Is Babolat just a fad?

[devwizard]

Originally Posted by BigboyDan

We old people are smarter, richer, less prone to do whatever our friends are doing, and don't play a simple-mided baseline game as do younger, stupid, poor, vapid people.

BigBoyDan-

I did not intend to make any statement concerning the playing abilities/skills of older vs. younger people. Im simply stating the fact that, on the average, older people are less willing to change to new things, even if the new things are better, I used the computer as an example. I'm not going to debate with you about whether you are smarter or richer than young people, because that is simply ad hominem and off subject. Reread my post to see if you can truly understand what I'm trying to say.

[STRman]

I recently started playing with a Pure Drive OS Team. It's great! I tried the smaller frame first and thought it was ok but not near as good for me as the OS. I had predicted on this board less than a year ago that Roddick would soon have wrist or elbow trouble. Some people feel it in the wrist, some in the elbow but it is the same condition in the forearm causing both. Roddick's technique would lead him to this trouble no matter what frame he was using.

[ChrisNC]

Originally Posted by tensai

BigboyDan, I find your post quite irritating.
You are saying young people like me (14) are stupid, mindless, and are not worthy of playing tennis. Why can you say such irreverent things? I have never disrespected the ideas of the veterans. Then why should we get put down? Also, if you think you are "smart", then why can't you even notice, that posting such insulting comments is "not smart"?

I barely get annoyed in these kind of message boards. Even if I do get annoyed, I keep it to myself. But this, I just couldn't stand your post.

Easy there youngster (lol...always wanted to call someone that). He didn't say all young people were stupid, poor and easily influenced. He simply stated that compared to people who do fit into that category, older people are less likely to change to (or pick in the first place) a racquet just because some pro or all of their friends did.

This falls into the "all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares" category.

[backhand]

College team players around here, who are not noted for their stupidity or faddishness, seem about half Babolat. Mostly PD's among the women, mix of PD's and PC's among the men. Even among the other half, not a lot of the "players racquets" we love on these boards. (Making me wonder what we should call racquets college players and pros actually use.)

Some of us older guys must have forgotten when classic S&Ver's like Stan Smith were "ruining the game" because of their "one dimensional style." Every generation of players bemoans how the new guys on the block play the wrong kind of tennis. Get over it.

[david aames]

It was true up to june. ******* is now carrying the full Babolat line including bags and strings.

Originally Posted by intense2b

Mason's tennis mart in Manhattan agreed to carry the sticks in return for an exclusive contract from Babolat to sell the racquets in NYC.

When Roddick and so many other pro's started using the racquets, Babolat became very popular. All of the other stores wanted to carry the stick , but babolat refused because they had an exclusive with Masons. To this day masons is the only store in all of Manhattan that carries Babolat directly from the company. (for you NY'ers...not even ******* sports).

[Shane Reynolds]

Well, nobadmojo, we will have to agree to disagree. I think they did an excellent job of marketing their product. They were putting them in the hands of junior players and they scouted out Roddick when he was good but not great. Those two moves are paying enormous dividends now.

[BigboyDan]

[quote="backhand"Every generation of players bemoans how the new guys on the block play the wrong kind of tennis. Get over it.[/quote]

You must enjoy watching the French. The baseline game is boring to play, boring to watch and good players with all-court games will find a way to defeat it: McEnroe over Borg and Conners; Becker over Lendl; Edberg over Wilander, Sampras over Agassi, Federer over Hewitt and Roddick.

Get over it yourself, and learn to volley.

[spinbalz]

Perhaps the next "thing" will be Technifibre racquets or Luxilon racquets, wait and see.

And concerning, the comments from Nobadmojo, and the luck of Babolat... Hahahahaha.

Ed, it is perfectly your right to dislike products that do not suit to your game, I personaly don't like the Pure Drive either, but when you say that Babolat had just luck with the Pure Drive you are so wrong!

What made the Pure Drive a success story :

0/ A capitalisation on the well established reputation on the tennis market for babolat due to their production of high quality nat. gut strings since several decades, with a clear visibilty on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour due to the 2 distinctives stripes marked on the string of the sponsored players.

