Clothing giant Lacoste fits Open bill

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AUSTRALIAN Open officials have landed a multi-million deal withclothing giant Lacoste ahead of January's Melbourne Park grandslam.
The French apparel company, founded by tennis great Rene Lacoste,will provide uniforms for linespeople, officials and ballkids in adeal similar to Wimbledon's arrangement with Ralph Lauren.
Lacoste joins Rolex and Nike in Tennis Australia's swellingendorsement portfolio.
It is understood Kia Motors has re-signed as the tournament's majorsponsor.

The car company has contracted world No. 2 Rafael Nadal as itsglobal brand ambassador.
Tennis Australia chief executive Steve Wood said the Open, afterbarely surviving in the 1980s, was now a truly internationalshowpiece.
"We've shown really significant growth in our business overthe last three years," Wood said.
"We see ourselves as a global super-brand and we're targetingother global super-brands like Lacoste, Nike, Rolex.
"Those are the people we want to bring on board and hook upwith.
"We've had some significant upside and healthy increases inour sponsorship portfolio.
"Lacoste is going to be part of the upcoming Australian Open.They'll provide us with over 1000 uniforms and be the apparel ofthe Australian Open. It will be for our officials, linespeople andthe Aviva ballkids."
It is believed TA's turnover has risen from $84 million in 2004-05to about $120 million.
Wood is confident the Open will continue to grow, but warnedMelbourne Park was in need of urgent rejuvenation.
"We're in a business case study right now with the VictorianGovernment to look at what's needed to be developed for the futureand how we keep the facility to world-class standards," hesaid.
"We must keep up with what is needed to run a grand slam. Wejust ran the greatest ever Australian Open - 605,000 people - andwe think there is more growth.
"We know there is more growth, not only in people who areattending the event, but our broadcast worldwide, the internetconnection, the radio. There's a lot of growth. There's a lot ofinterest in the Australian Open.
"We need to have the right facilities and we're ready for arefresh.
"The Open could be moved into other places, yes, if we didn'tget the right capabilities in the facilities we need.
"But that's unlikely.
"The Victorian Government really understands major events andthey know that the right thing to do is to continue to invest inthe facilities and help us run the grand slam." Share this article What is this?