the Nadal string

T

The Baseline

Professional
is espn sponsored by babolat or what. brad gilbert asked franseca schiavione about how much the nadal strings helped her. also after that daren cahill was talking about stsour nadal schiavione and others who have used this "nadal" string from babolat about how it is the talk of the tournament. whats the hype and should espn promote a certain brand?
 
JoelDali

JoelDali

Talk Tennis Guru
The Baseline said:
is espn sponsored by babolat or what. brad gilbert asked franseca schiavione about how much the nadal strings helped her. also after that daren cahill was talking about stsour nadal schiavione and others who have used this "nadal" string from babolat about how it is the talk of the tournament. whats the hype and should espn promote a certain brand?
Click to expand...

Babs showered a large chunque of cash to Tennis Channel for the Gimbullstod 30 second spots. They've influenced ESPN big time as well.

There is an obvious spike in Raquet promotion. The HEAD commercials were made for about $650 budget. The Fed BLX commercial budget was $875 plus food and drinks for the crew.
 
Buckethead

Buckethead

Banned
The Baseline said:
is espn sponsored by babolat or what. brad gilbert asked franseca schiavione about how much the nadal strings helped her. also after that daren cahill was talking about stsour nadal schiavione and others who have used this "nadal" string from babolat about how it is the talk of the tournament. whats the hype and should espn promote a certain brand?
Click to expand...
yeah what the heck??
That shows how much they understand about strings.How many better strings are there for spin or just generally better overall?
I write out a list of 15 at any time.
 
T

The Baseline

Professional
Buckethead said:
yeah what the heck??
That shows how much they understand about strings.How many better strings are there for spin or just generally better overall?
I write out a list of 15 at any time.
Click to expand...

i know, its almost like gilbert was getting paid from babolat when he interviewed schiavione. he could have just said -you have been playing well since you put new strings in.
 
Buckethead

Buckethead

Banned
The Baseline said:
i know, its almost like gilbert was getting paid from babolat when he interviewed schiavione. he could have just said -you have been playing well since you put new strings in.
Click to expand...

Or just asked a different question.
Why doesn't He asks about Sod's strings and say how much He plays better with the old Luxilon string LOL.
 
N

ndhUW

New User
The New York Times blog did a short piece on the RPM Blast string by Babolat.

http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/string-theory-in-paris/?ref=tennis

I think the interest from the press in this new string is an attempt to "rationalize" or explain the fact that many top seeded women did not make it to the semi-finals at the French Open and how quick Nadal reclaimed his place on clay.

It'd be interesting to see some in-depth historical analysis on the impact polyester strings had on the game of tennis. Personally, I think it's impossible to look at polyester strings on its own because its popularity was the result of lighter and stiffer racquet trend.

For you hard-core tennis fans out there, has any of you tried a poly string on a woody?
 
rromeo

rromeo

New User
JoelDali said:
Babs showered a large chunque of cash to Tennis Channel for the Gimbullstod 30 second spots. They've influenced ESPN big time as well.

There is an obvious spike in Raquet promotion. The HEAD commercials were made for about $650 budget. The Fed BLX commercial budget was $875 plus food and drinks for the crew.
Click to expand...


I've also noticed that the NBC broadcasts with JohnnyMac have been littered with gratuitous praise of these RPM strings. What annoys me the most is that according to some reliable posters on this board, many of the players the commentators say are using this string are actually using a diff one and therefore the announcers have no credibilty whatsoever. In other words either they are clueless or were paid to lie. Either way makes me want to hit mute even more than usual.:evil:
 
jc4.0

jc4.0

Professional
Brad's latest money-making scheme

Gilbert seems to be the most blatant, but McEnroe also has been allowed to extol the virtues of babolat strings. I'm in the TV business - trust me, this kind of "embedded" sponsorship is the newest thing in advertising - since so many of us use DVRs now, to skip the commercials. These guys would NEVER be allowed to talk about specific strings or racquets without the equipment mfr's paying the network, and that's a fact. Plus - notice how many closeups of racquets and strings occur, for certain mfr's. Don't think that's by chance, either. Sorry - there's no way to completely get around sponsors, they pay for tournament coverage!

