Babolat Pure Aero VS Tour Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 83

The Pure Aero VS Tour's specs -- 98 square inch head size, 16x20 string pattern and a swingweight well into the high 320s -- appealed to our playtesting squad. Chris compared this racquet to his Babolat Pure Drive, saying, "I liked that I could swing aggressively through the ball and not have to worry about overhitting. However, I also missed the forgiving response of my Pure Drive and its easy power. I felt like I was getting good spin with the Pure Aero VS Tour mostly because it encouraged faster swings due to its lower powered response. When I compared my spin numbers on our PlaySight Smart Court I discovered my forehand spin was very comparable to what I get with my Pure Drive Plus. I think the added racquet head speed I needed to hit with the same pace and depth helped me generate similar spin. I had good feel and touch on my slice. My slice backhand was my favorite shot with this racquet. I felt like I could drive it, float it, drop it short, go down the line or slice an angle at will. My forehand felt a tad flatter, but I still had a lot of control."

Michelle hoped the Pure Aero VS Tour would complement her game, but unfortunately, her flatter, powerful groundstrokes didn't line up as well as she expected. She explained, "When a racquet has the name Tour in it I hope that it will be a pretty beefy, heavy swinging racquet. This racquet lacked a lot of plow through. I was fine if I tried to be consistent, but when I stepped up my swing speed the racquet came through super fast and didn't feel solid enough at impact. It felt like the racquet lost the collision with the ball when I tried to add power, which also made it feel unstable. When I was stepping up to put balls away the Pure Aero VS Tour was erratic. Something about this racquet irritated my tendons in my wrist and hand. I'm not sure if it was the weight, which I doubt since it is nearly 12 oz, or the composition of the racquet or the stability issues I experienced. I wanted to add weight to the head of the racquet because it didn't have enough plow through. I didn't feel connected to the ball, and I didn't feel effective when I tried to take the offensive. I'm being picky, but this racquet would be better suited to a player with fast, whippy strokes rather than my flatter, elongated swing."

Troy thought the Pure Aero VS Tour swung lighter and faster than the weight and swingweight would indicate. He offered, "This racquet had a whippier feel than the Babolat Pure Aero Tour, which has a nearly identical weight and swingweight. This was likely due to the thinner beam construction in the hoop of this racquet. Because of the string pattern (16x20) the Pure Aero VS Tour provided exceptional access to topspin. The control I got on my groundstrokes was good, but not quite up to par with the Wilson Blade 98 (18x20). I could hit my groundstrokes with heavy topspin and consistently get good depth. I didn't enjoy the response as much when I tried to hit flatter groundstrokes: I didn't feel connected to the ball and found this racquet slightly unstable compared to the racquets I typically play with. When I was hitting slice backhands the Pure Aero VS Tour gripped the ball well enough to give me ample backspin, although I would have like a bit more stable feel on contact. The Pure Aero VS Tour was also slightly jarring on my arm."

Mark loved the Aero Storm Tour, so he was pretty excited to have the chance to swing the new Pure Aero VS Tour. He said, "I currently play with the Pure Aero Tour, and I have been favoring 16x20 string patterns lately because of the effect their square shaped spacing has on my swing style. No doubt, this racquet had me enamored from the baseline. Within my skill set, there wasn't much I couldn't do from the backcourt when swinging the VS Tour. Its more forgiving hoop and denser string pattern gave me better control and produced a tighter rotation on the ball than my Pure Aero Tour. Instead of just hoping, I was looking forward to changing the direction on the ball with the Pure Aero VS Tour, and hitting my targets with pace and depth was not an issue."

Volleys - Score: 83

Maneuverable and solid, the Pure Aero VS Tour was also precise and predictable when it came to volleys. Troy felt comfortable placing the ball anywhere on the court. He said, "I got good depth when I needed to volley deep, although the power wasn't quite there compared to the Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph. I had decent touch when I needed to hit a drop volley, but I craved the feel of the scalpel-like racquets I typically keep in my bag. The biggest downside for me was the stiffness of the racquet. It created a jarring feel when I contacted the ball just outside the sweetspot. Compared to the Volkl V-Sense 10 325g racquet that I recently playtested, this Pure Aero VS Tour was just a bit too firm for my liking. I strung it with a full-set of co-poly strings at 50 lbs and was getting some discomfort in my wrist after practicing volleys."

