Pure Drive 98 Review
The Pure Drive 98 has long been the bastard child of Babolat’s lineup, left alone to writhe in the shadows cast by its big brothers, the Pure Strike 98 and the almighty Pure Aero 98. The source of its loneliness was its paradoxical nature: who needs a more controlled Pure Drive? That’s like saying you want sugar that’s less sweet. The entire point of the Pure Drive line is power, making the Pure Drive 98 feel like a watered down version: The Diet Coke to the Pure Drive’s Coke.
What’s New?
So for 2025, Babolat has made some big changes to the Pure Drive 98 to carve out a stronger identity for their least loved frame. Now, we’ve got a 20th cross leading to denser string spacing than the Aero 98. They’ve also changed the mold, tapering the classic elliptical Pure Drive beam into a box beam in the upper hoop.
The Pure Drive 98 has gone from a neutered power frame to a juiced up control stick… at least on paper. The launch angle is far lower than the previous model, encouraging the user to hit a much flatter ball with Blade-like targeting.
The hitting feel is also so much more solid. Gone is the tinny, brassy, hollow hitting feel leading to jarring off-centre shots that we found with the Pure Drive VS. Instead, it’s a deeper hitting sound with extremely solid feeling thud on impact.
The new Pure Drive demands that you to play aggressive tennis.
Playstyle
You must swing out to overcome the lower launch angle and when you do, you’ll find yourself rewarded with a heavy, penetrating ball. That is… as long as you hit the sweet spot. The problem with the Pure Drive 98 is that these control-oriented changes have reduced the sweet spot to the size of a pea.
The box beamed upper hoop means that this frame gives you nothing up top, in contrast to the recent trends seen in the VCORE’s, Boom’s and Gravity’s. Beyond that, I personally struggled to get a consistent swing feel with my personal sample.
Demo Inconsistencies and Weight Distribution
For whatever reason, my copy felt like there was a ton of extra weight lagging the frame down in the upper throat. I’m specific about saying “my copy,” because I also tried Jonas’ Drive 98 when we hit at Tennis Warehouse and found it swung much smoother.
That said, the solidity of the hitting feel and the purity I felt on the few balls where I actually found the sweetspot left me wanting to figure this racquet out.
Solving Issues with Customizations
First I tried adding weight to the hoop. I tried both 12 o’clock and the 10 and 2 o’clock locations to try to pull that sweetspot up a little bit higher and add some easier power and more natural forgiveness to the frame. This did definitely help on neutral balls but the swing-feel still felt slow and clunky
I also tried adding weight in the handle to move the stock 325mm balance point down but I just kept on running into walls.
I tried a bunch of different string setups, from firmer setups like Sync or Tour Bite Diamond Rough, to softer setups like Toro Toro and a new gut-like prototype from Toroline but in the end, they all kind of felt the same. Going softer didn’t really make the frame feel more forgiving and going stiffer didn’t give me more control. I continuously ran into situations where I would hit one shot perfectly, feeling like my inputs were the exact same on the next shot only for the ball to shoot 3 feet out. On other balls, I’d just fluff it into the bottom for the net.
Analysis on Poor Playability
So here’s what I think is happening with the Pure Drive 98. One, they went with a box beam to increase control and drive some interest. Two, the box beam reduced power so much that they had to increase the stiffness, which, apparently it’s got an RA of 73 unstrung, and I’d totally believe that because it feels quite firm. Three, they had to add a ton of dampening to make the racquet comfortable enough for most players.
Babolat has really figured out how to dampen racquets in a way which helps them feel solid and direct instead of muchy and muted. The problem with this is that you don’t really realize how muted the hitting feel actually is. To me, it feels genuinely very nice on contact but this creates a problem. It feels nice all the time but the sweetspot is actually tiny.
You cannot feel where you hit the ball on the strings.
You cannot feel if you hit the sweet spot.
You cannot feel if you’ve hit off centre.
This is shown but how string sensitive the frame is, or rather, its insensitivity. I could barely feel any differences between the 4 setups I tried with tensions varying from 48lbs to 55lbs+. Of course higher tensions felt firmer and lower felt plusher, but I couldn’t feel the nuances of the string. I couldn’t feel the ball grip the shaped strings or slide on the round ones. I couldn’t feel the difference in character between Tour Bite and Toro Toro.
Final Thoughts
The lack of connection is the main issue with the Pure Drive 98. Babolat has ensured that stability, spin, control, power, are all nicely balanced. I’m course I’m annoyed that the swingfeel was a bit clunky and slow for my forehand, but I can let that go because I liked how Jonas’ felt and I understand that some people will prefer how a slightly higher balance point will feel to swing. To me the issue is the sweet spot is small but it’s also poorly defined.
So now we are left with yet another Paradox.
The Pure Drive is Babolat’s most user-friendly line, huge sweetspot and easy to swing. The 100 is pickup and play and this is where they house their oversize options, like the 107 and the 110. But for some reason, they’ve sandwiched their most demanding frame, the Pure Drive 98, into this line. I think that even the Strike 97 is easier to use than the Pure Drive 98 and I don’t think that makes a lot of sense to a customer.
Unfortunately, Babolat’s Pure Drive 98 might actually be even more lost than it used to be and I’m not sure how it should be fixed. I really wanted this box-beam to work but I just don’t think it makes sense. Simply put, this racquet is hard to swing and has a small sweet spot. That’s not a Pure Drive. Maybe going to a 315mm unstrung balance would give the racquet a more precise tip-feel which would justify its more controlled nature.
I’m curious to see if this racquet finds an audience. I can see a world where people who want a more powerful Blade or less clubby TFIGHT ISO 305 find some solace in the new PD, but at this point it’s toward the bottom of my recommendations list.
