Donnay (sports)

Last updated
Donnay Sports
Type Private (1910–88)
Industry Sports equipment
Founded1910
FounderEmile Donnay
Defunct1988;33 years ago (1988)
FateDeclared bankruptcy in 1988, [1] acquired and becoming a brand [1]
Headquarters
Belgium
Area served
Worldwide
Products Tennis rackets
Owner Frasers Group (1996–present) [2]
Website donnaytennis.com

Donnay Sports is a sports equipment brand currently owned by Frasers Group. [3] The company was founded in 1910 by Emile Donnay and was based in Couvin, Belgium. Donnay manufactured wooden tennis rackets from 1934, and by the 1970s was the largest manufacturer of tennis rackets in the world. However, the company failed to adapt to the new market for graphite rackets, and entered administration in 1988. After a succession of owners, the brand was eventually sold to Sports Direct International, who continue to license the use of the brand worldwide.

Contents

Nowadays Donnay commercialises tennis rackets, strings and bags. Donnay rackets were used professionally in Europe by Björn Borg from 1975 until his retirement in 1983. Other professionals included Andre Agassi, Rod Laver and Greg Rusedski.

History

The company was founded in 1910 by Emile Donnay (1885–1972) as a wooden tool handle manufacturing co-operative with six employees. [1] Emile Donnay had little education and a modest background. [4] The company began to diversify into other wooden products, including a bow for archers, which continues to be reflected in the Donnay bow-shaped logo. [5] In 1924 Donnay built premises in Couvin. [6]

The company manufactured its first tennis rackets in 1934. [7] In the early 1950s the company won a valuable contract to produce tennis rackets for Wilson. [8]

By 1969 Donnay was the world's largest manufacturer of tennis rackets. By the early 1970s, Donnay was producing 2 million rackets a year, 1.3 million of which were shipped to Wilson for distribution. [8] Production suffered in 1973, when Wilson relocated its tennis racket production to Taiwan. [8]

Bjorn Borg using a Donnay racket in the final of the 1979 ABN Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam Bjorn Borg in aktie, Bestanddeelnr 930-2092.jpg
Björn Borg using a Donnay racket in the final of the 1979 ABN Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam

In 1981 Donnay produced 1.8 million rackets, almost all made from ash. [9] The company failed to adapt to the changing market for the new lightweight graphite rackets. [8] The company produced only 3,000 graphite rackets in 1980, instead concentrating on wood and aluminium rackets. [8] The company continued to manufacture wooden rackets until 1984, by which time they were obsolete. [10]

Buoyed by the success of signing up Björn Borg as a Donnay user, the company employed 600 people and manufactured around 1.5 million tennis rackets a year. [1] In 1981 Donnay reported a turnover of 2.1 billion Belgian francs. Donnay's fortunes began to fade when Borg retired in 1983. [8] Its success had been too closely aligned with Borg's success, and the company lost money for four years before entering administration in 1988 after amassing debts of $35 million. [8] [11] The company had apparently lacked the negotiation skills to attract another player of Borg's standing as a figurehead. [1]

The Donnay family still controlled 55 percent of the company when it went bankrupt in 1988. [1] The Walloon and Belgian governments held the remaining shares. [1] The company was acquired by a group of investors, led by Bernard Tapie with a 51 percent stake, the Walloon government with 29 percent and Albert Frere with 20 percent. [11] In 1991 Tapie sold his 58 percent stake in the company to the Walloon government for $16.2 million in order to finance the acquisition of Adidas shares. [12] The government sold the factory to an Italian sports equipment manufacturer, Carbon Valley, and retained the brand rights. [12] In December 1992 the Walloon government took ownership of the company in order to prevent it from entering administration again. [13]

In 1996, Sports Direct International acquired the worldwide rights to the Donnay brand from the Walloon government for $3.9 million. [2] At the time of the acquisition, production was based in Portugal, while 23 people remained employed at a distribution centre in Couvin. [2] SportsDirect sells Donnay products as an in house brand and licences its production of Donnay branded products overseas. [14] SportsDirect also separately licenses the brand to independent manufacturers and sellers of Donnay branded products, including tennis racquet production in the United States. [15]

