Volkl and Pros

[El Diablo]

Anyone see Volkl's website lately, with guys like Noah, Wilander, Korda and other Becker Buddies featured prominently? Are these the only guys they can get (other than Mantilla) to play with these things? I don't see pictures of Jack Kramer on the Wilson site. Is it a budget thing - don't imagine they have to pay the veterans terribly much for the endorsement.

[louisc]

i suppose volkl only stepped up to the plate in the last 5 or so years although they have been around for a lot longer. it seems that most of the pros tend to play with the same racquet, or a variant of it, for years and years (may be with a paint job), so might not want to change manufacturer. those that do, or use newer brands like babolat, might prefer a cleaner feel than volkl offers. i can see why older guys go for this make though - all that feel in a flexible frame with vibration dampening. you never know, volkl's marketing plan might include trying to do what babolat did with roddick (and what all the manufacturers try to do) - get in with young upcoming players (like Golovin), and hopefully one day they'll be in the top 10 but entirely dependent on volkl frames. as a brand, you see more club players using volkl (along with head) in france, italy and germany than i've seen in the us. i'm a recent volkl convert, by the way.

[Rabbit]

I don't think that Volkl pays the endorsement bucks that other companies do.

[gregraven]

At the Pacific Life Open this year, I was surprised by how many Volkl V-Engine frames were being used by the players. They may have been modified, but it's difficult to paint a non-V-Engine racquet to look like a V-Engine racquet.

[NoBadMojo]

agree..there are lots of pro volkl players both male and female and many many european juniors using them..and of course the senior tour players. ed

[Swan Song]

The only racquet that can be painted to look like the V-Engines are the Puma Guillermo Vilas Winner and the Boris Becker's, the Estusa Power Beams, and some of the Volkl's from the '70s.