String & Racket Finder
BABOLAT PURE DRIVE tennis rackets compared
The loudest “free power” in tennis since 1994. FSI Power (diamond grommets, crosses pulled tighter toward the tip), the HTR high-torsional-rigidity layup, and a generation of damping names — Cortex, SWX Pure Feel — to apologise for the stiffness that makes the power. The RA number above explains the whole product in one figure.
Compare these frames in the finder →Specifications and scores
All 8 current BABOLAT PURE DRIVE models, with unstrung weight, head size, string pattern, stiffness (RA), swingweight, balance and beam width, followed by the eleven playing axes rated 0–10 and a difficulty rating.
| Model | Weight | Head | Pattern | Stiffness | Swingweight | Balance | Beam | Ctrl | Prec | Spin | Pwr | Feel | Stab | Man | Serve | Smsh | Slice | Ret | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure Drive 2015 | 300g | 100 | 16x19 | 72 RA | ~324 | ~320 | 23/26/23 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Pure Drive 98 (2021) | 305g | 98 | 16x19 | ~71 RA | ~318 | ~320 | 23 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| Pure Drive (2025) | 300g | 100 | 16x19 | 71 RA | ~320 | ~320 | 23/26/23 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Pure Drive Plus (2025) | 300g | 100 | 16x19 | 71 RA | ~326 | ~325 | 23/26/23 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 7 |
| Pure Drive Team (2025) | 285g | 100 | 16x19 | 70 RA | ~305 | ~330 | 23/26/23 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Pure Drive Lite (2025) | 270g | 100 | 16x19 | 69 RA | ~292 | ~335 | 23/26/23 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Pure Drive 107 (2025) | 285g | 107 | 16x19 | 70 RA | ~318 | ~335 | 24/26/23 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| Pure Drive 98 (2025) | 305g | 98 | 16x19 | 70 RA | ~317 | ~315 | 21/23/21 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Swipe the table sideways for the remaining columns.
Axes, in order: Control (flat) · Precision · Spin · Power · Feel / comfort · Stability · Maneuverability · Serve · Smash & overhead · Slice / touch · Return / blocking. Difficulty is how demanding the frame is to use well, not how good it is.
Model notes
Pure Drive 2015
The power benchmark, and still one of the stiffest frames in wide use. Pace is genuinely on tap — depth requires very little from you and serves come off it fast. That stiffness is the whole story though: it can be unforgiving on the arm and control is conditional on taming it with soft strings and real racquet-head speed. Enormously effective when it fits, punishing when it does not.
Pure Drive 98 (2021)
A Pure Drive with the head and pattern pulled in — the free power is still there but with a lower launch and meaningfully tighter dispersion than the 100. It remains a stiff frame with a firm, energetic response, so string choice matters for the arm. Best read as the Pure Drive for someone who liked the pace but kept hitting long.
Choosing between them
Frames in one family share a construction story but not a playing character — head size, pattern and swingweight move the numbers above far more than the marketing does. If you want a shortlist matched to how you actually play, and a string bed matched to the frame, the finder does that in a few taps.