Hello! I am new distributor of Babolat in Latvia and I wanted to hear your opinion about Babolat rackets and other equipment? Does anyone play with Babolat racket or shuttlecocks, can you please tell me what you like and dislike about Babolat?
Babolat is a french company who has been making badminon rackets and strings for a long time. They sponsor some high level players (mot noticeably Tine Rasmussen, Denmark). Looking at their rackets and R&D they are a pretty sad story though.. Babolat has been doing litte to their badminton rackets deveopment the last 10 years or so (when the satellite series and hot-melt + 20/21 stringing was introduced in their racket line).. For most badminton fans Babolat seems to put in a half-hearted effort in developing badminton products. They seem to much more focused on Tennis, with badminton just being something that "fits" their business/sales organization as complement to their "real" business.. Essantially they sell the same rackets today as they did in the 90s.. pretty sad story imop (to be fair they introduced úsing some zylon (an improved kevlar) some years ago, which felt like sort of a left-over tech from their Tennis racket development, in some of their racket frames. I hope babolat will put more effort into it badminton stuff.. But I guess their focus and success really lies in the tennis business. /Twobeer
I have the X-Feel Power and the X-Feel Blast and I think they are good racquets. They feel solid and has extremely good build quality. The Power was one of my favourite previously but was kept in storage when I bought other racquets but recently I used it again and I rediscovered the joy of using it !
IMO what Twobeer says is true in terms of trickle down of technology and relatively low R&D but this can be said for all the "tennis manufacturers" who happen to make badminton racquets also (eg. Wilson, Head, Prince, Babolat). I think all this will change in the near future. These manufacturers have started to invest in their badminton line and are looking to take market share from Yonex (was anyone really using any of these racquets brands 5 years ago?). The more they earn, the more they will invest and the more martket share they will be looking to take. This possibly means gone are the days of Yonex's 90% + market share in badminton. This means Yonex's cash cow will be gone and could mean tough times since they are very small in tennis relatively speaking. I do not agree with the racquets being the same from the 90's (especially after he mentions the introduction of Zylon and Kevlar. All manufacturers have made SIGNIFICANT improvements in their racquets in the last 5 years. Gone are the days of high modulous graphite, shared grommets holes squared profiles and 21 lb max tensions.
What I meant was that in the late 90's babolat introduced the satellite series with the hotmelt-kevlar and the 20/21 pattern.. Since then it is still the core design of their rackets and it has been mostly cosmetic changes and some tweaks (XL-shaft and Zylon).. I agree with your view that it seems like there is movement towards the badminton business from tennis makers... Hopefully that is an indication that badminton is growing (not only an indication that Yonex is dropping the ball). Lets hope the "tennis-companies" puts more focus into badminton!! I think they smell blood when many players these days are using Victor, Li Ning, babolat, forza, Head, Carlton etc. /Twobeer
I don't think alot of the racquet manufacturer specifically focused on badminton as they see the potential there. My theory is that they also go into badminton racquet because they are in tennis racquet and that's why we see alot of the same technologies used for their tennis racquets in badminton racquets. We know of famous tennis brands like Wilson, Head, Babolat and Prince are both in tennis and badminton but even other brands like Volkl (very good tennis brand) and ski manufacturer like Fischer are also manufacturing badminton racquets. I guess the materials and the technologies are similar enough that it make senses for them to go into badminton racquet as that probably is just a small incremental cost but from business perspective, it is stretching their R&D cost ?
The thing i like about Babolat Badminton racket is their frame stability and the design. However they should improve on the wood handles. After i remove the original grip, i realise the wood handle is not as good as other brand. Perhaps that is something they can improve on. Price wise is bearable. But perhaps they need to do more marketing to make their presence felt in asia and their availability
Just to let you know, Tine is using a forza racket spray with babolat logo on the string. I also don understand how come it can happen. Even on babolat website
Tine is sponsored by Babolat but if you notice, she did not use a Babolat X Feel Essential as was stated. The picture is her using her old forza racket. They just spray the string with Babolat Logo. I mean surely Babolat can get Tine to take set of photos of her playing with the new racket rather than posting her using her old sponsor photo on their official site.
Oh you mean on the latvian babolat page! Could be worse: the player card on the babolat homepage has her in a Forza outfit using a Forza logo on her strings . "a forza racket spray" ... "with babolat logo on the string." That's how I read it .
Tine does seem to use the X-feel blast, at least at Copenhagen Masters, I checked it out myself . I think she still used her old Forza rackets at the beginning of her sponsorship deal. Funny thing is that Tines blogg and homepage are still Forza pictures all over it .. /Twobeer
kristaps could you plz arrange to promote babolat in africe (more particularly in mauritius)... i've played with my traning mate"s racket(she is sponsored by babolat) and I think they are good racquets they procide a very good feel
Agree, Tine was still using Forza initially even though officially she was with Babolat. But I believe she has changed to Babolat racquet.
I now own a Babolat X Feel Blast. Very good smashing racquet. My question is, it has 20 holes without grommet. Is it ok for Badminton racquet?? Stringer here looks a bit hesitate to string it at high tension.
