WTA Tour Enforcing Rule That Players Wear Sony Ericsson Patch

WTA Informs Players They Must Wear Sony Ericsson Patch On Their Chest, Sleeve Or Collar

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is “stepping up its requirement that players wear a clothing patch with the tour’s name” even as the name of the title sponsor “will be dropped from the official circuit moniker later this year,” according to sources cited by Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The tour also has informed players they can “no longer wear the patch on their shoulder straps.” Instead, the patch must be “worn on a player’s chest, sleeve or collar.” A tour spokesperson said that there is “no more than the usual tweaking that occurs normally with any rule and that there is not some sense of stepped up enforcement of the patch rule, despite what several tennis sources have said.” Many players’ clothing contracts “preclude them from wearing the patch, setting up a divide between players who wear it and those who do not.” Players with deals that are “so-called ‘clean’ contracts, meaning they cannot put any logo on their dress or shirt, are exempt from the tour’s patch program.” Most Nike contracts “are clean.” The “latest twist, however, comes as a bit of a surprise to some, because Sony Ericsson is reducing its financial commitment to the tour” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/15 issue).