Corbas (France) (AFP)

Any tennis enthusiast knows it: Nadal multiplies the exploits with a Babolat racket, Federer has elevated his sport to the rank of art with a Wilson and Djokovic is building a historic record thanks to his Head.

But if their rackets are on sale to the general public, the tool they actually hold is extremely personalized ... without being a magic wand.

"The racket is vital for the career of any player, it is the extension of the arm, it is through it that the sensations pass and at the end of the day, without a good feeling with your racquet, it is very difficult to 'get success,' said Nadal for AFP before the start of Roland-Garros (May 30-June 13).

“If I try another racket today I won't be comfortable at first. Whereas with my racket I feel good because I know it inside out, I know where to hit, I know what I can do. At all times, I know how the ball can react to the movement I am making, "he explains.

At nine years old, the young Rafa accompanied by his uncle-teacher Toni walks into a tennis store in his village of Manacor and chooses a Babolat racket.

Since then, he has never changed an equipment supplier and the two parties have just joined together "his entire career and even beyond", according to CEO Eric Babolat.

The Spaniard stormed in with a revolutionary game and at his equipment manufacturer we said to ourselves "ooh there, a UFO has arrived, what can we do?".

Result, in 2020, Nadal released at Roland-Garros the first racket branded with his name and won his 13th Parisian title, his 20th Major.

- "Channel the effect" -

But beware !

This racket is not magic and not everyone would be able to get the most out of it.

Developed over the years in close collaboration with Nadal to promote his lift and power, it is intended for very good players.

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The engineers' work consisted in "channeling the spin" because Nadal has a naturally already very strong spin: the racket must allow the efficiency of his movement to be transmitted to the ball as well as possible while keeping it in the court.

The result was a profiled carbon composite frame weighing 300 grams without the string, which anyone can buy.

But from there, the made-in-China frames go through the Corbas lab near Lyon where they are sorted to be in a 2g mass range and then tailored to suit Nadal or the hundred or so other players. OEMs who benefit from this service.

To customize a racket, it takes 20 to 90 minutes of work for an additional cost estimated between 150 and 200 euros at Babolat.

First, there is a physical personalization of the handle: octagonal at the start, its edges can be more or less polished, its size refined and its shape adapted, to the point of carving a wedge for a finger.

Then there is the technical customization, with additions of material on the frame (lead strips) and / or in the handle in order to modify the mass of the racket for power, its center of gravity for precision and its moment of release. inertia for stability.

Everything is checked on high precision machines specially designed by and for the brand.

- "The ball does not go" -

"We are tailor-made, we work on different sizes, different playing intentions, to adapt the racket to the player's needs," explains Sylvain Trinquigneaux, engineer at Babolat's performance laboratory.

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The settings remain confidential.

At best we can learn that the mass of Nadal's frame "is increased from 300 to 315 g" when some grow to 400 g.

Its settings are those of "a good French player".

Understand, nothing extravagant.

To achieve the right settings, players are often content with a "the ball does not go", says the engineer.

From there, it's up to him to find solutions ...

"Involving all our players in research and development would be ideal. But it is impossible. However, Rafa is Rafa: he is integrated into the development of rackets. His feedback is super interesting and super enriching. Ditto for Dominic Thiem ", emphasizes Sylvain Trinquigneaux.

Once the individual adjustments are made, the engineers reconfigure all the rackets they supply to their champions identically.

Any necessary adjustments are made to the tension of the string.

And if he obviously has an idea of ​​what the racquet of the future will be like, Sylvain Trinquigneaux does not say a word about it.

Except that the ideal racket "does not exist".

It would be "at the same time the most powerful, the one which would put the most effect, the most precise and the most manageable. But the racket + the most everything + cannot exist. To make it more powerful, you have to lose maneuverability. . This is why we do tailor-made. "

And that's why it's the players who do the magic, not their hardware.

© 2021 AFP