News

Boulder, Colorado — Babolat, leading manufacturer of tennis equipment, congratulates this year’s Babolat Sales Awards winners — accolades presented annually to retail partners and company representatives. Recognizing its outstanding achievements in sales and customer experience, Florida based pro-shop Total Tennis earned Retailer of the Year. The nod for Babolat Co-representatives of the Year goes to John Rushworth of Northern California and Richard Mennig of South Florida. The “Tennis Runs in Our Blood” award, reserved for an individual or business that stands out among the rest, was awarded to Chris Gaudreau, owner of Racquet Koop in New Haven, Connecticut.

Retailer of the Year: Total Tennis

Total Tennis, located in Sarasota, Florida, is the premier tennis shop of the southeast. Total Tennis has served Sarasota for over 35 years and their passion for tennis pervades every aspect of what they do: from merchandise selection and custom stringing, to teaching and helping players improve their game. Total Tennis is well stocked in all of Babolat’s products, from racquets and strings to shoes and other apparel.

“We love Babolat; customer service is always very responsive and easy to work with,” said Phil Perrella, owner of Total Tennis. “We really appreciate the care Babolat puts into their products, it speaks to the level of trust they have created in the market – things are just done right.”

Dave Dwelle, Regional Sales Manager for Babolat USA said, “Carolyn, Jeff, Phil and the whole staff at Total Tennis are great to work with. Their passionate and knowledgeable staff is a valuable resource to customers. Combine that with their extensive tennis showroom, and Total Tennis was an easy choice for Babolat Retailer of the Year.”

When asked what made Total Tennis stand out from the rest, Babolat USA National Sales Manager Mickey Maule replied, “Total Tennis has continued to grow with Babolat in a tough market, which is difficult to do. When I think about Total Tennis, I think ‘support of the brand’; they have shown full support of the Babolat brand across the board and are very successful; it reflects in everything we do with them.”

Co-Sales Representatives the Year

Factors such as brand growth in all categories, feedback from all departments within Babolat, brand management and teamwork are all considered when selecting the Sales Representatives of the Year. “This year, we had two veteran reps with identical sales numbers,” said Maule, “Both of these accomplished sales representatives are well suited to their territories and are passionate about what they do; they know the tennis industry inside and out.”

Co-Representative of the Year: John Rushworth (Northern California)

John Rushworth has been recognized for taking the Babolat brand to new levels as a veteran representative. “His true passion for tennis shines through in his unparalleled work ethic,” said Maule. “He goes the extra mile for his dealers, whether it’s merchandising, demos, clinics or sales programs, and goes above and beyond to maximize what he can do with them.”

Co-Representative of the Year: Richard Mennig (South Florida)

Richard Mennig’s experience and understanding of the brand’s history made him a clear choice for co-representative of the year. “He is unique to his territory and suits his market extremely well,” remarked Maule.

Tennis Runs in Our Blood Award: Chris Gaudreau

The “Tennis Runs in Our Blood” award is given to the individual or business that stands out in promoting, supporting and elevating the Babolat brand in an unparalleled and passionate way. This year Babolat salutes Chris Gaudreau, owner of Racquet Koop in New Haven, Connecticut. Gaudreau has an unparalleled passion for Babolat, the sport of tennis and the industry in general. “This award is special because it can be an internal and external award; Chris is a dealer, he is on the Babolat VS String team, an industry veteran, and has been involved with TIA; tennis runs in his blood, and luckily so does Babolat.” said Maule. “When you describe what this award is, everyone mentioned his name, this award was made for him.”

ABOUT BABOLAT

Created in 1875, in Lyon, France, Babolat is the longest-running international company specializing in tennis. Today, Babolat is No. 1* in racket sales in the U.S., Japan and Europe. Family-run for five generations, Babolat is an innovative brand in the tennis sector providing a complete array of technical equipment for tennis players: rackets, strings, shoes, balls, bags, apparel and accessories. Babolat equips numerous players with rackets and strings including Rafael Nadal (ESP), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA), Li Na (CHN), Sam Stosur (AUS), Agniezska Radwanska (POL), Nadia Petrova (RUS) and Alizé Cornet (FRA) (these last two also wear Babolat tennis shoes).