Luck be a lady

Hey there,

Hope this entry finds everyone well. It’s been a while but I have good excuses! ;P

So I just got back from San Diego as I joined the Wilson crew at the last stop of our tour to show off our new 2013 tennis rackets to partners, dealers/retailers and a few select juniors and club players. It was super insightful to hear the feedback on our products and to see everyone get psyched about our new revolutionary racket technology. We also had the Tennis Channel there to check it out, which was rad! I am not going to get into detail about it just yet, but let’s just say the words of Dead or Alive, these new Wilson tennis rackets “SPIN YOU RIGHT ROUND!!!” 😉

And you will definitely hear more about it in the weeks to come…. but if you are super eager, you might want to keep an eye on Tennis Channel! 😉

But for now, let’s talk about my Wilson peeps…… we have all been grinding it hard, giving that one big final push to the end of year and making sure we are lined up properly to have a great 2013. The tough part? Saying Ciao to a couple of my favorite people, Mario Vergara & his wife Melissa. They have been a big part of enjoying Chicago and I will definitely miss them! Between them and Kenny leaving, I feel a bit abandoned…. The good news, there are some additions to the team to help us continue to grow in the online space and give a different perspective on the tennis life. In the next weeks, you will see entries and postings from our new Digital Specialist, Lauren Adermann. Please welcome her! 🙂 I’m really excited to have another person to work closely with and we will also have another new member to the team, Anna, who will start in the next few weeks.

It’s been an extremely crazy 6-8 month GRIND, but seems like everything is finally coming together…

I have been quite reflective these past few weeks (might have something to do with getting a year older!) but I feel really lucky to have found my rhythm here in Chicago. The people I work with, the friends I have made, have really made it a fun experience. As most of my friends and family know, I am not a ‘winter lover’ and am a serious creature of habit, but right now I’m having a blast and can’t imagine being anywhere else.

I feel lucky to go to work and being excited to work with the team, bustin it, laughing and have intellectual debates on what we should do. If you enjoy and respect the people you work with, it’s a huge bonus. (Not sure if the crew feel the same about me, but anyway… ha) And out of the office, I have my spots. Piccolo Sogno AT LEAST once a week…Tony and Ciro are the best!!!! And Billy’s  Sunda & Underground when I feel like misbehaving… lol

Not sure why, but I have been always fortunate enough to have people look after me and they let me experience some cool s**t with them……and you will get to see  some of it coming up when Grigor Dimitrov hits Chicago with Wilson!! 🙂 ….. More to come on that….

Until later,

Tracy

Wilson General Manager Jon Muir doing an interview with Tennis Channel in San Diego

Rock it out!!

Jacob Martin, Milos Raonic and Mario Vergara

Hey there,

Well it’s Friday, last day of qualies, and it feels like I have already been here an eternity and the main draw hasn’t even started yet!!
Maybe it’s a hangover still left from last years US Open?! LOL

The last couple of days have been super productive, we have been working on things to show just how much Wilson is involved in the US Open. Wilson and the USTA have been great partners for over 30 years… we have been the Official Ball for 34 years and we are also the Official Stringer for the tournament. We also run a store on site that is located in Armstrong. One thing you may not know is that almost everyone that works in Wilson HQ in Chicago works the Wilson store. It is our opportunity to make sure we connect with the tennis fans/players and get feedback so we always can improve and make the best products possible. It’s uber hardwork for 3 weeks, but everyone is awesome at it!! Come say hello!! 🙂

Being in NY always has a certain amount of energy that no other city in the world has and the US Open brings the best out of the city in a time of the year. Most people are normally in the Hamptons chillin, but everyone comes back to see the best tennis players rock it out in Flushing!!!

Players have pretty much arrived: Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka, Mardy Fish, Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, have all been on site practicing and doing their sponsor commitment events in the city.

Last night was nice for me as I managed to have dinner with my Mom and my uncle who live here in NY and on my way back to the hotel, I ran into Andrea Petkovic!!! Andrea was on her way back to her hotel from the Taste of Tennis which is a fun foodie event. I know I said this in a blog prior, but I’m just really happy to see her back on tour, she is such a good person for the WTA as she is not afraid to show her personality, ham it up a bit when needed and just all in all have fun and enjoy it!! She is a ROCKSTAR and it’s GREAT to have her back.

