vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
She was developed by Denmark tennis
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Swiatek...countdown to racquet change
- Thread starter Shaolin
- Start date
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
yes, Blade is 100 % better racket anywayShe used to use (or just demoed) Blade while training @ Rafa's Academy. She might come back to this stick again if Wilson offers her some decent contract
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Is there a Blade with an open string pattern?
Ash Tennis
Professional
Yonex for sure.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
of course there is, blade is the most versatile racket in the world today
BillKid
Hall of Fame
Sponsoring GS winners and top players is probably very costly. And how much money can a brand like Prince expect in return? I don’t know the answer. Keep in mind that one thing that may make them appealing is that their racquets are a bit less expensive than bigger brands. If they have to pay $$$ to top players, to what extent can they increase the price of racquets? It’s all about what economic model you think is the best, probably.
sredna42
Hall of Fame
Why did they produce her with such bad hips? They new to source better parts for their products.
Subway Tennis
Legend
Prince is way better than those other two companies. Volkl and Pacific both just make mickey mouse revisionist racquets for guys chasing a feeling from 20 years ago. Prince does retro very well, too, but that is balanced with some of the best new technology currently available
The quality of the Prince products is absolutely unquestioned. i think what most of us question here is the ability for the company to establish the mainstream distribution and visibility that matches the quality of the product.
Subway Tennis
Legend
They didnt do anything wrong. I can completely understand why Prince would promote the fact that a great player with complete freedom to choose is using their racquet purely because they like it the best without an endoresement contract.
Dont get me wrong, the best case scenario would be a situation where an agreement could be in place and Prince could sign Swiatek to an official endorsement deal.
asifallasleep
Hall of Fame
Prince should dump their Isner contract and give that money to Swiatek. He's at the end of his career and she could very well be the future of women's tennis. Heck, take out a business loan and just pay her. Heavily market your frames in Poland because you can bet your last dollar that she will have the same effect Li Na had in China. The current Prince frames are excellent btw.
El_Yotamo
Hall of Fame
It may look on the surface as if they didn't do anything wrong but at the end of the day what they did is borderline illegal, which more often than not is wrong. Probably wouldn't be the first time a brand was sued by an unsponsored professional player whose racquet they advertised either if Iga rightfully decides to take it on. End of the day in the marketing world it's put up or shut up. You refuse to sign a professional player on, you have no legal authority to advertise their gear without their permission. And Prince literally addressed that it was #RG and Iga Swiatek's frame too, writing it in the comments. Therefore they can't hide behind the old "oh we wrote this and implied this, but it wasn't directly this so you have no proof that's what we meant" corporate excuse. Now if she gave them her permission that's something else, but somehow I doubt she did...
Subway Tennis
Legend
Yes, Im not sure what the relationship is between Swiatek and Prince. You would assume there is a lot of good will from Prince's side in terms of supplying free frames etc etc all the while knowing they are sitting ducks if they dont have anything contractual in place.
I guess @Bartelby is the best person on here to ask, but surely there is a legal and ethical way to highlight the fact that your products are so good that a young pro is using them by choice, without an endorsement, particularly if a player's likeness is not being used. You're right, though, there is that specific link to Swiatek.
Obviously if Iga ends up endorsing another manufacturer, they are going to want that taken down. That would be the only reason for any intervention imo.
Swiatek and Prince is a match made in heaven. The best result would be Prince working out an official arrangement where Swiatek is paid to endorse the racquets she loves.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
Prince is, according to some, the house brand of TW itself which, although a big company, is not really in the sports sponsorship market.
The advertisement clearly refers to Swiatek's win, but it is factually correct in its assertion that she played with the racquet.
Given that it does not mention her name or use her image they are on pretty safe legal grounds.
The fact that the comments make the link more specific can also be excused as a reference to a matter of fact.
The advertisement clearly refers to Swiatek's win, but it is factually correct in its assertion that she played with the racquet.
Given that it does not mention her name or use her image they are on pretty safe legal grounds.
The fact that the comments make the link more specific can also be excused as a reference to a matter of fact.
True. But I think the situation might be slightly different (for the better) if they sign Iga with the Isner money.... they have nothing to lose and pretty much everything to gain.
Yeah I agree. I thought they were “milking it” when I saw their attempt on the social media... tsk, tsk, tsk...
dominikk1985
Legend
They can't afford one top player? Prince is not as big as Wilson or head but they could afford to pay big for a few names.
Imo prince should try the Puma strategy who don't have a ton a sponsored athletes but heavily feature a small number of superstars (like puma did with bolt).
Focus your resources of a few targets and you can afford a star.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Problem is prince doesn't even have money for ONE big star player. When companies compete for a player, it is almost like a bidding process. One company offers certain amount of money per year to play with their rackets, then other company come along and offer different amount,,,usually higher amount, then it goes on and on til one company just can't match or give more money.
