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Babolat Pure Storm Tour Plus

By: Phillip Hammett

Babolat applies over 130 years of tennis expertise to each and every one of their racquets. This racquet is no exception. The Babolat Pure Storm Tour Plus uses all of Babolat’s racquet compositional breakthroughs to give you the very best. This racquet is heavy and relatively stiff, and is designed for more advanced players who can supply their own power and are looking for stability and placement in their shots. It has a 98 sq. inch head (midplus-ranged), but provides the same weight as racquets with 90-or 95-inch heads. The Tour Plus allows the player to deliver more power on serves and volleys due to its 27.5 inch length, as opposed to the Tour’s 27 inch length.

Technologies
With their patented Carbon Xtrem and Woofer technology, Babolat increases string efficiency, maximizing each racquet’s potential, as well as reducing vibrations and increasing the racquet’s longevity. This makes for a long-lasting, smooth and stable racquet. By adding humps to the grommet, the Woofer technology allows the strings to attach to both sides of the frame, resulting in a more forgiving sweetspot and less frequent mishits. Carbon Xtrem technology is made up of carbon fibers braided together at 3 different angles, rather than the conventional 2, resulting in a stronger racquet and 40% less torque (meaning a smoother, less harsh impact with the ball and greater accuracy.)

Forehand
The Pure Storm Tour Plus affords the player as much control as they desire, as long as they can harness this beast’s prolific weight. Its heftiness also makes for wicked spin capability, and is well suited to baseliners. I found that off of a serve that gave me the ability to control the point, I could win it quite easily. When on the run, though, it may be hard to whip the racquet head up and create spin due to its heavy weight; thus this racquet is better for stronger or more experienced players. All-in-all, though, I loved the way the racquet felt in my hand and allowed me to hit clean shots.

Backhand
While I have long considered my backhand to be a strong shot, and have done little to change it over the past several years, this racquet showed me what I’m capable of when I add some extra topspin. I usually drive through the ball and hit a flat, hard backhand, but without changing my stroke one bit, I found that I was generating more topspin, resulting in more net clearance, and far fewer errors.

Volleys
Volleys are, as expected, rock solid, due to its even balance and sheer heft. While it isn’t as easy to make a quick reflex volley as it is with a lighter racquet, the weight, balance, and extra .5 inch combine to make almost any volley a possible putaway.

Serve Return
With the Pure Storm Tour Plus’s stability, returning even your opponent’s hugest bombs will be much easier than with most other racquets. Its weight and magnificent stability basically make it a backboard for serve returns. Well, a backboard that hits winners. If you can prepare your racquet extra-early to counteract the high weight, mishits will be few and far between, and penetrating returns will come as easy to you as the ABC’s.

Serve
The serves are really the strong suit of this racquet. Spin, power, and placement can be dished out on opponents without remorse. The extra half inch, as with the volleys, gives the player more reach and therefore more potential for angles and spin. Weight also plays to your advantage, as the enormous momentum you generate from swinging allows you to blast the ball past your opponent.

Overall
This racquet is recommended for players looking for a heavy feel, with good control, power, and spin. It isn’t the easiest to play with, but you’ll definitely enjoy it if you’re a strong intermediate or advanced player and aren’t afraid to sacrifice maneuverability for weight. The Babolat Pure Storm Tour Plus is well worth giving it a try.

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