Andy Roddick splitting with Babolat??

[mrwise]

Anyone notice that last night during Roddick's match that his bag was taped up with thick black tape to block out the Babolat logos on it? It really looked bad IMO. I just wondered if he is setting up a split or if his contract has expired.

[Peter Samprer]

i didn't notice it but i don't think that he'll split up with babolat. he made this brand popular, mostly among teenagers wannabe's. babolat is the number 1 american tennis. if babolat let him go, that's just plain s2pid!

[mrwise]

I agree, but it seemed very odd that he would have what looked like black electrical tape over the Babolat logo and the Babolat words on his racket bag. It just caught my eye.

[lenosucks]

Are you sure? He had two bags, one was a babolat and one was from reebok.

[i.Radical]

mostly among teenagers wannabe's

So true.

[david aames]

I noticed that -- right under the bag. Might be tough talk from Roddick while parties are renegociating... No change whatsoever on the PD itself though.

[mrwise]

You are right. He did have two bags, but his normal Babolat racket bag looked like my old shoes when they used to wear out and I would put duct tape on them. Ok...maybe not that bad, but it was kind of funny to see that he had it taped up so that the logo was not anywhere visible. I would think that Babolat would pay him whatever he asks for if they are in "negotiations" or whatever.

[perfmode]

Picture Roddick AND Federer at Wilson and Roddick using a custom frame with a Surge paintjob or an n-coded Surge paintjob. That's some big bucks for Wilson right there. I'd love to see Roddick @ Wilson.

[tennisnj]

I don't know if this is related, but while watching the Olympics, i noticed some of the players had their bag logos blacked out, including Venus Williams' bag.

[Fee]

Andy signed a new contract with Babolat a little while back and I believe it was for 5 years, so I don't think he's switching racquet companies. Any of you with a high speed connection can go to his official homepage and look through the news archives for the announcement. Start around Spring of 2003, I would guess.

[mrwise]

Perhaps Andy is in a disagreement with Babolat because they don't want him wearing that god awful Reebok shirt. So to tick them off he is just going to tape up his bag and make it look like crap as well. I can see his point...

[lenosucks]

I believe some olympic teams had to be sponsored by a company different than their own. I know before she got hurt clijsters announced she wouldn't play for belgium in the olympics because she would have to wear clothes from a company different than her sponsor. Not sure if this relates to what you saw at the olympics though.

[tennis-n-sc]

I don't hit a Babolat, but more than half the Division I college players around here hit the Bab in one version or another. These guys are big hitters. I think it may get more bad press than deserved.

[thebeast]

andy signed a five year deal i think 3 years ago, when he was around 18ish.