Top tennis names listed as creditors in Prince’s Chapter 11 filing

Prince Sports’ bankruptcy filing last week reverberated though the professional tennis world, with more then three dozen entities listed as creditors ranging from the world’s No. 2 women’s player, Maria Sharapova, to governing bodies of the sport.

More than two dozen players have endorsement contracts with Prince.

Peer’s contract with Prince runs through 2013, her father said. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

Sharapova switched to Head in 2010. Photo by: GETTY IMAGES

“Prince is very intertwined in tennis,” said Lagardère Unlimited agent John Tobias, whose clients John Isner and Mike and Bob Bryan have contracts with Prince. “But we have seen the writing on the wall for a few years.”

Dovik Peer, father of Shahar Peer, a Prince endorser, wrote in an email, “Shahar still has till the end of 2013 on her contract. We got a msg, but nothing more as of now. She has been with them since she was a kid; sure things will work out well.”

Prince’s struggles have come as Babolat and Yonex have eaten into the company’s business, especially in the United States. Sharapova, 25, dropped her “lifetime” endorsement deal with Prince in December 2010, switching to Head after having played with the racket since she was 9. She is still listed as a creditor. Her agent, IMG’s Max Eisenbud, did not return a request for comment.

Prince is a big funder of grassroots tennis, too, with creditors listed including Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, the Junior Orange Bowl Committee, and the Kalamazoo College USTA National Championships, where the winners are automatically entered into the U.S. Open.

A number of tennis media outlets also are listed as creditors.

A Prince spokesman declined to comment on how the racket maker planned to restructure contracts, referring to the company’s official statement and bankruptcy filings. There was no information in those filings about whether endorsement deals would be paid out specifically.

Lagardère’s Tobias said Prince not long ago had been late with payments but in the first quarter this year paid up. The company has notified him since the bankruptcy filing that his clients can expect to continue to receive their rackets as part of their deals, but the correspondence did not mention whether endorsement fees would continue to be paid.

Among the top 20 creditors, the biggest in the world of professional tennis appeared to be IMG. A company listed as International Merch. Corp./Tennis Clients is shown as being owed $273,090. Its address is the same as IMG’s Cleveland office. Risk Point Consulting, which insures athlete endorsement deals for companies, is owed $152,500.

How much the hundreds of other creditors outside the top 20 — including those not within the world of professional tennis — are owed is not disclosed.