Babolat Play Pure Drive REVIEW
Introduction
Babolat Play Pure Drive is the world’s first tennis racquet that has a built-in sensor and has the same parameters as a normal Babolat Pure Drive racquet. This racquet was approved by ITF in January 2014, which means all the tennis players can use it during official tournaments. The Babolat Play racquet is full of new technologies and new designs.
Author Martin Poboril (last update 1/31/2015)
what is included with the racquet
The Babolat Play racquet comes with (from left to right): USB cable, warranty, quick user guide booklet, and tennis racquet case.
weight and size
According to my scale the Babolat Play tennis racquet weighs 322.6 grams with the strings and over grip.
The sensor with the plastic cap on the end weighs 29.9 grams.
The butt cap alone weighs 1.4 gram.
The size comparison of the Babolat Play sensor with a pen.
pictures of the racquet
technical specifications
Head size: 1002 in./6452 cm
Length: 27 in / 68.58 cm
Weight: 10.6oz / 300g
Strung Weight: 11.2oz / 317.5g
Balance: 13in / 320mm
Stiffness: 72ra
Composition: Graphite
Grip: Syntec pro
Size of the grip: 1 to 5
String pattern: 16 mains / 19 crosses
Recommended string tension: 50 – 66 pounds / 23 – 30 kilograms
BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth 2.1
COMPATIBILITY
iOS, Andriod, NOT for Windows phones, Desktop, NOT for Blackberry
SENSOR
Accelerometer, Gyroscope
MEMORY
Around 150 hours of playing
BATTERY
Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery, Nominal voltage 3.7V, 3 hours full charge cycle, 6-7 hours batter life
tracking
FOREHAND
Number of forehands per session, topspin, flat, slice, sweet spot, power
BACKHAND
Number of backhands per session, topspin, flat, slice, sweet spot, power
SERVE
Number of serves per session, first and second serve, spin effect, flat, sweet spot, power
SMASH
Number of smashes per session
OTHER
Total time, real time, total swings per session, number of shots per minute, energy, best rally, type of the session (training, match), where you played (outside, inside), surface you played on (carpet, hard, grass, clay), feelings (great, good, ok, poor, injured), score of your match (win or loss), name of your opponent, splitting the session
user guide
The full user guide is available only on the Babolat Play official website. The quick user guide is included with the racquet. Both of these user guides are available in multiple languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, and etc.). The user guide includes many images for a better understanding of the contexts. The user guide includes wrong website links and the Czech version has a couple of mistakes in the translation and some words are not even translated – more in section “Weird”. Printed version of the user guide has a total of 32 pages.
babolat play phone application
Babolat Play application is divided into two main sections: training or match.
1. Training
What information the user can insert:
– Where did you play? (outside, inside)
– What type of surface? (carpet, hard, grass, clay)
– How did you feel? (great, good, ok, poor, injured)
2. Match
What information the user can insert:
– The result of the match. (win, loss, incomplete)
– The type of the match. (singles, doubles)
– If singles was played we can insert the name of the opponent.
– If doubles was played we can insert the name of our teammate and our opponents.
– The score of the match.
– Where the match was played? (outside, inside)
– What type of surface? (carpet, hard, grass, clay)
– How did you feel? (great, good, ok, poor, injured)
Exploring One of My Sessions - Training
– When we open our Babolat Play application we get this welcome screen with our “Pulse” graph, which summarizes our performances on the court. This graph includes endurance, power, and technique. The more we play, the more the pulse graph is pulsing. If we stop playing for an extended amount of time the graph stops pulsing. Also, the graph changes its color based on which level we are in. Our ranking in Babolat Play community depends on the average score (55.31) from the pulse graph.
– To get the pulse graph we have to submit at least two sessions.
– If we want to see the basic information about our last session we click on the button “Last Information” on the bottom of the screen.
– To see the evolution of our pulse we click on the pulse graph, which will take us to the following screens.
– The evolution pulse graphs are divided into four tabs:
average score (which is on the current screen shot), power, endurance, and technique. Those graphs are showing our evolution over time in a particular section.
– The evolution graph with the power tab.
– The evolution graph with the endurance tab.
– The evolution graph with the technique tab.
– Now when we go back to the basic pulse graph by clicking on the arrow pointing left in upper left corner we get to the screen with the pulse graph again. Here we click on the button in the upper left corner and we get the following screen.
– On the top of this screen we can see the basic information about our profile: our name (T. Technology), what city we are from (Prague), our current global ranking (#728), and the total number of the shots (2958).
– Also on this screen we can choose what we want to explore: our pulse, analyze our game, our skills, our records, community, settings, help, and on the bottom there is an option to log out.
– When we click on the button “Analyze” we get the following screen.
– Under the tab “Analyze” we can choose what type of session we want to analyze. The “Analyze” tab is divided into all, favorite, undefined, match, and training tabs. Now we are exploring the “Training” tab. Right under that we can see the summary of our sessions: number of trainings (6), number of matches (7), total shots (2958), and total time (05h 22m).
– When we choose which training we want to analyze we get to the following screen.
– On the top of the screen we can see what date and what time the session was played (in this example, the session was played on January 13 at 9:06). To set the session as a favorite we simply click on the star.
– In the white strip we can see what type of the session we are exploring (Training), also we can see where the session was played (inside), on what type of surface the session was played (hard), and how long the session was played (1hour and 54 minutes).
– Under the tab “Session Overview” we can see the total (01:54’), real time (00:51’), total shots (1110), shots per minute (22), energy (2368), and best rally (29 shots).
When we scroll down, we can see the tab called “Shots Repartition”, and under this tab is following information: number of backhands (428 or 38%), number of forehands (598 or 53%), number of serves (78 or 9%), and number of smashes (6 or 0%).
