Is Alcaraz playing with the Babolat Pure Aero 98 or the Pure Aero VS? Some close-ups seem to reveal that he has switched to the latest model.
Alcaraz Playing with the Babolat Pure Aero 98
Carlos Alcaraz has just won his tenth title, breaking the record for the youngest player ever to achieve this remarkable feat. He did so, defeating Struff in the Madrid Masters final. It’s difficult to see a limit to the potential of the young Spaniard, he keeps surprising us over and over again.
Fellow tennis nerd, Robert Yeh, has noticed the following:
I noticed in the pics that Babolat posted on Instagram a few days ago about Alcaraz’s racquet that he seems to have switched from PAVS to PA98 – the spin grommets at 12 & 6 of his racquet have gone from the flat-shaped ones at US Open last year to the more traditional-shaped ones.
I also looked up photos of Rune’s racquet out of curiosity from his matches at both Paris Masters last year and Madrid Open last week, and he seems to have switched as well.
Thanks, Robert for the email. It does seem that the players have changed to the latest model. If you are curious about the racquet, check out my Babolat Pure Aero 98 review.
As I talked about in my post about Alcaraz racquet, he is allegedly playing it close to stock form without adding weight to it. The racquets are all matched, but the swing weight for a player of his level is rather low at 293 unstrung. Add about 30 pts and you have something like 325 SW strung. Compare this to Rafa’s swing weight (for example, the new Rafa Origin racquet) at 370 and you have a stark contrast. But Alcaraz swings the racquet so fast and explosively that a lighter swing weight makes a lot of sense. He wouldn’t be able to swing Rafa’s racquet like that.
Have you tried the Babolat Pure Aero 98? You can check out the specs and more at Tennis Warehouse, Tennis Warehouse Europe and Tennis Only (Australia).
After reading your previos article about Pure Aero VS, I decided swithching from Pure Strike 18/20. Now I can say that the VS frame is much better. I also tryed the PA98, but I don’t like the camo pattern.
My choice is PAVS with Sonlinco Confidential 1.25 (23/21). One of the improvements found is that Babolat’s grip 3 has increased in these rackets and I feel much more comfortable. Before, I could have cramps in a match, when I reached the third set.
By the way, I know that you have faced one of my teammates in Marbella. His name is Ismael and the match was settled in the third set… You’re tough!!
Yes, the VS is great. Hehe, yes I did play him, was a tough match but I ran out of gas in the third.
Absolutely! I adore the pure aero 98. It’s a fabulous racquet. It swings super fast, but at the same time feels solid enough to handle ball with a lot of pace on them. The balance is wonderful. Serving with it is excellent. I tried a bunch of setups with it, but my favorite is Solinco Confidential 1.25 at 53 in the main and 52 in the cross. I also have an Origin that I love to play with, but at the end of the day, there is no way that I can swing it as fast as the 98. So my 98s are the main weapon.
Can you touch on Alcaraz 1/2 grip size some? Seems odd considering the trend to smaller sized grips, and also the fact he isn’t very tall or has large hands.
It’s a good question. Some players have said that a thicker grip feels better on this racquet, maybe based on how aerodynamic the racquet is…No idea. Usually there is no logical reasoning behind it, but just personal taste, but if I hear anything or get the chance to speak to Carlos, I will update you.
There is a logic behind it – big grip gives you much better accces to racquet twist, which is crucial for heavy top-spin. Real top spin technique consists of a racquet twist in big part. Also it gives him a lot of control during the drop-shots. He has anenormous variety of shots and that means he has a whooe variety of grips as well (guess he has 3 or 4 fh grips depending on the smount of spin). I’m not a big guy as well, i’m 1,72 cm tall and do not have big hands also, but i play with grip number 5 or something (2-3 overgrips on top of base overgrip) and there were times i played with 6, but i went down, as it was too much and it was because i was looking for something i didn’t know how to achieve, so i was experimenting a lot.