Rafael Nadal Talks About His New Babolat Racquet And His Shorter Shorts!

by Tom Gainey | January 19th, 2015, 4:38 pm
  • 6 Comments

Following a very impressive straight set win over Mikhail Youzhny, Rafael Nadal talked about the new racquet Baolat PLAY Aeropro Drive he is using.

“The racquet for me is very similar one to the last one,” said Nadal. “Didn’t change almost nothing. The new Babolat is a new technology that probably will be the future in our sport. I think is great that Babolat did that. Is a big improvement for everybody who loves our sport, no? For the kids, for the amateurs who plays the sport, who plays tennis, and for professionals. At the end, we are professionals. We arrived here without using this technology, so it’s a little bit more difficult to adapt to this.

“But is a help, no? When you finish the practice, is a help to see – or a match – how many forehands you played, how many backhands so you know you are doing the right thing. For example, I know to play well I need to play 70% of forehands; 30% of backhands. If I’m not doing that, I know I not doing the right thing on court. That’s a way that you can check these kind of things. Then for amateurs is good to compare after the match where they’re hitting the ball, after practice where they are hitting the ball. They can compare with another thing. At the end is fine for the people who has passion for this sport, for tennis, no? I think is great. I am really sure that in the future everybody will use that.”


Nadal also talked about his attire, specifically his short which appear to be getting shorter by the year.

“To make the shorts shorter is something that I like,” Nadal said. “I feel more comfortable this way. We make it shorter already last year, and this year a little bit more. I like. I feel more comfortable here, more fresh. Sometimes is good to have some changes, to try different things. But seriously, I prefer this way.”

The former Australian Open champion continues on his quest for a second Career Slam Wednesday against Tim Smyczek.


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6 Comments for Rafael Nadal Talks About His New Babolat Racquet And His Shorter Shorts!

RZ Says:

I’d be interested to see if this racquet technology becomes more affordable and whether more players would adopt it. Seems like a no-brainer for the pros to integrate hard data into playing patterns, but my guess is that currently the technology is only affordable to some.


skeezer Says:

This tech has been out awhile already. Don’t think it will be of much value to the pros as much as it will for the recreational player. Pros have a team that keeps track of all these stats…..
@RZ Rackets with the this stuff start around $200US..

I laugh at what Rafa says about enjoying the shorts “shorter”. Never understood why players wanted to wear Basketball shorts to play tennis…seems that was more fashion than functional.
Back to Borg days! Lol…


Wog Boy Says:

Be careful not to shorten it to much, or you finger(s) can go wrong way.


Wog Boy Says:

^^ too


Tennis Island Says:

Even Rafa is saying that, I am still not convinced to the Babolat Play. I think it is more like a gadget. It makes coaches statistician – not coaches! This technology is also a bad thing according to parents and players because they will be even “smarter” with this new data so coaches will have more obstacles to overcome


RZ Says:

Part of the issue too is that you have to know what to do with the data. If I learn that I hit a bunch of forehands, I suspect that by itself would not be useful unless I knew what % of points I won after hitting those forehands.

@Skeezer – $200 isn’t that much considering that decent racquets start above $100 anyway.

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