March 20, 2008

Ivan Ljubicic get custom racquet from Head, shoes from Li Ning

Peter Bodo sits down with Luby in a recent post in Tennis Magazine, talking about all sorts of stuff, among which is the situation with his racquet, apparel and shoes. Luby recently dumped his Babolat Pure Drivefor the Head Extreme, and he feels the stick is performing well. To get a racquet he felt good about he called the HEAD, and ended up spending 11 days there play-testing custom-made sticks. According to Bodo, the racquet has larger grommet holes, which give him a wider string pattern on his verticals (that is, there's a string closer to the side of the racket head on either side).

"Most days, I played with three new rackets, so over that period Head made about 35 new rackets before I said, 'Okay, this is it. This is the one I like.' I have to thank them, a lot. They were ready and keen on doing something for me, and it was fantastic to go to the factory and actually watch the rackets being made."
"This contract with Head is fantastic. It's one of the first I really felt this is what I deserve. In the past, it was nothing. If I was making money, it was just because I was earning bonuses (for hitting certain ranking and result benchmarks). I felt Head really wanted to invest in me, and I knew they were a serious company."

He's also hit a winning partnership with Chinese apparel and footwear maker, Li-Ning

"I said to them, guys, for me, good shoes is not good enough - it has to be great shoes. So they sent me to Belgium to one laboratory where they really measured my foot and did all kinds of testing until they could make perfect shoes for my body. It took them a month to make them."

From Peter Bodo's Tennis World via Tennis Magazine

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