Found a "Prince Professional Team" tennis bag at goodwill

[Gonzalito17]

Found a 12 racquet huge Prince tennis bag at goodwill in Bradenton, just about 3 miles from Bollettieri on Cortez Rd. I think it's a pro's old bag donated because it says "Professional Team" on the side. It's green with black rubber material on the bottom, looks like a pro bag from about maybe ten years ago. It's in good shape but the straps are a bit overworn but otherwise I think I found a gem for just $5.

Does the "Professional Team" inscription on the side mean it was a bag specifically for professional players it endorses, or would Prince give this bag to any of it's sponsored junior or adult players?

If it is truly a Prince pro player bag I'm thinking it might actually be the former bag of Sharapova or Malisse who are both Prince players who reside in Bradenton. What a find!

[v-verb]

Sounds like a nice find - congrats - post a pic?

[Gonzalito17]

V how do you post a photo? explorer user prompt says 'post the url of photo.' photo is on my camera. I'd gladly post the photo if I knew how.

[dak95_00]

Read http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=217120

or

Go to Photobucket.com and create an account and upload photos there. Then just copy them into your post. Click preview post to see if the picture was done properly before submitting reply. Good luck. I learned how reading the above. It's not too difficult.

[Gonzalito17]

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[Gonzalito17]

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[Gonzalito17]

Originally Posted by dak95_00

Read http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=217120

or

Go to Photobucket.com and create an account and upload photos there. Then just copy them into your post. Click preview post to see if the picture was done properly before submitting reply. Good luck. I learned how reading the above. It's not too difficult.

Thanks Dak, your advice helped.

[MAXXply]

This bag was still being offered for sale brand new/old stock at a local Sydney sports chain as recently as last year for about $70. They were gathering dust and I'm sure they've been dumped somewhere - no-one ever bought tennis gear from this joint.
IIRC, the bag's hangtag featured Jean-Michael Gambill as its featured player.

[dak95_00]

Good job! Nice pic, post and bag!

[Gonzalito17]

Originally Posted by MAXXply

This bag was still being offered for sale brand new/old stock at a local Sydney sports chain as recently as last year for about $70. They were gathering dust and I'm sure they've been dumped somewhere - no-one ever bought tennis gear from this joint.
IIRC, the bag's hangtag featured Jean-Michael Gambill as its featured player.

Maxx i guess it means the bag is over ten years old, Gambill's been off the scene for about a decade now. Did the bag you saw say "Professional Team" on it? Wondering if Prince issues "Professional Team" bags for retail sale.

[MAXXply]

Originally Posted by Gonzalito17

Maxx i guess it means the bag is over ten years old, Gambill's been off the scene for about a decade now. Did the bag you saw say "Professional Team" on it? Wondering if Prince issues "Professional Team" bags for retail sale.

The bag I saw is exactly the same as the one you pictured. Same big 12pk size and "Professional Team" printed on the side. I would not be surprised or disappointed if the bag was indeed originally made available for retail sale. I think the "Professional Team" imprinted on the bag is no different to labelling "Tour" or "Tour Pro" on the side of a midsize tennis racket. Nothing about the construction of the bag indicates it was of a custom nature intended only for pros.

The business model of the store that was selling this bag is to peddle remaindered/unwanted stock sourced from South-East Asian distributors. I'm guessing the Prince stuff was part of consignment from those parts and Prince US wouldn't have had any idea about the Asian Prince distributor's actions. Heck, it may not have even been the distributor but other Asian retailers/middlemen whom the Aussie retailer was dealing with.

[Gonzalito17]

Maxx I still think there's an outside chance it was Maria or Malisse's bag, or some other glamourous pro who lives nearby IMG Bollettieri, who donated it to this Goodwill store on Cortez ) It's too close to IMG to be a coincidence.

[Bubbagumptennis]

I drove by there today and thought about stopping in to look(I collect old racquets) and I didnt, ugh! Nice find

[thanu]

I doubt it's a sponsored player's bag. I have a college player's old prince hornet bag and it has his name on it. If it belonged to a pro player it would definitely have his/her name on it.