Babolat Pure Strike 100 Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 84

Two of the players on this review team play with the slightly heavier Pure Strike 98 16x19, and they offered comparative feedback with the lighter Pure Strike 100. Hannah said, "Rather than picking up my racquet for the last four weeks, I opted for the 100 to get a good idea of how it performed during sets, points and drilling. It was great, and I think any player looking for easy access to power and spin from the baseline will enjoy the variety this racquet offers. It weighs less than the Pure Strike 98, making it a tad more maneuverable from the baseline, which always has its advantages if you want to take fuller swings. The lighter weight compromises some stability, and when it came down to it I preferred the few extra swingweight points of the 98. The Pure Strike 100 still offers plenty of options from the baseline, which made it a no brainer choice for my game. I could take aggressive swings at balls on the rise, roll the ball deep with loads of spin and easily angle the ball off the court. One thing I noticed with both racquets was that I'm inclined to string them with more of an underpowered poly because most of my errors are past the baseline. The only other difference between the playability of the two racquets stems from the bigger head size, which creates a slightly higher trajectory on groundstrokes. I have an easier time flattening out and putting away shots with the 98."

Jason, who also plays with the Pure Strike 98 16x19 as his racquet of choice, welcomed the familiar feel. Like Hannah, he still prefers the Pure Strike 98, although the differences are subtle. He explained, "I could generate a lot of racquet head speed with relative ease. The excellent maneuverability was what stood out most to me. I was getting just a little less power and spin on my shots with this racquet than I get with the Pure Strike 98 16x19. I also really liked the angles I was finding with my forehand; I could move my opponents off the court and get in an offensive position. However, when I was hitting against harder hitters the Pure Strike 100 would get pushed around easily, and the drop in playability was much more noticeable on off-center shots."

After looking at the specs, Brittany predicted the Pure Strike 100 would be right up her alley. However, she admitted, "After spending many hours on court playtesting the Pure Strike 100 I never felt 100 percent confident playing with it from the baseline. I tried multiple strings and string set-ups to try to dial it in, and I ended up settling on a hybrid that offered a little additional comfort and power. The biggest positive of the racquet was the maneuverability. It felt super fast, and I was able to generate racquet head speed with ease. However, I had to work hard to hit deep groundstrokes with pace. I also thought the sweetspot was a little smaller than I was expecting, resulting in a drop in power and some instability. I found myself playing it safe with my groundstrokes, aiming for big targets and hitting a couple extra shots before putting the ball away."

For the most part, Tiffani reported a positive experience from the baseline once she dialed in her set-up. "This Pure Strike 100 felt light in my hand and quick through the air," she beamed. "I liked how I could really whip it through the air quickly. It was pretty easy for me to pick it up and use, although I did have to adjust to the trajectory of my shots compared to what I get with my Prince Textreme Tour 100P. The string pattern is pretty open on the Pure Strike 100 compared to my own racquet, so when I was struggling with control I was hitting the ball long. Despite those issues, I liked this racquet from the baseline because I could hit with depth and also hit some good angles. It's not as powerful as a Babolat Pure Drive, and I enjoyed that more precise feel on groundstrokes. Spin isn't a big part of my game, but it was easy enough to create topspin or backspin when I needed it. As I said, this racquet felt light, and it was a bit too light and stiff for me to string it with a full bed of polyester. After struggling with wrist pain the last few months I preferred this racquet when we had it strung with a poly/multifilament hybrid. I think a bit of extra weight could help with the comfort, and there's room to do it because the Pure Strike 100 plays lighter and faster than the specs would indicate."

Volleys - Score: 79

Being endorsed by Grand Slam champion and Olympic Gold medalist in doubles Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the Pure Strike 100 ought to turn in a strong performance at net, and the word "maneuverable" in all its forms did keep coming up in the volley reviews. The mobile feel had its ups and downs for the team. Brittany didn't have anything groundbreaking to report about volleying with the Pure Strike 100. She said, "I had a bit of a tough time getting into a groove at the net. The maneuverability was definitely the most positive aspect of volleying with the Pure Strike 100. I found it best to keep my volleys simple with punches deep into the court aimed at big targets. I never really found the touch or feel to go for riskier shots."

Tiffani was satisfied with the maneuverability. She added, "I volleyed fairly well with the Pure Strike 100 primarily because I could maneuver it easily. It wasn't the most stable choice, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I punched volleys with good directional control."

