Racquet review: Babolat Pure Drive with FSI

The Babolat Pure Drive is an iconic tennis racquet. Released in the early 90s, it has been a bestseller ever since due to its easy of use and access to power and spin. The 2015 release with FSI technology (which means Frame String Interaction) and is a drill pattern change that will move the sweet spot upwards and provide more control since the Pure Drive is already a very powerful racquet.

Why is it so powerful? Well, it’s already a rather stiff racquet with an RA of 72, but it does feel more comfortable than you might think based on that. I would however be wary of putting a stiff co-poly string in there and look for something more comfortable like a multifilament string or a hybrid setup. There are obviously also softer polyester strings. One of my favourite strings to put in a Pure Drive would be the Weisscannon Silverstring which I think provides great playability for a fantastic price.

I wouldn’t say the FSI edition of the Pure Drive is very different from previous versions, the main thing would be a slightly more controlled response but nothing dramatic. Like with any Pure Drive before it, it offers plenty for beginners to pro’s but for some it can provide too much power and if you have a history of elbow, shoulder or wrist injuries, you would have to think twice about how to make it play more comfortable.

But if you have a healthy body and is looking for something that will give you easy access to power and large sweet spot, there are not many better racquets than the Babolat Pure Drive. This can be testified by the number of players who use it in some form or iteration on the ATP and the WTA Tour.

Babolat Pure Drive users on the ATP tour

• Fabio Fognini (Pure Drive Original)
• David Ferrer (Pure Drive Plus 2012)
• Victor Estrella Burgos (unsure which model) but here is a great article about the guy.

Babolat Pure Drive with FSI specs:

Buy the Babolat Pure Drive from Tennis Express
Buy the Babolat Pure Drive from Amazon.com