Dunlop Sport - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Dunlop Sport is a tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, clothing, travel and bicycle equipment brand, that specializes in sporting goods

Sports equipment

Sports equipment is a general term for any object used for sport or exercise. Examples of sports equipment include:-Exercise equipment:Examples for exercise include swiss balls, weights, equipment for the gym...

.

After Dunlop Holdings was acquired by BTR plc in 1985, Dunlop Sport was combined with the Slazenger

Slazenger

Slazenger is a British sports equipment brand name sold throughout the world, involving a variety of sporting categories namely cricket, tennis and hockey...

brand which Dunlop had acquired in 1959 to form Dunlop Slazenger

Dunlop Slazenger

Dunlop Slazenger was a sports equipment manufacturing company formed by BTR plc by consolidating the various sports brands acquired as part their take-over of Dunlop Holdings in 1985...

. BTR sold the division in 1996, 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

Cinven

Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...

.

DNA (Housemarks) Limited, a company jointly owned by Sports Direct

Sports Direct

Sports Direct International plc is a British retailing group. Founded in 1982 by former county squash coach Mike Ashley, the company is now the UK's largest sporting retailer through a number of retail subsidiaries and sports equipment brands. Although now a publicly traded company on the London...

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

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

and South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, and Dunlop Sport (Australia)

Dunlop Sport (Australia)

Dunlop Sport is a division of Pacific Brands of Australia. The company is not connected to Sports Direct, which owns rights to the Dunlop brand outside Australia and New Zealand.Dunlop Australia first manufactured sandshoes in 1924...

has always been separately owned, and is currently part of Pacific Brands

Pacific Brands

Pacific Brands is a major Australian company marketing Berlei, Bonds, Clarks , Dunlop, Everlast, Grosby, Holeproof, Hush Puppies, King Gee, Malvern Star, Sheridan, Slazenger, Sleepmaker and Tontine . It once held the Asian Pacific licence for British Knights footwear. It was formed as a division of...

, formerly a division of Pacific Dunlop.

The key products produced under the Dunlop Sport brand are equipment for the sports of tennis

Tennis

, badminton

Badminton

, squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

and racquetball

Racquetball

For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...

, which includes racquets, golf clubs, grips, overgrips, strings, vibration dampeners, bags, apparel and shoes.

Tennis

Dunlop Sport was the official supplier of tennis balls for the clay court Grand Slam

Grand Slam (tennis)

The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

, 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

BMW Open

The BMW Open is a tennis tournament held in Munich, Germany. Held since 1900, the tournament is played on outdoor clay courts and is a part of the ATP Tour schedule.-History:...

in Munich, the Estoril Open

Estoril Open

The Estoril Open is an ATP and WTA clay court tournament held in Jamor, Oeiras, Portugal . The men's tournament was created in 1990 and since its inception, every champion except 2004 champion Juan Ignacio Chela and 2009–2010 champion Albert Montañés has been in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings,...

and the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur. Dunlop Sport is also the official supplier of the WTA Tour Family Circle Cup

Family Circle Cup

The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...

in Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

.

Notable players that have used Dunlop tennis racquets (and switched sponsorships) in the past include Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...

, Amélie Mauresmo

Amélie Mauresmo

Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....

, Tomáš Berdych

Tomáš Berdych

Tomáš Berdych is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His most notable achievements are reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and the semifinals of the 2010 French Open. He defeated the Croatian player Ivan Ljubičić in five sets to win the Paris Masters in 2005...

, Mardy Fish

Mardy Fish

Mardy Simpson Fish is an American professional tennis player, and Olympic silver medalist. He is a hardcourt specialist...

, Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas is a German and recently naturalized American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high ranking of world no...

and Marat Safin

Marat Safin

Marat Mikhailovich Safin is a retired Russian tennis player of Tatar descent. Safin won two grand slams and reached the world number 1 ranking during his career. He was also famous for his emotional outbursts and sometimes fiery temper on court. Safin also holds the record for most broken...

. Present users include:

Male Players:

Nicolás Almagro

Nicolás Almagro

Nicolas Almagro Sanchez Rolle is a professional Spanish tennis player, ranked 10 on the ATP World Tour.-2005:...

