Babolat is a French tennis, badminton and squash equipment company, best known for its
strings and tennis racquets which are used by several top players such as Rafael Nadal,
Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, Caroline Wozniacki, Leander Paes, Fernando González, Igor Andreev,
Fabio Fognini, Nicolás Lapentti, Samantha Stosur, Lisa Raymond, Robby Ginepri, Li Na,
Dinara Safina, Agnieszka Radwańska, Kai, Alexander, Bjarne and Götz Diers, Santiago
Giraldo, Carlos Moyà, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Sara Errani, Eugenie Bouchard, and Francesca
Schiavone.
The company has made strings since 1875, when Pierre Babolat created the first strings made
of natural gut.
Babolat continued to focus on strings until 1994, when it became a "total tennis" company.
That is, Babolat began producing racquet frames and selling them in Europe.
It then moved on to Japan, and later to the USA in 2000.
The popularity of Babolat racquets picked up quickly in North America and Europe, trademarked
by the easily identifiable double lines across the strings of the racquet face, and along
the racquet frame itself.
Babolat produces multiple series of tennis racquet models.
The 'Pure Drive' series is a series that includes the Pure Drive Team, and the Pure Drive Team
Plus.
The second series includes the Babolat Pure Control Team and the Babolat Pure Control
Team Plus models, the red racquet with white stripes used by tennis players such as Robby
Ginepri and Justin Gimelstob.
The third series includes the Babolat Pure Storm Team, an orange and black racquet used
by Fernando González.
The 'Aero' series includes the Babolat AeroPro Drive, a black racquet with yellow stripes
is used by Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and rising Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard.
The Aero Range is considered to provide the most racquet head speed and spin due to its
"aero modular" technology.
Other racquets in this range include the AeroPro Control.
Recently released series include the Pure Drive Roddick, the plus version used by Andy
Roddick and the AeroPro Drive Cortex.
This Cortex system claims to reduce vibrations which improves the players comfort and feel
of contact with the ball.
Other variations of its Pure Drive models include the Roddick Signature, Oversize and
the updated Team and Plus model with Babolat's new cortex vibration dampening technology.
The new AeroPro Drive with Cortex will be the first "aero" model racket to be fitted
with cortex technology.
The Pure Control line was abandoned for a time but has since been revived with the Pure
Control Zylon 360, a lighter version which had poor sales and was subsequently renamed
the "Pure Storm"; in this incarnation the racquet has since gained quite a large following
for its low stiffness and control level.
Due to the popularity of the low powered and flexible Pure Storm, Babolat has decided to
create a new version of the Pure Control Team called Pure Storm Tour that has identical
specs to the Pure Control Team except for a big difference in the flex which dropped
from 70 to 63 and 62 on the extended length version.
Babolat also updated the previous Pure Storm along with the new Pure Storm Tour with a
new material called "Carbon Extreme" placed around the head for extra stability.
Babolat has upgraded its technology and is now using Graphite Tungsten in their newer
models of racquets.
Examples are the new Babolat Pure Drive Roddick Plus GT.
At the 2005 Australian Open, Babolat was the most popular brand of racquet used by competitors,
eclipsing traditional market leaders Dunlop, Prince, Head, Wilson, Yonex, Völkl and Slazenger.
