Concepts

The weight: A great handicap of padel rackets is their weight. Hence the difficulty of adding accessories to the racket.

Volume: Concepts such as diffusion or absorption of vibrations, heat, noise, are inevitably associated with volume. The greater the volume of the diffuser, the greater its effectiveness in its task.

Aesthetics as a sales weapon: We know the value of marketing. Feeding the public’s desire to own is the basis of marketing, we were very clear that aesthetics also had to be enhanced.

The cushion

The first version of AVAIR was released in the 2018 season in a Black Crown model.

The report that Padel World Press made on the ASIA and ASIA Soft models, the first two models carrying AVAIR, commented about our cushion:

“It’s time to talk about AVAIR. Regarding the vibrations of the racket we have to say, in all honesty, that we have not had any vibration or pain problems in our arm and we must also add that the tester of this racket has a chronic shoulder injury so who usually chooses rackets well in these aspects. In the case of Asia, he has not reported any complaints in the games in which he has used both versions, so in his opinion and ours, it works.”

It should be noted that Adrián Allemandi played the 2018 and 2020 seasons using rackets with AVAIR without suffering any arm injury. As for the rackets made with our cushion, they have proven to be resistant and very safe, with no incidents arising from the installation of the AVAIR having been detected.

Technical data

The first AVAIR model weighs 14 g and measures 160 mm. Its thickness is a theoretical 6 mm, later we explain what “theoretical” means. It has indentations along the body in order to ensure its constant resistance to deformation throughout its surface, either due to the pressure of the air that awaits inside or the pressure exerted from the outside. Without them the cushion would look unevenly swollen, especially in the center, just like a balloon.

The frame of the racket is manufactured with a slot on the inside of the handle to allow the air cushion to be installed. The more compact the assembly is, the more efficient it will be in absorbing vibrations when passing through the bridge and handle of the racket. The padel handle generally ranges from 31 mm thick, the slot could not compromise an area so subject to stress, we had to find the appropriate thickness that would allow us to install an efficient cushion and at the same time guarantee that the racket would not break at that point. The cushion has a 6 mm design, we cause a large amount of inflation inside it, seeking for the pressure to inflate it until it reaches 8 mm, hence we talk about a theoretical 6 mm.

Installation

Its installation has no major secrets, it is simply inserted inside as can be seen in the following sequence of images.

No glue or any other adhesive product is used. The very materials with which both the cushion and the racket are constructed, the pressure with which they are joined and finally the installation of the grip, ensure that the cushion will not move during the game.