Tennis Industry News

“Racket Up, America!” Sweepstakes Ends September 30th - Visit PlayTennis.com/million Today

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (September 16, 2009) — What better way to celebrate the memorable 2009 US Open than participating in the industry-wide promotion, “Racket Up, America!” In just two short weeks, the promotion will come to an end, and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve for $1 million will be over.

Now is your chance to sign up and become part of the action!

If you’re the lucky GRAND PRIZE winner, you’ll receive a trip to New York City to attend the “BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup” in Madison Square Garden on March 1st, which will feature the top women tennis players in the world. In the middle of it all, you’ll step up to the line and hit a serve to a target that could make you a millionaire.

In this unique promotion, anyone who buys a new tennis racket—of any brand, and at any tennis retailer or pro shop—through September 30, 2009, could win the chance to serve for $1 million (USD). Consumers simply register their racket purchase at PlayTennis.com/million. Other prizes include a trip for two to the 2010 US

Open Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles finals and twenty $500 tennis merchandise prize packs. (No purchase necessary to enter or win, see playtennis.com/million for official rules and details.)

The winner will be announced on December 1st at Madison Square Garden during the New York Knicks vs. Phoenix Suns game.

The BNP Paribas Showdown on March 1, which is part of “Tennis Night in America,” will bring together the 2009 Women’s Grand Slam winners or world No. 1 players, vying for $1.2 million in prize money and the Billie Jean King Cup.

With her exciting win at this year’s US Open, Kim Clijsters has qualified for an invitation to the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. Pending her acceptance, Clijsters will join Serena Williams (Australian Open/Wimbledon) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (French Open), who have already qualified. The fourth player will be named in the next several weeks and will come from a distinguished list of former Grand Slam winners or world No. 1 players. (For more on the BNP Paribas Showdown, visit www.stargamesinc.com/bnpparibasshowdown.html.)

The Showdown’s format will be two one-set semifinals followed by a best-of-three-set final. The “Racket Up, America!” sweepstakes winner will hit the potential million-dollar serve between the second semifinal and the final, in front of the MSG crowd and a television audience. The winner also will meet tennis legends Billie Jean King and Ivan Lendl, along with other tennis champions.

“‘Racket Up, America!” is a collaborative effort by the tennis industry designed to generate excitement and interest in the sport while helping to stimulate retail sales. “Tennis is a fun, social, healthy, lifelong sport,” says Jon Muir, president of the Tennis Industry Association, which is  pearheading the promotion. “We’ve been thrilled that over the last eight years, tennis participation has grown 43 percent, far outpacing all other traditional sports, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.”

“We are happy to be able to have the ‘Racket Up, America!’ sweepstakes winner go for a million dollars at the BNP Paribas Showdown,” says Jerry Solomon, president of StarGames, which is partnering with Madison Square Garden to produce the event. “We’re happy to help bring attention to such a worthwhile industrywide promotion.”

You can follow “Racket Up, America!” on Twitter and Facebook. More information, including official rules and details, is at playtennis.com/million.