"For how versatile, maneuverable and baseline-friendly this frame was, I was impressed with how well it performed at net," Hannah said. "It was not the most stable racquet out there, but the firm beam was accommodating. I did experience some wrist irritation after working on my volleys for a solid 25 minutes, so I'd say this racquet works in the favor of baseline players transitioning to the net to close out points rather than players looking to camp out at net."

Jason described his mixed results, saying, "The difference between hitting a clean volley and a shanked one was very apparent with the Pure Strike 100. When I hit my volley cleanly I found good power and spin for my put-away shots. When I made contact just outside the sweetspot the racquet would twist in my hand and there was a big drop in power, control and spin."

Serves - Score: 83

Our team had mixed reviews on the spin and power potential of the Pure Strike 100, but all the testers were able to find a way to make the racquet work for them on serves. Tiffani thought that what the Pure Strike 100 lacked in power it made up for in precision. She concluded, "This is the stroke where I missed some of the power I get from the Pure Strike 100. I really noticed how light it felt though the air, which made it easy to swing, but I had to swing harder to generate pace. When I took it out to serve a basket of balls I enjoyed working on my targeting. Moving the ball around the box was easy with the Pure Strike 100, and I felt more accurate than usual."

Jason happily reported that serves were his favorite shot to hit with this racquet. He said, "I didn't have to deal with my opponent's pace, so getting pushed around wasn't a factor, and the Pure Strike 100 swung really fast through contact. It felt like there was no lag time from when I started my service motion to when the racquet started moving. It wasn't the most powerful serving racquet, but with the spin I was getting, and the fact that I don't try to hit hard, flat serves, I didn't have an issue with the power level."

The Pure Strike 100 surprised Brittany when it came time for her to hit first serves. She analyzed her serve experience by saying, "While I'm not going to be getting the easy power that I get from the Pure Drive, the Pure Strike 100 made up for it in precision. I could be very accurate with my first serve, and I was consistently hitting my targets with ease. This gave me a couple extra free points when I was playing. However, I was missing some spin and plow through on my second serves. Like all my other strokes, it was easy to generate racquet head speed when serving with the Pure Strike 100, but I found my second serve was sitting up just enough for my opponent to attack it. I didn't have quite enough plow through and spin to hit a second serve that could keep me neutral in the point."

Hannah admired the feel the Pure Strike 100 offered, especially when she was starting points. She said, "I felt very little difference between the Pure Strike 100 and Pure Strike 98 16x19 on serves, which is a great thing because there is really no downside to serving with either racquet. It was an effortless experience, and I loved the connected feel I got on serves. Even more than at the baseline, the access to power and spin was just what I needed to start points off strong. I felt this racquet offered great variety on serves. The comfortable, easy feel gave me the confidence to mix up pace and spin."

Returns - Score: 82

The Pure Strike 100's light weight and maneuverability created opportunities for our team on returns, but it also had its drawbacks. In general, the Pure Strike 100 equipped Jason with the tools he needed to successfully return his opponent's serves, but he did run into some trouble with certain tactics. He said, "I was hitting my returns with decent depth and pace, and the spin helped me keep my shots in play when I was going for a more aggressive return. I found that my slice returns would land deep enough to be effective, but I couldn't knife the ball enough to keep the ball from floating back. This wasn't a problem when I was playing singles, but a floating return could be an issue in doubles."

Because this racquet swings so easily, Tiffani recognized a reoccurring pattern on her returns. She explained, "I was tempted to always use a full swing on returns rather than the compact swing I was taught on returns. My ability to swing out on returns was a double-edged sword for me, however. Although I hit some really effective returns this way, I was also missing way too many. I had to be more disciplined with my game plan."

Hannah felt that returning serves with the Pure Strike 100 presented a slight tradeoff. She recounted, "The positive was the maneuverability of the Pure Strike 100 and how easy it was to get it in place to defend or attack any serve. On the other side of things, I was missing a bit of the stability I'm used to. I didn't like the little bit of flutter I was experiencing on harder serves."

Staying true to the theme of her playtest, Brittany found plenty of precision but would have liked more power. She said, "The maneuverability of the Pure Strike 100 made it super easy for me to get it into position against both first and second serves. I actually preferred returning a first serve because I could redirect the pace and be pretty precise with the return. When I had to create my own power I wasn't as effective. I also found the racquet to be unstable at times, especially when the ball hit slightly outside of the sweetspot."

Overall - Score: 82