As Andy Murray prepares for the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, adidas has launched a new range of grass court apparel and footwear for the Scot

In an ideal world, I would be enthusing about the potential for the tennis sector thanks to Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, or at least reaching the final. It was one of the nearer near-misses, but it was not to be.  Certainly everyone in the industry is absolutely clear how important a Murray win would be to the market: massive, fantastic, wonderful, the biggest thing for sport in this country since 1966 - bigger than the Rugby World Cup, bigger than the 2005 Ashes. Brands like Head (who sponsor Murray) and Slazenger (who are suppliers to the Championships) can foresee growth of their own ranges from a Murray win (when it comes) but also across the board, especially at entry level.

There are three grades of amateur tennis player in the UK: the hard core league stalwarts who wrap themselves up in multiple layers to doggedly pound balls against a floodlit practice wall in mid-winter; then there are the less obsessed yet still committed players who start limbering up once British Summer Time has commenced in March; and finally there is the rest, the more casual majority who barely think twice about tennis until the last week of June, but once the television cameras turn to the short-cut grass, summer showers and a smiling Sue Barker in London SW19, there comes a veritable explosion of enthusiasm for tennis around the nation. It's like a hypnotic trigger. Tennis courts throughout the UK are filled, supermarkets sell-out of strawberries, and with a bit of luck, sports retailers really start to see tennis rackets selling through.

While tennis rackets at the Wimbledon Championships will come in all colours and technological variations, the balls at Wimbledon will be as consistent as they have been for the past 105 years, which is the length of time Slazenger has been the official supplier of tennis balls to the Championships. The All England Lawn Tennis Club claims it is the longest partnership in sporting goods history.