by Sophie Reed

Shopping in busy London the other day, I passed by Lilywhites in Piccadilly Circus. Lilywhites, the famous sporting department store, was proudly displaying in their windows the Slazenger brand of tennis balls whose sleek, ‘black panther’ logo still adorns their balls and cans. With my trusty Canon camera in purse, I decided to take some cool photos.

Every summer each year, for tennis fans across the world, The Wimbledon Tennis Championships weaves its magic spell. Down the decades, the Club’s organizers have worked hard to uphold a unique Wimbledon image. One of the reasons for their success is because of the Club’s traditional supplier agreements, one of which is with Slazenger and the use of their tennis balls. This is a happy partnership!

I knew that Slazenger had been the official supplier of tennis balls to Wimbledon for many years, actually since 1902, one of the longest unbroken sporting sponsorships of its kind in sport’s history. But it did surprise me when I read that in 2015, Slazenger supplied over a staggering 52,000 balls to the legendary Wimbledon Championships. Wow, that’s a lot of bouncing balls! Imagine them all inside Centre Court at once?

I wondered how many Slazenger balls Roger Federer has hit during his seven stunning Wimbledon victories? Or Novak Djokovic during his two whirlwind Wimbledon wins? Did Steffi Graf save any of her winning Slazenger balls after her staggering seven Wimbledon titles? I bet she has a few at home. Serena Williams may equal Steffi Graf’s Wimbledon achievements next year having already won Wimbledon six times hitting superbly crafted Slazenger balls.

And then there are the ‘aces’. How many Slazenger balls have been served as an ‘ace’ I speculated? Does anyone have Ivo Karlovic’s Twitter address on hand, so we can check with him the number of aces he may have served with immense velocity and precision using a Slazenger?

After buying a Slazenger can of balls at Lilywhites, I headed home with bags of shopping in hand. Later, I read on-line that Ralph and Albert Slazenger, originally from Manchester, England, founded what was then a small family business in 1881 selling rubber sporting goods in a shop on London’s Cannon Street. Slazenger quickly became a leading manufacturer of sporting equipment for both golf and tennis. But why a black panther as their logo?  Because a panther has associations of graceful movement and controlled energy. Sounds familiar, Mr Federer and Ms Sharapova?

Top grade tennis balls are guaranteed by Slazenger and glowing endorsements from top players confirm their high quality. The company testifies that each ball is tested for bounce, weight and compression. Slazenger has always been and is still committed to top notch materials and cutting edge product design.

Next year’s Wimbledon will see Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, hopefully maybe even Dimitrov and Bencic, and all the other top players trying again to get to the men’s and women’s finals. Each will hope to win The Championships hitting Slazenger balls.

I don’t own a crystal ball, only many tennis balls, so I cannot tell you who the four Wimbledon finalists will be in 2017! But I am sure there will be many classic exciting matches, due in part to Slazenger. 40-LOVE, Sophie.