The following review was one that I performed for Tennis Warehouse. I was selected for this play test based on my participation on their message boards and this post is a reprint of the review I created for TW. You view the original review by selecting the following link. TW Review

2017 Babolat Jet Review

Tennis Experience / Background:
I have only been playing seriously for the last two plus years. Most of my tennis is participating in group drills 3 to 4 times a week at the 3.0 to 4.0 level.

Playing Style:
Primarily a doubles player with an attacking style, always moving forward.

Current Shoes:
New Balance 996 v3 2E, Nike Cage 2, Adidas Adizero Y3 2016, Adidas Ubersonic GW

Hours Played:
21 hours of play (all hours were played in group drills)

Size:
Played: 10.5 Normal Size: 10.5

Comments on shoe performance:

Comfort: Out of the box, I put them on my bare feet to get a feel for the shoe and found them to be quite comfortable. No seems or stitching poking or prodding the foot and no immediate indications of tightness or inflexibility. For playing, I wore a single pair of socks, as I normally do, and hit the courts. In the first few hours I found the shoe to be a bit tight in general, but that is fairly normal for me as I have a slightly wider foot. After about 4.5 hours of play, the shoe had loosened up a bit to where I no longer noticed any tightness of the shoe on my foot. By the third week of the Playtest the shoe had loosened up to the point that I really needed to start cranking the laces tight to keep some stability. Throughout the Playtest, I would occasional feel the edge of the built up rubber area on the instep of each shoe. Nothing really painful, but I could feel it on my foot during certain maneuvers while playing. The cushioning was better than I expected, but it is not the most cushioned shoe I have worn. I did not experience any aches or pains in the foot after play like a did with my Ubersonics from lack of cushioning and the stock insole was adequate for my purposes and I did not feel the need to boost cushioning with an aftermarket insole like I did with the Ubersonics. In general, I found the shoe to be adequately comfortable for play, and more comfortable than the other light weight shoes I have played in.

Arch Support: I had no issues with the arch support with the Babolat Jet. I have a fairly low arch and noticed zero arch related arches or pains during the Playtest. Normally, I only have issues with shoes that have too high of an arch support so this shoe was perfect for my feet.

Stability/Support: The shoe feels low to the ground so I expected stability from the shoe from the moment I first put them on. I was a little bit worried about support as the sole seemed to flex almost too much. I felt as though I could feel every crack in the cement, space between floor boards, and any imperfection in the surface I was walking over. Kind of like a thin pair of flip flops, the sole just seemed to conform to the surface I was walking over. That worry went away as soon as I started play. I never once noticed any instability or lack of support from the sole flex during play. If anything, it almost felt like I was gaining support from the hard court surfaces I was playing on versus a less flexible sole like in the Cage 2. I never felt like I was going to roll an ankle or fall over when pushing the Babolat Jets hard like I sometimes do in my Cage 2’s. As I approached the 12-15 hour mark in the Playtest, the upper material had stretched out to the point to where I had to consciously tighten my laces tighter to avoid some loss of stability from a looser upper. It was a minor inconcienience, but it was fixable with tighter lacing. At the end of the Playtest, I was quite happy with the level of stability and support the shoe provided. I never once worried about or thought about losing control or injuring myself while playing in the Babolat Jets.

Ventilation: I found the ventilation to be good on the Jets. While we have not yet hit the furnace like Texas summer heat, there was not a moment during the Playtest that I ever noticed a hot spot or any signs of overheating in the shoes. Even on a few of the hot and humid spring evenings we had, there were no signs of excessive presperation or dampness in my socks that one can experience in a poorly vented shoe.

Sole durability: This is probably the one area of the shoe where I was a bit disappointed. I am not a slider nor very hard on my soles of my shoes, normally, so I was bit surprised to see some wear on the soles after my first 90 minutes in the shoe. Nothing significant, but examining the sole you could see the edges already starting to wear down. The first significant sign of wear came after 4.5 hours when I noticed scuffing on the plastic shank on the sole under my arches. It was not scuff marks like I had stepped on something, but rather a sanded texture where the plastic shank met the rubber soles. While minimal at first after 4.5 hours, it just got progressively worse through the Playtest. By the end of the Playtest, the wear had increased on the plastic shank from just the edges where it met the rubber to approximately 75% of the way down the outer raised bar of plastic between the forefoot rubber and heel rubber. While there appears to be plenty of material left and there are no imminent signs of failure, it is something that will have to be monitored if I continue to wear this shoe. The rubber sole held up better than expected as I thought for sure after the early signs of wear I would have worn through the tread by the end of the Playtest. The rubber wore fairly evenly and after 21 hours there is less tread than when I started, but no bald spots or holes in the sole.

Toe durability: I had no issues with the durability. While I am not a big toe dragger, I do display a bit more toe wear on my right shoe versus my left. After 21 hours of play, there is some minor scuffing on my right toe of my Babolat Jets but it is very minor in nature. It looks as though Babolat has enough material on the toe to provide protection for the life of the shoe.

Traction: I liked the traction level of the Babolat Jets. They are neither too sticky nor to slippery for the hard courts I play on. Babolat has found a good blend of traction that worked just perfectly for me to the point that I did not notice any issues with traction during the entire Playtest. The hard courts at my club go from just recently resurfaced to a fairly old and dusty surface and I had no issues going from one extreme to the other in the Jets. When you are not even thinking about traction issues, you know they got it right.

Weight: The Jets felt very light on my feet throughout the Playtest. They felt similar in weight, to me, as my Addidas Ubersonics and definitely lighter than my other shoes in my rotation. I normally trend to a heavier shoe with more cushioning, but I really enjoyed my time in the Jets as they made me feel a bit faster around the court.

General Comments on overall performance: I really liked the Babolat Jets and will likely keep this pair in my rotation for a while. Performance wise, they are on par or better than any of my shoes I have used in the past. They are more comfortable than my Ubersonics, faster/lighter than my 996v3’s, more stable than my Cage 2’s, and pretty close to my Adizero Y3 2016’s performance wise. The downsides to the Jet, in my opinion, were cushioning and some premature sole wear. I like well cushioned shoes so any light weight shoe is going to have trouble meeting my standards, but the Babolat Jet did remarkably well for its class. I prefer it over the Ubersonic for cushioning by a mile. The sole durability issue is a bit tougher to work around. For as much as I loved the traction characteristics of the Jet, I am just not convinced that they remain so for much longer. The shank wear is a bit unnerving which could eventually lead to failure or traction loss which I do not want floating around the brain while on the court. The only other issue I encountered on the Babolat Jet was that the laces seem to come untied more frequently than any other I shoe I have played in. I normally encounter a shoe lace coming undone on the court maybe once or twice a year, with the Babolat Jet it was happening about once or twice a week during the Playtest.

I liked the tennis I played while wearing the Babolat Jets. Much like my 996 v3 and Adizero Y3 2016’s, I never thought about the shoe while I was on the court. I never worried about traction or stability while playing and never felt any aches or pains that I would attribute to the shoe after I was off the court. Even with a slightly wider foot than medium, the Jets molded to my foot and provided good comfort, stability, and control. The Babolat Jets are a good match day shoe, in my opinion, and would be a good fit for someone looking for a shoe in that market.