Tennis Europe today announces the start of a 3-year partnership with Prince, one of the world’s leading tennis brands.
From 2004, Prince will be the official racquet, tennis ball, strings, bag and accessory partner of Tennis Europe, and will become the direct presenting sponsor of the European Winter Cups (European Indoor Junior Team Championships).
Prince, whose management team recently acquired the brand from Benetton, are in the process of re-positioning the brand to focus on both younger and more serious players and views the partnership as the ideal approach to achieve this.
Mike Ballardie, Vice President & General Manager, Prince Sports Europe said, ‘Tennis Europe is the perfect partner for the new Prince company. As the organising body of European tennis it shares with Prince our focus on key grassroot areas of the sport. As we concentrate on bringing our innovative designs and new technologies to the market, it is important for us to be involved with such an organisation and with important events on the European tennis calendar. We are excited by the opportunities that the future holds for a revitalized Prince brand in Europe. Following the recent launch of products specifically targeting avid tournament players, such as the More Control DB, Prince is now positioned to increase its market share in Europe by providing tennis players with the best equipment.’
John James, President of Tennis Europe, said; ‘We are very proud to be entering into this association with one of the world’s most prolific and respected tennis brands. The potential benefits for all parties concerned are considerable, and this is a major boost to the prestige of one of our flagship pan-European junior competitions. We can assure our European tennis family that this partnership with Prince is of great significance to our efforts to further the development of tennis in Europe and that we can better market the game together with Prince.’
The cooperation starts officially 1st January 2004 and the first highlight will be the qualifying and final rounds of the European Winter Cups in February-March.
For further information contact:
Prince Sports Europe Ltd
Telephone: +44 870 990 1770,
Fax: +44 208 979 21 87,
E-mail: info@princesports.co.uk
Tennis Europe,
Telephone: +41 61 331 7675,
Fax: +41 61 331 72 53,
E-mail: info@tenniseurope.org
Jonathan Jobson, Communications Coordinator
Telephone: +41 61 331 76 75, Mobile: +41 79 310 88 45, E-mail: jonathanj@tenniseurope.org