One does not, as a rule, admire a shoe. One makes an exception here. The Jet Mach 4 Clay Court in the women's fit is a light, quick, low-slung thing with its outsole re-cut in full herringbone for a loose red surface — the tread bites when you plant, releases when you slide, and lets the crushed brick fall away rather than carrying it about with you.
It is not built to be a stability shoe, and it has the good manners not to claim otherwise.
The construction is quite charming when one looks. The upper is Matryx Evo: aramid and polyamide woven into a single fabric, the competition version reinforced with a second layer of weave, which is how a shoe this light contrives to hold a foot at all.
Beneath the forefoot Babolat has installed what it calls a starting block — high-performance foam that returns energy on the push-off, with reinforcements at either side to keep the midsole from rolling under you. The moulded OrthoLite HybridPlus insole is 50% recycled, and one may as well be virtuous where it costs nothing in comfort.
Pro Shield+ moulded rubber over the inner forefoot and toes. Michelin premium rubber below, the most durable compound they make. The house dates to 1875, which is breeding of a sort.
Lavender/White is the colourway.
Tianjin, then, and one may take one's time. The Tianjin Eye is a ferris wheel built directly into the deck of the Yongle Bridge, which is precisely the kind of unnecessary gesture one applauds.
Ancient Culture Street has the Tianhou Palace at its centre, a temple to the sea goddess, and the Five Great Avenues run block after block of brick villas built for exiled officials who arrived with money and nowhere to spend it. One knows the feeling.
You will get use out of these everywhere from a clay court in the damp Tianjin spring to a hard court back home in September, and by the way, they are quite perfect for a morning of goubuli buns eaten standing up, which is the only correct way, whatever anyone tells you.
"Lightness is not frivolity. Lightness is the most expensive thing to build."
Buy on Amazon