The Glide tennis shoe, allowing players to…slide on hard courts
Wilson Sporting Goods Co., announced today it has introduced the Glide, the world’s first high performance tennis shoe designed to support, control and enhance how players slide on hard court surfaces±. Sliding is an increasingly popular technique competitive tennis players utilize to gain speed and agility advantages in match play where points can be won or lost in milliseconds. Wilson Labs, the innovation hub at Wilson, developed the Glide to help tennis players expertly slide into a shot, so they can recover up to 30 percent faster to the next ball.
“The Glide is a completely new type of performance tennis shoe and is a direct reflection of how the speed of the game has changed, said Hans-Martin Reh, General Manager of Racquet Sports. “In studying how players use sliding, particularly younger players, it was clear current performance tennis shoes are not designed to protect the athlete and accentuate the sliding movement. We knew that if we could develop a way to do both, we had the opportunity to revolutionize tennis footwear and provide our athletes with a new level of speed and efficiency not previously available.”
The shoe, which took Wilson Labs footwear engineers, materials experts and designers four years to develop, has been designed to allow players to precisely control forward and lateral slides on hard court surfaces. In play-testing, the Glide enhanced players’ natural speed, agility and quickness to command shots on the run, even stretched out wide shots.
The Glide is packed with the most innovative shoe technologies and construction elements available to players today:
- Glide plates, made from polyethalyne technology, have been strategically sized and placed to allow for optimal slide when a player needs it the most.
- The best performing, high traction and durable rubber Duralast® provides the ideal amount of traction to help athletes explode to the ball once their slide is complete. These technologies also increases the overall life of the shoe.
- Rubber reinforced toe and inner drag pads offer a second wall of protection during lateral and forward sliding for increased durability.
- A very low-to-the-ground heel drop (6mm) along with Dynamic Fit™ (DF1™) provide players with improved feel and control.
- Endofit™ tongue provides an intuitive, comfortable fit and added stability.
The Glide is now available at specialty retailers like Tennis-Warehouse and select tennis academies worldwide. The shoe retails for $199.00 (USD). For a list of participating retailers and tennis academies, please visit www.wilson.com/Glide.
Wilson encourages players to talk with their coaches about sliding and the proper techniques to slide safely and effectively on hard court surfaces. Players and coaches are also invited to visit www.wilson.com/Glide for instructional information on how to start using the Glide.
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