Prince to release grommeted racquets again in 2013

[CaptinStiff]

ESPN.com has a nice article on Prince and their reorg. Basically they're with new owners and out of bankruptcy. Also looking like thery're going to go back to basic with there racquet tech.

Key quote:
Circo told ESPN that the Prince brand will be back with a grommeted racket in 2013, with technology that he says allows the player to put 30 percent more spin on the ball.


http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dol...ing-a-comeback

[Racketdesign]

Great, the new owners have already mastered the art of spurious claims in racket tech.

[bluetrain4]

The O-Port, Speedport frames were actually very successful (at least for a while) and many people liked frames in those lines (including myself).

But, clearly they weren't for everyone, so I always wondered why Prince didn't produce new regular grommeted frames as well and sell them side by side with the "holes" frames. They have such a long history of producing great, basic frames, that I thought it was odd that they'd give it up completely.

[robbo1970]

Did they not have standard grommets that you could switch into the Exo frames anyway?

I don't know, I'm asking the question.

[tinyman]

Originally Posted by robbo1970

Did they not have standard grommets that you could switch into the Exo frames anyway?

I don't know, I'm asking the question.

I'm not extensively versed with Prince (well, I'm not extensively versed with anything, really) - but when I used the EXO3 Tour, you could indeed swap out the port holes for standard grommets. I think there were, at least in some versions of them doing it, problems with the standard grommets 'breaking' off from their mount if strung less than awesomely? I'm not so sure about that...

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

Oh snap! 30% spin increase! I wonder how many gear heads are going to flock to these racquets because it advertises 30% spin increase.

[Power Player]

I like Prince. They make some real nice, flexible sticks, and that is a nice thing in terms of feel and comfort. It separates them from the other companies who's main focus is the stiff racquets it seems.

Whomever can make a modern specced stick with that nice classic feel (like the prince OG) will sell some racquets.

[Vlad_C]

Originally Posted by CaptinStiff

Key quote:
Circo told ESPN that the Prince brand will be back with a grommeted racket in 2013, with technology that he says allows the player to put 30 percent more spin on the ball.

Wow, 30%...
All of a sudden my interest in generating topspin has just jumped from 0% to 0.1%

[sansaephanh]

Originally Posted by robbo1970

Did they not have standard grommets that you could switch into the Exo frames anyway?

I don't know, I'm asking the question.

Yes they do/did. It actually made quite a huge difference. The normal grommets made prince rackets hit like most other traditional rackets, but the ports really opened up the sweatspot and added that signature "prince" feel.

Which I personally enjoyed.

Prince called it the Prince Racket Tuning System.

I did an experiment on my rebels. same rackets, same tension, same strings, different grommets.

Results were quite simple.

Ports: Less feel, more power, more comfort, open sweetspot, more spin, less control.
Grommets: The opposite of above
2012 Thermoplastic Grommets: Hard to tell the difference from original grommets, but it's supposed to be stiffer and give a tighter response.

[Bartelby]

Prince's decline had very little to do with its product and its technological innovation is run out of Italy.

Obviously the new owners want to herald their arrival with a change of product line, which is good, but the old product line was hardly responsible for their decline.

[USS Tang]

Over the past 45 years I have played with all kinds of rackets from Dunlop, Wilson, Head, PDP, etc. Now I play with an open-port Prince. I can say unequivocally that I hardly notice the difference.

[Mateo]

Shame, ports are ok, I only hope that new owners would stay in that prince feel of racquets...if not...i will buy 10x tour's 100 and forget about them.

[BlueB]

I hope they still keep the ports on some models... Otherwise I'll just go back to POGs.

[Torres]

Those 'O' ports were a bit too wacky for the market to take, as well as being a pain to string.

[000KFACTOR90000]

The o ports were good sticks but they should have come with the boomerang tool for stringing. I've got a feeling they were the most mis-strung racquet on the market.

[rlau]

Originally Posted by Say Chi Sin Lo

Oh snap! 30% spin increase! I wonder how many gear heads are going to flock to these racquets because it advertises 30% spin increase.

I heard even Rafa is considering a switch...

[martini1]

I didn't like how poly would have a harder time to snap back based on my own exp. And the feel on the exo was a little bit better than the speed port. The pj are a lot nicer, only yonex can equal that.

The reason they didn't sell is because of Marsha was out but they were still paying her. Double dipped there. And prince doesn't have another super stars. They should have got a few more good looking faces.

[Automatix]

First of all there is no mention that Prince will completely cease to use O-ports in frames.

However if it would be true the only question I've got is: Why so "take it or leave it" policy?

Wouldn't it be better if Prince would analyse their sales and kept the best selling O-port frames which they'd continue to update in the future?

Why can't they just release "grommeted racquets" and O-port frames?

I know, I know... the same problem as with the 2x different pattern Tecnifibre frames.

However look what Dunlop did/does with the new collection. They introduce a new head shape and beam design frames in the new line, while they still offer some models in "classic" version.

[El Diablo]

Prince did fairly well by leading the market, first with oversize racquets, then with things like elongated racquets, comfort gimmicks, and finally string ports. Building a racquet with a spin gimmick is hardly a revelation in the current market and one wonders if it will be enough for them.

[scotus]

"Take it or leave it" was the exact attitude displayed by the Prince rep who answered questions from TW members some time ago.