There's more and more at stake in the racquet front

They would be nothing without it. But which one to pick, and when is the good time to switch ? Tricky issue faced by the tennis player. Depending on the sponsorship deals, the results and the progress of technology, the racquet issue resurfaces. There's the example of Juan Martin Del Potro refusing to change his racquet despite Wilson not making it anymore. The brand tried everything to get him an other one but it took months for Del Potro to get along. In 2014, Roger Federer gave up on his historical tool. And between this and a repaired back, he soon came back playing at the top of the game.

Crédit : Babolat

 Since January, it's Rafael Nadal's time to get the racquet talk going, between his connected one and now the switch he has decided to make right before Monte-Carlo. If Nadal isn't the first player at Babolat using a connected racquet, he's of course their best ambassador. I've already presented this new technology here (in french) by the way. When he started to use it last january, Nadal didn't actually change of racquet, it was still the exact same one with the only added thing being a captor inside the racquet handle and a button to push before action. "Well, it's now an other thing added to his routine, because we already had the bottle !", joked Toni Nadal. Rafa's coach explained in Monte-Carlo how they were using this connected racquet.

"Players always find an excuse, an explanation", Toni Nadal 

Objectivity at work

"Comparing helps to improve. With this racquet, one can factually measure progress and see where the mistakes are. Often, I see he's playing too short but I don't know why, because the human eye can't see everything and also remains subjective. But with those data, it's objective. It helps me to see where he actually hits the ball. It also helps for the training sessions : when we're working on the forehand in Manacor, we hit for 20 minutes and then we look at the informations. If we lack speed, we then notice that the arm isn't fast enough or that the contact zone isn't the right one. There are three main things for me : the contact zone, the power (when he's tight, the arm gets slower) and how many balls are hit in a minute (intensity, velocity). Against let's say Roger Federer the ball needs to get slower because I need a certain kind of game rythm in order to win against him that is slower than Federer's one. There were some adjustments to make though as at the start the racquet was taking Rafael's trademark forehand for an overhead !"

Crédit : Babolat

A tool to convince your player

"To play well, we need to hit more forehands than backhands. Sometimes I tell Rafael he should have hit this or this ball with his forehand but he answers that he couldn't... Players always find an excuse, an explanation, but with this tool now they can't. It's a good thing for coaches. I can go and show him that with this power it won't be enough to beat a great player. It's easier to convince the player, because usually he knows better than the coach no ? (smiles) In Melbourne I kept telling him : "You don't hit the ball in the center, you don't look at the ball enough, so you're not focused enough." But he answered that he was ! (laughs) So I showed him the data... Done. And sometimes from one day to an other he changed for 12% on the contact zone department. A player never wants to change anything, especially when all goes well. And often if the match went fine, we don't say anything, we don't look at the stats. But if we lose, then we look because we need informations."

 "The person who makes the things possible or not possible is myself", Rafael Nadal

In April, Nadal this time took a more drastic move as he decided to change his racquet. He now uses a Babolat Play prototype, still connected, but nameless for now. And Rafa doesn't think he's taking too big of a risk with this choice :

"We were thinking about it before the start of the season, but there wasn't enough time to prepare the racquets. Now they're ready, and I'm training with them since I came back from Miami. I can't even remember the last time I changed my racquet ! This one is going to help me gain power and topspin. The holes between the strings are bigger. But strings are the same. It's true that with this one I'm supposed to have less control. But it's the theory. But what I am trying to find with the new racquet always is a change. There are always risks when you change things. But I like the racquet and I will continue playing with it. In Monte-Carlo, I had the best week of my season with it. The turnaround of my season ? There is no racquets, there is no strings, there is nothing outside of me, you know.  There is myself. Always when I am winning, is myself.  When I was losing, is not excuse for racquets, for strings, for shoes, for nothing. The person who makes the things possible or not possible is myself. The racquet is helping me. But the most important thing, what's helping me really, is I am with the motivation, the right motivation, to play tennis, the right motivation to work hard every day, and with the right attitude."

Change of racquet, be careful of headaches

This change can totally go well, or in the opposite break everything. Grigor Dimitrov is also in this process in 2015 with Wilson and obviously it's not an easy move.

"One of the most painful periods for a tennis player", Dimitrov

"I think to go through that period is I would say one of the most painful periods for a tennis player. I mean, the game is evolving and you change as a player. Everything is changing, and part of that is the racquet. I've been playing with pretty much the same racquet since quite some time.  But I just had to go through the whole process of finding the final tuneup for me. I think now that I'm a little bit older, I know how my game is a little bit more, I know how my body is reacting. As I said, it's a very delicate situation.  I think every player goes through that at least once in his tennis career. Now it's pretty much the final frame.  But now it's all the rest, you know, that comes with it."

Novak Djokovic, the n°1 player in the world, knows it too well as he decided to quit Wilson for Head in 2009, going through a nightmare as far as adjusting can go.
"Oh yeah I remember when I have changed from Wilson to Head, back in 2009.  It wasn't easy decision because it took me I think more than a year to actually find the proper racquet that I play with today. I think back in 2010, for the clay court season, I found the racquet that I'm playing with today.  So it took me over a year to really get used to it, find what is suitable to my style of the game, to my likings. But everybody's different. But since then only aesthetics, only the color of the racquet has changed.  Dimensions or any other specific parameters of the racquet haven't been changed. I don't want to make any complications with my racquet because that's obviously the most important tool I have on the court."

 "Then you start mentally to play around with yourself", Djokovic

For the Serbian, switching racquets in the middle of the season isn't a light thing to do :

"What can push a player to change the racquet ? I think it's lack of confidence, lack of matches won.  When you don't feel comfortable on the court, that's when you start to question not just your game, but your racquet, the people around you.  Sometimes you're finding too many excuses. But generally it's not an easy decision to make.  You need to be courageous to change the racquet really. But when you are changing racquets, you must be 100% confident that that's the right decision to do because then you start mentally to play around with yourself, if that's the right decision or not. That's something that is a challenge for a player who changes." Will Nadal succeed in time for Roland-Garros ?
  
The original version of this article, which is in french, can be found here.