I noticed it for the first time today! I saw players carrying their rackets in its respective covers to the Podium! I guess a new stratergy by YONEX. All the players carried it and left it beneath the podium when they went on it! Probably they shoudl have slinged it on so that YONEX maximised its benefit! It Looked childish but then YONEX made sure that we get the correct covers for our rackets the next time! I noticed one more thing! There was no Symbol of forza anywhere in the "FORUM" That is a sad sight and a bad plight for FORZA. They are supposed to be dannish and they were not even represented by a hoarding or anything like that! RSL represented itself but not forza! What a pity! If these guys are not going to spend money in advertising they are going to be like ashaway or Proace! It is the costliest Tournament in the world and No forza! I hope plp like MAG have something to add abt this Post!
About the racquet covers: it was actually like that in last year's Danish Open too. But then the Yonex players even had their racquets (in their covers) with them ON the podium. It caused some trouble when they were to receive the prizes and flowers... the needed more hands to hold everything! (Oh, and they wore YY caps too! Ridiculous). Regarding Forza presence: I think there are two explanations for this. The first being that Forza, as far as I know, don't sponsor international senior tournaments. They focus almost entirely on juniors, and a lot of player sponsoring. So far, this strategy has worked well for them, but I think we will see them sponsoring major tournaments soon. The second reason is that Yonex is already a major sponsor of the Danish Open. I mean, the prize is even a Yonex plate. I am sure that Yonex has a contract with the Danish Open that states that they will be the only racquet brand ("official sponsor of the Danish Open bla bla bla...") present. Yonex simply won't let Forza in. RSL is not a competitor, they just make shuttlecocks. (And they may have been sponsoring the Danish Open even before Yonex got involved...)
Yeah true, i saw last year's danish open final, i saw Peter Gade holding his racket on the podium. I don't know why.......
Re: RSL rackets Yeah, I know, but who sees them as a racquet brand rather than a shuttle brand, really?