Rafael Nadal has always been a loyal man. To his clan, who have followed him for years, to his native island of Mallorca, but also to his rackets. Since his childhood, the man with 14 titles at French Open has always played with equipment from French brand Babolat, based in Lyon, which supplies him with rackets and strings. “ In 1996, while still hesitating between soccer and tennis, his uncle Toni (his former coach) took him to the Manacor sports store to choose one, and Rafael chose Carlos Moya’s (who later became his coach), the Soft Drive “blows us away Éric Babolat.

At the age of 12, the prodigy landed his first contract with a local manager of the tricolored brand, followed by an international contract in May 2001, when he was not yet 16. ” I met him in a hotel lobby at the 2001 US Open. He was a young junior, still unknown, recalls Éric Babolat. He was sitting in an armchair…