The All England Tennis Club (AELTC) have announced that Wimbledon has ended its 86-year-old partnership with British squash brand Robinsons.
The drink containing lemon juice, barley and sugar, which was first served to the players and umpires way back in 1935, was created by Eric Smedley Hodgson, who was invited back every year following the drink’s popularity. The drink was commercialised and was placed in bottles on the umpires’ seats and slowly became the Official Soft Drink Provider of the Championships. Robinsons went on to become Wimbledon’s second-longest-running partner after Slazenger, its Official Ball Supplier.
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Although neither party has stated the exact reason for the termination of the partnership, recently, Britvic, which acquired Robinsons in 1995, did state that it wanted to promote some of its other products at the Championships, including Pepsi Max, Gatorade, Rockstar Energy, Fruit Shoot and J20. It is learnt that the AELTC wasn’t keen on promoting sugary soft drinks at the Championships.
The AELTC released a statement, which read:
“After more than 80 years, we can confirm that the partnership between the AELTC and Robinsons has come to an end. We are tremendously proud of the historic association with Robinsons over so many years, and thank them for the wider role they have played in supporting Wimbledon and tennis across the UK.“
A Britvic spokesperson added:
“We can confirm that Robinsons and the AELTC will not be renewing their Wimbledon partnership this year. We are tremendously proud to have been such a prominent partner to this historic tournament for so many years and the wider role we have played in boosting engagement with the game of tennis in the UK.“
Earlier in May 2022, Robinsons was also announced as the Official Soft Drinks Partner of the 100-ball cricket tournament, The Hundred.
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