New Balls, Please

Matt Cronin

The spin potential of Babolat string was a major topic in 2010.

It isn't that common for equipment or products to be at the forefront of discussion during the Grand Slams. But that has not been the case at Roland Garros during the past two years.

In 2010, Babolat's space age copoly black string "Rpm Blast," and it's potential to generate even more spin in a heavy spin world, was a widely discussed topic. Pros and fans alike were fascinated by how champions Francesca Schiavone and Rafael Nadal could hit the ball virtually hard as they wanted and still manage to keep it inside the court. (Click Here to read about the way this and other "copoly" strings actually work.)

This year, the main topic was the new balls used by the tournament, also made by Babolat, the new official ball, called the Babolat Roland Garros All-Court Ball. Opinions diverged widely among the players. Some said the new ball was harder, faster and tougher to control. Others said that it had no effect on their games.

Djokovic went on record saying the balls were "difficult to control." But the reality there was no strong consensus that the balls themselves were unplayable on the clay in Paris.

This year the issue was the new Babolat ball.

Regardless of the impact on play, one fact was certain, the tournament's outcome was very similar to previous years. Rafael Nadal won the title again (his sixth) Roger Federer was the runner up (his fifth time in the final), and the other two members of men's tennis Big 4 -- Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray - reached the semifinals.

On the women's side, Schiavone reached the final again, while Li Na, who had reached the 2011 Aussie Open final, won the title. The two losing semifinalist were three-times Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, who had reached the semifinals once and the quarterfinals three times in Paris, and Marion Bartoli, a perennial top-20 player who certainly likes fast exchanges, but who partially credited her 2011 run to devoting time in practice to honing her clay court skills.

But something else about the change did upset the men. This wasn't the Babalot ball per se, but rather that this new ball was introduced for the very first time in Paris, a big switch from the balls used leading up to the event. The International Tennis Federation put the new Babolat balls through testing and found no problem with them and the French Tennis Federation supported the ITF's position. But that does not mean that the players were totally keen on the switch.

At the three clay court ATP Masters Series leading up Roland Garros, the Dunlop Fort Clay Court ball was used and most players, we know, like uniformity. In previous years that was the same ball they would play in Paris.

Djokovic said the new ball was harder to control.

What upset the players was that they had no say in the decision to switch. This is because the national federations control the Slams, and they could really could care less about what type of ball the ATP is using.

Roger Federer, head of the ATP Players Council said: "I guess the disappointing part here in this whole story, because I'm hearing a lot of conversations about the balls, it's just that they're not the same from what we've just played for the last month." "And that for us is the most frustrating part, that the other tournaments all changed to the Roland Garros ball after last year, but Roland Garros has changed their balls again. Now we're stuck with a different deal for all the different ATP Tour events. That is the frustrating part--that we need to adjust before the French."

Whether or not Federer is frustrated, the fact remains that balls, like any other product on the tennis market, are a commodity that are part of tournament's sponsorship platform. As long as a ball meets the range of standards that the tour and the ITF set out, the company that manufactures them is welcome to approach a tournament and offer it money to use them.

Eric Babolat is aiming to make his company the top worldwide brand.

So why did Babolat step up? Babolat is one of Roland Garros' biggest sponsors (it is also its official stringer). The company believed that by stepping its sponsorship it would gain greater exposure for its overall product line.

The tennis-only company has become very aggressive in the amount of money it spends on marketing and player sponsorship (2011 Roland Garros champs Nadal and Li both play with Babolat rackets, as do an estimated 20 % of the tour). It seems that whenever Babolat sees a good opportunity to expand the reach of its brand, it will force its way to the front of the stage.

That does not mean that officials from every major will be wooed by big dollars. The conservative members of the All England Lawn & Tennis Club have approved the use of Slazenger as Wimbledon's ball since 1902.

Wilson, based in the U.S., is also a major player in the ball market and has been the official ball of the US Open ball as long as anyone can remember. Wilson is also now being used at the Australian Open. However, when a major force like Babolat decides to flex its muscles, it can cause consternation within the industry.

Could Babolat really duplicate the Dunlop ball?

In response to the players' comments, the IFT and Babolat stated publically that the new balls were manufactured in the same way as the Dunlop balls used by the ATP. Dunlop's brass then took the unusual move of responding publicly.

"Dunlop is very proud to have signed long term agreements with the key ATP clay court tournaments in Europe and has made every effort to maintain this consistency by offering the IFT the best possible offer to continue the sponsorship of Roland Garros," said Barry Leach, the company's managing director.

"Disappointingly, the IFT chose to reject Dunlop's offer to renew the sponsorship of the Roland Garros and opted to go with the French tennis brand Babolat. This means that Roland Garros is the only major clay court tournament not utilizing Dunlop balls.

"It is impossible to replicate our balls and we felt it was important to clarify this fact given the statement from the ITF. Should the ITF decide they would like to provide the ball consistency that the players desire, then we would welcome the opportunity to make it happen."

Babolat's new deal with the IFT is said be a five-year one, so a switch back to Dunlop is not going to happen anytime soon, if ever. Eric Babolat has said that his company is aiming at becoming the top tennis brand in the world in all categories.

Is this the American Ball of the future?

Given that it now claims to be the No. 1 racket seller in the United States and the No. 2 seller of strings, there is little doubt that at some point, it will attempt to conquer the US ball market too. But ball sales only account for about 7% of Babolat revenues (rackets comprise about 61%). Balls are not the most profitable category for any tennis company given that the profit margins are so small. But what balls can do is expand brand awareness.

So on the outside it may have appeared that the Roland Garros ball controversy was about the pros satisfaction or the lack of it, but what it was really about was industry giants going head to head in an attempt to grab market share. While that is not as exciting as a Nadal-Federer final, it does speak volumes about how important exposure at the Grand Slams is to the major players in the tennis industry. From the inside of Roland Garros, it looks like that Babolat overcame Dunlop in four sets, similar to that of what Nadal did to Federer.