the secrets of his favorite French snowshoes

Rafael Nadal has always been a loyal man. To his clan who has followed him for years, to his native island, Majorca, but also to his snowshoes. Since his childhood, the man with 14 titles at Roland-Garros has always played with equipment from the French brand Babolat, based in Lyon, which supplies him with rackets and strings. « In 1996, while he was still hesitating between football and tennis, his uncle Toni (his ex-coach) took him to choose one at the Manacor sports store and Rafael chose Carlos Moya's (later became his coach), la Soft Drive », whispers Éric Babolat.

At the age of 12, the prodigy landed his first contract with a local manager of the French brand, then an international contract in May 2001, when he was not yet 16 years old. “ I met him in a hotel lobby at the 2001 US Open. He was a young junior, still unknown, remembers Éric Babolat. He was sitting in an armchair…