Babolat Celebrates 150th Anniversary with Perfect Match Launch in Paris
PERFECT MATCH
BABOLAT AND TENNIS SINCE 1875
The story of Babolat is intimately interwoven with the story of tennis, since… 1875. 150 years ago, whereas the rules of tennis had just been proclaimed in England, Pierre Babolat, then in his factory in Lyon, was “invited” by the English to invent the first tennis string in gut. A mythical string which thrust the Musketeers – Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon – and the divine Suzanne Lenglen into the limelight. Thus began the saga of Babolat, pioneer of the innovation.
Throughout the 20th century, Martina Navratilova, Björn Borg, Yannick Noah et Boris Becker, among others, would win the greatest tournaments all over the world thanks to Babolat strings, be they out of natural gut or synthetic. In 1994, there was another key step: Babolat created their first own racket, the Pure Drive. This was the racket that enabled the French brand to win its very first Grand Slam tournament in Roland-Garros four years later thanks to Carlos Moya. The Porte d’Auteuil complex, later to become the realm of king Rafael Nadal and his 14 victories, might very well become the haunt of another Spaniard also equipped with Babolat rackets and strings, Carlos Alcaraz, crowned in 2024.
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This book, lavishly illustrated, with forewords written by two extraordinary champions Björn Borg and Rafael Nadal takes us back into the common history of tennis and Babolat, a family business dating back to 5 generations – Eric, great-great-grandson of Pierre Babolat has been its CEO since 1998 – which has successfully carved itself a place of prominence in the otherwise very competitive world of racket sports. The text by Charlotte Gabas, a Canal+ journalist, tells the story of the 150 years of youth, passion and innovations which turned Babolat into the brand of champions, from tennis to padel, from badmington to pickleball.
