Technical Viper

2023’s Babolat Technical Viper is the French brand’s racket designed for advanced power-oriented players. This year’s model is the same as last year’s with a few minor changes (applies to the entire Viper line):

1. The paint job

2. The handle’s bulge is slightly higher

3. The racket now has a strap interchange system

4. The vibration reduction system is a tiny bit more effective

A diamond-shaped racket with a hard touch and a 26-centimeter balance, it is deserving of its monicker technical. Intermediate players seeking power should consider the Technical Veron instead.

Babolat describes its Viper line as designed for “explosive power”.

At the front of the court, this racket excels in control and power. This is thanks to its hard touch from the 12K carbon fiber combined with the Multi-EVA core, AKA, X-EVA, which is a sandwich of layers of hard foam around a layer of soft foam, which barely absorbs the ball at all upon impact.

Note: this year’s Babolat Technical Viper Lebron has changed to a single layer of ultra-hard EVA at the request of the World’s number one player (at the time of writing: April 2023), Juan Lebron.

This hardness will tire out arms that are not accustomed to playing with a hard-touch racket.

In comparison with its brother, the Air Viper, the Technical Viper has a weight that applies more force to the ball and requires slightly less swing from your arm.

In the overhead game, it is a dream: powerful, stable, and dry. However, the roughness on the Technical Viper is less grippy than the Air Viper and Counter Viper, so our smashes X3 were slightly less potent than expected.

Its weight, hardness, and balance make it slightly less maneuverable than the Air Viper when digging out slow balls at the back of the court.

Moreover, the hard foam and diamond shape result in a sweet spot that is high and small. When you miss it, the ball basically falls off the racket face. It is in a word, “technical”.