Wang Manyu, the women's world No 1, has signed an advisory contract with Butterfly, Tamas, the Japanese company behind the brand, announced on Monday.

The deal ties the 27-year-old former world champion to one of the sport's best-known equipment makers. Tamas listed her equipment as of 2 November as a Fan Zhendong ALC blade, named after the Paris 2024 men's singles champion, with Dignics 09C rubber.

In a statement released with the announcement, Wang said she was "very happy to walk forward with Butterfly as a partner" and looked forward to facing each new challenge in the matches ahead.

What the contract means

An advisory contract is the closest form of tie between a player and an equipment brand: the player advises on products as well as using them. Tamas did not give the length or the value of the deal. Several Chinese outlets, including Sina, described it as the highest grade of contract Butterfly offers a player.

Butterfly's Chinese announcement, headed with the line "bound by trust, we go further together", said the brand would support her with professional equipment and stand by her "through every challenge on the court".

The company was founded in 1950 by Hikosuke Tamasu and remains one of the best-known names in the sport.

Wang's record

Wang, a right-handed attacker from Heilongjiang province, joined China's national first team in 2016. She won the women's singles at the 2021 World Championships in Houston and has two Olympic team gold medals, from Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

Her singles titles also include the Asian Games in 2018 and again this year, the Chinese National Games in 2021 and 2025, and the WTT Finals in Hong Kong last December. She rose to world No 1 for the first time in week 38 of this year's ranking.

She kept her China Smash title in Beijing on 11 October, beating Japan's Hitomi Sato 4-0 in the final. On the latest ranking published before Montpellier she led the women's list with 9,265 points, ahead of Sun Yingsha on 7,675.

A difficult fortnight

The announcement comes after a short run of setbacks. Wang was the top seed at WTT Champions Montpellier last week but lost 13-11, 11-8, 11-9 to her teammate Chen Yi in the last 16.

She then withdrew injured from WTT Champions Frankfurt, which starts on Tuesday, one of four players WTT listed as pulling out on Sunday. Sun Yingsha, who won in Montpellier, has also withdrawn from Frankfurt.

What's next

The next big singles event on the calendar is the WTT Finals Hong Kong, from 8 to 13 December, where Wang is the defending women's champion.