News

South Carolina high school student Tony Ly will have the tennis experience of a lifetime when the 17-year-old gets to participate in a doubles match with Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf after winning HEAD’s Star Series competition. The match will take place in Las Vegas this November, with Tony bringing along his older brother Brian, age 18, to play on his team.

Ly won the competition which highlights HEAD’s newest racquets, the YouTek™ Star Series. Working together with HEAD, Agassi and Graf helped in the development of the YouTek™ Star racquets that are designed especially for players with a compact swing styles. The new generation of tennis racquets, with the incorporation of revolutionary technologies such as QuadFace, Control Ring and MultiZone Grip, will give any player’s game a real boost.

Ly, who moved to the US from France with his family in 1997, admits his game will need some polish before the big day. He currently plays with a HEAD MicroGEL Radical MP after his uncle inspired him to take up the sport a year and a half ago.

Ly admits that he almost didn’t get the exciting news of his success: “I was checking my email for a homework assignment when I saw the one about winning a contest. I was about to delete it, but decided to read it just to see what it was about. My eyes opened very wide. I bolted upright, read the email again, and yelled, ‘Mama! I get to go to Vegas!’ I was in disbelief, but I couldn’t help smiling.”

Ly said he will work hard to improve his game in time for his date with the stars: “I haven’t played all summer, so I am very rusty. I don’t know what to expect, but I guarantee that I’ll be extremely nervous!”

Ly also wants to talk with Agassi and Graf about their charitable work in Las Vegas. “I hope to learn more about the work that Andre and Stefanie do for children and education so that I can become a leader in my community. I want to know what I can do to get people interested in making a difference in the community.”

The Star Series racquets, whose three models include the YouTek™ Six Star, YouTek™ Five Star and YouTek&trade Three Star, were launched in May and have earned the prestigious 2010 Red Dot award for Product Design. Agassi and Graf have taken an active part in the promotion of the HEAD Star Series, with the couple appearing in four short viral films explaining the different technologies and their advantages to players of all levels.