to give the Pure Drive Roddick a more solid feel and slightly more power compared to the Pure Drive. Spin friendly, maneuverable and stable, this one brings the goods from all areas of the court.

Tester: Kim N. - friend of Tennis Warehouse Playing Level: 4.0 Regular playing equipment: Wilson nCode Tour 90, Wilson Sensation, 52 lbs. Game Style: All court game, semi-western forehand, two handed backhand. I take big cuts at the ball on the forehand side with moderate topspin. Backhand is more conservative, moderate swing speed and spin and plenty of slicing. Volleys, I try to get to the net as often as possible so it's a big part of my game, mostly touch and angle volleys. Flat first serve with some pace and more conservative second serve, both slice and topspin used equally. Initial Impressions: Aero Pro Drive - At first the throat area of the racket looked really weird, it felt a little awkward holding, but the cosmetics are nice, the paint job is simple so it's not too flashy. I'm a big fan of glossy finishes, but the matte finish on the throat area of the APD was very nice. Swinging it in the air, I found it really lightweight, both static weight and swing weight, I was always really sketchy of the technology of the racket, but to my surprise, it felt like I could swing the racket a lot faster than most. Overall, despite the weird shape, it was a racket that caught my eye and I could see myself playing with it. Pure Drive Roddick - I miss the old Pure Drive cosmetics, the glossy finish and the simplicity. Not that the paint job was bad, I thought it was decent, but wished that Babolat could somehow make the Pure Drive Roddick and the Pure Drive with Cortex look more distinguishable, sort of like how the APD has blue as one of the primary colors and the Aero Pro Control has red. I'd have to say Babolat picked cool graphics for this racket, some might say that it looks ugly, but I think it stands out. Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour - I like the new cosmetics of the Aerogel line-it has some of the same ideas as the Hotmelt line which I really liked. The finish was very nice, very glossy and smooth (like a brand new car). I thought the colors weren't too bad of a choice either, the yellowish green reminds me of the RDS 001 and the Surge Pro Open, which gets a lot of mixed reviews, but the Dunlop version of this color looks quite a bit better. Out of the three, I like the Dunlop cosmetics the most.

Power:

Aero Pro Drive: This racket has a lot of power, I like to swing pretty big on my shots and everytime I did, the ball just zipped off the racket. On groundstrokes the power potential of the racket was a little harder to achieve because I found myself hitting higher looping groundstrokes on both sides (a la Nadal). I'm not sure if this was due to the design of the racket, or the mentality that this is the game that this racket is best suited for. On the other hand, my serves had more pop to them which I really liked because the serves stayed in as well. I have lots of problems with overheads but this racket cured them all, I had a lot of confidence hitting overheads, even from the baseline. This racket was also very good at the net, my volleys felt like they had more punch to them and usually went deeper into the court.

Pure Drive Roddick: Like most Babolat rackets, the Pure Drive Roddick has plenty of power to it. I found that there was added power to my game for every shot- groundstrokes, volleys, overheads, and serves. Especially for over the head shots, it felt like I got a whole lot more power. It felt like it added at least 10 mph to my serve, if not more. As with the APD, I was more confident with my overheads and also at the net, I felt like I could hit it deep penetrating volleys instead of just getting it back.

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: This racket had the Babolat feel to it, by that I mean it added power to every part of my game. The 500 Tour felt very similar to the Pure Drive Roddick except slightly stiffer so I felt like it has slightly more power, not as much on volleys, but more so for serves.

Control:

Aero Pro Drive: Surprisingly this racket had plenty of control to it, it wasn't pin point control like you would get with a smaller sized racket, but it was very easy to keep the ball in the court, even when going for hard shots. This is probably due to the spin potential of the racket and also the stiffness makes it easy to direct the ball.

Pure Drive Roddick: Like the APD, the Pure Drive Roddick also surprised me from how much control I had. I'd say that there wasn't as much, but the difference is so little it's not even noticeable for most shots.Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: I thought this racket had the most power, so in turn it felt like it had the least control. It wasn't hard to keep the ball in the court for the most part, but I found it hard to pick spots (down the T and into the body) when serving.

Maneuverability:

Aero Pro Drive: Out of the three, this was the most maneuverable one by far. Not only was it lighter when holding, but it felt like I could swing really fast with it, faster than the Pure Drive Roddick and the 500 Tour. Even at the net, it felt like I was a little bit quicker.

Pure Drive Roddick: When I first picked up this racket, I thought to myself this is probably going to be hard to play with, it was heavy and powerful, but I was pleased with how easy it was to swing, at the net I thought it would feel sluggish, but it actually felt like my volleys were better using this racket, it didn't feel more maneuverable than what I'm used to but I had no problems with reaction volleys at all.