"The Pure Aero VS Tour was easy to get into position, and then it made it easy for me to hit my targets," said Michelle. "The sweetspot felt a little small and erratic, though. It had a noticeably low powered response, but all in all, it did the job up at net."

Mark was equally effective at the net as he was from the baseline. He said, "I like the overall weight and balance of the Pure Aero VS Tour, and the Pure Aero VS Tour's combination of a forgiving layup of graphite in the hoop and denser string pattern produced a predictable flight off the stringbed. I felt confident volleying, and I knew where the ball was going almost every time I hit it."

Chris also liked the feel of this racquet at net. He added, "The Pure Aero VS Tour felt solid, yet it also felt head light and maneuverable. I enjoyed the solid feel on punch volleys. Again, this is a lower powered racquet, and that gave me lots of confidence to really go after my volleys. I also liked the solid sounding 'thwack' I got on my overheads. I felt very dialed in when it came to touch shots. The low powered response made it very easy to bleed pace off the ball. With a soft grip on the handle I was able to hit drop volleys and angles that died quickly."

Serves - Score: 84

Since it carries the Pure Aero name, our playtesters had high expectations from the Pure Aero VS Tour when it came to serves. Chris was worried that he would miss the power of his Pure Drive Plus, but he served better than he expected. He explained, "I think this racquet's heavier weight helped me most on serves. I felt like I was getting enough pace on the ball, and I was very pleased with my accuracy. I couldn't get my spin serves to move around as much off the bounce as I can with my regular racquet, but otherwise I was pleased."

Troy found good consistency when serving. He said, "I generated easy spin on kick and slice serves. The maneuverability made it easy for me to snap my wrist to get extra spin on my serves when needed. I found enough control on my flat first serves to locate my targets with good consistency. My only knock was that I would have liked a bit more power on my serves. I think a little bit of tungsten tape at the tip of the frame would create the power I crave. Overall, I'm content with how I served with this racquet, especially since I'm not typically blowing my opponents away with power."

"By the end of this playtest the Pure Aero VS Tour from Babolat became my favorite racquet to serve with!" exclaimed Mark. "It provided me with plenty of plow through, and I always felt connected to the ball."

"This racquet worked just fine for me on my serve," said Michelle. "I never found massive amounts of power, but the control helped me be pretty precise. I pinpointed targets and got good movement on my serves. I hit some of my fastest serves with the Pure Aero, but I had quite a different experience with the Pure Aero VS Tour. Unfortunately for me, the lack of power was detrimental to my game. While I still hit some great T-serves on the ad side and body serves off both sides, I wanted more power on my first serves to get the point started."

Returns - Score: 81

The head light balance gave the Pure Aero VS Tour a fast feel while the stringbed put a tight grip on the ball. This combination gave our team a lot of potential for success with their returns. Feeling like he could take a good crack at the ball when given the chance, Chris had fun returning with this racquet. He explained, "The controlled response helped me keep my shots on target. I was happy with both my topspin and slice backhand returns. I liked the grip and drive I found when slicing my returns, and it was easy to get the racquet through contact on my topspin shots. There was also enough mass in the racquet for good stability. The stringbed felt firm and controlled while still offering up enough feel and comfort."

Michelle continued to hold this racquet to high standards. She critiqued, "The Pure Aero VS Tour just didn't provide anything earth shattering for my returns. I could attack, but I never had enough behind my ball to be really offensive. Both plow through and stability were missing for me. I wanted more mass in the head, which is something I would add if I were to consider this racquet. I felt disconnected form the ball, and I lost a bit of confidence in my returns with this racquet."

The fast feel of this racquet allowed Troy to be aggressive on returns. He said, "Anytime the server left the ball in my strike zone I generated easy racquet head speed and returned the ball deep in my opponent's court. If I was stretched out and off balance the Pure Aero VS Tour was maneuverable enough for me to flick my wrist and get a defensive return to land in. The downside for me was when I had to block a return back or hit a slice return; I didn't get the plow through I typically look for in a racquet. With racquets like the Wilson Six.One 95 or the Wilson RF97 Autograph I'm able to utilize the plow through to create easy depth with a short swing. With this racquet my block and chip returns were not getting the easy depth I wanted. In addition to the lack of plow through, the stiffness caused some arm discomfort. There wasn't the plush and smooth feel I get with the Volkl V-Sense 10 325g, which I have been playing with as of late."

While Mark's return off the forehand wing was nothing to marvel at, he found his slice backhand return was complemented greatly by the Pure Aero VS Tour.

Overall - Score: 82