adidas Tennis footwear developers have worked with Wimbledon for the past two years to create a new outsole for renowned CC Feather shoe that will provide the best possible grip on one of tennis’s most testing surfaces, while also reducing the wear and tear of the grass.
The adidas CC Feather IV Grass shoe was developed specifically with the London 2012 Olympic Games in mind when tennis will be played on Wimbledon’s grass courts just a few weeks after the Grand Slam has finished.
Traditional grass court footwear digs in to the turf to provide grip which in turn causes extreme court damage. The new outsole on the CC Feather IV Grass features an innovative dimple pattern with fewer, softer and longer spikes. As these spikes are dragged along the surface of the grass they provide unrivalled grip whilst also giving a flat push off area which ensures quick directional change for all players.
Former British number one and Wimbledon semi-finalist, Tim Henman and the British Davis Cup squad worked with adidas, the All England Club and the West Yorkshire based Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI), to test and develop the shoe, which was worn by Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi at Wimbledon’s recent roof opening.
Henman commented: “I tested the new adidas grass court outsole extensively practicing on both Wimbledon and Queens courts and found it provided amazing grip and support on both dry and damp surfaces. Wimbledon is a very unique playing surface so I was especially pleased to be involved in the creation of an outsole that would reduce the wear and tear of the grass while also providing players with a truly high performance grass shoe."
Women’s world number one Dinara Safina and Junior Wimbledon Champion Laura Robson along with Novak Djokovic, Fernando Verdasco, Marat Safin and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are just some of the players who will wear the new outsole during the forthcoming Grand Slam.
Wimbledon Head Groundsman Eddie Seaward expressed his delight at the introduction of this grass-friendly footwear, "The new dimple pattern created by the adidas Tennis footwear team is the perfect solution to reduce the wear and tear of the Wimbledon courts. The longer but softer spikes do not stick to the surface of the grass and pull it up. Instead these spikes flatten the grass giving players a flat push off area for quick directional change. We have monitored the development of this new outsole for a number of years now and I am looking forward to seeing it in action at The Championships next week."
Graham Williamson, Head of adidas Tennis said, “adidas has a wealth of tennis history and as official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games was delighted to be approached by the All England Club to create a new outsole that would help protect tennis’s only living surface. 2012 will be a very tough summer for the Wimbledon grass with a Grand Slam followed in quick succession by a full Olympic competition and we at adidas are pleased that we could make a shoe that enables the greatest court protection possible.”
Ian Ritchie, Chief Executive of the All England Club, goes on to explain: "The quality of the grass is key to Wimbledon and we have always looked for new ways to keep the courts in the finest possible condition. Most damage to the court surface is caused by the players‘ shoes and with one eye on the Olympics 2012, which will follow relatively soon after The Championships in that year, we wanted to see if we could develop a more grass-friendly sole. With the help of adidas we have created a new grass court outsole, which we have made available without charge to all other tennis manufacturers for grass court use, that is proven to reduce grass wear and tear while also providing the world's top players with superb grip and comfort."
Commissioned by AELTC, the STRI testing was conducted on two separate occasions. The first took place at the STRI headquarters in Yorkshire where five adidas outsoles underwent Toe Drag, Toe Push-Off and Rotational Damage tests. After these tests one outsole stood out as causing the least damage to the grass while also maintaining its grip properties.
A second series of tests, which involved running, stopping and turning, were conducted by the STRI on No.1 Court at Wimbledon with two players that varied in weight and shoe size. A one-off shoe-dragging test was also conducted on the Wimbledon No.1 Court which found that damage cause by the two shoes varied with the old shoe appearing to cause more severe damage.
Dr. Andy Newell, Head of Turfgrass Biology and Environment from the STRI says, “The new design flattened and bruised the grass however the old outsole caused the grass to tear. The considered view of those involved in the testing was that the potential for recovery appeared greater where damage was caused with the new CC Feather IV Grass shoe “.
The STRI went on to report that players indicated “on worn and dry baselines, the grip from the new shoes was markedly superior to that provided by the old shoes. They felt that the risk of slipping in this area was much greater with the old shoe.” The STRI report concluded, “It is possible, therefore, that the benefits of the new shoe design to the players would increase as courts become more worn during The Championships.”
The new CC Feather IV Grass retails in the United Kingdom at £80.
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