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: Like the Pure Drive Roddick, this racket felt pretty heavy holding it and it did feel a little more sluggish at the net than both the Babolats, especially on reaction volleys. Other than that, it was very easy to swing on groundstrokes despite the static weight. It also felt like I could swing it very fast on my serves adding a lot of power, which was a very nice plus.

Stability:

Aero Pro Drive: Out of the three I found this was the least stable, especially hitting against harder hitters it felt like it took a lot more strength just to get the ball back. I also found that there was a great deal of twisting on off center hits, which was very uncomfortable at times.

Pure Drive Roddick: I loved the stability of this racket, I would say it felt similar to my n90 as stability goes. All my shots felt very solid and it had a very nice plow through feel to it, even volleys were noticeably easier to "punch".

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: Stability is another high point of this racket, like the Roddick, hitting against harder hitters is no problem, the plow through effect is very nice for my two handed backhand as well as all my other strokes, felt solid.

Comfort

Aero Pro Drive: I have a history of tennis elbow problems and this racket didn't help at all, it was light and stiff which hurt my elbow quite a bit after playing with it, even though it was very nice to play with, it wasn't good for my arm.

Pure Drive Roddick: I would say the same thing about this racket as I did for the APD, but I think the weight helped reduce the shock a bit, but even then, the arm was a little sore after playing.

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: The aerogel felt the stiffest of them all, thus the most uncomfortable of them all, eventhough the weight was higher than the APD, it felt less comfortable and I felt every bit of shock that came from mishitting or even hitting the ball.

Spin:

Aero Pro Drive: All I have to say is the spin is awesome in this racket, because of how easy it was to swing and the open string pattern, I've never had more spin on my serves (without sacrificing speed) and on groundstrokes.

Pure Drive Roddick: I'd say that the Roddick has as much spin potential as the APD (they have the same string pattern) but it was harder to get the spin from this one, especially on serves, but as for groundstrokes, it was very close in spin.

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: The Aerogel is like the Roddick when it comes to spin, the string pattern looks just as open, but it just doesn't swing as fast as the APD, so it's hard to get as much spin.

Overall

Aero Pro Drive: I liked this one the most out of the three, I loved the spin, the power, and serving with it as well. At the net, it was maneuverable enough for quick exchanges and stiff so it was felt very solid hitting volleys. To make it short, everything felt good an not just good, but better in everyway. Not just playing with it, but I loved the looks of the racket, the black and yellow is very nice and at first glance you know exactly what racket it is. The only thing that turns me away from this racket is how my elbow felt after playing, the stiffness and lack of weight was a bit too much for me, but for people who don't have problems, this could be a very good game improvement racket.

Pure Drive Roddick: It's hard to say anything bad about this racket, cause simply, there isn't much. I think this is a very smart addition for Babolat. Everything is nice, the weight, the power, the control, the spin, and even at the net it's very nice. Not that it would turn me away from buying this racket, but the only complaint I have is the paint job, the only reason why I wouldn't buy one is because of the Aero Pro Drive. I think this racket would be perfect for the improving junior or a step up from the Pure Drive Standard.

Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour: I found this racket very similar to the Pure Drive Roddick, everything felt very similar, but only stiffer and a bit more power, which I wasn't looking for in a racket. Even though it wasn't for me, I thought this racket was very good, very stable and even looks pretty good. I think this is a great racket for an older person looking to get back into tennis or looking to improve his/her game.

Power Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 85 Babolat Aero Pro Drive 80 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 80	Control Babolat Aero Pro Drive 65 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 65 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 60	Maneuverability Babolat Aero Pro Drive 85 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 75 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 70	Stability Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 80 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 80 Babolat Aero Pro Drive 65
Comfort Babolat Aero Pro Drive 55 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 55 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 60	Touch/Feel Babolat Aero Pro Drive 65 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 65 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 65	Groundstrokes Babolat Aero Pro Drive 90 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 75 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 75	Volleys Babolat Aero Pro Drive 85 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 75 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 75
Serves and Overheads Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 90 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 90 Babolat Aero Pro Drive 85	Serve Returns Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 75 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 70 Babolat Aero Pro Drive 65	Slice Babolat Aero Pro Drive 80 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 65 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 65	Topspin Babolat Aero Pro Drive 90 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 80 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 75
Overall Babolat Aero Pro Drive 80 Babolat Pure Drive Roddick 70 Dunlop Aerogel 500 Tour 70

Playtest date: August, 2007.

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