– Exploring the “Serve” tab. Serves are divided into two sections: first and second serve. Every section shows the number of serves, power of the serves, and maximum power of the serve.
– When we click on the “First Serves” tab this screen come up. Here we can see the power of the serves, number of first serves, spin effect, number of serves with the spin effect, number of flat serves, and power of every serve.
– Second serve tab looks and has the same functions as the first serve tab.
– “Strokes” are divided into two sections: forehands and backhands. Here we can see the number of forehands, power of the forehands, maximum power of the forehands, number of backhands, power of the backhands, and the maximum power of the backhands.
– By clicking on “Forehands” we can explore our forehands. On this page we can see the power of the forehands, power during every type of spin, number of forehands, number of topspin’s, number of slices, and number of flats.
– The same is for “Backhands” tab.
– When we explore the “Impact Locator” tab we can see where we were hitting the balls on our racquet. This tab is divided into four tabs: all, serves, forehands, and backhands. On this screen we see the impact locator for all the shots from the session.
– When we rotate the screen horizontally on the analyzing tab we get four graphs, which are divided into four tabs: shots (current screen), power, energy, and consistency.
– Power graph
– Energy graph
– Consistency graph
– Also, there is an option to divide your session into separate sections by pushing the Bluetooth button once on your racquet during the session. In this case the session is divided into four separate sections.
Exploring One of My Sessions - Singles Match
– Analyzing the match is very similar to analyzing the training with a couple of differences.
– This match was won, played inside, on the hard court and with a good feeling. During the match there were 470 shots played, the match was 1 hour and 9 minutes long, the score of the match was 6:4 7:5, and the opponent was Petr Dolejsi. If you want to see the scores from your matches don’t forget to write down the opponent’s name, otherwise the score will not show up.
– The rest of the data is the same as analyzing the training.
– Also, we can analyze the doubles match where we write down our teammate’s name and the opponents’ names. The rest is the same.
Other Available Data in the Application
– Our skills are divided into levels (my current level is rookie). To move to a higher level we have to play the certain number of forehands, backhands, serves, and smashes. Next to every type of shot is our progress.
– Under the tab “Records” we can see our best results.
– Records are divided into the following sections: strokes, rally, session, and pulse.
– In this screen shot we are looking at the strongest forehand which I played so far, and on the bottom of the screen there is information about when the forehand was played (January 13th) and in what level this record was set (newbie).
– In the community section we can see people around us. My current ranking is 729, and I can see people above and below me.
– Whenever we want to compare our results with people around our ranking we simply click on their name (in this case I chose Peter Phillips) and rotate our phone horizontally. Also, we can follow the particular person or share our compared data.
PROS and cons
PROS
CONS
Approved by ITF
Handling of the sensor
No calibration of the sensor is needed
Price
Application crashes
Only offline mode
tips
If your sensor freezes or something does not work well on your sensor, you can reset it by pressing the reset button on the racquet.
sensor from inside
playing with the sensor
I played ten shots every session.
10 Forehands Flat:
– The application recorded 10 forehands flat.
10 Forehands Topspin:
– The application recorded 1 backhand and 9 forehands topspin.
10 Forehands Slice:
– The application recorded 10 forehands slice.
10 Backhands Flat:
– The application recorded 10 backhands flat.
10 Backhands Topspin:
– The application recorded 10 backhands topspin.
10 Backhands Slice:
– The application recorded 10 backhands slice.
10 Flat First Serves:
– The application recorded 7 first serves and 3 second serves. From the 7 first serves 3 serves were recorded as spin and 4 serves as flat. All three second serves were recorded as flat.
10 Slice Second Serves:
– The application recorded 4 first serves and 6 second serves. All the recorded serves were recorded with the spin effect.
5 Flat First Serves and 5 Slice Second Serves:
– The application recorded 4 first serves and 6 second serves. From the 4 first serves 1 was recorded with the spin effect and 3 were recorded as flat. All of the 6 second serves were recorded with the spin effect.
10 Overheads:
– The application recorded 4 serves and 6 overheads.
video of the accuracy
In the video I am showing only three shots for backhands, forehands, and smashes, and two shots of serves of every session to keep the video short.
weird
– After turning on a Mac computer the Babolat Play application starts automatically. I am using OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
– Sometimes the racquet turns off by pressing the Bluetooth button on the racquet.
– In the earlier version of the racquet I had problems with the lid on the end of the handle. It would open while I was hitting.
– The application crashes and sometimes it would not load the sessions.
– In the user guide the www.babolatplay.com/support link does not work.
– The racquet can be synchronized with the computer only through the USB cable.
– It is impossible to merge two sessions on the mobile phone. It can be done only on the computer.
– In the user guide there are screen shots from the older version of the application
babolat play marketing
Babolat decided to protect their local retailers so they started to make Babolat Play racquets with the sensors that can be used and associated only with the accounts of the country they were bought in. For example, if someone from the Czech Republic buys the Babolat Play racquet in the United States and makes a Czech account in the Babolat Play application the racquet will not work because the sensor in the racquet is ready to be used only with account from the United States. The price of the Babolat Play racquet varies a lot and Babolat wants to make sure people will not buy it outside of their original country for less money.
price
The price is different in every country. It starts around $299 and it ends around $599.
my thoughts
The Babolat Play racquet has a great design of the built-in sensor in the handle. The sensor is easy to use. In the application there are some features that are very hard to recognize (best rally, difference between the first and second serve, and difference between the serve and smash), and it is a disadvantage of the Babolat Play racquet. For the price the racquet is offered I would expect everything to be perfect and without minor mistakes (bugs), but it is not true – the application and the sensor have minor bugs. The world of digital technology in tennis is at the very beginning, and I think Babolat is on the right track.