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Djokovic goes airborne with Ultimate SPEED

Kennelbach/Miami — Together with HEAD racquet rebel Novak Djokovic, HEAD Tennis has produced a spectacular short film featuring the new YouTek™ IG Speed racquet played by the Serbian Australian Open and Davis Cup champion. Novak and his new chosen weapon go airborne to play tennis on the wings of a legendary Antonov II biplane to bring to life the concept of “Ultimate SPEED” in dramatic scenes.

It all began when a HEAD Tennis Facebook fan posted an old photograph on www.facebook.com/headtennis and asked: “Has anybody ever tried this?” In the black-and-white picture two dare-devil men can be seen playing tennis on the wings of a biplane. HEAD took up the dialogue with its facebook community and promised to try the experiment with one of its tennis pros. Novak Djokovic agreed to do it: “I asked myself: ‘Is this really possible? Playing tennis on the wings of an airplane?’ And I decided to accept the challenge”, Novak said about his extraordinary stunt.

While the ATP tennis scene is competing in the first ATP Masters 1000 tournaments of the season in Indian Wells and Miami, HEAD is launching the viral documenting Novak’s dare-devil stunt in cinematic style on the HEAD YouTube brand channel (www.youtube.com/headtennis). In addition, a 30-second TV spot shows the breathtaking images of the daring stunt flight.

HEAD is continuing its approach of emotional and customer-oriented brand communication with a focus on digital channels. HEAD is again utilizing popular interactive channels (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) to further charge the brand’s claim “THE POWER OF YOU”. “In our brand communication we want to link our product benefits and our athletes in an emotional way in order to appeal to our consumers using digital and social media”, says Johan Eliasch, CEO of HEAD N.V. “The SPEED WingTennis idea is the perfect example of this approach.”

There is truly no shortage of powerful players and talents supporting HEAD in this endeavour: In addition to Novak Djokovic, Robin Söderling and Andy Murray are two other players in the ATP Top Ten under contract with HEAD. And only recently, sports and fashion icon Maria Sharapova joined the team of stars equipped with tennis racquets, bags and accessories by HEAD coming out later this year.

The second generation of the YouTek™ IG Speed racquet series combines the best features of the popular YouTekTM umbrella concept and adds innovation by combining the high-performance material d3o™ with HEAD’s new Innegra™ fibre technology.

The further development of the racquet has already paid off for HEAD racquet rebel Novak Djokovic. His undefeated record and titles at the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia, at the Dubai ATP 500 tournament and at the Indian Wells ATP 1000 tournament are the best proof to show that development is heading into the right direction. “After all, the racquet is called ‘Speed’ - and it really does bring an amazing speed boost to this aggressive game. We have dedicated a lot of work to the development of this racket to improve it as much as possible”, confirms #2 ATP world ranked Novak Djokovic.

See below for more details on the different versions of the new YouTek™ Speed IG series:

• YouTek IG Speed MP 16/19: The Speed MP 16/19 is the perfect combination of power and feel in a slightly longer version to accommodate a wide range of players.
• YouTek IG Speed MP 18/20: The Speed MP is Novak Djokovic’s racquet of choice. It comes with an 18x20 string pattern and appeals to a wide range of players with its perfect combination of power and feel.
• YouTek IG Speed 300: The Speed MP 300 is the lighter, yet more powerful MP version which makes your shots faster with less effort. With its weight of 300g, this racquet offers ultimate power and control.
• YouTek IG Speed Elite: A Tour Light version providing complete tour performance with greater manoeuvrability. The slightly wider beam gives it even more power.
• YouTek IG Speed Lite: This is the lightest racquet in the Speed series. A great tweener providing the perfect combination of power, manoeuvrability, control and feel. An excellent tour racquet for players with a moderate swing style.

Posted on March 21, 2011
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