So you’ve decided to buy your first Babolat racket and you’ve found several models on the shelf and you’re not sure where to start. In this Post, I gathered all the research I did for the Pure Drive, Boost Drive and Boost Aero models and compared them.

I hope this comparison will help you choose better which of these rackets is the best choice for you, but if you don’t have time to read everything, I will resume what I found.

Babolat Pure Drive is best for intermediate and advanced players, Boost Aero is good for beginners and Babolat Boost Drive is great for juniors, beginners and senior’s players who really needs more help from the racket.

I’ve research these models since I finally decided to buy my first racket from Babolat, Pure Drive is one of the most popular racket of the brand, but I came across with two cheaper models; Babolat Boost Drive and Babolat Boost Aero.

You can find here in this other Post, what Tennis players uses Babolat rackets and which models they use.

Comparing the specs of Pure Drive, Boost Drive and Boost Aero

Even knowing that the specifications of a tennis racket do not necessarily tell you how to use it in practice, they help to have an idea of ​​its characteristics and to make a basic comparison.

In the following table I have compiled information that I think is important to compare between rackets and further down I explain what each of them means.

	Babolat Pure Drive	Babolat Boost Drive	Babolat Boost Aero
Balance	4 pts Head Light	3 pts Head Heavy	2 pts Head Heavy
Beam width	23mm / 26mm / 23mm	23mm / 26mm / 23mm	23mm / 26mm / 23mm
Composition	Graphite	Graphite	Graphite
Head size	100 sq. in	105 sq. in	102 sq. in
Length	27 in (68.58cm)	27 in (68.58cm)	27 in (68.58cm)
Stiffness	71 RA	65 RA	67 RA
String pattern	16×19	16×19	16×19
weight	11.2oz (318g)	9.6oz (272g)	9.8oz (277.83g)
Swing weight	320 kg · cm2	312 kg · cm2	306 kg · cm2

The specs above are for unstrung and I got from Tennis Warehouse site.

Note: The Pure Drive’s specs in the table above are for the 2021 model, there are other models released at different times, but the difference between them is small, typically varying a bit in beam width, weight and stiffness.

The specifications that are the same between all 3 rackets; beam width, composition, length and string pattern.

What is beam width on a tennis racquet? Is the measurement of the thickness of the tennis racket head, a thinner beam means more flexibility and control on your strokes and a thicker beam means more power on your strokes and a stiffer racket.

A beam width of 23/26/23 means that the racket has a thicker beam, which is better for more power.

The length is the standard, most of tennis rackets are 27 inch.

Graphite is the best material for tennis rackets, it is firm and light at the same time, it guarantees more durability than more fragile materials.

The String pattern 16×19 is an open pattern that is ideal for more Spin, it’s the most popular among American players. I recommend you to read this other article here that I wrote about string patterns, there you can understand best the difference this make in a racket.

Head light vs head heavy tennis racket

The Head Light balance means that the racket has more weight on the handle, the big difference between Pure Drive and the other two models is the fact that the weight is more concentrated on the cable and not on the head like the Boost Drive and Boost Aero.

A head heavy racket is better for beginners who still don’t know how to put a lot of power in their strokes, the Head Light racket is more suitable for intermediate and advanced tennis players who know the technique to generate power.

Which means that Babolat Pure Drive is a racket that will generate less power and more control than the other two.

Comparing the balance of Boost Drive with the balance of Boost Aero, the difference between them is quite small; you can say that Boost Drive is a little more Head heavy, so it will generate more power than the Boost Aero.

Which racket head size is the best?

The best tennis racquet head size can’t be too small or too big, so rackets with head between 98 and 100 inch are the best overall. With small head size, you have more control but is hard to hit the ball in the sweetspot, but with bigger head size is hard to swing and accelerate the head of the racket.

The Pure Drive has a better head size, the Boost Drive head size is better for those who need more power, people who are just starting or seniors and the Boost Aero is also good for beginners or players who like powerful rackets.

Find out the size of the Pro Tennis players rackets, click here to access the Post I here in the blog.

Tennis racket stiffness influences on power

A stiffer tennis racket tend to be more powerful and a more flexible racket has less power and tend to be more comfortable for your arm.

The Babolat Boost Drive and Boost Aero are better for players with arm injuries because they are not as stiff as the Pure Drive is.

The fact that Boost Drive and Boost Aero have a bigger head size and are head heavy give those rackets enough power for then to be less stiff and so they are easier on the arm and have power at the same time, that’s why those two rackets are more suitable for seniors and junior players.

The difference on weight of Pure Drive, Boost Drive and Boost Aero

Note that Boost Drive and Boost Aero have a much lighter weight than Pure Drive, 9.6oz and 9.8oz is considered light weight, so you will have more difficulties to return powerful balls that are usually common in more advanced levels, however, they make the racket easier to handle and easier to use even with a larger head size.

The Pure Drive swing weight is greater than of the Boost Drive and Boost aero, so the Pure Drive is harder to swing.

The difference in weight between those rackets shows one more time that the Babolat Pure Drive are better for intermediate and advanced tennis players and that Boost Drive and Boost Aero are ideal for beginners, seniors and juniors tennis players.

If you wish to know more about the differences between beginner and intermediate tennis rackets, click here to access an article that I published here in this same blog.

You can also find out why do Pro Tennis players use heavier rackets click here to open the Post I’ve published answering this question or you can go here in this link to read about the average weight of pros Tennis rackets.