Tag: Iga Swiatek

For a healthy stretch of 2022, French tennis brand Tecnifibre put a racket in the hand of both the top-ranked male, Daniil Medvedev, and the top-ranked female, Iga Swiatek. Exposure like that has helped Tecnifibre on its path to doubling in size this year.

Known first for its tennis strings, rackets have become a major part of Tecnifibre, now owned by Lacoste. And the rise of rackets happens to coincide with the rise of Medvedev, making the TFight the most popular racket the company sells.

The Medvedev Connection

Medvedev started using the product in 2017, when he was ranked outside the top 300. Practicing in France with a coach connected to the company, he was presented with the opportunity to give the rackets a shot. “I said let’s try it,” Medvedev says. “I was spontaneous in a way. My first two tournaments didn’t go that well and I was doubting, and then I went from 330 to 99 (in the world), so I was like ‘this is an amazing racket.’ I thought it was strange that not that many players were using this racket, but the racket is amazing. Since that moment, a lot more players are playing with it, and I hope I contributed a little to the growth of the company.”

MORE: Daniil Medvedev Turns ‘Defense Into Offense’ With Updated Tecnifibre Signature Racket

Early on, Medvedev entered the brand’s Young Guns program, a competition between players to earn $50,000. It was a competition that Medvedev won. “That $50,000 was quite a good find, it was amazing,” he says. “That was one of the biggest helps I have ever gotten as a junior from anybody.”

The former No. 1 and 2021 U.S. Open champion went on to sign with Lacoste in 2019, giving him a truly exclusive deal with two separate brands under the same umbrella. But it started with Tecnifibre. “We grew up together, in a way,” he says, “me in terms of rankings and Tecnifibre in terms of a company. I only wish growth for both of us.”

The Tecnifibre Growth

Tecnifibre expects to double in sales this year. It will do so largely on the back of doubling the number of rackets sold. Marco Baron, Tecnifibre North American CEO, says as a premium provider of tennis products, Tecnifbre isn’t about chasing a variety of markets, but remains clearly defined on a certain segment.

MORE: Tecnifibre Updates Iga Swiatek Signature Racket

“You will not see us selling balls in WalMart,” he says. “Do we need products at certain price points to bring people in? Absolutely, but we are very clear on our channels and remain on the specialty and club side. We will absolutely remain a premium brand focusing on that segment.”

Already popular in France and western Europe, Baron sees the United States and Japan as the two markets where the brand has untapped potential for growth. In some regions, Tecnifibre has climbed to number-four in terms of racket sales and Baron says it is a realistic goal to get there across the board.

While the Tecnifibre focus on premium means they will likely remain behind the sport’s big three sellers—Babolat, Wilson and Head—because they don’t plan to ever enter the mass market segment, seeing the brand triple in size in the U.S. in the last year alone gives Baron reason to believe they can earn that fourth spot. “Becoming that fourth brand is a logical next step,” he says.

Tennis strings have long been a key component for the brand, but the rise of rackets behind the TFight made popular by Medvedev (Swiatek plays with a signature Tempo frame) means that strings and rackets combine for 80% of the brand’s tennis growth, even if the number of bags sold continues to increase.

The Growth Strategy

Tecnifibre is the biggest player in the squash market. While a much smaller space than tennis, the brand borrowed the same game plan, focusing on three different areas of sports marketing, product innovation and talented staff to build a successful story.

Tecnifibre has placed a focus on grassroots tennis, just like it did in squash, putting sponsorship efforts at the club and academy level “to pick up the best juniors and service accounts for any kind of level.” Whether for the elite players, the juniors or the general club players, Baron says they’ve been focused on them all to build exposure.

Of course, the sports marketing arm really took off behind Medvedev and Swiatek, inviting brand exposure in a real hurry, giving the “brand the awareness it needed, the credibility it needed.”

But even Medvedev provides an example of that grassroots effort, with Tecnifibre working with him as a junior and part of the Young Guns program. “Over the years, there’s been exceptional work being done at the grassroots level and (we are) getting the benefit of that,” Baron says. “Daniil is an example of that. There are a lot of really good juniors on the boy’s side and the girl’s side with our product. It takes time for those folks to get to that level, but that has been a core strategy.”

For it all to work, Baron says they need quality product to back it up. The TFight series is the flagship racket for the brand, but Baron says the new TF-X1 will soon become the best-seller for Tecnifibre. “It is a performance racket,” he says, “but players can play with it more easily.”

To continue growth, Baron says it isn’t a matter of creating a ton of new products but building key segments for players of all needs and genders. “We don’t want a multiplication of SKUs to deal with, but we want to make sure anybody who wants to play tennis has a racket they can feel like they can play with,” he says. “The TFight is the one most adopted because the brand started with it, but the TF-X1 launched last year, and we oversold. We couldn’t supply it.”

Whether upcoming tennis string innovation, a relaunch of the TF-X1 with a more robust distribution model or the continued support of grassroots tennis, Baron says Tecnifibre is carving a unique place in the industry. “From the look and feel, from the story, from the athletes we have, they all play a specific role,” Baron says. “It is a very healthy place to be.”

For Medvedev, he’s ready to see it all continue, saying, “I hope to conquer the world together.”