Rafa... New Paintjob

innoVAShaun

G.O.A.T.
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mpournaras

Hall of Fame
Lol Raf still in Cage 3 and old PJ. What a joke of a sponsor. I legitimately think Nike will be happy to offload his contract when he is retired. Open up money for literally anything else.

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2 different yonex reps was telling me otherwise. At different points

maybe the Yonex reps are motivated to have you believe he doesn't use Babolat?

in the image above you can see the "imprinting" which is that weird Babolat writing of the grip name, I believe
 

AVSH

Banned
maybe the Yonex reps are motivated to have you believe he doesn't use Babolat?

in the image above you can see the "imprinting" which is that weird Babolat writing of the grip name, I believe
Could be, not sure whats the motivation, I could care less what Rafa uses

Maybe Yonex makes it for babolat for Rafa only?
 
[QUOTE="AVSH, post: 17048839, member: 777253"
Maybe Yonex makes it for babolat for Rafa only?
[/QUOTE]

Could be, I could care less about Yonex
 
D

Deleted member 746200

Guest
does he use super grap from yonex?
Take a closer look at the bottom of the grip, there's a clear "Babolat" on the grip, so the answer is No. However, there are quite some players under other brand using Yonex Supergrap on the tour, and there are more players using Wilson grip.
 
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I'm sure Babolat had already made thousands of batches for the new " 2023 Pure Aero Rafa Origin" to then find out the only player endorsing the racquet switched back to the old cosmetic :laughing:. How r they gonna market this?
But this isn't Nadal's first time doing this, A couple of years back, he had switched back to his La Decima cosmetic instead of endorsing the regular aero at the time for the remainder of the clay and hard court season until babolat pushed him to finally switch.
 

innoVAShaun

G.O.A.T.
He's been low on confidence, so i can see him not wanting to pile a new paintjob on top everything else atm - suspect perhaps he'll change in clay season and they might push the release back til French Open time?

Everyone knows how superstitious Rafa can be. As mentioned above, he did the same thing with the PA19 PJ.
 

SgtSalt

New User
People are saying it will release in March so maybe he'll make the switch at Indian wells? I know rafa uses different weights of rackets sometimes like he used a lighter one at rg then went back to a heavier one..maybe the new racket was heavier and he wanted lighter but babolat couldnt accomodate that fast
 

aus89

Hall of Fame
People are saying it will release in March so maybe he'll make the switch at Indian wells? I know rafa uses different weights of rackets sometimes like he used a lighter one at rg then went back to a heavier one..maybe the new racket was heavier and he wanted lighter but babolat couldnt accomodate that fast
the paint would have been the only thing that changed for him
 
just a theory for Nadal's reasoning to switching back to the old orange cosmetic could be his 2023 Nike kit outfits for the Australian Open are Orange hence Nadal choosing to switch back because the cosmetic of his racquet matches his clothes :-D. I honestly think it could be one of his reasons for switching back. Orange outfits and orange matching racquet seems definitely like a color OCD or superstitious thing Nadal would want. Honestly the new Pink and Yellow cosmetic would not match his orange fit at all this year. IMO the previous cosmetic also looks way better with many other outfits like his all black kit.
 
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AVSH

Banned
just a theory for Nadal's reasoning to switching back to the old orange cosmetic could be his 2023 Nike kit outfits for the Australian Open are Orange hence Nadal choosing to switch back because the cosmetic of his racquet matches his clothes :-D. I honestly think it could be one of his reasons for switching back. Orange outfits and orange matching racquet seems definitely like a color OCD or superstitious thing Nadal would want. Honestly the new Pink and Yellow cosmetic would not match his orange fit at all this year. IMO the previous cosmetic also looks way better with many other outfits like his all black kit.
I honestly think its cuz he was like 0-3 with the new cosemetic. Now he's 1-0 since he switched back im guessing it stays till he loses
 
People are saying it will release in March so maybe he'll make the switch at Indian wells? I know rafa uses different weights of rackets sometimes like he used a lighter one at rg then went back to a heavier one..maybe the new racket was heavier and he wanted lighter but babolat couldnt accomodate that fast

Rafa trolling all of us so we talk about his new racquet release in March?
 

lidoazndiabloboi

Hall of Fame
Here's my theory, as we know Rafa changed to 16 gauge RPM in last years AO, and changed back to 15 gauge for the clay swing. By changing string gauges, Babolat had to make different batches of rackets to accommodate for the SW change. It might be possible that Rafa was using the new PJ with 15gauge RPM, but after losing the matches at United Cup, decided to go with the 16 gauge. Babolat might have the old PJ customized for 16g on hand, and sent them to Rafa for the tournament. They did not have the time to customize the new PJ for 16g yet. Just a theory.
 
I honestly think its cuz he was like 0-3 with the new cosemetic. Now he's 1-0 since he switched back im guessing it stays till he loses
True great point as well, Rafa has won 3 slams with the previous cosmetic as well. He's definitely much more comfortable with it. Eventually Rafa is gonna make the switch
 
Here's my theory, as we know Rafa changed to 16 gauge RPM in last years AO, and changed back to 15 gauge for the clay swing. By changing string gauges, Babolat had to make different batches of rackets to accommodate for the SW change. It might be possible that Rafa was using the new PJ with 15gauge RPM, but after losing the matches at United Cup, decided to go with the 16 gauge. Babolat might have the old PJ customized for 16g on hand, and sent them to Rafa for the tournament. They did not have the time to customize the new PJ for 16g yet. Just a theory.

Great possibility as well. Never thought about it like that, He usually gets 10-12 new, customized, and matched racquets every slam. It could be possible that the 10 or 12 new Pink and Yellow ones he received were customized for 15g RPM. I also speculate his moved back to 16g RPM for Australia just like last year. Its highly possibly cause he gets way more free power and points from the 16g.
 

innoVAShaun

G.O.A.T.
"A tennis racquet used by Rafael Nadal during his 21st grand slam Australian Open tennis tournament final match, expected to fetch between 200,000 - 300,000 USD, is displayed at Sotheby's auction house in New York on February 1, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)"

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TennisCJC

Legend
Best paint job ever was when Bab had the tech that had a plastic piece in the throat above the handle that seemed to separate the throat into 2 pieces. The real tech was an indenture in the shaft with a black piece of plastic seperating the handle from the head. Someone got a close up of Rafa's frame at a tournament and they had painted a black line to look like the plastic indenture in the frame. Creative but silly.
 
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