1/ the Racquet with the coolest cosmetics on the market when it was introduced, (coolest from the point of view of the young generation players that are mainly targeted by the PD) + the 2 easily distinguishable white stripes on the frame letting the players being proud to send the following message : " Hey you see? I play with a babolat, you know, the new big thing used by the Pro players, and I have it before you, yeaaah!"

2/ Designed to suit the modern Power serve/power topspin forehands game played by the young generation targeted by the PD as I lready said

4/ Designed to be more forgiving than a pure player racquet, but still usable with success by advanced players (let's agree that Roddick, Moya, and clijsters ARE advanced players), so the target audience is very wide, it stretches from the beginners to the advanced players, male and females.

3/ Introduction of a marketing gimmick "WOOFER", even if you don't believe in that kind of gimmicks Ed (I don't believe in it either), it really have an effect on the basic players minds

4/ Sponsoring of Top players, and if babolat has so much top players like Moya, Clijsters, Roddick, it is not by luck, it is because they offered massive sponsorships to young players, and when you bet on 10000 young top players from different countries you have more chances to see one or several reaching the top of the game, than if you only bet on 10 young players, it is a basic statistical fact. And I will add that if Babolat has players like Moya, Clijster, and Roddick, it is more a proof of discerning ability than a proof of luck.

5/ As I already said the main target of the PD is the young generation, and it is the best choice that Babolat could made, when a player is young, his mind is more openned to what is new, he gives credit to nice cosmetics (and PD's cosmetics are/was very attractive for the young players), and he is not yet too much addicted to a traditionl brand like Wilson or Head, so it is easier to make him switch to Babolat than it would be with a 45 old player who plays head, Wilson or Prince since 25 years.

Actually Babolat's marketing strategy is a model, that should be replicated by any other company who would try to penetrate the tennis market.

Ed, with my detailed marketing strategy from Babolat, perhaps that you might admit that for once, your comment about their supposed luck was probably biased due to the fact the you hate the PD and what it represents, I mean something like the new school tennis flagship.

Anyway keep enjoy playing with your T10's, and I can tell you that certify you that the T10 Gen II should be a nice surprise for you, I tried it recently, and the feel is wonderfull.

[perfmode]

[quote=BigboyDan]

Originally Posted by "backhand"Every generation of players bemoans how the new guys on the block play the wrong kind of tennis. Get over it.[/quote

You must enjoy watching the French. The baseline game is boring to play, boring to watch and good players with all-court games will find a way to defeat it: McEnroe over Borg and Conners; Becker over Lendl; Edberg over Wilander, Sampras over Agassi, Federer over Hewitt and Roddick.

Get over it yourself, and learn to volley.

How many times did Federer come to the net against Hewitt? He whooped his *** banging FH's from the baseline.

[NoBadMojo]

well i can think Babolat was lucky if i wish to, having nothing to do with whether i like the product or not. people are certainly welcome to disagree..this is, afterall, a forum to express ones' opinions. fact remains, the pure drive was originally marketed for the ocassional 2.5 (or so)female player. that makes the marketing of that product more about luck than skill IMO since it really didnt end up in the hands of the target audience. do agree they've done an excellent job at getting racquets into the hands of juniors. everything else is nothing but speculation, and certainly stuff like racquet cosmetics is very subjective. and i dont hate the pure drive..i would never use one though..it just doesnt suit my game, and i serve pretty well with what i've got. as far as classic serve/volleyers ruining the game, that was never even something that was discussed. back then, there were many popular styles of play. players were winning their fair share of tourneys playing various styles unlike these days. think panata even won the italian open playing serve/volley. all IMO of course.

[perfmode]

Originally Posted by NoBadMojo

well i can think Babolat was lucky if i wish to, having nothing to do with whether i like the product or not. people are certainly welcome to disagree..this is, afterall, a forum to express ones' opinions. fact remains, the pure drive was originally marketed for the ocassional 2.5 (or so)female player. that makes the marketing of that product more about luck than skill IMO since it really didnt end up in the hands of the target audience. do agree they've done an excellent job at getting racquets into the hands of juniors. everything else is nothing but speculation, and certainly stuff like racquet cosmetics is very subjective. and i dont hate the pure drive..i would never use one though..it just doesnt suit my game, and i serve pretty well with what i've got. as far as classic serve/volleyers ruining the game, that was never even something that was discussed. back then, there were many popular styles of play. players were winning their fair share of tourneys playing various styles unlike these days. think panata even won the italian open playing serve/volley. all IMO of course.

babolat broke through by bringing 100's of racquets to tournies and handing them out to anyone that wanted to use them. juniors liked them and started to use them. then they realized what was going on and they pushed it towards juniors that were coming up like roddick and the new breed. it began as a women's racquet but as soon as they started to test them, they pushed them to juniors.

