Kalugin

Rookie
Today I'm with cool content. Two alike racquets. But actually not. Let's make a comparison between Rafa Nadal personal racquet, that was used by him during final at Roland-Garros 2014 and retail version of this AeroPro Drive paintjob.
Screenshot-20250125-015615-Chrome.jpg


Let's start with visual differences.

First: Cortex System. Nadal's personal racquet doesn't have it, cause Rafa used AeroPro Drive Original mold all the way, that didn't have Cortex. So we have Cortex paintjob.
Screenshot-20250125-013358-Gallery.jpg


Second: Differences in some details of a paintjob. On retail racquet you can see "Roland Garros" at 6 position, and Rafa's stick has "Babolat" on it. Simple marketing: Nadal and Roland Garros is a winning combination and great one for the fans. But Rafa himself used this paintjob not only at French Open, so it would be weird to have "Roland Garros" oh his racquets at Wimbledon, for example))
Screenshot-20250125-013401-Gallery.jpg


And for sure differences on namings on the side of the racquet. Retail racquet has the name of a model on it, Nadal's has simple - Rafa.
Screenshot-20250125-013408-Gallery.jpg


Third. Throat part of racquets. Retail with standard specs of the racquet, Rafa's stick is blank, just Nadal's personal Babolat sticker.
Screenshot-20250125-013405-Gallery.jpg


But the main differences for sure are in racquets specs.
Nadal' personal is 338 grams and 360 in Swingweight (without dampener),
Retail - 323 and 317.
Screenshot-20250125-013312-Gallery.jpg


Your welcome!)

Screenshot-20250125-015533-Chrome.jpg
 

McLovin

Legend
Today I'm with cool content. Two alike racquets. But actually not. Let's make a comparison between Rafa Nadal personal racquet, that was used by him during final at Roland-Garros 2014 and retail version of this AeroPro Drive paintjob.
Screenshot-20250125-015615-Chrome.jpg


Let's start with visual differences.

First: Cortex System. Nadal's personal racquet doesn't have it, cause Rafa used AeroPro Drive Original mold all the way, that didn't have Cortex. So we have Cortex paintjob.
Screenshot-20250125-013358-Gallery.jpg


Second: Differences in some details of a paintjob. On retail racquet you can see "Roland Garros" at 6 position, and Rafa's stick has "Babolat" on it. Simple marketing: Nadal and Roland Garros is a winning combination and great one for the fans. But Rafa himself used this paintjob not only at French Open, so it would be weird to have "Roland Garros" oh his racquets at Wimbledon, for example))
Screenshot-20250125-013401-Gallery.jpg


And for sure differences on namings on the side of the racquet. Retail racquet has the name of a model on it, Nadal's has simple - Rafa.
Screenshot-20250125-013408-Gallery.jpg


Third. Throat part of racquets. Retail with standard specs of the racquet, Rafa's stick is blank, just Nadal's personal Babolat sticker.
Screenshot-20250125-013405-Gallery.jpg


But the main differences for sure are in racquets specs.
Nadal' personal is 338 grams and 360 in Swingweight (without dampener),
Retail - 323 and 317.
Screenshot-20250125-013312-Gallery.jpg


Your welcome!)

Screenshot-20250125-015533-Chrome.jpg
Doesn’t the Rafa racquet have an over grip and plastic wrapped around the handle, while the stock one does not? That probably adds 6-8g.
 

McLovin

Legend
Just Babolat Syntec pro black grip + Babolat VS original white overgrip.
The Rafa racquet has the over grip. You measured static weight, but the #s aren’t exactly comparable as one has more “stuff” on the handle. You’d need to put an overgrip on the stock one for a more complete comparison.
 

Kalugin

Rookie
The Rafa racquet has the over grip. You measured static weight, but the #s aren’t exactly comparable as one has more “stuff” on the handle. You’d need to put an overgrip on the stock one for a more complete comparison.
Yes, the retail racket doesn't have an overgrip. But the main reason for this post was, let's say, visual stuff. These little differences are quite interesting. And I hope all readers of TT know that overgrip weighs around 7 g)
 

McEncock

Professional
Hello @Kalugin
Thanks for sharing your racquet on the board:)
As a rafa fan his racquet specs are more or less known by some nerds but there is still mystery that you could solve.
Rumors said that Rafa had never switched to rpm blast and that his string could be Duralast in black or RPM Hurricane in black.
Could you investigate this on the racquet you have? Thx
 
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