Over the last twelve months, Carlos Alcaraz has been making waves on the ATP Tour, with Stefanos Tsitsipas claiming he had ‘never seen someone hit the ball so hard.’
The Spaniard recently won his maiden Masters 1000 title in Miami, which added to the hype, leading to many pundits calling him the next multiple Grand Slam winner.
Even with talent and work ethic to boot, a man is only as good as his tools, so what racket does he use to hit with a considerable velocity of both wings? Let’s take a look.
Alcaraz currently uses the Babolat Pure Aero VS, one of the lesser-known and lesser-used rackets in the French firm’s Pure Aero lineup.
Only a few players on tour use this stick, with Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime the other significant players taking to the court with it.
However, the Canadian endorses the Pure Aero and uses those cosmetics instead, disguising it.
The Pure Aero VS started life back in 2007 as the Aero Storm (currently used by Jack Sock, who also uses Pure Aero cosmetics), and this latest model is a 98 square inch racket with a 16×20 string pattern, a very controlled setup.
In stock form, it’s designed for aggressive baseline players who want something that lets them swing super hard/fast, with pinpoint accuracy. Something Alcaraz does on both wings.
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Aside from using a 4 1/4 (L2) grip size, the rest of Alcaraz’s exact specifications are not yet known.
It was rumoured via the Talk Tennis forums his specs at the 2021 US Open were a swing weight of 315, a static strung weight of 330g and a balance of 32.4cm.
However, these are unconfirmed, and a swing weight of 315 is likely too low (at strung specs) anyway. Once we get the specs from a stringer or if Alcaraz reveals them himself, I will post them here.
Like his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal, Alcaraz uses a full bed of Babolat RPM Blast, 1.30mm usually strung at 25kg (55lbs) on the mains and 23kg (51lbs) on the crosses.
Alcaraz has his cross strings slightly looser; this is done to aid spin potential.
RPM Blast is a shaped polyester string designed to provide plenty of spin potential. It ranks highly on the stiffness scale and is not a string for beginners.
Overall this is not an arm friendly setup, and Alcaraz has already had a few elbow problems, using PRP injections before the 2021 hard court swing.
Are you looking for a string similar to RPM Blast? Use our easy to use tennis string finder tool. It lets you filter by string type, gauge, colour, price, stiffness and shape.
While Alcaraz uses a Pro Stock racket, which means higher quality manufacturing and quality control, you can buy the next best thing, the retail version of the Babolat Pure Aero VS.
You can see the specs of the retail racket below:
These specs put the Pure Aero VS in the spec range for a ‘players’ racket, but it’s not at an unmanageable weight or swing weight for higher intermediate to advanced players.
To get your hands on an actual racket used by Alcaraz, you’ll have to see if one of his rackets comes up for sale at the pro stock retailers or via an auction.
What do you think of Alcaraz’s racket? Does it make sense that he wields the Babolat Pure Aero VS as his weapon of choice? Let me know in the comments.
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Sorry, it’s not about Alcaraz (but it follows). Thiem got negative test today and a medical checkout awaites before he can get back on track.
Yeah, I just saw his update. What will he play next?
Has not declared yet, but someone from his fanpage says, he starts first in Belgrade.. I guess he needs some days more to recover from symptoms and get checked by his doctor. If no more setbacks on his ways, should restart again in Belgrade.
So yes, he definitely skips MC. 4 days after symptomatic Covid would be nonsense.
Ye, thank god he took the jab or else he’d have really been sick huh! 🤡🌍
I hope Djoker and Thiem are back playing regularly soon. The Miami tournament was ok but we need some more competition.
I’m not a racket expert so I rely on you 🙂 I don’t know, if this is the optimal racket for this player’s profile. Seems so far to work perfectly with his game and raw power. The only question could be, how long will his elbow hold. My impression is, he has a body-build too strong for his age – maybe natural, maybe steroid-supported. I’m wondering, when he starts to calculate more and what happens then. So far he is going 200% for every move and shot and with his power-based skills (or I’m wrong?) so there’s no calculation, but good reading and feeling for the game – resulting in such a big success. If this racket is good for raw-power-based players with good movement and courage – it should be good for him. Maybe not for his elbow. BTW – do you think, Medvedev has actually hernia (maybe a result of his crazy movements and hitting without having Alcaraz’s body) or it’s rather Ukraine?
It’s not ideal to be getting PRP injections at 18 years old. I dunno if that was precautionary rather than genuinely needing it.
The Pure Aero VS seems to divide people, a lot of people think it’s a dreadful racket and causes injuries. Others love it. Although he is using pro stock.
Medvedev did post a picture from a bed post-surgery. So I am guessing legit.
Yeah, maybe both 😉 I have never heard about tennis player having hernia. Is this a common injury or just specific to the individual or to the playing style?
Just read a bit about PRP. Sounds like it could prevent injuries, but are there no risks of doing this regularly? Is this what Nadal uses since ages under the famous “Spanish doctors”? Has Fed not tried this for his knees before surgery time came? But to start preventive PRP at 18 sounds ridiculous. Given his playing style and body build not very specific fot that age, he may have been “grown” on steroids and is putting his joints at risk. Nadal in his age was a tiny boy.
Yeah, Nadal has done a ton of PRP. Federer I dunno, never been reported if so.
It is pretty common. Nalbandian, Berrettini, JJ Wolf and Brian Baker are the ones off the top of my head.
You mean hernia is that common?? Individual predispositions, bad luck or certain player’s profile?
Tennisnerd talked to Alcaraz’s friend and according to him he uses a stock Aero VS.
Thanks, guessing recent Youtube vid? I will take a look.
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