In honor of Wimbledon 2017 and the GOAT, Roger Federer, I decided to dig in my closet and pull out my favorite tennis shoe of all time and why it beats out the popular choices of today, the Nike Zoom Vapor 9 and Adidas Barricade. Although also in honor of Fed, I’ll get a review up of the Zoom Vapor 9 soon.
Pros: traction, amazing Zoom, fit, support and stability, containment, way ahead of its time
Cons: No longer in production, nearly impossible to find anywhere.
Sizing: true to size although they run tight
Best for: tennis players and basketball players looking for an excellent outdoor option
I present to the greatest tennis shoe of all time, the Nike Air Court Zoom Implosion Mid. 
The Implosion came out in the early 2000’s I believe, just when Federer was just becoming Federer and when Agassi was exiting the stage and winding down his career.
It wasn’t a sig shoe but everybody wore them. Upon examining them today, Nike really was ahead of its time and pulled out all the stops for this shoe.
Traction
Unbelievable traction with good ol full length herringbone. Granted, tennis shoes don’t really play around with story telling because it’s about taking care of business not cute graphics.
I always get asked what shoes would be good for outdoor hoops and to be honest, tennis shoes would be ideal. The rubber on tennis shoe are made for hard courts (outdoor) use, are made of XDR or something similar, and usually have an outsole wear warranty. This means if you burn through the outsole, you can return them for a replacement ( Try doing that with a basketball shoe). Also tennis movements are similar to basketball so the same needs are covered with a tennis shoe except maybe cushioning since there is less jumping.
Cushioning
REAL BOUNCY RESPONSIVE ZOOM AIR in both the heel and forefoot. These rival the Zoom in my Soldier VI but in a lower profile. I put these on today and couldn’t believe how good they felt compared to Federer’s shoe, the Zoom Vapor 9 which also features ” Zoom”. Many people think the Vapor 9 is the best tennis shoe out now but it isn’t even close between these two shoes especially in terms of cushioning.
Fit
Mesh upper with a thermoplastic “cage” on top for lockdown and containment
A mesh upper on a tennis shoe makes almost zero sense since there is a lot of toe dragging on a hard court so mesh would be susceptible to wear and tear. Nike actually thought of everything and used that thermoplastic compound to keep the foot locked in and to keep high wear areas, like the toe box, from wearing down.
It’s a lot like the Shox Stunner which came out around the same time.
The end result is perfect lockdown front to back, top to bottom and side to side.
Support and Stability
Built low to the ground, the Implosion is extremely stable and will not tip over. Mid cuts in tennis are rare and I have no idea why. Just a great stable shoe.
Containment
Excellent containment even though the upper is mesh. The thermoplastic cage helps with containment but the real reason for the excellent containment is the plastic “rails” that are hidden on the shoes’ interior.
All that extra height and coverage keeps the foot locked in on hard slides and direction changes. If only Nike and Brandblack would incorporate this into their mesh and woven uppers…
Conclusion
I’ve searched high and low for another pair of these and they are pretty much impossible to find. But after a six or seven YEAR search I found one in my size this past month.
Nike was way ahead of the game back in the early 2000’s. Even if they retro these, I’m 99% sure it won’t feel like the original. This was such an under the radar shoe that didn’t get a bunch of hype but damn it performed like a beast.
schwollo.com 
Nice! Glad you finally managed to hunt down another pair. I’m assuming you’re gonna play in them—is that the plan? You worried about Zoom or some other component giving out quickly? Either way, congratulations, and thanks for the fun read!
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Haha I’m not sure if I’ll play in them. My old ones seen in the pics are still playable and I have the Zoom Vapors and Barricades as well . Tennis shoes are just plain made better sad but true.
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Right on. That’s impressive that the Zoom is still good in your old ones. Started to conjecture about why tennis shoes would be better made than bball shoes and then decided it probably isn’t worth going down that rabbit hole.
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Haha in short playing outdoors in the elements and on concrete or clay stopping and sliding for hours with tons of toe drag you better make a good durable shoe. Don’t think the tennis shoe market is as lopsided as the hoops market either so everyone has to make quality products. Nike made an attempt of “hi tech” tennis shoes called the ultra fly last year (225) and it was a POS. Lol
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Does making the zoom like they were in the early 00s really cut into margins like that? I would just think all the up front costs would be amortized by now.
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I wish I knew for sure but I’m sure every penny counts when you’re selling millions of shoes and wall street is breathing down your neck.
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great read. i remember back in the days, when I first started school in the States the gym teacher told me wear tennis shoes for gym. this was back when Jordan was on his way to winning his first three-peat. this article gave me that flashback. the shoes looks nice and clean in terms of the design. reminds me of the nike sb lines from nike sb zoom air e-cue. which were then followed by the zoom tre and the zoom tre ad. I think they were released in the early 2000’s too. dunno if you are familiar with these. I used to skate a bit back then, and there was a lot of hating on Nikes when they started the SB lines, but the designs were refreshing in my opinion.
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Ha was never into skate shoes but I do remember Nike putting their Nike will and Nike formula onto sb shoes. Thst formula works in almost every sport except golf but that was more due to trying to be an equipment maker which is not their forte..sorry went on a tangent
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Skate shoes are quite comfy if you like the extra padding around your ankles..Nike made their SB line real successful until recent years in my opinion. I do agree on your observation about their golf lines. It is kinda sad their golf clubs have been discontinued. I started playing golf in a used set of Nike golf clubs! I don’t play as much golf as I want due to my current transportation situation. But when I do, I rock my Nike SB Koston 2 IT!
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Just a confirmation on you saying that tennis shoes are made of xdr or some other material. They are! All of the Nike Lunar Ballistecs (really bad cushioning btw nothing close to lunarlon) come with the xdr tag
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Ha yea I know the rubber is usually xdr but I’m talking the glue and just overall build quality is more durable than bball shoes
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Can you hoop in these?
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Heck yea but not at their current age. Nikecourt Zoom zero review is about to get posted this weekend and this another crossover shoe you can hoop in
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