There are many different brands competing for the top spot in tennis shoe production. Nike and Adidas stand at the forefront, but there are plenty of up and coming brands that are making up ground quickly. K-Swiss and Prince are two others that have rocketed onto the scene with comfortable and quality shoes. Babolat has also made strides, coming from a strong background of producing some of the most popular tennis racquets on the tennis tour. No matter the brand though, finding the best tennis shoes can be a challenge. Let’s take a look at some of the new models and see how they stack up against each other.
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Nike Tennis Shoes
Nike sells two competitive lines of tennis shoe: the Court Ballistec and the Lunar Vapor. Particularly the Nike Air Court Ballistec 3.3 is the premier shoe, being worn by a large number of professional tennis players. The shoes feature new and improved durability and support over earlier models. Nike shoes suffer a bit from running narrow, but they provide a great heavy duty option for the competitive player. Cosmetically speaking, Nike also seems to produce some of the best looking shoes.
Adidas Tennis Shoes
Adidas has been a strong competitor for Nike for years now. They have grabbed the attention of many top players as well and support a fair number of the top ten. The Adidas Barricade 6.0 is the newest shoe on the block for Adidas and it has received great reviews and praise. This is one of the most comfortable Barricade shoes to date, while still providing the standard durability and support that the Barricade name is built upon. According to reviewers and play testers all around the world, these are the best tennis shoes of the moment.
Prince Tennis Shoes
Prince doesn’t have much of a following on the professional tour, but they cater well to competitive and recreational players. Their T22 shoe model can hold it’s own against the other top shoe lines. It’s durability and comfort rival the Barricades–at a fraction of the cost. Prince really loses out in the design and looks department though. The T22 looks awkward and has a weird design, even in the plain white and grey color scheme.
K-Swiss Tennis Shoes
K-Swiss has been providing great tennis shoes for recreational players for the past decade. Just recently they have developed a solid following of professional players with their headline shoe, the BigShot. The shoe has recieved plenty of mixed reviews. Players have cited numerous and repeated problems with the outsole not providing enough traction, causing dangerous slipping around the court. Despite these claims, professional players like the Bryan brothers and Gael Monfils have made these their shoe of choice on the tour.
With all the different brands it can be hard to settle on a single pair of tennis shoes. Keep in mind the level of player you are, what your game requires, and what your budget is. These things can help guide you to the right pair of shoes.
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