Having said that, I'm trying myself to figure out whether to change strings or not, based on the results of the players now using the "black" babolat. I'm not naive enough to take Brad Gilbert's word for it, though.
 
D

decades

Guest
this is an example of how the giants of the industry control the conversation. there are far better "boutique" strings out there. But Babolat has massive advertising $$$ to spend and they can literally create the idea that these are the best strings out there.
 
Marcus

Marcus

Semi-Pro
decades said:
this is an example of how the giants of the industry control the conversation. there are far better "boutique" strings out there. But Babolat has massive advertising $$$ to spend and they can literally create the idea that these are the best strings out there.
Click to expand...

Genuine Question..... not trying to be funny !

What boutique strings are you refering to ?

I've been very impressed with RPM in a TGK 238.1 - considering a move to poly from Gut

Thanks
Mark
 
rromeo

rromeo

New User
The most disingenious part of Mac's comments on these strings during today's broadcast was when Stosur would flub a volley (which she did a lot due to being nervous) he would repeatedly say it was bcs volleying was a weak point of the new strings yet Schiavone who volleyed incredibly well throughout the match supposedly uses the exact same string. Very nonsensical.
 
D

decades

Guest
Marcus said:
Genuine Question..... not trying to be funny !

What boutique strings are you refering to ?

I've been very impressed with RPM in a TGK 238.1 - considering a move to poly from Gut

Thanks
Mark
Click to expand...

weisscannon, signum pro, topspin, solinco, and genesis are a few you should investigate. ps: I should have said far better for "the money".
 
T

The Baseline

Professional
decades said:
this is an example of how the giants of the industry control the conversation. there are far better "boutique" strings out there. But Babolat has massive advertising $$$ to spend and they can literally create the idea that these are the best strings out there.
Click to expand...

when i was hearing all this hype about babolat racquets then finally hit one i was really shocked at how hollow the racquet felt let alone the perfrormance was not there. it shows how much hype can be created through television and i think its wrong
 
kensan

kensan

Rookie
ndhUW said:
For you hard-core tennis fans out there, has any of you tried a poly string on a woody?
Click to expand...

I did, I put up a picture in the racquets forum. I strung it up with sonic pro in the mains, fxp in the crosses, and participated in a men's open tournament with it. (It was a wood racquet only tournament.)

I would have to re-balance it, but for unknown reasons I couldn't get my swing speed fast enough to take a nice cut at the ball. In fact I couldn't do much of anything, so I ended up serving and volleying. (This was on a fast indoor court.)
 
Buckethead

Buckethead

Banned
rromeo said:
The most disingenious part of Mac's comments on these strings during today's broadcast was when Stosur would flub a volley (which she did a lot due to being nervous) he would repeatedly say it was bcs volleying was a weak point of the new strings yet Schiavone who volleyed incredibly well throughout the match supposedly uses the exact same string. Very nonsensical.
Click to expand...
You are right and so He is.
Polyester strings,specially the RPM blast doesn't have a good feel,and it's not even comparable to Gut.Some of the new polys have gotten a lot better,but the RPM blast doesn't have a good feel.
He also mentioned about that combination that Nadal uses,very stiff racket with a stiff string which He is right,it's just a bad combination,but maybe Nadal uses that racket with a lower stiffness.
 
U

Uncle Emmitt

Rookie
i agree it did seem very babolatteeee :shock:eek:n the comments. They use to refer to basically all brands of poly as Luxilon. When I listen to them quite frankly I don't think they have the string knowledge as much as a lot of people on these boards. It did seem like subtle advertising to me. The guy w the comment about we dvr thru the commercials ( I certainly do ) makes it sound even more convincing.

My babolat rep gave me some samples and I put some in a PDR @ 63 lbs
( full bed ) my main racquet

and an aeropro drive GT @ 61( full bed ) I play w this a lot too.