Sponsorships

Initially, Donnay sponsored Belgian tennis players, and due to the amateur nature of the sport at the time, was only allowed to provide rackets and balls, and a small fee. [5] Its first foreign sponsorship was with the French tennis player Yvon Petra. [5] Rod Laver, Margaret Court and Cliff Drysdale all played with Donnay rackets. [6]

Donnay sponsored Björn Borg from 1975 to 1983, providing his racket. [1] [16] When Borg renewed the contract in 1979, it was worth $600,000 a year, plus royalties from Borg branded Donnay rackets. [17]

Andre Agassi was signed to the Donnay brand between 1989 and 1992 for around $1 million a year. [18] Henri Leconte and Greg Rusedski also used Donnay rackets. [19]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Andre Agassi American-Armenian tennis player

Andre Kirk Agassi is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. In singles, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other Grand Slam tournaments.

Björn Borg Swedish tennis player

Björn Rune Borg is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles, but he never won the US Open despite four finals appearances. He is the first male player to win five Wimbledon titles in the Open Era.

Tennis Ball sport with racket and net

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

Racket (sports equipment) Sports equipment

A racket or racquet is a sports implement consisting of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of strings or catgut is stretched tightly. It is used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, rackets, badminton and padel. Collectively, these games are known as racket sports. Racket design and manufacturing has changed considerably over the centuries.

Jimmy Connors American tennis player

James Scott Connors is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 weeks. By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight major singles titles, three year-end championships, and 17 Grand Prix Super Series titles. In 1974, he became the second man in the Open Era to win three major titles in a calendar year, and was not permitted to participate in the fourth, the French Open. In 1982, he won both Wimbledon and the US Open and is considered to be the unofficial No. 1 player for that year, in addition to 1974 and 1976. He retired in 1996 at the age of 43.

Adidas German multinational corporation

Adidas AG is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike. It is the holding company for the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, 8.33% of the German football club Bayern München, and Runtastic, an Austrian fitness technology company. Adidas' revenue for 2018 was listed at €21.915 billion.

Yonex Co., Ltd. is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running.

The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1989 onward, it has been a subsidiary of the Finnish group Amer Sports, since 2019 itself a subsidiary of the Chinese group ANTA Sports. Wilson makes equipment for many sports, among them baseball, badminton, American football, basketball, fastpitch softball, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis, pickleball and volleyball.

Brian David Teacher is a former American professional male tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking World No. 7 in 1981.

Slazenger

Slazenger is an English sports equipment brand, currently owned by the Frasers Group since 2004. The original private company Slazenger had been established as a sporting goods shop in 1881. In 1959, the Slazenger family sold the company to Dunlop, which became Dunlop-Slazenger before it was sold to BTR plc. in 1985.

Howard Head was an aeronautical engineer who is credited with the invention of the first commercially successful aluminum laminate skis and the oversized tennis racket. Head founded the ski making firm Head in 1950. Later he became chairman of Prince Manufacturing Inc. The U.S. patents for the laminate skis and oversized tennis racket are in the name of Howard Head.

Prince Sports

Prince Global Sports, LLC, is a US sporting goods manufacturing company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1970, Range of products manufactured includes rackets, footwear, apparel, tennis balls, pickleball paddles, stringing machines, hats, bags, among other accessories.

Wilson ProStaff Original 6.0

The Wilson Pro Staff Original, first introduced in 1984 is most known for being the model of racket used by Pete Sampras. For this reason, it is known as a “Sampo”.

Head Sport GmbH is an Austrian manufacturing company headquartered in Kennelbach. It owns the American tennis racket brand Head. Head GmbH is a group that includes several previously independent companies, including the original "Head Ski Company" ; Tyrolia, an Austrian ski-equipment manufacturer; and Mares, an Italian manufacturer of diving equipment.

