Babolat

Infobox_Company
company_name = Babolat
company_
company_slogan = Tennis runs in our blood
foundation = 1875
location = flagicon|France Lyon, France
key_people =
industry = Sports equipment
products = Racquets, strings, accessories, and shoes.
revenue =
net_income =
num_employees =
homepage = http://www.babolat.com

Babolat is a France-based tennis, badminton, and squash equipment company, best known for its racquets which are used by several top players such as Rafael Nadal,Andy Roddick,Fernando Gonzalez, Robby Ginepri, Igor Andreev, Agnieszka Radwanska and Carlos Moya. 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.

Fifty years after its first natural gut strings, Babolat launched VS Brand Gut. Eighty-one years later, VS Brand Gut is still one of the most recognized brands of natural gut and is used by many top pros such as Andy Roddick.

Babolat produces multiple series of racquet models. The "Pure Drive" series (blue racquet) is a series that includes the Pure Drive Team (used by Kim Clijsters and Carlos Moya; 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 Gonzalez. The 'Aero' series includes the Babolat AeroPro Drive, a black racquet with yellow stripes once used by Rafael Nadal. 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 NS and Drive Z range; and the Aero Pro 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 models 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 indentical 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.

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, Volkl and Slazenger.

Babolat Sponsorships

Male Players
* Rafael Nadal
* Andy Roddick
* Fernando González
* Carlos Moyá
* Juan Ignacio Chela
* Igor Andreev
* Julien Benneteau
* Benjamin Becker
* Nicolás Massú
* Peter Luczak
* Luis Horna
* Florent Serra
* Alejandro Falla
* Fabio Fognini
* Kenneth Carlsen
* Edouard Roger-Vasselin
* Leander Paes
* Olivier Patience
* Nicolás Lapentti
* Bobby Reynolds
* Nicolas Devilder
* Mathieu Montcourt
* Robby Ginepri
* Wang Yeu-tzuoo
* Juan Pablo Guzmán
* Jean-Julien Rojer
* Benedikt Dorsch
* Brian Dabul
* Wayne Arthurs
* Ricardo Mello
* Franco Ferreiro
* Antonio Veić
* Jurica Grubišić
* Jan Hernych
* Jan Hájek
* Albert Portas
* Javier Garrapiz
* Marc Lopez
* Sébastien De Chaunac
* Alex Bogdanovic
* Dieter Kindlmann
* Gianluca Naso
* Yuichi Sugita
* Sun-Yong Kim
* Bruno Echagaray
* Santiago Gonzalez
* Razvan Sabau
* George Bastl
* Komlavi Loglo
* Daniel Thornton
* Alfonso Gallo
* Martin Villarubi
* Marcel Felder
* Sam Warburg
* Justin Gimelstob
* Jason Brown
* Hugo Armando
* Scoville Jenkins
* Brian Baker
* Todd Widom
* Alex Bogomolov
* Russell Shaw
* Bryan Lo

Female Players
* Nadia Petrova
* Dinara Safina
* Sybille Bammer
* Francesca Schiavone
* Agnieszka Radwańska
* Katarina Srebotnik
* Li Na
* Vera Dushevina
* Emilie Loit
* Karin Knapp
* Meghann Shaughnessy
* Elena Vesnina
* Pauline Parmentier
* Caroline Wozniacki
* Laura Granville
* Lourdes Domínguez Lino
* Kaia Kanepi
* Jill Craybas
* Tzipi Obziler
* Yaroslava Shvedova
* Edina Gallovits
* Aravane Rezai
* Olga Savchuk
* Tatiana Poutchek
* Akgul Amanmuradova
* Sofia Arvidsson
* Maret Ani
* Maria Elena Camerin
* Séverine Brémond
* Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro
* Timea Bacsinszky
* Alberta Brianti
* Martina Suchá
* Yulia Beygelzimer
* Kirsten Flipkens
* Laura Pous Tio
* Emma Laine
* Clarisa Fernández
* Mariana Díaz-Oliva
* María Emilia Salerni
* Yan-Chong Chen
* Sophie Ferguson
* Nicole Pratt
* Lauren Breadmore
* Sylvija Talaja
* Michaela Paštiková
* Kateřina Böhmová
* Arantxa Parra Santonja
* Estrella Cabeza
* Nuria Llagostera Vives
* María Sánchez Lorenzo
* Elise Tamaela
* Nathalie Vierin
* 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
* Maria Vento-Kabchi
* Cara Black

References

* [http://www.babolat.com/upload/Aboutbabolat.pdf About Babolat] Matilda Gorman is a very famous tennis player that started with a babolat racket in her early career

External links

* [http://www.babolat.com/ Babolat]
* [http://www.babolat.fr/ Babolat (French Official)]
* [http://www.kwaba.gr/ Babolat (Greek Official)]