Personalized Performance
The following Grand Slam Champions and top ranked tennis professionals have all, at some point in their careers, turned to Bosworth Tennis for custom fitting and racquet customization. Bosworth has custom fitted clients to over 100 Grand Slam titles.
How did a 49-year old woman win a US Open and Wimbledon title? With incredible talent, conditioning and a custom fit Bosworth racquet. Martina Navratilova, the greatest woman’s player of all-time, accomplished this astonishing feat while using her personalized Bosworth Tour 96 racquet – and without an endorsement contract.
Over 30 years ago, in 1976, Martina Navratilova first met Warren Bosworth. From that point on, Martina has worked with Warren and Bosworth Tennis. Warren and Bosworth Tennis have customized every racquet that Martina played, and won with. And win she did, setting astonishing records along the way including the Open Era record for most singles and doubles tournament wins with 167 singles titles and 177 doubles championships.
Billie Jean King has called Martina, the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived. Her accomplishments were confirmed by her enshrinement into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.
Tennis Magazine has selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including 9 consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record 9 times. She also ties Billie Jean King's 20 Wimbledon titles by winning the mixed doubles in 2006. She is one of just three women to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (Called the Grand Slam box set).
She holds the open era record for most singles and doubles tournament wins (167 and 177 titles respectively). She also recorded the longest winning streak in tennis history (74 matches in a row) and three of the top six longest winning streaks in women's tennis history. She shares the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles tournament championships won (six).
Martina changed racquets and racquet manufacturers throughout her career but always had Bosworth Tennis customize her racquets. She switched to the Bosworth frame in 2004 after testing the racquet and declaring it, “the best racquet I’ve ever played with.” Martina won her last two Grand Slam titles using the Bosworth racquet, capturing the US Open Mixed Doubles championship, becoming the oldest Grand Slam Champion at the age of 49.
Martina's official website: www.martinanavratilova.com
Ivan Lendl was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia in 1960, and became an American citizen in 1992. Lendl, one of tennis history’s greatest champions has had a successful and enduring relationship with Bosworth Tennis. Lendl was the world’s top ranked player for an astonishing 270 weeks, including 157 straight weeks from 1985-1988.
Lendl, working with Warren Bosworth as his chief of staff, developed several breakthroughs in racquet customization and player specific technology. Lendl was the first to change racquets in synchronization with ball changes, ensuring a consistent feel, which helped him capture 94 career singles titles.
In 1980 he actually won tournaments in three consecutive weeks, on three different surfaces. He was a fixture in the finals of the ATP Tour ending championships, capturing the Masters title on five separate occasions. He relied on strength and heavy topspin from the baseline to reach 8 consecutive US Open finals (1982-89), winning three, 1985, '86, '87. Lendl also won twice at the Australian Open, 1989 and 1990, and three times at the French Open, 1984, 1986, and 1987. He also relied on Bosworth. In addition to Warren Bosworth’s racquet services, Jay Bosworth served as a coach for Lendl for over five years.
During that time of the late 1980's, Lendl was one of the game's most dominant players. In 1982, he won 15 of 23 singles tournaments entered, compiling a record of 107-9, which included a 44-match streak. In 1985 Lendl captured 11 singles crowns in 17 tournament appearances, and in 1989 Lendl won 10 titles out of 17.
He finished 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989 as the top ranked player in the world. He was one of the strongest and fittest, often times overpowering opponents with dominating yet consistent groundstrokes. He displayed a relentless all court game and has been referred to as one of the game’s greatest overachievers.
The US Open was home to one of the most remarkable achievements in Open tennis history. Lendl was a finalist from 1982-1989, an unbelievable eight consecutive years.
Ivan won dozens of awards including the ATP tours Most Improved Player in 1981 and the Player of the Year in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
He was also the driving force for the Czechoslovakian Davis Cup team, compiling a 7-0 record in singles and 3-0 in doubles, leading Czechoslovakia to its lone Davis Cup triumph in 1980.
Lendl’s career was celebrated with an induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2009, Ivan Lendl has started playing tennis again – showing that his dominating form and astonishing power remains.
In racquet testing with Bosworth Tennis for his current racquet set-up, Lendl declares his Bosworth Tour 96 as “simply the greatest racquet I’ve ever hit with, period.”
Ivan Lendl's official website: www.ivanlendl.net
In December of 2008, Radek Stepanek made a decision. His decision? A commitment to becoming the best player he could be. His choice? Giving up on a racquet endorsement and switching to a Bosworth Tour 96 racquet. A customized racquet built just for him. The results? In 2009, Radek has captured 2 ATP Tour singles titles, one ATP Tour doubles title, an important Davis Cup victory, and a significant rise in his world ranking.
Persistence, variety and an open mind have made 30-year-old Radek Stepanek one of the finest tennis players in the world. As you might expect from someone raised in the Czech Republic, one of Stepanek’s tennis idols as he grew up was the great Ivan Lendl, a man with an unmatched work ethic – and a willingness to leave nothing on the table in the pursuit of excellence.
Yet in his early years on the tour, “Steps” was uncertain what would make him excel. Turning to advice, he spoke to another Czech great, former world number one Petr Korda. Soaking up Korda’s every word, Stepanek rocketed up the ranks, soaring from 547 at the end of 2001 to 63 at the end of 2002. He’s since stayed in the top 50, and a dangerous threat for any and all opponents.
In December 2008, Stepanek began using a custom-fit, custom-finished Bosworth racquet. Prior to that he’d won two ATP singles titles. Since then, he snapped up titles at Brisbane and San Jose, also reaching the finals in Memphis. Ranked 26 at the end of 2008, early in 2009 he vaulted into the top 20.
Using a new, innovative Bosworth Tennis racquet fits in perfectly with Stepanek’s greatest asset: a willingness to draw on the widest possible array of tactics. As Andy Roddick noted after losing to Stepanek in the semifinals of the SAP Open in San Jose this past February, “He’s so efficient, so smart at using the whole court.”
Whether mixing up paces and spins, coming to net, deploying the drop shot or drastically altering the speed and direction of his serve, anyone taking on Stepanek knows he’s in for a long, challenging struggle.
Radek Stepanek and Bosworth Tennis continue to work on racquet specifications for different court surfaces, tournaments and opponents, epitomizing the Bosworth Tennis philosophy: building better tennis players – one racquet at a time.
“I received a Bosworth customized racquet and in the mail after filling out a questionnaire that took about 10 minutes to fill out... I try different racquets and probably get a new set of two every six to 12 months and have for many years. I try everything good and buy the best. It is a search for the Holy Grail and it is never ending. I have not need to search any further. The Bosworth is by far the best racquet I’ve ever used. It’s best on every “measure” I can think of.”
- M. Chamlin
“After being custom fitted for a Bosworth racquet, my improvement, which came immediately, was based solely on the qualities of the racquet alone.”
- M. Steenbarger
“She said she was “shocked at how good they are and she has never hit with a racquet like that. She also said the every time she hit the ball it raised her level and that she could do things with her backhand that she could never do before.”
- Ivan Lendl, on what his Mother said after using a Bosworth racquet for the first time.
“The new ten-sided Bosworth racquet has an instant response... it has a calming effect and it’s extremely clean and responsive.”
- Mike James
“I was able from the get go, to feel comfortable and it did not require any particular adaption like it has been my experience with every other racquet I have played with... I’m such a better player now, it’s unreal.”
- Felipe Urdaneta
“What can I say about my racquet - it feels so right in my hand, it really feels more like an extension of my hand, rather than an apparatus... do you need more?
- M. Nepsa