I've played with most polys by now and I have to say overall it is prob my fave.

Good power, control, feel ( for a poly ) and great spin. Easier on the arm than PHT, IMO

It's not that much diff than many other polys like they were trying to make it sound however. They made it sound like it was wood against graphite almost:smile:
 
Cup8489

Cup8489

G.O.A.T.
Uncle Emmitt said:
i agree it did seem very babolatteeee :shock:eek:n the comments. They use to refer to basically all brands of poly as Luxilon. When I listen to them quite frankly I don't think they have the string knowledge as much as a lot of people on these boards. It did seem like subtle advertising to me. The guy w the comment about we dvr thru the commercials ( I certainly do ) makes it sound even more convincing.

My babolat rep gave me some samples and I put some in a PDR @ 63 lbs
( full bed ) my main racquet

and an aeropro drive GT @ 61( full bed ) I play w this a lot too.

I've played with most polys by now and I have to say overall it is prob my fave.

Good power, control, feel ( for a poly ) and great spin. Easier on the arm than PHT, IMO

It's not that much diff than many other polys like they were trying to make it sound however. They made it sound like it was wood against graphite almost:smile:
Click to expand...

You should do something I did with one of my friends who bought into this new poly sensation: I strung up one of his PDs with the RPM Blast, and then the other with MSV Focus Hex Black. I used the new white stencil ink to cover the string labelling, so he couldn't tell which was which.

I told him I wouldn't charge him for the MSV either way, but that I wanted to see if he could figure out which was which. After about 3 hours of hitting (half of the time with one, then the other), he actually concluded that the MSV was RPM, and that it was the better performer of the two.

Suffice to say, I told him the truth about the strings, and he now requests the MSV instead (plus, it's 10 bucks cheaper per job for him, so why not?) I also felt that he had alot more spin and bend to his forehand with the MSV, which was in the..1.18 gauge.
 
TennisFan3

TennisFan3

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal is using painted Duralast anyways. It's just a marketing gimmick. No big deal.

Top pros never change their equipment just for the heck of it. And when they do, the results are disastrous. See Djokovic..
 
rromeo

rromeo

New User
TennisFan3 said:
Nadal is using painted Duralast anyways. It's just a marketing gimmick. No big deal.

Top pros never change their equipment just for the heck of it. And when they do, the results are disastrous. See Djokovic..
Click to expand...

That was my main point which I have read here on other threads numerous times. So I guess it is not safe to trust anything the broadcasters say and all of their "insight" requires fact checking apparently. Sad state of affairs, imo.
 
A

AJK1

Hall of Fame
I just put some Head Sonic Pro Black in my stick, i'll let you know how it goes. It is half the price of Babolat RPM.
 
joe sch

joe sch

Legend
TennisFan3 said:
Nadal is using painted Duralast anyways. It's just a marketing gimmick. No big deal.

Top pros never change their equipment just for the heck of it. And when they do, the results are disastrous. See Djokovic..
Click to expand...

Very true, Nadal has not made any secret changes. This forced marketing is really poorly done. John McEnroe obviously has not tried them and he cant even hit with the modern western grip/stokes to take advantage of these strings. His explanation during the Nadal v Soderling FO final first set was idiotic.

The bab rpm's are basically a msv hex copy; a copoly that bab describes as "Extruded monofilament with an octagonal profile". I have found they are great strings that work best at low tensions with extreme racket head speed to generate the massive topspin.
 
Last edited:
T

The Baseline

Professional
joe sch said:
Very true, Nadal has not made any secret changes. This forced marketing is really poorly done. John McEnroe obviously has not tried them and he cant even hit with the modern western grip/stokes to take advantage of these strings. His explanation during the Nadal v Soderling FO final first set was idiotic.
The bab rpm's are basically a msv hex copy; a copoly that bab describes as "Extruded monofilament with an octagonal profile". I have found they are great strings that work best at low tensions with extreme racket head speed to generate the massive topspin.
Click to expand...

agree. look at how poorly they are promoting this string. i like babolat products, but this is beyond belief making it seem that this string is revolutionizing the game. you have to remember that every professional has hit own setup and tension range for their racquets. why are the commentators using such promotion.
 