Anyway, Robin and I are at the hotel now, editing video and making sure we have stuff ready for next week.  Later today we will shoot stuff for our HOPE campaign (more to come on that) and we will be going to MSG for a special announcement later this evening.

Until later,

Tracy

Wilson Stringing Room at US Open. Beats by Dre a necessity when stringing Serena Williams’ Wilson Blade Team tennis racket!
Photo courtesy of Robin Fenlon

 

 

 

Summer of George?! How about Summer of Singian?!

Cy Dofitas, Mike Steck, Erika Offerdahl, Tracy Almeda-Singian & Mario Vergara after a successful US Sales Meeting with the Wilson crew

Hey there,

Well, I am going to make this a quick one as I have been up for about 19 hrs straight…..

Last week went really well and I am really proud to say that the 2013 videos were super well received and now all I have to do is negotiate music rights..kind of fun to do that since I never really am part of negotiations! Gonna utilize my lawyer skills! ha

All the other parts went rather well too, our whole team pulled it together and made things look amazing!! Not kidding when I say this, We have THE BEST TEAM!! Hands down….Seriously, it always keeps me motivated to see the crew so amped to succeed… nothing is better to help keep pushing you forward then to see others push the envelope when you are exhausted!!  Anyway, now we only have to make minor adjustments to certain parts of items to meet the language issues for each country… my fault, I did not think of that!! WOW, should’ve known right?! 😉 Rookie mistake with the new position.

Now that we are through sales meeting, my summer in Chicago is officially over… it’s been a blast to spend weekends with my friends, enjoy the great weather, restaurants and everything Chicago has to offer!!! I finally caught the Chicago Air Show for the 1st time!!  And got a killer view of the Blue Angels flying by my balcony!! AMAZING!!

US Open qualies starts tomorrow, but I’m in New Haven for tonight as we will meet up with Petra Kvitova tomorrow so she can meet her Facebook Win a Date winner William!!

I feel uber bad that I didn’t have time to catch up with the winner tonight as I have done for past winners, but seems like I am struggling to balance everything…. One thing is for sure, there was definitely work that needed to be done, so was glad to get it done….Just wrote 3 scripts for upcoming 2013 diddy with the one and only Federer… let’s hope the bosses like it!!  🙂

Until later,

Tracy

PS Do you like the Seinfeld reference with Summer of George?! 🙂

Summer of George?! How about Summer of Singian?! ;P

Ice Cream Showers- G’Day 14- 2012 Australian Open

Tracy Almeda-Singian and Mario Vergara

We gonna make you sweat, a night you won’t forget, are you ready for.. Ice cream showers, Ice Cream showers… lol ok, it really is Champagne Showers by LMFAO but ice cream is more important to the Wilson Tour Team than champagne!!! At least, most nights! 🙂

As you know, I am one for traditions and rituals, so yesterday we did our Slam tradition of getting our ice cream after teardown. This was someting that we started when Massimo was the director and I joined the team. Both him and I go crazy for ice cream and it is definitely the light at the end of the tunnel when you are in deep in boxes and counting string, bras, shirts, shorts and everything. There are a lot of fun parts of our jobs, more than the average bear, but counting strings and separating apparel are probably the most unenjoyable things to do, EVER. And ice cream is definitely the best motivation to get through it.

So we made it through another year of player services at a Slam and for some reason, this Australian Open was busier than years past… we did get most of the work we wanted done and had some fun in the process.

We will be on site today for some final videos, but this is officially my last blog for the 2012 Australian Open…

14 videos, 14 blog entries, 1 busted printer (Clement), 1 pair of sunglasses broken, 1 lost camera cover, countless Facebook updates & Tweets and Blackberry in tact…  2012 Australian is a wrap!!

Hopefully, you enjoyed the insights to the Wilson team and our experiences on the road.

Until Paris, Ciao….

Tracy

Rap it up!- G’Day 6- 2012 Australian Open

Wilson Tour Team Family Dinner. I'm the only girl, lucky me!

Ok, so making time to write a blog everyday is a bit more difficult than I thought, especially when we are trying to service the players and shoot cool as s**t video!! And how can you tell when I am getting tired? I curse a f**kin lot!!  ;P

So yesterday was crazy, the players suite has been non-stop (3 busiest days ever), we are all just running and trying to make sure every single player in the draw receives the new Wilson Tour tennis bag…. not an easy task. We are 15 players away and the main starts tomorrow so that will be our first project this morning….

