Babolat Pure Drive Lite – Tennis Racquet Review

In typical fashion, Babolat offers a lighter, less expensive version of their Pure Drive tennis racquet, designed as an option for juniors, developing players, and intermediate and advanced players who prefer a lighter racquet.

The Babolat Pure Drive Lite offers much of the power and spin of the Pure Drive series with a lighter-weight, easier-to-swing racquet. For this post, we’ve pored over Babolat Pure Drive Lite reviews from a range of tennis players to help you get a sense of whether this racquet is a good fit for you.  

The Babolat Pure Drive Lite Features & Benefits

Geared toward developing players, the Babolat Pure Drive Lite tries to pack all the features of the Pure Drive into a lighter frame. Let’s take a look at how it stacks up.

Blend of Power and Control

The Pure Drive Lite strikes an excellent balance of power and control. This racquet features FSI Power technology, which includes a tighter stringing pattern that moves the densest part of the string bed to where players usually strike the ball.

This means a larger sweet spot area to maximize power, control, and accuracy.

It also features Cortex Pure Feel powered by SMACWRAP technology, a specialized damping material embedded at critical points, to help absorb shock and improve control. 

Heavier racquets tend to offer more power to intermediate and advanced players. But beginners usually find a lighter racquet will yield more power, since it’s easier to generate a faster swing and fly through contact.

The Babolat Pure Drive Lite comes with the Babolat Syntec Pro grip, which offers outstanding ball feedback and control. It also allows you to more easily rotate the racquet for grip changes.

Moderate Stability

The Babolat Pure Drive Lite is the lightest version of the Pure Drive series, coming in at just 10.0 oz. Lighter racquets tend to have less stability, but the Pure Drive Lite offers impressive stability for how light it is. 

That said, it’s still a very light racquet, and players may find that they require additional weight to limit twisting of the racquet in fast-paced, aggressive play.

Excellent Speed and Spin

The lighter weight of this racquet allows you to fly through contact with the ball. The high maneuverability of this racquet gives it a fast feel and allows you to generate enough speed for excellent spin, keeping your shots in the court.

Overall, the Pure Drive Lite is an excellent tennis racquet with great power, comfort, and maneuverability. It’s a great option for serious beginners, as well as intermediate and advanced tennis players.

Alternatives to the Babolat Pure Drive Lite Tennis Racquet

If you want to check out some alternatives options to the Pure Drive Lite, here are our top recommendations. We recommend the Head Ti.S6 for players who want a similarly priced racquet, and the Babolat Pure Drive for players looking for something a little more substantial and advanced.

The Head Ti.S6 is one of the best-selling racquets of all time. It offers a similar blend of power and control as the Pure Drive Lite. It’s an especially great racquet to consider if you are a developing beginner or intermediate player. It also comes with a slightly lower price tag. Read our full review of the Head Ti.S6 or view it on Amazon.

The Babolat Pure Drive is the more substantial older sibling of the Pure Drive Lite. It offers more power for intermediate and advanced players who are able to control it. If you have the money to spend, and you want a more advanced racquet as an alternative to the Pure Drive Lite, then the Pure Drive is your best bet. Read our full review of the Babolat Pure Drive or view it on Amazon.

Summary and Recommendations

The Pure Drive Lite offers the benefits of the Pure Drive series, in a lighter, more manageable racquet. This makes it a great starting racquet for developing beginners and strong juniors, who want some extra power without losing too much control. 

The blend of power and control make this a great option for intermediate and advanced players as well, who may be turned off by feel and loss of control of the Babolat Pure Drive. Check out the Babolat Pure Drive Lite on Amazon or the latest 2021 model.

Post last updated on January 26, 2021