Rafa's Racket

A.J. Chabria

We all know that the pros play with frames that are different than the consumer versions. Let's take a look at the real story of the frame of one of the most accomplished players in tennis history -- Rafael Nadal.

Then let's talk about his strings and what it's like to actually string for Rafa from the viewpoint of Joshua Newton, an old friend who led the Babolat stringing team at the 2018 French Open.

Rafa won Roland Garros this year using a Babolat Pure Aero La Decima French Open. But it was a customized, special frame. So what were the modifications? What makes it so quick, so stable, and so lethal?

The Babolat spec sheet says frame weighs 317 grams unstrung, or 11.3 ounces. That's light—very light—a good weight for club players but too light for a pro.

So Rafa has lead added both to the tip and the handle. The lead tape at the tip is under the bumper, and the lead in the handle is either embedded inside, or is tape wrapped around the handle itself.

Surprisingly Rafa doesn't add a tremendous amount of weight--about 15 to 22 grams in total, less than an ounce. The exact distribution is a secret, but a good guess is that 10 to 12 grams are in the head with the rest in the handle.

The additional head mass is for power.  In the handle, it's for stability. That makes the total weight a maximum of 347 grams and it probably less. This makes sense since Rafa's priority is racket speed. 

This skews the balance a few millimeters, up to a cm to the headlight side. The idea is to make a frame subtly heavier and more stable overall while still having it move through the air with great speed.

So although Rafa's racket is not as light as a stock frame, it's still light for a pro player. Compare that to Roger Federer's racket, also customized, which weighs about 365 grams.

This is the same kind of customization I do for tour, college, and even club players - and more on that in future articles.

Strings

What about the strings? And what is it like to string for Rafa Nadal at a Grand Slam?

My friend Joshua Newton, just became the first American to lead the Babolat stringing team at Roland Garros. Josh strung for Rafa Nadal for 3 and a half weeks—both the practice sessions and for all seven matches on his way to the title. From him, we have more precise information on the strings than we do on the frame.

Rafa uses RPM Blast 15L (1.35 mm) for the mains and crosses. It's strung in two pieces. The tension is either 25 or 25.5 kilograms. 25 kilos is a shade over 55 pounds. 25.5 kilos is a little more than a pound tighter. Rafa usually starts at 25 Kg when he first arrives at an event, and if he needs to, goes up to 25.5 after trying a few rackets at 25. Once he settles on a tension, he doesn't change it for the rest of the tournament and strings all of his rackets at the same tension.

Here is what Josh has to say about the experience of being on machine number one for Rafa in the Babolat stringing center.

"The challenges are not only being able to string well, and at a reasonable pace, but to be able to do it consistently for 12-15+ hours a day for a couple weeks. You need to be able to string any string any racket, be familiar with different patterns, knots, and be able to fulfill whatever request a player may have. Consistency and attention to detail (uniform tension, straight strings, etc.) are key."

"For Rafa I would usually do 4-6 rackets the night before the match, and 2-3 the day of the match."

"Rafa is not especially picky, at least in the context of professional tour players. He has used RPM 15L since it came out, and has only recently varied his tension at all from 25 kg."

"He has experimented with the weight of his frames through the years, but never more than a few grams in either direction."

"He seems more in tune to things like the color, or the feeling of his frame and strings, rather than the hard specs. For example, when we first started to make a special edition Roland Garros Aero, he didn't want to use it because he didn't like seeing the different color out of his peripheral vision. I also heard he didn't like the sound when he hit the ball with the new Babolat RPM Rough string and only hit a few balls before he decided he wouldn't switch."

"Rafa also seems to have had a bit of a shift in his approach to the game, and is trying to have more fun. He feels like he is on borrowed time in some ways, that he never expected to still be competing for grand slams at this age, so he is trying to enjoy the game more. It seems to be working."

I asked Eric if Rafa came to the stringing center himself. "Unfortunately for me, no," he answered.

"One main reason is he would be mobbed by crowds if he came down to the stringing room as you have to go through public areas to reach it. He has visited in years past, but it's usually before the main draw starts when there are very small crowds."

"His rackets were dropped off either by Carlos Moya, or by the physio, who is also named Rafa, Rafael Maymo.

"We have a front desk when you first enter the room for pick up and drop off. We have our own proprietary software that manages everything. It keeps track of every player, every racquet strung, type of string and tension for mains and crosses, any customization work to be done, etc."

"Carlos would usually drop off Rafa's rackets in the morning generally, when the gates were still closed to the public. After that, we would see the physio Rafa. Carlos was always a pleasure to work with, always a smile on his face. Never demanding. He knew we were going to take care of Rafa."

"Once the order is created, the rackets are sent to be cleaned and have the strings cut out. They are then delivered to us to be strung, or to our bin if they are not due immediately. Once we string the rackets, we send them to be stenciled and wrapped in a plastic bag for delivery."

"I really appreciate how Babolat has so many people to help us in preparing the rackets. All the stringers have to do is string. We ended up stringing 700 more rackets than we did last year with the same number of stringers, and set a new unofficial record for number of rackets strung at a tournament -- 5610."

Eric Babolat was down in the stringing area a lot this year, as usual. He was taught to string at an early age, and has strung at many tournaments himself over the years. He still feels a special kinship with all of us, and the feeling is mutual. It's amazing to work for a company that is owned and operated by an accomplished stringer.

Matches in Progress

"Rackets for matches in progress are always exciting, at least to me," Eric explained.

"We get word down in the stringing room from the umpire so we can prepare as the racket is being brought to us from the court. There are runners who have the task of getting them to and from the courts. Someone from the desk yell out "match en cours" and the players name, and the appropriate stringer gets ready if possible. If not, then any available stringer can claim it."

"I enjoy stringing for ongoing matches because they are such an adrenaline rush and a break from the routine. The trick is to go faster, but not to jeopardize the stringing by going too fast.

"Rafa only sent 3 rackets back the entire tournament, and it was when he was being pushed a little. One during his first round match against Bolelli, one during the match with Schwartzman during the rain delay, and one during the final.

"It seemed like he would have his two or three favorite rackets done just before the match, and if he was rolling, not being pushed, he kept using those and didn't send any back. I was basically on call during his matches in case he sent any back.

"I would take a break after doing his pre-match rackets, get some food to bring back to the stringing room, and wait for him to send back rackets.

"My machine was left empty, and if I had other rackets to be done, I would use another machine. It really made watching the matches a lot more intense. Both in having to wait for rackets, but also because he was using rackets I strung.

"Every time he looked at his strings, or hit a ball out, I was thinking there was an issue. Then he would rip some winners, give a fist pump and I would feel better again.