Head Vs Babolat (Full Racket and Equipment Review)

Head vs Babolat: Everything you Need to Know

Both Head and Babolat are huge, reputable tennis brands with enormous heritage. Picking between them is a tough task, especially when you consider that both brands have sponsored such great players over the years!

Naturally, Head and Babolat are two of the most popular brands in tennis, so they both clearly offer plenty of quality and variety to customers. However, in order to make this a fair and in depth comparison, I will be judging Head and Babolat on their:

• Variety of tennis racket types
• Range of equipment i.e. strings, grips etc
• Brand strength
• Value for money.

In this article, I will explore the racket model lines of both Head and Babolat, how the two companies have evolved over time and where they stand in the tennis world today. There are also a lot of strings to both Head and Babolat’s bows in terms of their strings, grips, bags and equipment lines in sports aside from tennis, so these will all also play into how highly each brand is rated.

Head

A Quick Summary of Head’s Tennis Rackets

As mentioned, Head was founded in 1950 and has strong roots in both the tennis and skiing world. As far as tennis goes, Head have produced rackets for the likes of:

• John McEnroe
• Maria Sharapova
• Marat Safin
• Ash Barty
• Mario Ancic
• Richard Gasquet
• Alexander Zverev
• Jannik Sinner
• Bianca Andreescu
• Sloan Stephens
• Goran Ivanisavic
• Tomas Berdych
• Steffi Graf
• Mansour Bahrami

Head makes rackets for all styles of players and has options to suit beginners, intermediates, and more advanced players.

Head Racket Models

Head offers a range of models in its line up, all of which have different playing characteristics that suit different game styles.

Radical

Speed

The Speed sub brand from Head has been popularised mainly by Novak Djokovic in recent years. The Serbian superstar has used the stiff, precise and fast moving racket to bring home 21 grand slam titles and counting!

Speed rackets offer a great combination of control and feel, along with encouraging faster racket head speed. Speed rackets sit at the top of the tree in the Head range as the most performance focussed rackets, as big hitting players like Jannik Sinner and Fernando Verdasco also love clubbing the ball with their Speeds along with Novak!

Extreme

If spin is the name of the game, then the Head Extreme is what you’ll be looking for! This aerodynamically shaped tennis racket is used by the likes of Richard Gasquet and Matteo Berrettini. Both of these players have long, flamboyant swings and love to hit the ball with plenty of topspin.

With this in mind, the open string pattern and stiff, low powered nature of the Extreme line up make them perfect for players with big swings that want to control their natural power!

Prestige

Harking back to the good old days of control oriented tennis is the Head Prestige. This racket is a throwback to precision tennis and is supple, smooth and feelsome. Players like Goran Ivanisavic, Marin Cilic and Marat Safin have swung their Prestige rackets to grand slam glory.

This butter smooth racket helps you focus on precision ball striking, as they offer rock solid stability and suit naturally powerful players.

Gravity

One of Head’s more recent additions to their arsenal is the Gravity line of rackets. These sticks are supple, powerful and user friendly. Ash Barty and Alexander Zverev caressed the ball around the court with their Gravity rackets, playing with spin, power and comfort.

However, just because the Gravity offers an easy ride, does not mean it has skimped on performance!

Instinct

A long standing feature in Head’s line up is the Instinct. Used by the likes of Tomas Berdych and Maria Sharapova, it is up there with the most powerful rackets that Head makes! It offers plenty of easy power thanks to its stiffness, insane energy return and suits flatter hitters the best.

Whilst instinct rackets tend to be focussed towards beginner to intermediate level players, there is still plenty of performance to be gained with these rackets and they are well worth trying out!

Boom

The most recent addition to Head’s long line up of racket models is the Boom. The clue is in the name with this racket and it is used by the big hitting Italian Lorenzo Musetti and fiery American Coco Gauff.

The Boom has a more circular shaped head than a normal tennis racket which opens up the sweet spot somewhat. This gives players easier access to power, whilst also making the racket more forgiving. Boom rackets also tend to feel quite head heavy, so you can really feel the weight of the racket travelling through your shots.

Head’s Strings, Bags, and Other Equipment

Head is also well known for their tennis strings, balls and bags.