Dunlop Sport is a British sports equipment manufacturing company established in 1910 that focuses on racquet sports, more specifically tennis, squash, padel and badminton. Products by Dunlop Sport include rackets, strings, balls, shuttlecocks, and bags. Sportswear and clothing line includes t-shirts, shorts, skirts, jackets, pants, socks, caps, sneakers, and wristbands.

Since the sport's inception, the design and manufacture of tennis equipment has been affected by technological advances and regulations. As is common in major sports, regulations became more exacting over time, with improvements affecting the qualities of the tennis racket and the tennis ball.

Four wall paddleball

Four wall paddleball, or paddleball, is a popular court sport in the Upper Midwest of the United States, on the West Coast of the U.S. and in the Memphis, Tennessee area. It is played with a paddle and small rubber ball on a standard handball or racquetball court, with similar rules to those sports.

Gosen Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company that produces synthetic strings for the fishing, manufacturing and racquet sport industries.

Bosworth Tennis Bosworth International

Bosworth Tennis, also known as Bosworth International, is a family business which specializes in stringing tennis rackets but also designs and alters other aspects of tennis rackets to match the personal preferences of the players. They have worked with many of the top tennis players, notably Ivan Lendl. The company was created by Warren Bosworth in 1975. By 1992 his business moved from Glastonbury, Connecticut to Boca Raton. It is now led by his son Jay Bosworth, who joined the company in 1982. It is one of a handful of highly specialized companies catering to the top professional players, compabarable to Roman Prokes and Nate Ferguson, but they also provide similar services to amateur players.

ProKennex is a Taiwanese manufacturer of racquet sports equipment for tennis, squash, badminton and racquetball. The company enjoyed wide global distribution in the 1980s, when manufacturing in Taiwan was booming due to domestic economic conditions. Parent company Kunnan Enterprise Ltd. has faced financial difficulties since the mid 1990s, leading to a contraction of the ProKennex name globally. Today, the company focuses on a niche set of consumers interested in technology advancements in racquet sports. The company focuses on this aspect of its products by promoting itself as a "science and design company", rather than a standard racket manufacturer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Casert, Raf (August 11, 1988). "Racket Company Faces Bankruptcy After 'Borg Effect' Fizzles". The Associated Press.
  2. 1 2 3 "Donnay, Famous for its Wooden Rackets, Sold To British Company". Associated Press International. 3 December 1996.
  3. ↑ Donnay on Sports Direct Int, 16 Aug 2020
  4. ↑ L’info sur lavenir.net – L’actu 24h/24, 7 jours sur 7 - Page de redirection
  5. 1 2 3 Exclusif: quelques bonnes feuilles du livre “Donnay, la Légende” | amortie et lob
  6. 1 2 "Under konstruktion" (PDF).
  7. ↑ Donnay, la légende: en vente uniquement sur pro-tennis.be | Pro-tennis.be
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Michael White (2009). A Short Course in International Marketing Blunders: Mistakes Made by Companies that Should Have Known Better. World Trade Press. p. 151. ISBN   978-1-60780-008-8.
  9. ↑ Donnay, la légende d’une marque - lavenir.net
  10. ↑ Si Donnay m’était conté…. Montrez votre intérêt et un livre paraîtra | amortie et lob
  11. 1 2 Montgomery, Paul (22 September 1988). "A Former Singer Becomes Largest Owner of Donnay". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  12. 1 2 Reuters (28 June 1991). "Tapie Is Selling Stake in Donnay". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  13. ↑ European Report December 12, 1992 STATE AID: GREEN LIGHT FOR SERIES OF GRANTS FROM SPORTS TO SHIPBUILDING
  14. ↑ Sports World International sales climb 45pc and knock JJB off top spot - Telegraph
  15. ↑ Xenecoretennis
  16. ↑ tennis.com - Donnay Offers Money-Back Guarantee During French
  17. ↑ Borg et Agassi à l’origine du mythe - DH.be
  18. ↑ McCabe, Nora (18 March 1989). "Hetherington loses a doubles partner". Globe and Mail (Canada).
  19. ↑ L’info sur lavenir.net – L’actu 24h/24, 7 jours sur 7 - Page de redirection
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.