[NoBadMojo]

ya man..we all agree that bab has done a good job at getting their bats into the hands of juniors......which you even quote me as saying. there are many many cases of corporate success by accident. those in the biz world understand this.

[spinbalz]

Nobadmojo wrote :

well i can think Babolat was lucky if i wish to

Yes, and you can also think that Elvis is not dead and that the earth is flat, even if someone brings you proofs of the opposite.

I don't contest your right to believe and write false things, I just pointed out that your affirmation concerning Babolat's luck is pointless, lacks of objectivity, and valid arguments, and I explained clearly why I disagree.

Nobadmojo also wrote :

fact remains, the pure drive was originally marketed for the ocassional 2.5 (or so)female player

Do you have evidences that it was originally marketed to 2.5 occasional female players? I can tell you that in France, where the PD was introduced at first, it was Babolat's flagship racquet since the begining, and the company always tried to market the PD for the tournament players, by demo sessions inside the tennis club where the tournaments and team players where invited to try it + many PD were gaved for free to as much Tennis teachers as possible.

THE PD WAS NOT ORIGINALLY MARKETED TO 2.5 PLAYERS, but even if it was, its success among the more advanced players is more a proof of good marketing strategy than a proof of luck, because convincing a customers to use something that is not designed for him, to enlarge the success of a product is one of the goals of any marketing any dept., and you can't have succes at it if you don't use a good strategy.

Anyway it is the last time I'll post concerning this subject, because I think that I already wrote too much about a subject that is not a so big concern for me afterall.

[NoBadMojo]

ya man spinbalz....a member of the babolat family is a reliable source me thinks..forget his first name..Pierre Babolat? but he was quoted as saying that in a reliable publicaton. its of no import to me....i wouldnt used one and i've had juniors that i've coached/taught already thank me for getting them out of the pure drive and into something they can really grow with strokewise and not have to worry so much about being injured with down the road. i suggest that bab was lucky and you contend they are brilliant, so we can just leave it like that i would hope. you are either french or enamored w. the PD. and yes, i think it is a great idea to move on

[tennisnj]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallb...-babolat_x.htm

[David Pavlich]

Last year at a Challenger tournament, the dominant brand. This year there were less Babolats and a lot of nCodes (Tours and 95s), but Babolat was still well represented.

The current group of Babolat racquets may be slowing in sales a bit, but wait until the frame that Nadal is playing with is introduced into the states.

David

[backhand]

BigBoyDan - Sure you're not a junior high kid trying to stir things up? Because if you're for real, you're either tone deaf or seriously immature. Loosen up. Take a baseliner to lunch. I'm an all court guy, BTW.

[BigboyDan]

I'm 46. I just can't stand to watch the current pro tour, excepting Federer. Boooooooring.

[Skinny Dip]

I'm 48 and I think the Pure Drive is an excellent raquet. The kind of serves you can get with pretty much nothing but a firm wrist are amazing. I doubt Roddick would have anywhere near the serve he has now with anything else on the market.

If you enjoy playing a very aggressive game, it's one of THE raquet's to get. If not, there are better raquets out there.

[BigboyDan]

This quote from the article linked above:

"Babolat spied Andy Roddick at the 1998 U.S. Open playing juniors doubles. Despite his low ranking at the time, the company gave him a generous contract. "These players, when they grow up playing with one of these rackets, they don't switch lightly," says John Horan, publisher of Sporting Goods Intelligence newsletter.

The company not only had a good eye for talent, it also had a lucky break: "The racket Andy is using, one of the first rackets we did, at the beginning was made for leisure-women's playing," says Babolat, who only has time to play once a month. "We never imagined this racket would go into competition. At that time, the game was changing, and we did not know in what direction. Suddenly, young competitors used light rackets with lots of weight in the end."


"...was made for leisure-women's playing."

Enough said.

Learn to volley. Girls.