News

Bordentown, New Jersey — Prince Sports, Inc. — a leader in sports product innovation — announces the launch of EXO3, its newest high performance tennis racquet line. EXO3 features the patented, revolutionary engineering feat called the Energy Bridge™ which suspends the string bed, expands the sweet spot and delivers a myriad of playing benefits. The line-up includes four models and will be available in tennis shops nationwide and online beginning this week.

Commenting on the technology, John Embree, President of Prince Sports Americas, said, “One of the beauties of EXO3 is that its core technology delivers benefits that will be appreciated by all levels of frequent players. We have carefully applied this technology to each specific model in the line in order to address all segments of the market. While the game improvement models will continue to delight the millions of players who have looked to Prince innovation over the years to help them play better and have more fun on court, two true player spec models will offer state-of-the-art performance to advanced level competitors and provide us with the ammunition to re-launch our assault on this growing segment of the market.”

“For the EXO3 project we met with hundreds of players around the world and listened to them describe what they would like in a tennis racquet,” said Roberto Gazzara, Vice President of Technology at Prince Sports, Inc. “What we heard, consistently, was a wish for everything. More power and more control and more comfort and more feel, all in one racquet. So we started by re-writing the laws of physics.” Gazzara continued “When a racquet and ball collide, energy gets diffused – causing players to lose some of the important attributes that make a great shot: power, precision, comfort and feel. EXO3 changes all that by capturing more energy — at impact — before it is wasted, and channeling it back into the ball on every shot. The result activates a blend of power, spin and comfort with exceptional feel.”

The heart of EXO3 is an engineering breakthrough called the Energy Bridge™. This Bridge suspends almost the entire string bed from the frame. In fact, 77% of the strings never come into contact with the frame allowing the strings to move more freely, unlike traditionally constructed racquets which restrict them.

“To develop the EXO3 line, we conducted long and extensive research/development trials and elaborate playtest initiatives,” said Tyler Herring, Global Business Director for Performance Racquets at Prince. Commenting on the playtest results Herring said, “What struck us was how consistent the feedback was. Players repeatedly said how much they were ‘feeling’ their shots with EXO3, and how this helped increase their confidence and raise their game. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

“Our ongoing goal at Prince is to build products that help players play better and EXO3 is a bit of sports equipment magic that will help raise their game” added George Napier, Chairman and CEO of Prince Sports, Inc. “I’m not prone to using superlatives but EXO3 takes everything you need in a tennis racquet, to play better, to the next level. The sweet spot is huge (up to 83% bigger than a traditional sweet spot). The feel at impact is soft, but there is plenty of power, making it easy on your arm and hard on your opponent. And the racquet generates extra spin – allowing you to hit through the shot confidently.”

Quick Technical Facts About EXO3

Energy Bridge™ — An exo skeletal structure made from a blend of multiple strands of carbon fiber that creates tennis’ first suspended string bed. The suspended string bed increases the virtual headsize of the racquet and reduces frame vibration.

Energy Channel™ — A sculpted groove within the frame that enhances the dynamic benefits of the Energy Bridge™ to provide added stability, boost ball control and increase spin.

EXO3 delivers up to 26% more energy back into the ball

The Racquets

There will be four models and six frames in Prince’s new EXO3 line:

The EXO3 Silver and EXO3 Red have been engineered with both the patented Energy BridgeTM and Energy ChannelTM technologies for players looking for ultimate comfort with plenty of power. The racquets feature a supersized sweet spot and up to 50% less frame vibration.

The EXO3 Graphite and EXO3 Rebel will define “state of the art” racquets for more advanced-level competitors such as Gael Monfils, the twenty-two year old star who switched to the EXO3 Rebel and joined Prince immediately after testing the new technology. These player spec frames, featuring the patented Energy ChannelTM, are designed using high performance weights, cross-sections, beam widths, headsizes and string patterns to provide increased spin and precision for players with faster swing speeds.

The EXO3 line is scheduled for U.S. availability starting on January 15, 2009 to coincide with the first Grand Slam event of the year — the Australian Open — where fans will see players such as Monfils take to the court using the new technology. In conjunction with the introduction, Prince will launch fully integrated on and offline advertising, marketing and sales campaigns designed to inform players and retailers about the technology, give them the opportunity to playtest the racquets and provide easy-to-access product and purchase information. A dedicated EXO3 website has launched to coincide with the introduction.