What's gonna happen to Wilson after Federer era ?

T

tenapasi

Rookie
Just wondering, among the brands out there, Wilson is the only one who relying (mostly) on one player. Federer. Delpotro unfortunately is injured.
Head haves Murray, Djokovic, Agassi, and most recently, Blake.
Babolat with Nadal, Roddick, Tsonga, etc.

Head lines, Radical, Speed, and Prestige have their respective endorsers.
Babolat is well known by their Aeropro drive and Pure drive lines. Including RPM Blast string. Thanks to Nadal and Roddick.
But Wilson, it's all about Federer. Their string, overgrip, always have Federer pic on it. Their racquet line, only the 6.1 tour that's very well known by consumers.

To put it simply, Other brands (especially their racquets and strings) have more "balance" image on consumers eyes. And for common people, they tend to pick racquet (strings, shoes, clothes, even perhaps overgrip ?) according to their favorite player. Just ask someone (rec player) whether to choose between Aeropro Drive And Aero Storm. Most likely he/she will choose the Drive one 'cos of Nadal factor.

Of course there are lots of players beside Federer whose endorsing Wilson. But for common people, Federer = Wilson.

Now, just wondering what would happen If Federer past his prime and he doesn't look appealing on consumers view ? I am guessing Wilson will find someone else new. Just like the transition from Sampras to Federer.

What do you guys think ?
 
Nuke

Nuke

Hall of Fame
I think Wilson will find the next likely person to become #1 and pay them to use their racquets. Simple.
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
tenapasi said:
Head haves Murray, Djokovic, Agassi, and most recently, Blake.
Click to expand...
Agassi is retired so if you can say that Head still has Agassi then why can't Wilson still have Federer after he retires, too? In fact, Federer has a lifetime contract with Wilson so even after he retires he'll still be marketing plenty of Wilson racquets and other tennis products. Expect to see his image on Wilson products for a long time after he retires and he'll probably still be endorsing frames as well. Heck, Jack Kramer was still selling millions of wood racquets for Wilson 30 years after he retired. :shock:
 
baseline_monster

baseline_monster

Professional
People forget how good Delpo was looking up until his injury and he is still young. Wilson will always have a mass following. When most people think of tennis they seen Connors, Edberg, Sampras and Federer, that wont fade.
 
T

tenapasi

Rookie
BreakPoint said:
Agassi is retired so if you can say that Head still has Agassi then why can't Wilson still have Federer after he retires, too? In fact, Federer has a lifetime contract with Wilson so even after he retires he'll still be marketing plenty of Wilson racquets and other tennis products. Expect to see his image on Wilson products for a long time after he retires and he'll probably still be endorsing frames as well. Heck, Jack Kramer was still selling millions of wood racquets for Wilson 30 years after he retired. :shock:
Click to expand...

LOL, yeah. I think Agassi is meant for consumers on his time. Especially Agassi fans. The same thing can be apply to Federer after he retires.
But, whose gonna actively endorsing Wilson, after Federer retires ? Do you wanna see 40-yo Federer image on Wilson string ? :shock:

baseline_monster said:
People forget how good Delpo was looking up until his injury and he is still young. Wilson will always have a mass following. When most people think of tennis they seen Connors, Edberg, Sampras and Federer, that wont fade.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what endorsers are for. So people loyal to their brand. Especially particular racquet model.
 
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baseline_monster

baseline_monster

Professional
tenapasi said:
LOL, yeah. I think Agassi is meant for consumers on his time. Especially Agassi fans. The same thing can be apply to Federer after he retires.
But, whose gonna actively endorsing Wilson, after Federer retires ? Do you wanna see 40-yo Federer image on Wilson string ? :shock:



Then my bet is on Delpo, im seeing a good year for him next year
Click to expand...
 
2

2in10s

Rookie
BreakPoint said:
Agassi is retired so if you can say that Head still has Agassi then why can't Wilson still have Federer after he retires, too? In fact, Federer has a lifetime contract with Wilson so even after he retires he'll still be marketing plenty of Wilson racquets and other tennis products. Expect to see his image on Wilson products for a long time after he retires and he'll probably still be endorsing frames as well. Heck, Jack Kramer was still selling millions of wood racquets for Wilson 30 years after he retired. :shock:
Click to expand...

