Babolat RPM Blast 16g Tennis String Half Reel
About Bosra
An ancient basalt city in southern Syria, it stands on the road south of Damascus near the Jordanian border. Bosra was the capital of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, and its large Roman theatre remains built into later fortifications, surrounded by Nabataean, Byzantine, and early Islamic ruins.
THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
RPM Blast is Babolat’s co-polyester monofilament and the most widely used spin string in professional tennis. This listing is a half reel — 100 metres, roughly eight full stringing jobs, against the 200 metres of a full reel.
The string is extruded with an octagonal cross-section rather than a round one. Those eight edges are what bite the ball and, more importantly, what let the main strings slide sideways on contact and snap back before the ball leaves the bed.
That snap-back is the mechanism behind the string’s spin, and it is why a shaped monofilament outperforms a smooth one at the same tension.
Stiffness is high, as with any polyester. The bed is firm and predictable, holds tension well under heavy spin and does not balloon on off-centre contact.
It is also unforgiving on the arm, which is why polyester is recommended for players with a full, fast swing and why many use it in the mains with a softer cross.
Polyester loses tension steadily whether it is played or not, so a bed has a working life measured in hours rather than in breakages — most players cut it out before it snaps.
Bosra sits in southern Syria on the edge of the Hauran plain, a basalt town whose Roman theatre is built from the same black stone as the houses around it.
Specifications
| Type | Co-polyester monofilament |
|---|---|
| Gauge | 16 / 1.30 mm |
| Reel length | 100 m / 330 ft (half reel) |
| Shape | Octagonal |
| Stiffness | High |
| Recommended tension | 50–59 lb |
| Best for | Heavy topspin, control |
| Hybrid use | Suits the mains, paired with a softer cross |
A half reel is the size most one-person stringing operations buy: enough to keep a consistent bed across a season without the outlay, or the shelf life, of a full 200-metre reel.
LET Babolat RPM Blast 16g Tennis String Half Reel SHOW YOU Bosra
String: Babolat RPM Blast 15L Tennis String Reel: Seventeen thousand. That is roughly what this held. I played in front of a crowd that size once - different continent, different century, nobody needs the story. Black basalt, second century, probably under Trajan, who annexed the Nabataean kingdom in 106 and made Bosra capital of the Roman province of Arabia. About a hundred and two metres across. The upper covered portico survives complete, which almost never happens. It stood outside the walls until 1076, when the Seljuks turned it into a fortress; eight large external towers went on between 1202 and 1253, begun under the Ayyubid sultan al-Adil I. Excavated and restored 1947 to 1970. Long campaign. I know about those.
String: Babolat RPM Blast 15L Tennis String Reel: Quiet in here, and hats off. This is one of the oldest surviving mosques in the Islamic world. Its foundation is traditionally attributed to the caliph Umar, who led the Muslim conquest of Syria in 636, and the building was completed under the Umayyads in 720 or 721, in the reign of Yazid II. That square minaret is the early Umayyad form, and they repeated it afterwards at Damascus and at Aleppo - when something works, everyone copies it. I had a serve people copied. Not remotely the same thing, I know. Restored under Kumushtakin in the twelfth century, altered by the Ayyubids, conserved in 2006 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
String: Babolat RPM Blast 15L Tennis String Reel: One thing left standing in the middle of the road with everything else gone - I have some feeling about that. Bosra was the northern capital of the Nabataean kingdom until Trajan annexed it in 106 and made it capital of the Roman province of Arabia, and this arch, the East Gate, survives from the Nabataean phase, at the eastern end of the old colonnaded main street. One high wide opening, arcaded, and the work is compared to Nabataean building at Petra with a Greco-Roman influence added. The town's monuments - Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad - are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Four eras and still upright. That is a career.
String: Babolat RPM Blast 15L Tennis String Reel: Built in 512, and dedicated to Sergius, Bacchus and Leontius - three Roman soldiers martyred for their faith. I will say that plainly and leave it where it is. It served as a pilgrimage church and as the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of Arabia. The plan is the extraordinary part: a circular interior set inside a square outer wall, opening east into a deep sanctuary, a square bay extended by an apse and flanked by two sacristies - and that central plan is held to have decisively shaped Christian architecture afterwards. Only ruins now, with later chapels built over the site. Usually I would have a story here. Not at this one.
Jackson Phillips here. Owner of TTT. We are working hard every day to bring you the most useful product reviews in the business. Our goal is putting the right product in every hand. If you have time, shoot me an email at jacksonphillips@thetennistactician.com and tell me exactly what you think of your purchase. The more feedback we get, the better we can serve. Thank you for your patronage. And Burn, Laugh, and Learn.