Wilson Sporting Goods

Infobox Company
company_name = Wilson Sporting Goods
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of Amer Sports
foundation =
company_slogan =
location = Chicago, Illinois, USA
key_people =
industry = Sportswear and Sports equipment
products = Footwear
Accessories
Sportswear
net_income =
revenue =
homepage = [http://www.wilson.com/ wilson.com] The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is a sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, and currently is a foreign subsidiary of the Finnish company Amer Sports [cite news |first=Milt |last=Freudenheim |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title= Amer Group to Acquire Wilson Sporting Goods |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DF1038F932A15751C0A96F948260 |format= |work=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times Company |location= |id= |pages= |page= |date=1989-02-21 |accessdate=2008-05-27 |language= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= ] that also owns Atomic, Suunto, Precor, and Salomon.

"Wilson" makes equipment for many sports, among them badminton, baseball, basketball, softball, football, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis, and volleyball.

Tennis

Wilson tennis racquets are used among many professional tennis players. Pete Sampras used one specific model to win 14 grand slam tennis tournaments; some of the best players currently using Wilson racquets are:

* Roger Federer
* Novak Đoković
* Jonas Bjorkman
* Nicolas Kiefer
* Gaston Gaudio
* Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
* Guillermo Canas
* Dmitri Tursunov
* Mardy Fish
* Jarkko Nieminen
* Max Mirnyi
* Justine Henin
* Serena Williams
* Venus Williams
* Lindsay Davenport
* Flavio Saretta
* Kei Nishikori
* Mahesh Bhupathi
* Tatiana Golovin
* Bethanie MattekFormer Wilson brand racquet-using players include Jack Kramer (has an eponymous model), Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Stefan Edberg, and Steffi Graf.

The original kevlar Pro Staff model (Sampras' racquet) was heavy (350+gm) and small-headed (85 sq. in.); Roger Federer also used the same racquet model. Currently, he uses the KSix-One Tour model that is heavy (354 gm) and slightly larger(90 sq. in.). Also, many use custom-made racquets that perform differently than do the mass-produced versions.

In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open, [cite web|url=http://www.wilson.com/wilson/racquet/products.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673975924&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302756175&bmUID=1182358231397| title=Wilson US Open ball|accessdate=2006-06-23] and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls [cite web|url=http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/sponsors.html|title=Australian Open Sponsors|accessdate=2007-06-23] . The Australian Open reported using more than 450,000 Wilson tennis balls during the tournament.Fact|date=May 2007

Aside from tennis racquets, the Wilson sporting goods company also makes tennis shoes, strings, clothes, and racquet bags.

American Football

The Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio is the only dedicated football factory in the world and the only place where footballs are manufactured in the United States.Fact|date=May 2007 Wilson has been the exclusive provider of footballs for the National Football League since 1941.Fact|date=May 2007 The official NFL footballs are sold exclusively to the NFL franchises and are labeled with the model number F1010.Fact|date=May 2007 The official NFL football sold to the general public, which is labeled with the model number F1000, is essentially the same ball which has passed less stringent quality control checks. Fact|date=May 2007 The F1000 model is commonly used for the collection of football player autographs.Fact|date=May 2007

Golf

Wilson Staff is the golf division of Wilson Sporting Goods. The company designs and manufactures a full range of golf equipment, accessories and clothing using the Wilson Staff, ProStaff and Ultra brands.

Many of the worlds top professional golfers have used Wilson equipment including Arnold Palmer and Ben Crenshaw both of whom used a Wilson 8802 putter, Crenshaw's receiving the moniker "Little Ben" such was his proficiency with it, and Nick Faldo. Current Wilson Staff players include Open and USPGA champion Padraig Harrington.

Volleyballs

Wilson makes the official volleyball of the AVP, the American professional beach volleyball league. However, they mainly focus on making top of the line tennis rackets.

ponsorship

Wilson is very active at sponsoring events, clubs and athletes.

In popular culture

Wilson the Volleyball

One of its products, a volleyball, "co-starred" alongside Tom Hanks in the movie "Cast Away". After the success of the film, Wilson Sporting Goods actually created and marketed volleyballs with Wilson's face on it for a short time.

References

ee also

*Ripper (racquet)

External links

* [http://www.wilson.com/ Wilson Sporting Goods]
* [http://www.amersports.com/ Amer Sports (parent company)]
* [http://www.wilsonstaff.com/ Wilson Golf] Other
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