Babolat
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Babolat questions
Why does Babolat, a tennis institution, take padel so seriously?
Because padel has become core business, not a side project. By 2023 the company said padel accounted for 15–20% of its total revenue, and chief executive Eric Babolat publicly predicted the sport could eventually outgrow tennis within the company. That conviction shows in physical investment, most notably the padel racket studio it opened in Spain.
What has Juan Lebrón meant to Babolat's padel credibility?
Almost everything at professional level. Babolat holds no top-tour supplier contract, so its elite visibility runs through Lebrón, a Babolat athlete since 2017 who spent four consecutive years at world number one during the partnership. His Viper rackets, Premura shoes and signature gear form the most complete single-player ecosystem in the brand's padel range.
Why is Babolat's padel operation based in Spain rather than France?
Babolat has treated Spain as padel's centre of gravity from the start: its first padel racket in 2001 came from a Barcelona design team, a dedicated padel office followed in Madrid in 2015, and in 2023 it opened a Padel Racquet Studio near Barcelona for testing and small-batch 'Made in Spain' production. It builds where the sport's deepest talent and market sit.
How should players read Babolat's padel range structure?
Choose your level first, then your playing style. The range is tiered by construction — full-carbon Viper at the top, mid-range Veron, entry-level Vertuo — and each tier comes in Technical, Air and Counter variants covering different shapes and balances. It is one of the clearer range architectures in padel, a legacy of how the company organises its tennis lines.
About Babolat
Babolat was making racket strings in Lyon more than a century before it built its first padel racket. Founded in 1875 by Pierre Babolat and still run by the founding family five generations on, the French company spent most of its history as a string specialist, only producing its first tennis racket in 1994. Its first padel racket followed in 2001, developed by a design team in Barcelona, and Spain has anchored its padel business ever since: a dedicated padel office opened in Madrid in 2015, and in 2023 the company invested in a Padel Racquet Studio near Barcelona for testing and small-batch 'Made in Spain' production.
The brand's professional profile in padel is closely tied to Juan Lebrón, a Babolat athlete since 2017 who held the world number one ranking for four consecutive years during the partnership. His signature rackets sit within the Viper family, Babolat's long-running competition line, matched by Premura padel shoes with soles developed alongside Michelin. At tour level, Babolat served as official ball and footwear provider of the APT Padel Tour from 2021 and has been technical sponsor of the Rafa Nadal Academy Padel Tour since its launch, following that circuit into its United States expansion in 2026.
Babolat has been unusually explicit about padel's importance to its business: chief executive Eric Babolat has publicly predicted that padel could one day outgrow tennis within the company. For players, the range spans recreational models through to full-carbon Viper competition rackets, making Babolat a multi-sport counterweight to Spain's padel-native specialists.