News

Bordentown, NJ — After years of testing and denying dozens of other polyester strings, current No. 1 ranked doubles champions, Mike and Bob Bryan, cite “more pop, ultimate feel and hands-down a better string,” as the reasons they have converted to the new Prince Beast XP thermo-polyester string starting at this year’s Australian Open.

Fans watching the first Grand Slam tennis event of 2012 will see the twins not only with a new, bright yellow Prince EXO3 Rebel racquet, but also with the identifiable Prince green Beast string to maximize performance.

“We are constantly approached to try different strings, but it has to be something very special for us to even consider it and something truly extraordinary for us to convert,” said Bob Bryan. “The fact is, this is the first time in years we have changed string, because Beast is that good.”

It is very feasible that Bob makes a switch to a new product, and I do not,” added Mike Bryan. “That is always a possibility. But, immediately after we hit it, there was no question in either of our minds that we had found a new string. Prince’s poly ‘blows the doors off’ the polyester string we had been using previously, and we are ready to ‘unleash the Beast’ in 2012.”

The Bryan Brothers were provided string by Prince’s Global Business Director of Strings, Grips and Accessories, Nathan Price, earlier this winter and the brothers called him immediately to get more string before heading to Australia. They dominated their first event with the new strings, taking home the Australian Open warm up event in Sydney without dropping a set.

Said Price, “We’ve spent a great deal of time and energy developing product in the Prince R&D Innovation Center, but it was a group of elite, passionate, knowledgeable and committed players who put Beast on the map as early adopters. To have two of the sports’ elite players – and most knowledgeable gear experts – acknowledging its performance is special and another exciting step forward for this new string. We are receiving more calls and serious interest from other top pros, as well as elite juniors and coaches, all asking about the Prince Beast.”

The company has responded by launching a new program designed to enable coaches and program directors to more easily outfit their athletes with Beast XP. Full program details may be found at princetennis.com/tennis/files/teamPrinceSponsorShip.aspx.

“As a brand relentlessly committed to innovation, we made some enhancements to the original string for 2012 — making an incredible string, even more special,” said Roberto Gazzara, Vice President of Innovation and R&D at Prince. “The Beast is now even more durable, more powerful, and continues to outperform other competitive product in the lab and on the court.”

Bryans Launch Special Beast Offer to Fans Via Twitter

As a celebration of their converting to Beast, and to help fans take their tennis to the next level, the Bryan Brothers are providing a chance to win a free year’s supply of the new green polyester string via their Twitter accounts (twitter.com/bryanbros and twitter.com/bryanbrothers) between January 24th and February 6th. By simply re-tweeting their post, fans will be entered to win three free reels of the green polyester string, courtesy of Prince.

About Prince Sports, Inc.

Since 1970, Prince Sports, Inc, based in Bordentown, New Jersey, has been more than a racquet company, it has been an ally — equipping past, present and future champions with unique, performance enhancing products and support programs to help take their game to the next level. Prince is the only tennis brand solely committed to turning the next generation of committed, passionate tennis players into the next generation of champions.

Prince has enjoyed a history of cultivating champions and bringing to market the most important, game-changing technical product innovations of the last 40 years — including the invention of the first electronic ball machine, Oversize, Longbody and EXO3 racquet technology, the first “Natural Foot Shape” tennis shoe and the first multi-filament string. Prince patented technologies can also be found in leading performance brands in baseball, hockey, lacrosse, field hockey and archery. Prince Sports’ portfolio of brands includes Prince (tennis, squash and badminton), Ektelon (racquetball) and Viking (platform/paddle tennis). Its products are distributed in over 100 countries. For more information on Prince products, athletes and programs, please visit princesports.com.