Babolat is a French tennis, badminton, and padel equipment company, headquartered in Lyon, best known for its strings and tennis racquets which are used by professional and recreational players worldwide. The company has made strings since 1875, when Pierre Babolat created the first strings made of natural gut. Babolat continued to focus on strings until 1994, when it became a "total tennis" company, producing also racquet frames and selling them in Europe. It then expanded sales to Japan, and later to the United States in 2000. Sales of Babolat racquets increased rapidly in North America and Europe. Babolat is also a pioneer in connected sport technology and launched a connected tennis racket in 2014 and a connected wrist-worn tennis wearable with PIQ in 2015. The Babolat Pop is used worldwide, and one of the leaders in tennis sensors. Sponsorships Men Source: Federico Delbonis Thanasi Kokkinakis (to 2021) Jordan Thompson Dominic Thiem Thiago Monteiro Félix Auger-Aliassime Cristian Garín Carlos Alcaraz Rafael Nadal Albert Ramos Viñolas Stéphane Houdet Benoît Paire Cameron Norrie Fabio Fognini Taro Daniel Yūichi Sugita Evgeny Donskoy Mikael Ymer Ryan Harrison Sam Querrey Jack Sock Luke Watson Shitong "Allan" Mi Women Samantha Stosur (to 2018) Kirsten Flipkens Elise Mertens (to 2018) Yanina Wickmayer Eugenie Bouchard (to 2018) Leylah Fernandez Wang Xinyu Zheng Saisai Ana Konjuh Karolína Plíšková Kristýna Plíšková Garbiñe Muguruza Anett Kontaveit Alizé Cornet Heather Watson Sara Errani Camila Giorgi (to 2021) Yulia Putintseva Magda Linette (to 2022) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (to 2014) Amanda Anisimova (to 2022) Jennifer Brady Danielle Collins Sofia Kenin Retired players Mariano Puerta Samuel Groth Kim Clijsters Fernando González Li Na Peng Shuai Mirjana Lučić-Baroni Caroline Wozniacki Carlos Moyá Pauline Parmentier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Johanna Konta Julia Görges Francesca Schiavone Agnieszka Radwańska Nadia Petrova Dinara Safina Elena Vesnina Viktor Troicki Timea Bacsinszky Dominika Cibulková Catherine "CiCi" Bellis Andy Roddick References External links Tennis equipment manufacturers Badminton equipment manufacturers Sporting goods manufacturers of France Companies established in 1875 Sport in Lyon Manufacturing companies based in Lyon 1875 establishments in France French brands Sportswear brands