Let's say prince says, we will give you $600,000 per year to play with prince rackets. then Babolat will come along and say we will give you $800,000 per year. then Wilson comes along and saids we will give you $900,000 per year, and it goes up. Do you think Prince can compete with Wilson or Head when this start to happen ??
sredna42
Hall of Fame
Most stupid thing I've heard all day
Keizer
Hall of Fame
She probably can’t do anything to them legally, but embarrassing that they haven’t locked her down yet when she clearly loves their sticks enough to use them without sponsorship. And then to go ahead and promote the stick with the obvious reference to her? Embarrassing for them indeed and it’ll be worse when she leaves for a competitor and they’re stuck with Isner, who will never account for a similar post by them.
dominikk1985
Legend
Couldn't it also mean that they are currently already working out a deal behind the scenes?
Keizer
Hall of Fame
You’d hope, but she mentioned in a presser after the QF/SF that she was going to look for a new sponsorship. I don’t think Prince has the available capital to do anything and were just trying to milk her win to the limited extent they could.
Wall Ball Wizard
Rookie
Don't get me wrong, I like Iga. She's talented. But is she another random women's major winner? If I was a manufacturer I would wait to see if she is a consistent winner before "showing her the money". Ostapenko anyone?
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Blade IS Auto?
Sorry but in which way Iga is similar to Ostapenko? I would say she is rather Osaka or Andreescu winner.
2nd Serve Ace
Hall of Fame
TopspintheTerrible
Hall of Fame
I’d rather take a lower amount guaranteed for a longer period of time. The higher offers will come with stricter requirements.
TopspintheTerrible
Hall of Fame
Disagree. The C10 Pro is a great racquet in stock form. Their other offerings aren’t too interesting to me atm but I’m curious regarding the updates to the V Sense 10 series.
Pacific racquets haven’t changed much in the past several years but the X Force Pro is a solid stick. And their QC is excellent. Not all that relevant in the US market though.
I’ll admit Prince offers a much better variety. Especially with regards to string patterns.
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sredna42
Hall of Fame
She lets her tossing arm drop before she starts swinging almost
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Remember Money Ain't A Thing,Has anyone show her the money yet?
Bender
G.O.A.T.
Those specs remind me of the 1st Gen Pro Staff 97SIt will be hard to replace her racquet as it is low in weight, high SW and 18x16 string pattern. I can’t see anything to switch to excluding custom drill pattern or painting Prince racquets as others. Maybe Wilson will have copy as P22
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
LOL,, that's just my point, Prince can't offer her higher amount or Longer time contract cause they don't have the money. Company like Wilson or Head or Babolat can offer LONG time contract like 10 year contract with Big money every year.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Prize money alone will make her comfy for a while. but it may take more time for racket company to give her the money cause she isn't in the mega market. Poland isn't exactly huge endorsement market. If she was english or american, she would get like 2 million dollars per year for next 10 years very quicklyHas anyone show her the money yet?
Fedinkum
Legend
Normally I am careful picking a young gun, but she really has something special. If a company can nap her while she is still “cheap”, that is a good investment risk. She is really likeable as well, not the hot type, but very likeable.
TennisHound
Legend
Obviously a joke. Surely they wouldn’t release a 98 with a 23 26 23mm frame. Instead they gave us the ill-fated VSs with 21 23 21mm frame. Only the Dunlop CV 3.0F Tour has this.I heard that she was switching to a Babolat Pure Drive with the following specs:
98” head size
27.5” length
67 Stiffness
10.3 static weight
321 SW
Also heard Babolat will release it early next year.
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Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
give her time,, she might get real arrogant like Federer
Fedinkum
Legend
I am counting on her not to do an Osaka.
Clay lover
Legend
She shouldn't change anything that ain't broke. Hope Prince offers her a good deal
Fedinkum
Legend
If I am her, I definitely would not sign a long term deal with Prince. They definitely can’t afford her if Prince is still committed to Isner.
Let's see if they can work something out. No one can deny Prince is short on cash but if what you're using is going to get the wins then it is also a risk to make a switch. If she did, I am sure she would have done a thorough demo. They should at least try to do a temp. short term deal. If Iga can run the Prince flag and make a dent in the WTA tour and that leads to better sales for Prince, then they may extend or renegotiate the said temp. contract - in this case it is a bit of a mutual back scratching. But that would honestly be Iga doing Prince a favour as many brands would want her to try their sticks and see if she can switch over.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Swaitek isn't that good. look here, Osaka beat her up bad
Harry_Wild
G.O.A.T.
I been told that Prince is owned by one of the smaller private equity firms. These firms could easily sponsor her for $100K-$200K a year! It is pretty cash to these type of firms. Their aim is to make Prince very profitable again and either sell it or go public with it!
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
LOL,,, 200K a year....... that's it ????? Swaitek and her agent is looking for minimum of 1 million dollars per year for next 8-10 years. they want more if company is willing to pay.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
There had got to be a bidding war going on…who will reign supreme and sign Iga?
Fedinkum
Legend
Hey, c’mon, 76 64 is a respectable lost to slam champ. Her confidence and belief in herself will be sky high in her coming months now.
