Federer, Rafa and other top men's shoes

[Blade0324]

i have been at Indian wells over the past week and noticed that the top guys have different soles on their shoes from the retail versions. Now we all know that the top players have custom shoes.
All this said I'm curious if anyone knows why the different soles? Different compound? Better traction? Easier to slide on hard courts?
What really got me thinking about this was I happened to be lucky enough to sit next to Dogopolov during a WTA match. I noticed that he has custom shoes with his last name on them. They appear to be the joma Pro Roland. However, the soles are all black and the tread is slightly different than retail.
Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

[Tennis_monster21]

Some guys like djokovic and Monfils who slide a lot would have to have custom soles, ones with a more forgiving traction. I can't really think of many other reasons to have different soles though, maybe just for better all around traction.

 

[RanchDressing]

i have been at Indian wells over the past week and noticed that the top guys have different soles on their shoes from the retail versions. Now we all know that the top players have custom shoes.
All this said I'm curious if anyone knows why the different soles? Different compound? Better traction? Easier to slide on hard courts?
What really got me thinking about this was I happened to be lucky enough to sit next to Dogopolov during a WTA match. I noticed that he has custom shoes with his last name on them. They appear to be the joma Pro Roland. However, the soles are all black and the tread is slightly different than retail.
Anyone have any ideas on this?

Anything and everything you'll hear about why the sole is different on here will be purely conjecture.

The only thing I can tell you for a fact I fed has a very wide foot. His sole is something like a 6E. It's totally freakish.

Although that being said, I do believe the barricade shoes are very close to what the pros actually use.

I've heard McEnroe claim some of the pros (novak) use clay soles to allow them to slide easier, which almost makes sense... I mean those guys actually can afford to replace the shoe every match.

 

[Tennis_monster21]

Anything and everything you'll hear about why the sole is different on here will be purely conjecture.

The only thing I can tell you for a fact I fed has a very wide foot. His sole is something like a 6E. It's totally freakish.

Although that being said, I do believe the barricade shoes are very close to what the pros actually use.

I've heard McEnroe claim some of the pros (novak) use clay soles to allow them to slide easier, which almost makes sense... I mean those guys actually can afford to replace the shoe every match.

Afford to replace the shoe...? More like get paid to wear the shoe

 

[JGads]

Anything and everything you'll hear about why the sole is different on here will be purely conjecture.

The only thing I can tell you for a fact I fed has a very wide foot. His sole is something like a 6E. It's totally freakish.

Although that being said, I do believe the barricade shoes are very close to what the pros actually use.

I've heard McEnroe claim some of the pros (novak) use clay soles to allow them to slide easier, which almost makes sense... I mean those guys actually can afford to replace the shoe every match.

The Mac quote interests me because I've noticed I can slide-stop more on a hard court with a clay sole, but the pros aren't actually playing with an actual clay full herringbone on the hard court like I am (right?), so the actual compound being softer but the tread being for hard court... Yeah I would like to be a pro to snag that kind of combo. Must work harder on the forehand, then.

 

[RanchDressing]

The Mac quote interests me because I've noticed I can slide-stop more on a hard court with a clay sole, but the pros aren't actually playing with an actual clay full herringbone on the hard court like I am (right?), so the actual compound being softer but the tread being for hard court... Yeah I would like to be a pro to snag that kind of combo. Must work harder on the forehand, then.

He said it on air I remember. I thought it was very interesting. I would be willing to try it... Just need to call adidas about that sponsorship first

But from what I know, you're right I have never seen any (barricade) pros actually using full herringbone.

Figuring out what the pros actually have on their feet makes what sw/weight racquets they use look like a walk in the park. I doubt we will ever truly know what's going on in that department.

Where as I can lead tape and modify my frames to my heart's content, I'm not even going to bother figuring out what rubber composition/tread pattern etc. I like my barricades... They work for me and I'm not going to waste any more time on it :lol: There's no way to replicate it either. Pretty much a lost cause even if you do "figure out" what they're using.

 

[anubis]

I don't think the pros use strange shoe technology that is unavailable to us mere mortals. I think it's more likely that their shoes are simply "tailored" to their feet. Custom molds, etc.

 

[Blade0324]

The clay shoe thing makes more sense to me. Dogopolov's shoes had an all black full herringbone sole so there are very likely clay soles. I didn't get to look at others as close as his so it's harder to say but the idea behind this makes quite a bit of sense actually. The top players all slide a lot especially on the men's side and a clay shoe on hard court with make this much easier than a hard court sole designed for optimum traction. I may have to give it a try and see if there is any merrit to it.

 

[Povl Carstensen]

I think Federers shoe looks quite low to the ground. But being a barefoot enthusiast, I would imagine that.

 

[NJ1]

The vast majority of pros wear the exact same shoes we can buy. There are exceptions amongst the top players, most notably Federer, Nadal, Murray, Williams and Sharapova who wear shoes that are "paint jobs" with unique sole patterns, uppers and moulds. These shoes bear little resemblance to what is mass produced.

Then there are tweeners like Djokovic where the B7 he wears is to all intents and purposes a production shoe (sole pattern, upper etc) but perhaps with custom rubber compound to aid in sliding and perhaps custom sizing (depends how particular he is, certainly a very important part of his game is his footwork and shoes) .

Then there are well-known players like Tommy Haas, Kei Nishikori or Feliciano Lopez who seemingly wear stock shoes, the mould may be custom though and most likely they are wearing custom/specific insoles.

Obviously 99% of players who are not household names have shoes we can buy, the only difference being they get them for free. I know this from speaking to a few and also have a friend who's an Asics exec.

 

[PBODY99]

custom orthotic inserts

Novak gave away a pair of shoes after a televised match years back , but he removed his orthotics before tossing them into the crowd.

For those of us not sponsored and need to use a custom foot bed support, selection of a shoe that will accept our insert trumps everything.