Babolat sponsorships Male players
Rafael Nadal uses a Babolat AeroPro Drive GT strung with Babolat RPM Blast
Andy Roddick retired previously uses a Babolat Pure Drive Roddick GT ++
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga uses a Babolat Pure Strike 2013
Máximo González Mariano Puerta
Fernando González Carlos Moyá retired, previously used a Babolat
Pure Drive Komlavi Loglo
Sebastián Decoud Juan Ignacio Chela
Igor Andreev uses an Babolat Pure Drive Julien Benneteau
Sam Querrey Ivo Karlović
John Boso Maurice Russo
Luis Horna Florent Serra
Alejandro Falla Santiago Giraldo
Robert Farah Fabio Fognini
Jan van den Berg Kenneth Carlsen
Édouard Roger-Vasselin Leander Paes
Conor Niland Olivier Patience
Nicolás Lapentti Bobby Reynolds
Grega Žemlja Nicolas Devilder
Mathieu Montcourt Robby Ginepri
Jack Sock Michael Russell
Wang Yeu-tzuoo Juan Pablo Guzmán
Jean-Julien Rojer Benedikt Dorsch
Brian Dabul Somdev Devvarman
Wayne Arthurs Ricardo Mello
Thiago Alves Franco Ferreiro
Rogério Dutra da Silva Antonio Veić
Jurica Grubišić Jan Hernych
Jan Hájek Albert Portas
Javier Garrapiz Marc López
Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo Pablo Carreno Busta
Sébastien de Chaunac Alex Bogdanović
Dieter Kindlmann Gianluca Naso
Yūichi Sugita Sun-Yong Kim
Bruno Echagaray Santiago González
Victor Crivoi Marius Copil
Răzvan Sabău George Bastl
Daniel Thornton Alfonso Gallo
Martin Villarubi Marcel Felder
Sam Warburg Justin Gimelstob
Jason Brown Christopher Moss
Hugo Armando Scoville Jenkins
Thomas Sodermans Brian Baker
Todd Widom Christopher Ujkic
Thomas Constantine Alex Bogomolov
Russell Shaw Bryan Lo
Yogi Scuba Kaden Hensel
Viktor Dedroog Ajay Puri
Vashisht Arshanapally David Ho
Kevin Roberts uses a Babolat AeroPro Lite Nick Miele
Steve Avery Ryan Harrison
Template:FlagiconIUSA Sean Demmon Jasper Sodermans
Martin Whiteside Female players
Caroline Wozniacki uses the Babolat AeroPro Drive
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Devika Rastogi uses Drive Z Lite
Nadia Petrova Dinara Safina
Kim Clijsters uses the Babolat Pure Drive GT
Samantha Stosur uses the Babolat Pure Storm GT
Sybille Bammer Francesca Schiavone uses the Babolat AeroPro
Drive GT Sara Errani
Agnieszka Radwańska uses the Babolat Pure Drive Lite
Urszula Radwańska Rennae Stubbs
Katarina Srebotnik Li Na uses the Babolat Pure Drive GT
Julia Görges Vera Dushevina
Émilie Loit Karin Knapp
Meghann Shaughnessy Elena Vesnina
Eugenie Bouchard Alizé Cornet
Pauline Parmentier Caroline Garcia
Laura Granville Lourdes Domínguez Lino
Kaia Kanepi Jill Craybas
Lisa Raymond Vania King
Jennifer Anne Shorr - uses the Babolat AeroPro Drive GT+
Yaroslava Shvedova Irina-Camelia Begu
Alexandra Dulgheru Edina Gallovits-Hall
Ioana Raluca Olaru Aravane Rezaï
Olga Savchuk Mirjana Lučić
Tatiana Poutchek Akgul Amanmuradova
Sofia Arvidsson Maret Ani
Maria Elena Camerin Séverine Brémond
Caroline von Dercook Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro
Timea Bacsinszky Alberta Brianti
Martina Suchá Yulia Beygelzimer
Kirsten Flipkens Laura Pous Tió
Emma Laine Clarisa Fernández
Mariana Díaz-Oliva María Emilia Salerni
Guy Ruggles Yan-Chong Chen
Amy Bowtell Sophie Ferguson
Nicole Pratt Lauren Breadmore
Valérie Tétreault Jessica Moore
Sylvija Talaja Michaela Paštiková
Kateřina Böhmová Arantxa Parra Santonja
Estrella Cabeza Nuria Llagostera Vives
María Sánchez Lorenzo Mónica Puig
Elise Tamaëla Nathalie Viérin
Giorgia Mortello Antonella Serra Zanetti
Adriana Serra Zanetti Verdiana Verardi
Seiko Okamoto Lina Stančiūtė
Claudine Schaul Joanna Sakowicz
Tatiana Panova Polona Rebersak
Zuzana Kucová Chia Jung Chuang
İpek Şenoğlu Neha Uberoi
Shikha Uberoi Tiffany Dabek
María Vento-Kabchi Annika Svenja Kirschwasser
/ Amie Crisera Zheng Saisai
External links Babolat
Babolat Babolat
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