Babolat has sponsored Rafael Nadal since he was a child. The company's CEO revealed one thing the former ATP world No. 1 repeatedly asked for in rackets Babolat developed for him.
Babolat faced the pressure of producing memorable equipment for Nadal's final appearance at the Davis Cup Finals, but the French company succeeded by creating an eye-catching bag for the 38-year-old.
The multi-colored bag included various records from Nadal's illustrious career, including his 14 French Open titles, 36 ATP Masters 1000s, and the number of rackets Babolat produced for him over the years.
Unfortunately, coming onto the court in style with that bag did not help Nadal during his matches in Malaga. The tennis legend's final professional match ended in a straight-sets loss to Botic van de Zandschulp.
Carlos Alcaraz won the other singles match in Team Spain's quarterfinal tie against the Netherlands, but the Spaniards were eliminated after a doubles defeat to Wesley Koolhof and van de Zandschulp, ending Nadal's career in the process.
Some felt the Davis Cup Finals organizers did not deliver with Nadal's retirement ceremony like Babolat did with the bag it produced for the four-time US Open champion's last appearance.
Nadal's uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal, found the ceremony underwhelming. Carlos Moya slammed it as shabby, while Team Spain's Davis Cup captain, David Ferrer, felt Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic's not being present watered it down.
Speculation emerged afterward that Federer and Djokovic planned to attend on Friday since the Spaniards were expected to beat the Netherlands, but whether that is true has not been confirmed.
Nadal, one of the most humble champions in sports history, did not criticize any aspect of the retirement ceremony that his friend Feliciano Lopez helped to organize. Doing so would have been uncharacteristic of him.
Babolat's CEO, Eric Babolat, revealed in an interview with Tennis365 that Nadal's humility and easygoing nature were present throughout his time with the company. The only thing the former world No. 1 always wanted from his rackets was more spin.
"It was always easy to work with Rafa because what he wanted from us was more spin, more spin, more spin. If we gave him that, he was happy with us. He was very much involved, but not so much technically."
"He would tell us about the feel, we spoke to his coach and his team and it was always looking for more spin… more spin. We then go and do some testing and give him the feedback."
Nadal has collaborated with Babolat since he was just nine years old. Interestingly, the CEO also revealed that Carlos Alcaraz uses the same racket that Nadal picked himself.
"We did. What we do at Babolat for him is prepare his racket and give him confidence. He picked the Babolat Pure Aero racked by himself and that moment created history in tennis because it is now a pillar of the sport."
"We created this racket for him because of the way he threw his racket in the air, which was quite unique. It is the racket Carlitos Alcaraz is using now. We also developed a string for him that was the RPM Blast that gives him even more topspin."