If you are just starting to play tennis, you will want a racket that is, above all, easy to use. You may like the ones your favorite professionals play with, but these are designed for experienced players who develop a lot of racket head speed and power, and who generally strike the ball with the middle of the racket. An ideal racket for a beginner will be light and easy to swing, with a fairly large head making it forgiving of off-center contacts. So, what are the best Babolat rackets for beginners?
The top 5 best Babolat rackets for beginners are the Babolat Boost Aero Yellow, the Babolat Boost Drive 2021, the Babolat EVO Drive 115 Wimbledon, the Babolat Pure Drive 110 2021, and the Babolat Pure Aero. The first 2 are very budget-friendly, the following 2 are very easy to play with, and the last one is a great investment.
1) Budget-Friendly: Babolat Boost Aero Yellow
The Boost Aero Yellow weighs 278g strung, which is a fairly modest weight. It is slightly head heavy. It has an open 16×19 string pattern, and has a medium level of stiffness, with a rating of 67. It has a larger than average 102 square-inch head. For a beginner, the Boost Aero is a good choice if you aim to play with spin. If you learn to swing the racket fairly quickly, with good technique, you will be rewarded with plenty of rotations on the ball. The Boost Aero is not especially powerful, and lacks stability, which means that it will not help you to play with great pace or precision.
The Boost Drive is a racket which can produce a lot of spin at a bargain price. As a beginner, if you are not planning to learn to spin the ball heavily, you will probably be better off looking at other options.
2) Budget-Friendly: Babolat Boost Drive 2021
The Boost Drive is also fairly light, weighing 272g strung, and has a large 105 square-inch head. It has an open 16×19 string pattern, and a medium stiffness rating of 65 on Babolat’s scale. The Boost Drive has a slightly head-heavy balance. The large head will mean that the racket can help you to get away with a few off-center strikes. The head-heavy balance and open stringing pattern will enable a reasonable amount of power to be generated, despite its light weight and lack of stiffness.
The Boost Drive is aimed primarily at power, although its light weight means that it can only provide a modest amount of help. Nonetheless, if you want some assistance with putting more pace in your shots it is certainly worth testing.
3) Easy To Play: Babolat EVO Drive 115 Wimbledon
If you feel that the Boost Drive does not offer enough power for you, you might want to step up to the EVO Drive 115 Wimbledon. With its significantly larger 115 square-inch head and open 16×17 string pattern, the EVO Drive 115 will unquestionably provide something extra. It has a head-light balance, a weight of just 240g, and a Babolat stiffness rating of 68, making it slightly stiffer than the other two rackets considered so far.
It is also 0.6” longer than a standard racket to give added leverage when serving. For a beginner, a racket with a head of this size can be less easy to maneuver than a smaller one. Some might therefore find that the EVO Drive 115 helps them to hit the ball hard but makes it hard to control, although its light weight could help with any fast adjustments.
For a beginner who has not yet developed fast strokes, the EVO Drive 115 can offer a significant boost in power.
4) Easy To Play: Babolat Pure Drive 110 2021
The Pure Drive 110 features a still-relatively-large 110 square-inch head which allows the required forgiveness of off-centre hits. It is fairly light, at 255g unstrung. It has an open 16×19 stringing pattern and a head-light balance. A stiffness rating of 70 means that the Pure Drive 110 is a little stiffer than the other rackets reviewed so far, which allows it to provide a good level of power- as long as you are able to develop a moderate amount of swing speed. The Pure Drive 110 also has the same extra 0.6” of length boasted by the EVO Drive 115, in order to boost your serve. For a beginner, the Pure Drive 110 can enhance power, and features a large sweetspot, but control may prove tricky for some.
The Pure Drive 110 is a racket with significant potential for power, which also offers the forgiveness required by beginners.
5) If You Want To Invest: Babolat Pure Aero
The Pure Aero is endorsed by Rafael Nadal, which basically tells you that it is aimed at players who want to put a lot of spin on the ball. Weighing in at 300g unstrung, and featuring a 100 square-inch head, the Pure Aero is a little heavier and smaller than the other rackets reviewed here. It has an open 16×19 string pattern, and has a fairly flexible frame, measuring 67 on Babolat’s stiffness scale. The Pure Aero is widely liked by players, and you can continue to use it however proficient you become. For a beginner, however, this is a very lively racket. If you learn to impart a lot of spin on your groundstrokes, the Pure Aero will offer plenty of assistance. If you hit flat shots, control can be an issue.
If you aim to learn to spin the ball a lot, the Pure Aero is a great choice. Nonetheless, it is a fairly big investment for a beginner, so you need to be sure that that is how you want to play.
Final Thoughts
It is not easy to select a racket when you do not have much experience of the game. Try all of these, consider your budget, and simply buy the one you like best!