Babolat Natural Gut: The Original Tennis String

How do you become the most important name in natural gut tennis strings?

Inventing the product certainly helps. Fine tuning your manufacturing process for almost 150 years and using the world's best tennis players for feedback doesn't hurt, either.

There's only one name that can lay claim to such facts and that name is Babolat. When it comes to natural gut, Babolat has lead the way since day one.

Before tennis was even called tennis, natural gut has been the string of choice. When Major Walter Clopton Wingfield was developing the game as we know it today, he needed a source of string for the wooden racquets used to strike the ball. He sought the help of Pierre Babolat in 1875 and the natural gut tennis string was born.

Tennis grew rapidly in popularity and Babolat continued to develop its natural gut to meet the demands of a developing game. Babolat switched over from manufacturing strings for musical instruments to manufacture its natural gut tennis strings at their factory in Lyon, France. A team of dedicated craftsmen took locally sourced sheep gut and created strings that would garner world renown.

Fast forward to the 1920s and it wouldn't be too trite to say tennis was in full swing. Babolat looked to the famous French Musketeers of the period, Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste to provide feedback on the development and perfection of Babolat natural gut. Batches of tennis strings were tested by the Musketeers in alphabetical order. Once batch V was tested all agreed that batch V was superior. V Superior, or VS as it has been called from then on, is Babolat's premium quality natural gut.

Since its inception, the number of tennis legends relying on Babolat VS Natural Gut to give them the ultimate connection to the ball is very much a who's who list of tennis history. The amount of Grand Slams won with VS Natural Gut must be mind boggling. For your own safety, don't try and do the research and math!

As the game of tennis and racquet technology developed, with it natural gut production switched from sheep gut to cow gut. Despite the name "cat gut" thrown around as a name for tennis string, cats have never been a source for natural gut. Tell any cats you know they can relax with tennis players around! The intestines of a cat are far too short to be used as a source material for string.

The production of natural gut continues to be a very hands on process. It takes around a month to turn serosa into a set of string. Great care and attention is used in each stage of the production and before that the best gut has to be sourced. Cows raised in the lush pastures of Brittany provide Babolat with an excellent source for natural gut.

When the string is finished and ready to go, it is packaged inside a climate controlled room. The room's perfect 50 percent humidity is sealed inside each package of string. The foil packaging of VS Natural Gut also protects the string from light and moisture so it stays fresh and ready to use until needed.

If you have ever hit with natural gut you'll know the hard work and care taken to produce this tennis string are worth the effort. Natural gut has a structural design that makes it unique and gives it superior performance qualities. Collagen, found in cow's serosa has a molecular make-up that is designed to withstand the stretching and contraction of the intestine. Collagen is a major fibrous component of many types of connective tissues and it is the elasticity of the material that makes it a good source for tennis string. The molecular structure has a braided formation which along with providing good elasticity also offers a cushioning aspect to the material. The result is that at high tensions as well as when contact is made near the racquet frame, natural gut stretches better and offers greater comfort than synthetic strings. In today's game the feel, comfort and power offered by natural gut make it the perfect compliment to the stiff and controlled qualities of polyester based strings.

When combined in a hybrid set up, Babolat VS Natural Gut continues to be extremely popular on the pro tours today. Both ATP and WTA pros use it in their racquets, and most commonly it is blended with a polyester based string in a hybrid stringbed. Even pros not fortunate enough to be sponsored by the Babolat brand choose to buy VS Natural Gut rather than use a string from another brand, such is its superiority. We know this because many pro players choose to shop at Tennis Warehouse for their natural gut needs! On both the men's and women's tours, pros continue to rack up the tournament titles and Grand Slam wins with Babolat VS Natural Gut in their racquets.

Your next big win could just be a set of VS Natural Gut away.