PLAN (GB) has slammed in a sponsorship coup with up-and-coming British tennis star Aljaz Bedene, official number 2 seed after Andy Murray – and put him in a star car.
Aljaz’s schedule for 2016 starts like this:
- Chennai: 5 January
- Auckland: 12 January
- Aus Open Melbourne: 18 January
- Rio: 16 February
- Buenos Aires or Acapulco: 23 February
- Indian Wells CA: 12 March
- Miami: 25 March
In the Plan GB tennis deal Aljaz will be driving one of the leasing company’s Mercedes C250CDI AMG Line Premium Plus cars, worth £40,000. The car features the Plan legend, promoting the brand.
Plan’s scoop comes from links with a tennis agent that previously brought sponsorship of Tara Moore.
Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Aljaz – whose nicknames are “Ali” or “Benki” – has won five Futures and nine Challenger singles titles. In doubles he has won one a Challenger title and two Futures titles.
He represented Slovenia when he turned pro until 2015. On 26 March 2015, Bedene was granted UK citizenship and now represents Great Britain. Aljaz is also a potential Davies Cup 2016 team member.
Aljaz will be wearing the Plan logo on his match kit for all his tournaments, including Wimbledon 2016. He will also wear it on his tracksuit in all media interviews during the year.
One spin-off of the sponsorship is that some Plan clients will not only meet Aljaz at its head office in Epping, Essex, but get tuition as part of a tennis academy with the British number 2.
Plan will be giving away signed shirts, rackets, and have tickets to all Aljaz’s events, Wimbledon included. Some tickets will be raffled with proceeds donated to charity partner MacMillan Cancer Support. The others will be used as prize giveaways, together with signed memorabilia and other tennis-related prizes throughout the year.