James Blake

James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...

Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...

Tiago Fernandes

Tiago Fernandes is a Brazilian tennis player. He achieved the number 1 ranking on the ITF Junior Circuit Fernandes is coached by Larri Passos, the former coach of Brazilian former world #1 and three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten.Fernandes won the Boys' Singles division of the 2010...

Ross Hutchins

Ross Dan Hutchins is a British professional tennis player, known best as a doubles player. Hutchins was born in Wimbledon, a location synonymous with tennis. Having turned professional in 2002, he enjoyed success on the Challenger circuit and broke through to the ATP Tour in late 2007...

Philipp Marx

Philipp Marx is a German professional tennis player. Marx competes on the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP World Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 300, on April 3, 2006, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, No...

Jonathan Marray

Jonny Marray is a British tennis player who represents Yorkshire. As of June 2009 he is the 9th highest ranked player in Britain....

Jürgen Melzer

Jürgen Melzer is an Austrian tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking of no. 8 on 18 April 2011, and a doubles ranking of no. 6 on 13 September 2010. He is the only current player on the ATP Tour to be ranked in the top 10 in both singles and doubles. He is a left-handed tennis player, but...

Jamie Murray

Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...

Sanchai Ratiwatana

Sanchai Ratiwatana is a professional tennis player from Thailand. He turned professional in 2004....

Sonchat Ratiwatana

Sonchat Ratiwatana is a professional tennis player from Thailand. In 2007, Sonchat and his twin brother Sanchai Ratiwatana won their first ATP doubles title in Bangkok in their home country...

Tim Smyczek

Tim Smyczek is an American professional tennis player. Tim Smyczek Qualified into his first ATP main draw tournament in SAP Open – San Jose by winning eight qualifying matches before losing to Mardy Fish in the first round...Stayed in Fish's house for a year...Plays the violin...Wants to be a...

Tommy Robredo

Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No...

Michael Russell

Michael Russell (tennis)

Michael Craig Russell is an American tennis player.Russell is best known for, on two occasions, holding surprise two-set leads in Grand Slam tournaments against former Grand Slam champions before eventually being defeated both times...

Danai Udomchoke

Danai Udomchoke is a professional tennis player from Thailand. He was born in Bangkok, where he still resides.Udomchoke turned professional in 1997, and is coached by Jan Stoce. He is sponsored by Dunlop Sport for his racquets and apparel. His career-best ranking is World No...

Fernando Verdasco

Fernando Verdasco Carmona is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked no. 22 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight...

Female Players: Dominika Cibulková

Dominika Cibulková

Dominika Cibulková is a Slovak professional tennis player. She is also a former World Junior No. 3, achieving that ranking in May 2005. Her career-high ranking of World No. 12 was achieved on 6 July 2009...

Alicia Molik

Alicia Molik is a Australian professional female tennis player. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Molik also reached a career high doubles ranking of number 6, and won two grand slam doubles titles, at the...

Tamarine Tanasugarn

Tamarine Tanasugarn is a professional Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, United States, and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubles....

Heather Watson

Heather Miriam Watson is a British female tennis player. Born in Guernsey, she trains and resides at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, USA. Watson has won one major title at the 2009 US Open Juniors, two senior ITF titles and won gold at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. She has...

Retired players who have utilized Dunlop racquets in their professional days or still do in senior tournaments include:

Male Players:

Pat Cash

Pat Cash

Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...

Wayne Ferreira

Wayne Richard Ferreira is a former tennis player from South Africa. He attended Parktown Boys' High School....

Marc-Kevin Goellner

Marc-Kevin Peter Goellner is a former professional tennis player from Germany.The son of a German diplomat, Goellner lived in Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Sydney as a youngster before moving to Germany in 1986. In 1990, he suffered two torn ligaments in his left foot, which almost ended his tennis...

Thomas Johansson

Karl Thomas Conny Johansson , commonly known as Thomas Johansson, is a former Swedish professional tennis player. He is a former Australian Open singles champion and Olympic silver medalist in doubles.-Junior career:...

Rod Laver

Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...

