- Dunlop Sport
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Dunlop Sports 
Type brand Industry Sporting goods Founded 1957 Headquarters Surrey, England Products Racquet sports equipment and accessories, Golf equipment, apparel, bicycles Website www.dunlopsport.com Dunlop Sport is a tennis, squash, golf, badminton, clothing, travel and bicycle equipment brand, that specializes in sporting goods.
After Dunlop Holdings was acquired by BTR plc in 1985,[1] Dunlop Sport was combined with the Slazenger brand which Dunlop had acquired in 1959 to form Dunlop Slazenger. BTR sold the division in 1996,[2] and Dunlop Sport is now owned in most of the world by the British-based company Sports Direct International, who bought Dunlop Slazenger for £40M in 2004 from CINVen.[3]
DNA (Housemarks) Limited, a company jointly owned by Sports Direct and SRI Sports, is the owner of the Dunlop brand in the United States. The brand is wholly owned by SRI Sports in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, and Dunlop Sport (Australia) has always been separately owned, and is currently part of Pacific Brands, formerly a division of Pacific Dunlop.[4]
The key products produced under the Dunlop Sport brand are equipment for the sports of tennis, badminton, squash, golf and racquetball, which includes racquets, golf clubs, grips, overgrips, strings, vibration dampeners, bags, apparel and shoes.
A Dunlop tennis ball
Contents
Tennis
Dunlop Sport was the official supplier of tennis balls for the clay court Grand Slam, the French Open in Paris (until 2011) and the ARAG ATP World Team Championship in Düsseldorf. It is also the official supplier for all three clay court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, which includes the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. As for ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, it is the official supplier for the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell. Additionally, it is the official supplier for ATP World Tour 250 tournaments at the BMW Open in Munich, the Estoril Open and the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur. Dunlop Sport is also the official supplier of the WTA Tour Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.
Notable players that have used Dunlop tennis racquets (and switched sponsorships) in the past include Steffi Graf, Amélie Mauresmo, Tomáš Berdych, Mardy Fish, Tommy Haas and Marat Safin. Present users include:
Male Players:
Nicolás Almagro
James Blake
Nikolay Davydenko
Tiago Fernandes
Ross Hutchins
Philipp Marx- Jonathan Marray
Jürgen Melzer
Female Players:
Dominika Cibulková
Alicia Molik
Tamarine Tanasugarn- Heather Watson
Retired players who have utilized Dunlop racquets in their professional days or still do in senior tournaments include:Male Players:
Female Players:
- Steffi Graf - International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Virginia Wade - International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Evonne Goolagong - International Tennis Hall of Fame
Football
Clubs sponsored by Dunlop Sport include:
Squash
Dunlop is well known as the World's #1 Squash Brand, with better than 90% market share in squash balls worldwide, and is well known as a market leader in squash racquet and accessory innovation. Notable players who utilize Dunlop squash racquets include Nick Matthew, Amr Shabana, Gregory Gaultier, Stewart Boswell, Ong Beng Hee and United States #1 player Julian Illingworth.
Retired former World Ranked #1 players such as Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Jonathan Power and Lee Beachill also used Dunlop throughout their professional careers.
See also
References
- ^ "Dunlop and BTR Reach an Accord". NY Times. 9 March 1985. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E5DF1E39F93AA35750C0A963948260. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ "British Investment Firm To Buy BTR Sports Unit". NY Times. 20 December 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3D91439F933A15751C1A963958260. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ Osborne, Alistair (5 February 2004). "Game, set and match for Dunlop Slazenger". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2876059/Game%2C-set-and-match-for-Dunlop-Slazenger.html. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ "Pacific Dunlop ditches Australian icons". Asia Times. 29 April 1999. http://www.atimes.com/oceania/AD29Ah01.html. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
External links
- Dunlop Sport - company website
References
- ^ "Dunlop and BTR Reach an Accord". NY Times. 9 March 1985. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E5DF1E39F93AA35750C0A963948260. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ "British Investment Firm To Buy BTR Sports Unit". NY Times. 20 December 1995. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3D91439F933A15751C1A963958260. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ Osborne, Alistair (5 February 2004). "Game, set and match for Dunlop Slazenger". London: The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2876059/Game%2C-set-and-match-for-Dunlop-Slazenger.html. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
- ^ "Pacific Dunlop ditches Australian icons". Asia Times. 29 April 1999. http://www.atimes.com/oceania/AD29Ah01.html. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
Categories:- Sporting goods manufacturers of the United Kingdom
- Badminton equipment manufacturers
- Sportswear brands
- Golf equipment manufacturers
- Tennis equipment manufacturers
- Sporting goods brands
- 1957 establishments in the United Kingdom
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