Why do we sponsor a tennis tournament?

We are fortunate in that our client base knows and utilises our services primarily because of word of mouth, seeing one of us speak at a conference or webinar or writing in books or magazines that we have had published over the years. We therefore do not need to market in the traditional sense or indeed undertake sponsorship. You might therefore ask yourself why in October 2022 did we sponsor the scoreboard of the Women’s W100 tennis tournament at The Shrewsbury Club?

The winner of the tournament was Marketa Vondrousova who won the ladies title at Wimbledon in July 2023. She also won the W100 in Shrewsbury and we are sponsoring the event again in 2023. We do not expect her back to defend her W100 Shrewsbury title as, now being a Grand Slam winner, she probably has more profitable tournaments to chase!

The reality is that we sponsor this in order to support the Shropshire economy and to help put on top level women’s sport outside of the main grass court season here in England & Wales. The venue happens to be my local tennis club and gym. It is a venue that matters to the town and provides facilities and access to tennis to thousands of grassroot players including kids, those with disabilities, retirees and of course everybody who has an interest in tennis more generally.

Bennett Briegal partners, Paul Bennett and Mark Briegal, are huge fans of sport and recognise that participation in local sport can transform lives. We sponsor Warrington Youth Rowing for the same reason.

Watching Wimbledon knowing that we had helped sponsor a tournament that enabled Marketa Vondrousova to play in the UK as she came back from injury to win a tournament and to boost her confidence a few months before embarking on the Grand Slam follow up is heart-warming, of course, but the real reason that we do it is that it is good for our local economy in Shropshire, where Paul Bennett lives, and it is good for participation in sport about which we are both passionate.

So the reason we sponsor a tennis tournament is about something that indirectly linked to the professional sport involved and indirectly linked to our business; it is about helping with participation and being good citizens locally in our respective local communities. We hope that our clients, suppliers and friends will continue to support us in making Shropshire and Warrington great places to live whilst recognising that we work nationally and internationally. We are hoping the next tournament we sponsor will be on TV – so watch this space.