Bhagi Katbamna

Bhagi Katbamna

Legend
rromeo said:
The most disingenious part of Mac's comments on these strings during today's broadcast was when Stosur would flub a volley (which she did a lot due to being nervous) he would repeatedly say it was bcs volleying was a weak point of the new strings yet Schiavone who volleyed incredibly well throughout the match supposedly uses the exact same string. Very nonsensical.
Click to expand...

He was right. He only said you needed a bit of different technique to volley well with those strings because they have less feel.
 
Rabbit

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
I did get tickled during the women's final. McEnroe and the other guy were discussing the new string and how both women and Nadal were using it. McEnroe said, yeah, these Babolat racquets are being used a lot too. They used to just have VS and now all this. <More discussion> McEnroe said if you buy one of these racquets and that string, you better buy plenty of ice for your arm too. :)
 
IceNineTX

IceNineTX

Semi-Pro
The Baseline said:
i know, its almost like gilbert was getting paid from babolat when he interviewed schiavione. he could have just said -you have been playing well since you put new strings in.
Click to expand...

Brad sells this string on his site. He's doing some thinly veiled cross-promotion. Follow him on FB and you'll see he is just pushing product.
 
joe sch

joe sch

Legend
TW Staff said:
The TW Professor investigates RPM Blast in Jason's latest blog.

http://blog.tenniswarehouse.com/?p=1363

TW Staff
Click to expand...

Great analysis ... so the lowest COF providing more string movement which is basically what you get with lower tensions anyway, which I did not see as part of that analysis. Basically play any of these type of strings at a low tension, given you can generate high racket head speeds, and you can play more Nadal like :) Good luck.
 
Rabbit

Rabbit

G.O.A.T.
joe sch said:
Great analysis ... so the lowest COF providing more string movement which is basically what you get with lower tensions anyway, which I did not see as part of that analysis. Basically play any of these type of strings at a low tension, given you can generate high racket head speeds, and you can play more Nadal like :) Good luck.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm....something tells me that no matter what string I use or how fast I swing the racquet...I'm never going to be able to play like Nadal. ;)
 
joe sch

joe sch

Legend
Rabbit said:
Hmmmm....something tells me that no matter what string I use or how fast I swing the racquet...I'm never going to be able to play like Nadal. ;)
Click to expand...

Yep.

That was one of the points I was trying to make, these copoly strings are all soo nice and the difference is very minimal especially when strung at lower tensions and without the ability to generate the racket head speeds like the ATP players, this diff would be very hard to take advantage of.

Dont think too many readers believe that all those players have recently switched like suggested by the commentators.
 
E

elsupremo

New User
TennisFan3 said:
Nadal is using painted Duralast anyways. It's just a marketing gimmick. No big deal.

Top pros never change their equipment just for the heck of it. And when they do, the results are disastrous. See Djokovic..
Click to expand...

This was my understanding as well...I was a bit confused to read through the first page of this thread before seeing this posted. I'll admit it was only a couple months ago (been playing for almost 3 years) that the reality dawned on me that none of the racquets currently available are really what the top pros are playing with. Kind of like finding out there's no Santa Claus I guess...fun while it lasted. ;-)
 
JT_2eighty

JT_2eighty

Hall of Fame
elsupremo said:
This was my understanding as well...I was a bit confused to read through the first page of this thread before seeing this posted. I'll admit it was only a couple months ago (been playing for almost 3 years) that the reality dawned on me that none of the racquets currently available are really what the top pros are playing with. Kind of like finding out there's no Santa Claus I guess...fun while it lasted. ;-)
Click to expand...

Exactly. Unfortunately the majority of people watching tennis are not as educated, and fall for the lamely-veiled advertising tricks.

