Emile Donnay was born in Belgium in 1885. By the time he was 24, he was the general manager of a successful retail chain called Courtheoux. In 1910, Emile founded the Donnay Company. As a side business in 1913, Emile began a broomstick manufacturing company due the high demand from the coal mining industry. A successful venture, 14 years later, Emile built the company’s newest premises in Couvin, Belgium. In 1934, the Donnay company built its first wooden tennis racket out of Ash. Since then, Donnay has produced millions of tennis rackets worldwide.
By 1969, Donnay was the manufacturer of choice for tennis racquets worldwide. Donnay brand tennis racquets were also the choice of the world’s top players including Rod Laver, Margaret Court, and Cliff Drysdale.
Rod Laver, The most prolific of the tennis professionals to use Donnay racquets, had a career record of 392 wins and 99 losses, winning over 198 titles in his career. Laver was ranked number 1 in the world for seven
consecutive years.
Mr. Laver’s career spanned 18 years and has the distinction of being the only tennis player in history to win the Grand Slam twice.
Margaret Court, an Australian born tennis professional, was the first woman to win the Tennis Grand Slam. Ms. Court’s tennis career spanned 17 years and included 92 career wins. Ms. Court has the distinction of winning 24 Grand Slam singles titles, a feat not repeated since.
Cliff Drysdale was one of the Handsome Eight of tennis. The Handsome Eight were the first eight players to join Lamar Hunt in creating the World Championship of Tennis, the first open professional tour. Mr. Drysdale joined John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Dennis Ralston, and four other players to create the first Tour. Mr. Drysdale’s tennis career began as a player, winning 11 titles including the 1972 US Open doubles title and continued until
today as the colorful voice of tennis as an announcer for the major television networks.
In 1975, after winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, Bjorn Borg signed his first contract with Donnay to play the Donnay Allwood racquet. Mr. Borg is a Swedish born player who flared his famous topsin style of tennis and became the inspiration for a generation of tennis players. Mr. Borg was the only player of his era to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles. He also won 4 consecutive French Open titles. In all, Mr. Borg won 100 singles titles during his 12 years as a professional with a Donnay racquet. He is considered the most prolific tennis player in history.
In 1992, Andre Agassi won his first of 68 career titles, winning Wimbledon using a Donnay Pro One racquet. Mr. Agassi went on be the only male player to win the career Golden Slam. Mr. Agassi won all four Grand Slam
tournaments as well as the Olympic Gold Medal. His career spanned 20 years, during which, he became third on the all time list for earnings.
A NEW ERA Donnay is a heritage tennis brand for the ages. Donnay racquets have been used to win every major tennis tournament in the world and continues its heritage today with the launch of the newest X-SeriesTM tennis racquets using XēneCoreTM technology.