Nike Air Zoom Vapor X HC 'Green Abyss'
Colorway: Green Abyss/Bleached Aqua/Black/Silver · Style code: AA8030-300 · Release date: May 14, 2018 · Price: $498 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike Air Zoom Vapor X HC 'Solar Red' (AA8030-006) · Nike Court Air Zoom Vapor X HC 'Black Volt' (AA8030-009) · Nike Air Zoom Vapor X HC 'Black' (AA8030-010) · Nike Air Zoom Vapor X 'Black Speed Yellow Spray' (AA8030-013) · Nike Court Air Vapor X Black Sneakers (AA8030-016)
Nike unveiled the Air Zoom Vapor X in December 2017 as the next step in the Vapor line Roger Federer had carried for more than a decade, and he played the 2018 Australian Open in an RF-branded pair. The lineage shows in the shape: the X echoes the Vapor 9 rather than starting over.
What changed was containment and durability. The foot frame that wraps the midsole was made larger and more aggressive, which keeps the foot from sliding off the platform when a player loads sideways into a shot, and a full-length TPU frame runs beneath it for torsional stability. The upper switched to an open engineered mesh that cut break-in time and weight. The herringbone outsole was redrawn using wear-pattern data from Nike's Sports Research Lab, because a tennis shoe usually fails at the sole before anything else.
Cushioning is a Zoom Air unit under the heel with Dynamic Fit lacing above it, the pairing the line had used for years. HC designates the hard-court build. This one is finished in a deep blue-green with bleached aqua and silver detailing.