RPM blast is just Babolat's answer to all the great co-polys that have been on the market over the past year or so. They finally realized their PHT was getting ditched for better options from Weisscannon, Genesis, MSV and all those other great brands. What Babolat also realized is that they could still charge highway robbery prices for their strings because there are a lot of gullible yet loaded club players that will eat up anything Gilbert/JMac mutter.

I'd love to visit the Babolat factory one day to swim in their cash pool or ride their money slides.
 
L

LPShanet

Banned
elsupremo said:
This was my understanding as well...I was a bit confused to read through the first page of this thread before seeing this posted. I'll admit it was only a couple months ago (been playing for almost 3 years) that the reality dawned on me that none of the racquets currently available are really what the top pros are playing with. Kind of like finding out there's no Santa Claus I guess...fun while it lasted. ;-)
Click to expand...

This isn't quite right. Rafa is not using his same old Duralast painted black. In fact, Duralast in its earliest composition was resistant to opaque coloring. There are actually several versions of Babolat black strings made available to their sponsored players and to their playtest panel. (They had created a number of versions to decide which to market.) According to stringers who have handled Rafa's work in the last six months, he was definitely playing a new string at least part of the time and not his old Duralast, but it may well be quite different from what is being sold at retail as RPM Blast. It's also quite possibly different from the black strings that various other pros are using. So the comments on television that they're all using the same string are off the mark, in that there are at least two or three different black strings being used by Babolat players right now.
 
L

LPShanet

Banned
JT_2eighty said:
Exactly. Unfortunately the majority of people watching tennis are not as educated, and fall for the lamely-veiled advertising tricks.

RPM blast is just Babolat's answer to all the great co-polys that have been on the market over the past year or so. They finally realized their PHT was getting ditched for better options from Weisscannon, Genesis, MSV and all those other great brands. What Babolat also realized is that they could still charge highway robbery prices for their strings because there are a lot of gullible yet loaded club players that will eat up anything Gilbert/JMac mutter.

I'd love to visit the Babolat factory one day to swim in their cash pool or ride their money slides.
Click to expand...

If you want to be really accurate, RPM wasn't released as an "answer" to those strings, as they barely have any market share. Babolat was simply trying to create a new and different co-poly to get buzz about. Their main concern was taking market share from Luxilon, who is their real competition. While Weisscannon, Genesis, MSV, etc. are popular with a tiny niche group of tennis geeks, and they may well be very good strings, Babolat's offerings aren't really "getting ditched" in any significant numbers for any of them. Take a look at market share percentages and you'll see. As for highway robbery, Babolat is charging pretty much market rate for their co-polys. They're in the same range as the main competition (Luxilon). Oh, and Mac isn't on Babolat's payroll in any way, shape or form. The only real misleading going on here is the suggestion that any of the strings in question are that significantly different from others in the same category, or that the preferences are anything other than subjective and personal.
 
TW Staff

TW Staff

Administrator
JT_2eighty said:
I'm surprised Luxilon ALU or BBO are not on this graph. Considering their strings incorporate teflon and are used by the majority of the tour, this should be included to add another frame of reference? Perhaps this is already in the works?
Click to expand...

Luxilon ALU Power Rough and Polyfibre TCS has been added to the graph in the blog.

http://blog.tenniswarehouse.com/?p=1363

You can check out how RPM compares against other polyester strings here:
http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/stringselector/stringselector.php

Click on "polyester" as the material.

Two more articles and pages that you might find interesting from our TW Professor.

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/stringmovement.php

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/spinexperiment.php

Enjoy!

Jason, TW
 
ODYSSEY Mk.4

ODYSSEY Mk.4

Professional
TW Staff said:
Luxilon ALU Power Rough and Polyfibre TCS has been added to the graph in the blog.

http://blog.tenniswarehouse.com/?p=1363

You can check out how RPM compares against other polyester strings here:
http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/stringselector/stringselector.php

Click on "polyester" as the material.

Two more articles and pages that you might find interesting from our TW Professor.

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/stringmovement.php

http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/spinexperiment.php

Enjoy!

Jason, TW
Click to expand...

Thanks jason just what i wanted to see you rock!
 
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