HEAD and Tennis Europe announce partnership extension

HEAD Racquet Sports has announced the extension of their partnership with Tennis Europe, the largest regional association of the sport's governing body, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), to 2011. The agreement between HEAD and Tennis Europe was made following the ATP World Tour Finals in London, where executives convened to discuss the successful partnership that began in 2007.

Under the terms of the agreement, HEAD will continue in its role as Tennis Europe’s ‘Official Racquet, Tennis Ball and Tennis Bag’ partner and will also continue as presenting sponsor of the Tennis Europe Winter Cups, the sport’s largest junior indoor team tennis competition, and the Tennis Europe Nations Challenge, Europe’s pioneering team event for Under 12s.

In addition, HEAD balls will continue to be promoted as the ‘Recommended Ball of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour’, which consists of over 300 international events in 46 countries. Finally, HEAD will retain its presence as an ‘Official Partner’ of the Tour’s flagship competitions, the European Junior Championships and Tennis Europe Junior Masters.

Tennis Europe and HEAD first teamed up in 2007 when the first events with HEAD as title sponsor were held, and the two organisations have forged exceptionally strong links in subsequent years.

Tennis Europe Chief Executive Officer Olli Mäenpää commented, "We are pleased to be able to announce this extension to our relationship with HEAD, which is now into a fifth year. Recent years have seen a tremendous expansion of our activities, particularly in terms of junior tennis, and HEAD’s unwavering commitment has been a key contributor to these successes. I’d like to thank everybody at HEAD for their dedication and professionalism and we look forward to continuing to work together with them to achieve our mutual goals.“

Ottmar Barbian, Director of Sales & Marketing HEAD Racquet Sports, emphasized the importance of the partnership for the brand and its tennis business, “The development of youth tennis and the attention on the future stars of this sport is certainly among our main tasks as a brand. Since the partnership began in 2007, Tennis Europe has aided HEAD’s mission to introduce new technologies and products to the European market, and in light of Tennis Europe’s favorable impact on our business we are very happy to prolong this partnership.”

Tennis Europe is comprised of 49 European member nations and maintains excellent relationships with the sports’ governing bodies; the International Tennis Federation, ATP and WTA Tours.

http://www.tenniseurope.org