Eric Babolat - "Dominic Thiem feels good with us"
Company boss Eric Babolat in an interview about his two star players Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem, about the importance of the clothing and the advances of competing companies.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Dec 07, 2019, 09:55 am
tennisnet : Monsieur Babolat. How is your record for the tennis year 2019 on the ATP Tour?
Eric Babolat : It was certainly a great year for us and our players. That Rafa Nadal completes the season in first place is great. And also a little surprising. And the way Dominic Thiem played this year was great as well. We have two generations here, which of course does not mean that Rafas time is over. But he is older and still shows that he can still be number one. And the generation around Dominic has become stronger again, even if she still has to take the last step. And we are also very happy that we have Félix Auger-Aliassime in our team. And we also had a good year with the women.
tennisnet : Dominic Thiem started to play with a new string during the season. Was not that a risk from his point of view?
Babolat : Only Dominic knows why he wanted to change the string. But I think Dominic is one of those professionals who knows that you have to constantly change yourself if you want to get better. Dominic talked to us and we developed something that gave him more power and more control at the same time. We will now bring this string, with which Dominic played very successfully, on the market. It's always just little things that make the difference. But Babolat is very close to the players. And understands what the players need. And when the players are ready for a change, we jump to the rescue.
Rafael Nadal's racquet brings power
tennisnet : Dominic Thiem is still playing with a hybrid stringing?
Babolat : Not anymore. At the moment he only plays with our RPM power string. The should help him that he finally wins his first Grand Slam tournament in the coming year. The right string is very important for this. 50 percent makes the racket, 50 percent of the clothing. Dominic is comfortable with our products because they are good. But also because he has a good relationship with our employees. And that makes him strong and confident.
tennisnet : If in 2020, for the third time in a row, the French Open Final between Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem should come - for whom does your heart beat then?
Babolat : That would be fantastic for us and the tennis fans. Because you see a fight between two generations. Dominic always learns something new. But of course we are neutral. And happy that in the end we have a winner.
# # IMG2
tennisnet : One more word about the strings: They started with natural gut, then developed the synthetic string. Where would there be room for improvement?
Babolat : There is certainly something to be improved. The clothing is like a trampoline, on which you get the speed and the power. We are always working to optimize the relationship between power and control. Because normally you have to choose one of the two. The greatest development of recent years, however, has been with the players: these are athletically much stronger than in the previous generation. And much more mobile. Some players now go back to the grid again. The string is there to follow these trends, helping players to stay in control. And there we work with different materials. And also on the production technology of the string, also on the procurement, so that playing with a lot of spin is possible. And the hybrid combination is still very interesting.
tennisnet : Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal are two very different types of players who also use two very different types of thugs. How do you handle that?
Babolat : Rafa's racquet is one of power and spin, while Dominic's frame is more scrupulous. It is still very powerful and we are trying to develop the Pure Strike with Dominic. But it's like every club: there are different players playing with different clubs. We've always tried to make three kinds of racquets: those with power, those with control - and those that combine these two attributes. With it we want to meet 90 percent of the requirements of the players.
tennisnet : Your trademark can be seen on every club of your contract player. As you can hear, there are also other brands of players who use their strings. How do you deal with that?
Babolat : In fact, we were the first to have a logo on the fabric. At that time the "VS" on the clubs of Björn Borg. Then the racquet manufacturers placed their logos on our strings, so we invented our typical two lines that you attach to the bottom of the string. We still have players who use our strings but are under contract with other manufacturers. Of course we are not allowed to use our logo.
The demands of the competition stop eventually
tennisnet : In the coming year, a long-term cooperation will come to an end: Babolat and the French Open will not work together anymore. Why?
Babolat : That's right. We've had a special relationship with Roland Garros since 2011, both in rackets and clothing. And that was a very nice story. Last year we spoke with the French Tennis Association. And the FFT wanted to tell a different story than we did. Then we said that we do not want to continue our cooperation. But we are also working together with another grand slam tournament: Wimbledon. There is a cooperation in terms of clothing, racquets and shoes. But of course we will continue to be present in Roland Garros. Just not anymore as an official partner.
tennisnet : Back to your headquarters in Corbas. You really seem to know every employee, every employee. Does not it break your heart when people are replaced by machines?
Babolat : I do not think that's the way we replace people with machines. Of course we always want to improve. We celebrated our 40th anniversary of natural gut production just last week. And there you can see that the tools are helping people. We are now in the fifth generation as a family-owned, long-term business. And so we also woo the people who hopefully work with us for a very long time. We are very happy that we work in the sports industry because people like sports.
tennisnet : Such a successful company as Babolat surely provokes the desires of bigger rivals. How often do you have to shake off bids from competitors?
Babolat : It happens regularly, but not every year. If you say "no" often enough, then these demands will eventually stop.