Court Shoe Review - K-Swiss Ultra Express for men and ladies

It's new, it looks cool, and I wanted to share my two cents regarding this radically different tennis (and paddle) shoe from K-Swiss!

First off, the Ultra Express is DIFFERENT.  Being a fan of running shoes for well, you name it, everything except court sports this shoe intrigued me from the get go.  When my sales rep said it incorporated some design features from running shoes, I was eager to hear more.  What I heard about and subsequently saw was a bright colored, lightweight upper made mostly of mesh fabric and some other synthetics grounded by a semi-traditional court outsole.

What I felt when I tried it on was a super lightweight shoe with really good heel cushioning.  It runs a bit wide for my narrow foot, as K-Swiss shoes typically do which caused some bunching of the mesh fabric when I laced it up.  I also noticed that it laces up really high on the top of the shoe which holds the tongue down well and differentiates it from a running shoe by giving that feel of lateral support.  It has a lot of padding around the ankle which is good, as long as it hits you in the right places.  Back to the heel cushioning...with every step, I really felt the springiness of the heel.  I like that.

When I mentioned the semi-traditional outsole, I meant that the tread is fairly traditional - based on what has been proven to work well for court sports.  However, there is less rubber overall, which keeps the weight of the shoe down.  While this makes me happy, our customers who grind away for hours at a time at tennis camps and on paddle courts will be the true testers of durablity.  This shoe does not carry an outsole guarantee (nor do most lighter weight court shoes).

Let us know what you think when you try it on or put it thru its paces.