I was lucky enough to get a 6 pack of Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 tennis string from a friend of mine. I had heard lots of good things about the Hurricane series of strings from Babolat; so I was looking forward to testing them. As you already know, I like to use poly tennis strings; I enjoy the durability, power, spin potential, and feel that the stiffer strings provide me.
Stringing Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 strings
Stringing the Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 was not super easy nor was it difficult, it was somewhere in the middle. Because the Pro Hurricane is a bit stiffer, it maintained it’s coil (even after pre-stretching) which made it annoying to string. After a few seconds of frustration, I was able to knot off quickly and hit the courts. Oh and I strung the Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 in a one-piece at 59 pounds.
Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 playtest
One of the aspects that I don’t like about this tennis string is how long it takes to settle in the tennis racquet. During the first several minutes, it’s too stiff, I mean really stiff; almost to the point that I considered cutting it out the minute I walked off court. However; the moment the Pro Hurricane settled, it was very very nice.
This Pro Hurricane review is about the strings, after the strings have settled in the tennis racquet, ok? This is a very powerful string with great spin potential. The Pro Hurricane pockets the tennis ball extremely well on flat groundstrokes, sending the ball deep into the opposite side of the tennis court. On spin groundstrokes, the Pro Hurricane come alive, the topspin forehands I was able to come up with send the ball down into the court in a hurry. Backhand slices were a beautiful thing to witness, when making good to perfect contact, the tennis ball would practically float across the net and skid through the tennis court.
The other part of the Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 that I don’t like much is the durability, after about 5 hours of play, the strings died. I mean, absolutely dead; no feel, power, or control. The crazy thing though was how it dies, it goes from one great feeling groundstroke to absolute crap in a quick exchange. I didn’t even see it coming. When these strings go dead, they start to move around a lot and it goes from bad to worse. Don’t get me wrong, the good really outweighs the bad with this Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 tennis string.
Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 recommendations
I would absolutely recommend the Pro Hurricane for the intermediate to advanced tennis player (NTRP 3.5 to 5.0). The Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 is at a fair price, just under $11. It has good power, access to spin, and is soft-ish on the arm. I also suggest stringing the Babolat Pro Hurricane 16 a few pounds tighter than normal, since having it strung at lower tensions can hurt the arm (my personal experience). Enjoy!
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