Tony Roche

Anthony "Tony" Dalton Roche is a former professional Australian tennis player, native of Tarcutta. He played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga. He won one Grand Slam singles title and twelve Grand Slam doubles titles. He is also very well known for coaching...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Mark Philippoussis

Mark Anthony Philippoussis is an Australian tennis player. He turned professional in 1994. His father is Greek, while his mother is of Italian ancestry....

John McEnroe

John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Mikael Pernfors

Mikael Pernfors is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. He is best remembered for reaching the men's singles final at the French Open in 1986.-Career:Pernfors was born in Malmö....

Patrick Rafter

Patrick "Pat" Michael Rafter is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Greg Rusedski

Gregory "Greg" Rusedski is a British Canadian former tennis player who turned professional in 1991 and played until his retirement on 7 April 2007, at the age of 33...

Sjeng Schalken

Sjeng Schalken is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands.-Playing style:A right-handed baseliner with a single-handed backhand, Schalken's game is characterised by his consistency of both wings and his continental technique on both the forehand and backhand...

Cédric Pioline

Cédric Pioline is a retired French professional tennis player who played on the professional tour from 1989 to 2002. He reached the men's singles final at the 1993 US Open and at Wimbledon in 1997...

Lew Hoad

Lewis Alan Hoad was a champion tennis player....

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Female Players: Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Virginia Wade

Sarah Virginia Wade, OBE is a former English tennis player. She won three Grand Slam singles championships and four Grand Slam doubles championships. She won the women's singles championship at Wimbledon on 1 July 1977, in that tournament's centenary year, the last time any Briton has won a...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Evonne Goolagong

Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE is a former World No. 1 Australian female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles , six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.-Early life:Goolagong is the...

- International Tennis Hall of Fame

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Football

Clubs sponsored by Dunlop Sport include: Gimnasia y Tiro de Salta

Gimnasia y Tiro de Salta

Club de Gimnasia y Tiro is an Argentine Football club, which home town is located in the city of Salta of the Salta Province. The team currently plays in the regionalised 3rd. level of the Argentine football league system, the Torneo Argentino A....

Social Español

Club Social, Deportivo y Cultural Español

Club Deportivo Español is a sports club from the south-west of Buenos Aires in Argentina. Its football team currently plays in the Primera C Metropolitana, one of the fourth tier divisions of Argentine football.The club was founded in 1956 with the name Club Deportivo Español on October, 12...

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

Nick Matthew

Nicholas Matthew is a professional squash player from England who won the British Open in 2006 and 2009 and is the reigning World Champion. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 1 in June 2010...

, Amr Shabana

Amr Shabana

Amr Shabana is a professional squash player from Egypt. He won the World Open in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009, and reached the World No. 1 ranking in 2006.-Career overview:...

, Gregory Gaultier

Gregory Gaultier

Grégory Gaultier is a professional squash player from France. He won the British Open in 2007, and finished runner-up at the World Open in 2006 and 2007....

, Stewart Boswell

Stewart Boswell

Stewart Boswell is a professional squash player from Australia.-Career Overview:...

, Ong Beng Hee

Ong Beng Hee

Ong Beng Hee is a professional squash player from Malaysia.With four successive Asian Championship titles from 2000–2006; gold medals in both the 2002 and 2006 Asian Games, 11 PSA Tour titles from 19 final appearances, and a career-best world ranking of No 7, Ong Beng Hee has become Malaysia’s...

and United States #1 player Julian Illingworth

Julian Illingworth

Julian Illingworth is an American professional squash player.Illingworth first made an impression on the American junior circuit in 1998-1999 when he finished third in the country for boys under 16....

.

Retired former World Ranked #1 players such as Sarah Fitz-Gerald

Sarah Fitz-Gerald

Sarah Elizabeth Fitz-Gerald AM is an Australian women's squash player who is perhaps the greatest of the 1990s, collecting five World Open titles – 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002. She ranks alongside Susan Devoy, Michelle Martin and Heather McKay as the sport's greatest...

, Jonathan Power and Lee Beachill

Lee Beachill

Lee Beachill is a former World No. 1 squash player from England.Beachill reached the World No. 1 ranking in October 2004. He also finished runner-up at the World Open that year....

also used Dunlop throughout their professional careers.

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