Babolat: making quite a racket

Although it has been in business for almost 150 years, it was only in 1994 that the Lyon-based company launched its first range of tennis rackets, having previously contented itself with manufacturing accessories for racket frames, such as strings and grips. Just four years later Spaniard Carlos Moya became the first winner of a grand slam tournament using a Babolat racket.   

As a family business that has scaled the heights of its market, brushing shoulders with major multinationals such as Wilson and Head, Babolat is a prime example of a French company’s ability to translate its domestic success to the global stage.

It all began in 1875, the year when Pierre Babolat started producing tennis string with natural gut. In the middle of the 20th century, Babolat began using nylon and other synthetics. A couple of decades later came electronic stringing-machines, which brought a homogenous standard to its rackets. In the 2000s Babolat branched out into tennis balls and tennis shoes. The company's breakout success was the Pure Drive racket, however, which became the best-selling tennis racket on the market in the late 90s and early 2000s. However this era also witnessed the tragic death of Pierre Babolat, who died in an airplane crash in 1998. The company has been run by his son, Eric, ever since.

Acing the competition
Tennis has always been a global sport, and so it’s no surprise that Babolat has long made most of its money outside of France. The percentage has stood at around 80% for decades. “France has never accounted for more than 20% of our turnover,” explained the current boss in an interview with French business daily Les Echos in 2013. “When my grandfather ran the company, he made Argentina our first international market, swiftly followed by Germany. Today, the focus is on the United States. The international market is entwined in the fabric of Babolat, because tennis is a global sport.”

To carve its distinct path, Babolat pays particular attention to its distribution network. Furthermore, the firm prefers to release a smaller range of products than its main rivals, which allows its sellers the time to test and get to know its wares.  

Babolat is a prime example of a French company’s ability to translate its domestic success to the global stage

These "agents" are particularly pampered. Apart from store managers, each year Babolat trains tens of thousands of tennis coaches and racket stringers, while boosting the number of sessions held in 20,000 partner tennis clubs across the globe. And to inspire the next generation, Babolat sponsors some of the sport’s most successful players.

Brand ambassadors
Babolat’s approach is basic but effective: identify at a young age a tennis player destined for the heights of the professional game and partner with them throughout their career. Babolat’s scouts began their relationship with Rafa Nadal when he was 12 and Kim Clijsters when she was just 11. The current world number 2, the 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, has been in the Babolat stable since he was in single digits.

Even before they were making rackets, many of the sport’s top names, including René Lacoste, Bjorn Borg, Arthur Ashe, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors and Andy Roddick, trusted Babolat to string the tool of their trade.

Though tennis remains its core sport, in recent decades Babolat has broken into the badminton and paddleball markets, and if Babolat has remained a leading name in racket sports, it's because of the firm's tireless appetite for innovation. A decade ago it developed a smart racket, with built-in sensors to analyse its user's shots, and it recently invested, alongside fellow French sports equipment makers Millet and Salomon, in the Advanced Shoe Factory in Ardoix, in the South of France.

Salomon’s stock recently soared when Rihanna wore a pair of the company’s Cross Low sneakers while performing the Superbowl half-time show. With similarly cutting-edge sports shoes, you wouldn’t bet against Babolat crossing over into the fashion world next.