Yesterday was super hectic, but fun, Wilson Softgoods Director Claire had Feli Lopez for a few hours to make sure we have ads for the next few months. The photos came out great, make sure to check our Facebook for those photos. www.facebook.com/wilsontennis Not a bad way to spend an afternoon…. ladies, let’s just say it was not painful…. Claire asked Feli, “Can you please take your pants off?” and he obliged! lol Not the way you think! He was just changing outfits for the shoot…. took some control not to take photos or drool!! hahaha

After that, we shot Milos Raonic for the Inside the Life of video that we started here. We’ve had pretty good feedback on these videos, which I am pretty proud of… I always get psyched when people get into the work, keeps me motivated even when I am exhausted. It’s super fun to see the ‘real’ person when I shoot these things……we shot Alexandr Dolgopolov the day before, so check out the video below. It was awesome to see another side of Alex and see him let loose and rap!! He is a great player, he is one of the few I really enjoy watching play and think he is going to be a consistent contender in the years to come…

So the real highlight of last night was the Wilson Tour Team dinner. It is a tradition (I’m all about tradition!) that we make the time at least once during each tournament to have a meal as an entire team. What you may not realize is that Renaud & Clement live in France, Jacob in Spain, Mario, Ron, Joel and I live in Chicago… so it’s a very limited amount of time that we actually spend physical time together, we are always communicating via email, phone and BBM, but tournies are the only time to catch up face to face and together as an entire team.  It’s important, for business and for fun! I like to call it the family dinner cause we do all work so closely together and we do feel like family in so many ways… you can not see each other for a long time, but you pick up where you left off… you argue like dogs, but at the end of the day, we’ve got each others back!!!! lol   🙂 Only one thing missing last night… Dianne! Miss you Dianne! 🙂

You guys may or may not know two of our family members, Ron Rocchi & Joel, but you should! 🙂 They are the people behind making sure every player’s racket is ready for battle.  They are our R&D crew and run the stringing room at the Australian Open and an important part of the team. Ron went big time last night with the 650+ gram steak…solid!! 😛

Anyway, I have to run, get ready to go to the courts and we HAVE TO get these bags to the players so they have the new stuff and you guys see the real new stuff on tv! 🙂

Until later,

Tracy

Tennis for life!

Vamos Team Argentina!

Hey all,

Well, it’s been a really long September for the Wilson team.

After our long stint at the US Open, it was off to South Carolina to join our US Sales team and talk about 2012.We have some really cool new rackets coming in January and we were thrilled so show them off to the team. (For those of you that want a sneak peek, here’s a hint… check out our 2012 Wilson Tennis Apparel Fashion show on Facebook)

We managed to get plenty of on court time at this meeting. It is not very often that we all hit the courts together, so of course, we had to make it competitive and have our own Davis Cup/WTT competition… with a twist, of course!! 🙂 First, we had to come up with a team cheer…..yeah, let’s just say that it was not pretty, but extremely funny!! (ps My team definitely did not win this part!) So for the tennis, we had teams of approx 10, two courts going, and one court had to use junior tennis equipment and every team mate had to play at least one point. It was interesting to truly feel the difference between the transitional equipment and the standard and how it slows the ball down drastically and makes it that much easier for beginner kids and adults to play.  Of course, regardless of levels, everyone was super intense and I am happy to announce that my team, Team Argentina got the big W!! 🙂  Tour Manager, Mario Vergara was definitely the MVP of our team! lol Good fun!

Then after a good 5 days with the Wilson sales force, it was time to head to Saddlebrook in Wesley Chapel, FL for the USPTA World Conference. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be speak at this years conference and it was really cool to have many of the coaches and tennis people that I have respected and admired for many years support and attend my breakout to get to know more about social media. I feel lucky to have that experience and hopefully we got some people psyched on Twitter, Facebook, etc.!! 🙂

As an impending birthday approaches (yes I am getting old!) it is more and more apparent that tennis has brought me more opportunities than I could ever ask for. To have played from juniors to tour to teaching to now ‘the business’ , tennis really is the sport of a lifetime…. cheesy, right?! 😉

Well, that is my deep thought of the day…. now it’s all about 2012 and what we can do to get everyone crazy about tennis!

Until later,

Tracy