Wilson
The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is an American Sports Equipment manufacturer based in Chicago. They make equipment for many sports, among them badminton, racquetball, squash and tennis.
The company traces its roots to the "Schwarzschild & Sulzberger" meatpacking company (later changed to "Sulzberger & Son's") based in New York .
Sulzberger & Son's founded the "Ashland Manufacturing Company" in 1913 to use bi products from its meat processing facility. It started out in 1914, making tennis racket strings, violin strings, and surgical sutures, but soon expanded into baseball shoes and tennis rackets
After the end of World War II Wilson focused on tennis and signed Jack Kramer, who developed its line of Jack Kramer signed tennis rackets. Wilson is a major manufacturer of tennis rackets.
In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open, and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls
The original Pro Staff Kevlar model racket, known for its use by Pete Sampras was heavy (more than 350g strung) and small-headed (85 sq. in.); Roger Federer also used the same racket model. As of 2015, he uses the Pro Staff RF97 Autograph model that is heavy (340 g/12 oz unstrung) and larger (97 sq. in.). Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg also used the Pro Staff Original, Edberg later switching to the Pro Staff Classic in 1991, which was the same racket (85 sq. in. with slightly rounded frame edges)
Aside from tennis rackets, the Wilson sporting goods company also makes, shoes, balls, strings, clothes, rackets, and bags.