Babolat Men’s Tennis Shoes

Innsbruck, Austria  ·  Shoes > Men's > Babolat

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes

Michelin sole, no-nonsense construction, zero marketing fluff — this is Babolat's men's court foundation done properly. Tourists bolt for the Nordkette the moment they step off the train. Locals know: walk the Inn promenade first, earn the altitude, then ascend. Innsbruck.

↓   Tour Innsbruck, Austria

Four stops before the checkout

Innsbruck, Austria
01
cardiovascular tennis Lauderdale Manors — Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes photographed at the Goldenes Dachl in Innsbruck
Stop one

the Goldenes Dachl, a balcony roofed with 2,657 gilded copper tiles

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes: No, don’t just stand under the shiny bit with everyone else; step back and count properly—there are 2,657 gilded copper tiles on that roof. Maximilian I knew how to make a balcony loud before influencers got hold of the word.

02
cardiovascular tennis Lauderdale Manors — Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes photographed at the Hofkirche in Innsbruck
Stop two

the Hofkirche, twenty-eight black bronze mourners standing guard over an empty tomb

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes: Tourists whisper at the tomb like Maximilian I is in there; he is not, so congratulations, you’ve been solemn at an empty monument. The real muscle is the twenty-eight black bronze figures standing guard around it.

03
cardiovascular tennis Lauderdale Manors — Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes photographed at the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck
Stop three

the Bergisel ski jump, Zaha Hadid's concrete tower with a cafe at the top of the run

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes: Everyone points up and says “ski jump” as if that’s the whole story; it’s Zaha Hadid’s concrete tower, and yes, there’s a cafe up there because Innsbruck insists even altitude should come with coffee. The better view is earned, not guessed from the car park.

04
cardiovascular tennis Lauderdale Manors — Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes photographed at the Nordkettenbahnen in Innsbruck
Stop four

the Nordkettenbahnen, a funicular that leaves the city centre and stops above two thousand metres

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes: Don’t tell me you “went to the mountains” because you saw them from Maria-Theresien-Straße; the Nordkettenbahnen leaves near the city centre and gets you above 2,000 metres at Hafelekar. That’s not a backdrop, that’s a commute with better manners.

The Innsbruck, Austria track

Babolat Men's Tennis Shoes

Written for this world alone.

Right, before you buy anything, let me save you some time, because everyone gets this wrong. Babolat men's court shoes are not one shoe, they are a range, and the range splits three ways: the Jet line for speed, the Propulse line for support and stability, the SFX line for width and cushioning. Pick by your foot, not by the picture.

If you have a wide foot and you buy the fast one because it looks fast, you will be back in six weeks and I will be too polite to say I told you so. I would know. People come back.

What is true across all of them is worth knowing. The outsoles are Michelin rubber — Babolat has run that partnership for over 20 years, and it is the reason a light tennis shoe survives a season of hard court.

The uppers are either woven Matryx aramid-and-polyamide construction or engineered mesh, both chosen so the support comes from the fabric rather than from a cage of overlays. Almost all of them carry an OrthoLite moulded insole and a heavy rubber guard over the inner forefoot and toes, because that patch is where every dragged toe kills a shoe first.

Babolat has been making racquet-sport equipment in Lyon since 1875 and shoes are the newest thing they do, which is why they are unusually stubborn about them.

Start in the old town at the Goldenes Dachl, a balcony roofed with 2,657 gilded copper tiles — count them if you like, someone did. Then the Hofkirche, where twenty-eight black bronze mourners stand guard over a tomb that is completely empty, which nobody tells you until you are in the room. Then Bergisel.

Innsbruck, and here is the correct order, not the guidebook one.

Then, and only then, the funicular. You will get use out of these everywhere from those old-town cobbles to a hard court back home in the spring, and by the way, they are also perfect for a long lunch of Tiroler Gröstl before you go up, because nobody eats before the mountain and everybody should.

"Everyone arrives here and rides straight up. The town is down at the bottom, where they are not looking."

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