I think the most important thing to note here is not Federer after he retires, but rather Sampras, if being related to Agassi. Both Sampras and Agassi are both currently retired, played around the same time, and if anything, Sampras has more grand slam titles, so thats another Wilson legend to the list.
 
HBK4life

HBK4life

Hall of Fame
baseline_monster said:
People forget how good Delpo was looking up until his injury and he is still young. Wilson will always have a mass following. When most people think of tennis they seen Connors, Edberg, Sampras and Federer, that wont fade.
Click to expand...


If he comes back as strong he is going to sell a lot of rackets. Whatever they may be.
 
baseline_monster

baseline_monster

Professional
sureshs said:
What's gonna happen to midsize frames after Federer era?
Click to expand...

I think its just a fact of there fading out. A small amount of players will use them across many standards but I feel the fact that so many older pros are now changing to Babolats and Head extreme style of frames shows the benefits of them. They give a bigger sweetspot and forgiveness and players need and want that on a broader scale than the mid size style
 
BreakPoint

BreakPoint

Bionic Poster
2in10s said:
I think the most important thing to note here is not Federer after he retires, but rather Sampras, if being related to Agassi. Both Sampras and Agassi are both currently retired, played around the same time, and if anything, Sampras has more grand slam titles, so thats another Wilson legend to the list.
Click to expand...
But the difference is that Sampras does not and never had a lifetime contract with Wilson so he can do whatever he wants now that he's retired and Wilson has no rights to use his image in its marketing anymore unless they do a separate short term contract with him (like for the KPS88 ). Heck, Sampras even told Wilson to p*ss off after they went through the trouble of making a custom KPS88 for him and switched to a Babolat! :shock:

BTW, Agassi and Federer are the only two male tennis pros with lifetime contracts with racquet companies, so expect to see Agassi's image used for a long time in Head's marketing, and Federer's image for Wilson's marketing.
 
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zapvor

zapvor

G.O.A.T.
BreakPoint said:
Agassi is retired so if you can say that Head still has Agassi then why can't Wilson still have Federer after he retires, too? In fact, Federer has a lifetime contract with Wilson so even after he retires he'll still be marketing plenty of Wilson racquets and other tennis products. Expect to see his image on Wilson products for a long time after he retires and he'll probably still be endorsing frames as well. Heck, Jack Kramer was still selling millions of wood racquets for Wilson 30 years after he retired. :shock:
Click to expand...

true. i read somewhere jack kramer made more money after he retired from all the residue income with his rackets
 
Tennis_Crazed

Tennis_Crazed

Semi-Pro
baseline_monster said:
People forget how good Delpo was looking up until his injury and he is still young. Wilson will always have a mass following. When most people think of tennis they seen Connors, Edberg, Sampras and Federer, that wont fade.
Click to expand...

Whats weird though is that Sampras is using Babolat now! really weird to see that...
 
Sentinel

Sentinel

Bionic Poster
BreakPoint said:
Agassi is retired so if you can say that Head still has Agassi then why can't Wilson still have Federer after he retires, too? In fact, Federer has a lifetime contract with Wilson so even after he retires he'll still be marketing plenty of Wilson racquets and other tennis products. Expect to see his image on Wilson products for a long time after he retires and he'll probably still be endorsing frames as well. Heck, Jack Kramer was still selling millions of wood racquets for Wilson 30 years after he retired. :shock:
Click to expand...
thanks BP, i feel so reassured after reading that.
sorry, sureshs, you'll just have to suck it up :D
 
Jeffy005

Jeffy005

Rookie
wilson has been in the market A LONG LONG TIME AGO!!! I dont think they will lose a whole bunch of sales.....

They will do just fine....

Guy 1: What's the brand of your tennis racquet?

Guy 2: Wilson BROTHA!!!
 
W

Wilander Fan

Hall of Fame
I dont know...not intending to start a flame war but my impression is that people generally accredit Nadal as being aided by his racket with its reputation for great spin and power while Federer is thought of as perhaps even playing at a disadvantage because of his racket. I dont know if this is accurate but I look around the courts and I see that APD everywhere. I use the racket and find it a bit difficult to reign in and unstable but it certainly produces ridiculous spin if you can grab a hold of the ball right.
 
Nuke

Nuke

Hall of Fame
tenapasi said:
Any good candidates according to your point of view ?
Click to expand...

Nope. It could be some kid who's 15 years old now, and most of us have never heard of. This is why racquet companies give equipment sponsorships to lots of young prospects.
 
