You are in:
An annual awakening
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.
"Wimbledon is a real focus for the whole of the UK tennis market," says Stuart Preece, Wilson's sales and marketing director. "For the fortnight after Wimbledon you can't get on a tennis court and a lot of people buy tennis rackets. It is great for the UK trade, and Wimbledon is fantastic at attracting more people to the game. Long may it continue."
The leading racket manufacturers jockey for on-court exposure at Wimbledon through their contracted players intensely, and the 2009 Championships, from June 22 to July 5, look delicately poised in the battle of the brands. In the men's draw, ATP world number one Rafael Nadal will be brandishing his Babolat racket, along with leading American Andy Roddick (ranked sixth at the time of writing), while Nadal's arch rival Roger Federer, the recently deposed world number one, leads the Wilson contingent. It is also exciting times for Head, which has both the world number three, Novak Djokovic, and number four, Andy Murray, in its stable, while Prince's presence in the men's games has received an intriguing boost by their signing of Frenchman Gael Monfils (ranked 10th).
"We signed Monfils in time for the Australian Open, but his new EXO3 Rebel had a blank frame then," starts Bob Johnson, sales and marketing director for Prince, with the new EXO3 only reaching shops in April. "We don't normally launch new rackets in mid-season, but following the signing of Monfils we have brought out the new racket early, and EXO3 will be the main focus for Prince as far as Wimbledon is concerned. So far the rackets have been received really well, not just in the UK but right across Europe."
An evolution from the original O3 range that Prince introduced in 2005, The EXO3 rackets feature an Energy Bridge and Energy Channel that suspend the string bed with a view to providing an expanded sweet spot, greater stability, reduced vibration and greater spin. The EXO3 Rebel as used by Monfils retails at the top-end price point of £180.
Meeting Prince's launch of the EXO3 head on, so to speak, is the YouTek Speed range from Head, the Pro model of which Djokovic has been playing with since the beginning of the year. YouTek was launched to specialist retailers in April, with its general release rolling out in the build-up to Wimbledon.
"YouTek comes with new technology called ‘d3O'," explains Dave Shaw, Head UK's general manager. "The rackets are made from a ‘smart material' which means they can change format depending on what shot is being played. If a player is hitting a smash or a serve the shaft stiffens, but if a soft drop shot or a sliced backhand is being played then the racket absorbs the ball. The shaft can switch between a stiff state and a softer, more flexible state. It is similar technology to that which has been used in protective clothing and footballs.
"But YouTek is about a lot more than the technology. The YouTek umbrella is designed to help players get more enjoyment out of their game overall, rather than just talking about technology, which does not attract a lot of people, particularly kids."
While Djokovic is set to play Wimbledon with his YouTek Speed (RRP: £179.99), it is unclear yet whether Murray will make the switch to YouTek by the time of the Championships. The Scot has had so much success with his Microgel Radical in recent months that he might be reluctant to alter even his wristband formation, let alone his racket. Murray has won three early-season ATP World Tour titles, and in the process he put together an early-season won-loss record of 26-2, which was a world best.
In the women's draw, Maria Sharapova will be hoping to put recent injury problems behind her, playing with the Speedport Black from Prince, which is the same racket played by the American Bryan brothers, the men's doubles world number-one pair.
Wilson, which Preece claims is the UK's best-selling racket brand, is hoping to continue its recent success in grand slam tournaments with both Serena and Venus Williams playing the [K] Blade Team, which Preece describes as "a very light racket and very manoeuvrable", and which comes with an RRP of £139.95. Perhaps the most photographed junior player in Wimbledon history, the homegrown Laura Robson, will be playing with the [K] Blade 98 (RRP: £159.95).
In 2007, seven out of the year's eight grand slam tennis titles were won with Wilson rackets, while the brand claimed four out of eight last year, but with Babolat, Head and Prince all so well represented alongside Wilson among the world's finest players in 2009, the grand slam spoils look set to be shared more evenly this year.
