MORE POWER FOR SHARAPOVA AND BERDYCH THANKS TO NEW HEAD GRAPHENE™ TECHNOLOGY

HEAD launches new HEAD Instinct Tour Racquet Series at the Australian Open

HEAD racquet rebels Maria Sharapova, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic will step on court with their new weapon of choice at the Australian Open: right in time for the first Grand Slam of the year, HEAD launches its brand-new YouTek™ Graphene™ Instinct tour racquet series, introducing a revolutionary technology to modern racquet construction: HEAD Graphene™.

Graphene™ is a unique material consisting of a single two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms with exceptional properties. It’s extremely lightweight, but has a breaking strength 200 times greater than steel. The integration of Graphene™ in the racquet shaft allowed HEAD engineers to reduce weight in the middle part of the tennis racquet and shift it to functionally more relevant areas in the grip and the head instead. This unique construction with Graphene™ technology allows for the first time an optimal redistribution of weight in HEAD racquets: more weight in the grip makes the racquet more manoeuvrable and easier to swing; more weight in the racquet head enables even more powerful shots.

"The racquet has been further developed and suits my game perfectly", says 2012 French Open champion Maria Sharapova. “It’s not a winning guarantee, but it’s pretty close!” Czech tennis star Tomas Berdych confirms: “It’s like swinging your arm and striking with a cannon.”

The new YouTek™ Graphene™ Instinct family includes the MP, S, REV and the PWR models, as well as the Instinct Junior racquet in order to provide tennis players of all levels even more "Effortless Power”. The Instinct REV introduces a completely new model to the HEAD racquet line-up – thanks to Graphene™ technology it provides intermediate players a very lightweight and easy to swing racquet with yet a high level of power.

HEAD is offering all tennis fans a special incentive to try out and test the new Graphene™ racquets: via the global ‘Test&Win’ online promotion players can leave their reviews and feedback on http://www.head.com/g or http://www.facebook.com/headtennis for a chance to win a practice session with HEAD star players Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic.

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HEAD Graphene™ technology – SHIFTING THE BALANCE OF POWER
Key features:
- Graphene™ is the world‘s strongest and lightest material

- In the construction of HEAD racquets, it enables a redistribution of weight from the racquet shaft to the grip and head.

- With this optimized redistribution of weight in the racquet, players generate more kinetic energy when they hit the ball. With less effort, more power is generated.

http://www.head.com/g/de/

HEAD Graphene™ (HEAD_Graphene_Fact_Sheet_EN.pdf, 573.9 kb)