T

tenapasi

Rookie
Chezbeeno said:
That's ridiculous, if you go to a junior tournament the 6.1 95's the Team and the KBlade 98 are as common as any other frame
Click to expand...

I am saying this according to common people (recreational player) tipe. Which tends to use lighter frame. And i observed that racquet sellers here tends to suggest racquet to these people according to their endorsers.

I am sure tournament player have more knowledge (about racquet and string) than rec player.

@Wilander Fan
i agree with you. someone i play with can produce good spin serve with that racquet.
 
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RS92

RS92

Hall of Fame
is goint to dissapear wilson , i dont know , but i know that they have the next number 1 delpo
 
B

BLACKOUT

Rookie
They still have Del Potro, Dimitrov, Wozniacki is a free agent so she is a possibility, Kohlschreiber could hopefully get on a run, ditto for Lisicki. They'll be fine after Roger, and Team Williams and Henin
 
DavidGarcia

DavidGarcia

Hall of Fame
Fed and Fish are the only wilson players in the top 20 right now.

They are seriously falling down against Head and Babolat......only see the sales this past year.
 
Recon

Recon

Semi-Pro
mctennis said:
They will continue to make crummy racquets at high prices just as they are doing now. IMHO.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Wilson seems to be on the decline, numbers don't lie the modern game is moving towards tweener like headsizes, 95-100. This is just FACT. Wilson has only ever made 3 ORIGINAL IDEA -- good racquets and only 2 are noticed, The PS 85, and the K90, the third would be n95 but for people who are regular consumers (those who don't know about Paintjobs and such) the n95 was just another rendition. Now that midsize racquets are dying out, (I use microgel prestige mid..k90's wore out) wilson doesn't really have ANY good midplus racquets.

The only people that are going to keep wilson alive are wilson elitist who believe wilson is the best brand and babolats have a tinny plastic feel blah blah blah. The same people who generally speaking SUCK, those with brand prejudice that hold back their results. After these old guys get gobbled up by topspin coming from an APD with RPM strings wilsons going to need more than crappy half assed racquets with even worst paintjobs to make a comeback. I've seen the top juniors, I practice with some here on the east side and its a babolat revolution & by the looks of it thats not only in the east... The ONLY good racquet from wilson (I was once a wilson believer) is the kblade, and even then, they stole the whole concept from the prestige. Kblades are their only hope, (sweet stick btw, if only they had the tour version in an open string pattern...).
 
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P

Pioneer

Professional
Recon, you are right. I agree with everything in your post. The blades play almost identical to the prestiges and radicals though, so Wilson can attract youngsters who like that kind of racquets but the only way this is going to happen is by offering more $$ than Head is already offering them. BUT the problem is that eventhough the k blade is a great stick (I use one as you can see from my sig) there is no frontman to keep the line going. Djokovic was good at that but his time with the KBT paintjob was limited. And average weekend warriors who don't see anybody sporting the KBT pj in the Top 10 will think that it's a bad racquet.

Although Wilson already attracted a whole lot of players like Kontinen and Dimitrov with the blade and 6.1 tour respectively, so if these guys are successful they'll keep sales up for Wilson.

And the sheer number of racquets that Federer has sold is enough to keep Wilson going for quite a while.
 
P

Pioneer

Professional
Another thing is that Head and Babolat market their "technology" much better with videos in which the pros star for example the Andy Murray Streets of London one and Babolat's numberous cheezy commercials starring Roddick, Nadal and Tsonga switching the "THE BLACK STRING". It's all a load of rubbish but a lot of people looking to buy new racquets get hooked. Wilson's only attempt at marketing their technology was that lousy We Are Next campaign that nobody got to see in the end. And in general Wilson doesn't look willing to stay at the top. Head is making all sorts of advertisements about how their products were developed alongside the pros, for example the Ljubicic-inspired Extreme 2008 and so on.
 
P

Pioneer

Professional
Last but not least, Wilson seems to be sacrificing everything for more easy profits (quality control, sponsored players, etc.) but this is gonna come back and bite them in the ass very soon. Sorry for the triple post.
 
martini1

martini1

Hall of Fame
Wilson will still sell a lot of rackets, but after Fed the PS line 90 sq in will be as popular as the Head mid rackets today. I seldom see one in the courts.
 
rovex

rovex

Legend
Wilson are going down. Yonex too is in bad shape, no players in the top 20 using their sticks.
 
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