One of their most iconic tennis bags, used at the 2012 WImbledon Championships by Novak Djokovic actually had a stand attached, so it looked like a golf bag!

As far as strings go, Head are well known for their Hawk, Lynx Touch and Sonic Pro. The Head Radical tennis ball is also very popular the world over and is often known as one of the fastest balls out there.

Is Head Good Value for Money?

It is fair to say that Head offers great value for money when you consider how wide their range of tennis rackets and equipment really is. They really do cater for everyone!

Whether you are a seasoned pro, a beginner or a local club player, no matter what your game style is, there is a Head racket out there to suit you! With that being said, if you aren’t sure where to start on your tennis racket hunt, then our custom fitting service can take the stress and hassle out of this decision.

It is always great having a team of experts on your side to guide you through the process of finding the perfect tennis racket for you. We even offer string and tension recommendations to compliment your new racket!

A Quick Summary of Babolat’s Tennis Rackets

Babolat have now been around for nearly a century and a half, making their expertise in the world of tennis pretty strong! For a company to have survived in the tennis world for that long is incredibly impressive in its own right, not to mention to still be at the top of the tree in terms of strings and rackets.

One of the most impressive aspects of Babolat’s business is their ability to stay at the cutting edge of technology and innovation, whilst also appealing to the masses. Their famous racket, the Pure Aero, has been popularised by the king of clay Rafa Nadal, and is the company’s best selling model by far. However, this is not the only racket they make!

Despite Babolat only really being a prominent figure in the tennis racket space for around 25 years, they have amassed quite an impressive stable of professional players endorsing their rackets:

• Dominic Thiem
• Sam Stosur
• Eugenie Bouchard
• Fabio Fognini
• Carlos Alcaraz
• Felix Auger-Alliassime
• Jack Sock
• Sara Errani
• Alize Cornet
• Kim Clijsters
• Li Na
• Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

Babolat’s Racket Models

Whilst the Pure Aero is Babolat’s most sought after racket model, they also have a range of alternatives that cater to different playing styles and uses.

Pure Drive

On the other end of the spectrum to the spin friendly, low powered pure aero, is the super powerful Pure Drive!

This racket was popularised by more physical and powerful players like Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick and Garbine Muguruza.

The Pure Drive is aimed at players that want to bring their power to the court in spades, looking to crush the ball and stamp their authority on the court at any opportunity. In fact, Andy Roddick even had the record for the world’s fastest serve for over a decade at 155mph whilst using his trusty pure drive!

Pure Strike

A relatively new addition to Babolat’s racket line up is the pure strike.

This is Baolat’s most control focussed racket to date, made famous by the big hitting Dominic Thiem. The Austrian powerhouse needs a low powered, control oriented racket to control his massive, powerful swings and offer him plenty of spin, control and precision. This is a weightier, more controlled racket than the pure drive or pure aero, so is more geared towards a high performance player.

Babolat’s Strings, Bags, and Other Equipment

Babolat has a rich heritage of producing high quality tennis strings.

Arguably their most famous string, popularised again by Rafa Nadal in the late 2000s is RPM blast. This octagonal shaped polyester string is incredibly spinny and helped Rafa add even more topspin and power to his game. Babolat also produces other well known strings such as Pro Hurricane and Xcel.

Is Babolat Good Value for Money?

One thing you can guarantee when it comes to Babolat’s rackets and strings is consistent quality. They don’t have quite as broad of a racket range as Head, but they do focus on producing top quality rackets that double down on their design brief. Their rackets are incredibly popular and for good reason! If you still aren’t sure which racket brand to pick, give our custom fitting service a try! We help you make the right call in order to improve your game!

Both Head and Babolat are fantastic, popular and reputable tennis racket brands. There are a number of benefits to both brands, which can actually make it quite difficult to choose between the two.

Now Take Your Game to the Next Level

When it comes to choosing one specific racket brand to fit your game, it is often more helpful to aim for a racket type instead. The reality is, it is hard to pick one ‘best racket’ since everyone’s needs are individual to them!

Think about your own game style, and where you could improve. Do you need more power, more control, more spin?

If you can answer these questions, you’ll be well on your way to discovering the perfect tennis racket for you!

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