| Wilson Sporting Goods | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Type | Subsidiary of Amer Sports |
| Founded | |
| Headquarters |  Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Industry | Sportswear and Sports equipment |
| Products | Footwear Accessories Sportswear |
| Website | http://www.wilson.com/ |
The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is a sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., and currently is a foreign subsidiary of the Finnish company Amer Sports 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.
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soccer
Sponsorship
Wilson is very active at sponsoring events, clubs and athletes.
Tennis
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It has been suggested that K Factor (tennis racquet) be merged into this article or section. () |
Wilson tennis racquets are used among many professional tennis players. Pete Sampras used them to win 14 grand slam tennis tournaments; some of the best players currently using Wilson racquets are Roger Federer, Novak Đoković, Jonas Bjorkman, Mardy Fish, Nicolas Kiefer, Gaston Gaudio, Guillermo Canas, Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanović, Lindsay Davenport and Flavio Saretta. Former 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's 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 large-headed (90 sq. in.). Also, many professional players use custom-made racquets that perform differently than do the mass-produced versions. Moreover, some, like Lleyton Hewitt, paint old racquets to appear like new models. In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open,[1] and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls[2]. The Australian Open reported using more than 450,000 Wilson Tennis Balls during the tournament. Aside from tennis racquets, the Wilson sporting goods company also makes tennis shoes, strings, clothes, and racquet bags.
Footballs
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. Wilson has been the exclusive provider of footballs for the National Football League since 1941. The official NFL footballs are sold exclusively to the NFL franchises and are labeled with the model number F1010. 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. The F1000 model is commonly used for the collection of football player autographs.
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
- ^ Wilson US Open ball. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
- ^ Australian Open Sponsors. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
See also
External links
Other
