Five months after officially naming its tennis legend as a global ambassador, Lidl is taking another step with its sports brand Crivit: a collection dedicated to padel, designed with Steffi Graf. This new line is part of a much broader plan than simply launching a racket, and it sheds light on how a food retailer can build, sport by sport, an undeniable sporting credibility.

Steffi Graf, a rare sports endorsement in the retail market

The choice of the former world number 1 is far from insignificant. With 22 titles of the Grand Chelem With her impressive record and the only Golden Slam in tennis history—winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic gold in the same year—Steffi Graf remains a virtually unparalleled figure in individual sports. She also topped the world rankings for a total of 377 weeks, including a record 186 consecutive weeks at number one. This impressive track record explains why Lidl chose to partner with her across its entire Crivit range starting in February 2026, before extending the collaboration to more specific sports like padel.

The partnership was officially launched on February 14, 2026, under the name "Find Your Move" campaign, rolled out simultaneously in more than thirty countries. This is a rare ambition for a private label brand, which is generally confined to national markets. Essentially, Lidl's communication focuses less on athletic performance and more on the idea of ​​physical activity being accessible to everyone, without the pressure of results—a positioning embraced by Steffi Graf herself, who explains that she wants to convey a relationship with sport centered on well-being rather than competition.

This recruitment also marks a symbolic shift: during her career, Graf was associated with a major international equipment manufacturer, and seeing her today embody a private label brand illustrates how the codes of sports sponsorship are being redefined, even for the most established legends.

Padel How Lidl is transforming Crivit into a fully-fledged sports brand with Steffi Graf

A collection conceived as a true product launch, not simply a licensed product.

The padel range consists of a high-end racket, the "12K Carbon Pro," priced at €74,99, accompanied by a set of three "Tournament Pro" balls for €4,99. These products, available exclusively on Lidl.fr since July 29, 2026, are more than just a way to put a famous name on the packaging: Lidl France emphasizes that Graf participated in the technical design of the equipment, not simply its marketing. This direct involvement in product development aims to lend sporting legitimacy to a brand still perceived as a generalist, similar to what it had already begun with its Parkside DIY line, endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger starting in 2023 with a similar international campaign strategy.

According to the group's management, this move upmarket reflects a clear ambition: to offer high-quality sports equipment at significantly lower prices than the market average, while appealing to a broad audience, regardless of age or skill level. This repositioning strategy for Crivit, launched in mid-2025, aims to establish the brand as a benchmark for accessible physical activity in Europe, rather than simply a line of inexpensive, functional products.

Padel How Lidl is transforming Crivit into a fully-fledged sports brand with Steffi Graf

Why padel, and why now?

The choice of padel is no accident. The sport is experiencing explosive growth in France, with an annual increase of around 30% since 2020 and over a million registered players. Official license figures are following the same trajectory, with a 130% increase in three years, and the number of clubs and courts has exploded over the same period. For a brand seeking a new growth driver, it would be hard to find a more promising playing field: Crivit is establishing itself in a still-young market, before the established positions solidify around the traditional equipment manufacturers.

Beyond the Steffi Graf hype, the technical specifications of the "12K Carbon Pro" reflect a genuine desire to offer a credible product from a sporting perspective. The racket features a 12K carbon construction, designed for long-lasting durability, with a teardrop shape and a neutral balance intended to combine power and maneuverability. It weighs around 370 grams, with a ten-gram tolerance, and its high-density foam core aims to improve ball feel accuracy. The racket also incorporates a structural reinforcement system to optimize power transfer, as well as an anti-vibration system designed to reduce muscle fatigue during a match. In terms of finish, it boasts a matte coating with silver accents and an orange vent in the head, complemented by a non-slip grip, a wrist strap, and a neoprene protective cover.

It is interesting to note that the advertised price varies depending on the market: while the racket is sold at €74,99 in France, some sources mention a price closer to €59,99 in other European markets, which remains consistent with Lidl's usual low-cost logic, where prices can fluctuate slightly from one country to another.

The balls that accompany the racket are also technically advanced: they benefit from the official approval of the International Federation of Padel (FIP), a guarantee of compliance with competition standards, and rely on a high proportion of wool in their composition to ensure good bounce over time.

Padel How Lidl is transforming Crivit into a fully-fledged sports brand with Steffi Graf

A deliberate family and intergenerational dimension

The messaging surrounding the launch goes far beyond price or pure performance. Lidl's marketing manager emphasizes the idea of ​​making an active lifestyle accessible on a daily basis, without sacrificing quality or performance, aiming to appeal to a broad audience regardless of age, fitness level, or prior experience in sports.

Steffi Graf, for her part, emphasizes the social and intergenerational dimension of racket sports. She mentions, in particular, her life with Andre Agassi, with whom she shares a common desire to stay active and take on new challenges, while also highlighting that padel, like pickleball, offers the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends, including one's own children. This argument, focused more on social connection than competition, complements the democratization strategy already emphasized during the initial launch of the "Find Your Move" campaign a few months earlier.

A reproducible system, sport after sport

The deal with Graf primarily confirms a method already employed with Giroud a few weeks earlier. The process is repeated almost identically at each stage: a recognized sports figure genuinely involved in the product design, a sport chosen for its growth potential rather than its established reputation, prices significantly lower than those of specialized brands, and exclusive distribution that redirects traffic to the distributor's website. On this last point, the Crivit racket is positioned at a price up to five times lower than that of models offered by brands like HeadAdidas or Bullpadel, whose prices generally range between 180 and 390 euros.

This is therefore not an isolated marketing ploy, but rather a model that Lidl seems to want to industrialize category by category, relying on ambassadors deemed legitimate rather than on simple notoriety.

The international scope of the operation confirms this growing momentum. In Germany, Crivit becomes an official community partner and official retail partner of a stage in the professional circuit. Premier Padel In Düsseldorf, this reflects a desire to invest in event sponsorship as well, and not just in equipment sales. On social media, Lidl France also indicates that the agreement with Steffi Graf extends to more than thirty countries, an ambition that competitors like Carrefour or Leclerc do not seem to be trying to replicate with their own brands.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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