Head PJ article. And why James switched back to Dunlop.

An anonymous insider was intrigued by my breaking news last week that James Blake and Prince were cutting off their endorsement deal after Blake -- who lost in the first round of the French Open yesterday -- couldn't find a way to use Prince racquets.

"The one thing you did not mention or know is James Blake's Dunlop racquet was never available to the consumer. It is a 'Pro Mold' frame that Dunlop does not offer to the consumer. The closest racquet that Dunlop ever offered was the Revelation Tour 95 that was only sold in Australia in the late '90s before Blake joined Dunlop. Some of the other players that use this 'Pro Mold' by Dunlop are Tommy Haas, Tomas Berdych and Wayne Ferreira.

You are correct that in the tennis industry, 'Paint Jobs' are very widespread and prevalent -- perhaps more than you know. To me, it is like a plague that has infected every single racquet company. Amelie Mauresmo recently signed a deal with HEAD Racquet Sports to use the new Microgel Radical Midplus. The reality is Mauresmo is still using her old Dunlop MuscleWeave 200G 16x19 string pattern with the cosmetics of the HEAD Microgel Radical Midplus.

In 2005, HEAD Sport AG stopped manufacturing tennis racquets in its own factory in Austria for the consumer, but did not do so for the sponsored players on Tour. HEAD outsources all racquet production for the consumer to China, while HEAD still manufactures 50,000 racquets in Kennelbach, Austria for the players on Tour.

The most popular of these racquets on Tour are the Prestige Classic 600, Pro Tour 630 and Liquidmetal Instinct. HEAD officially discontinued selling the Prestige Classic 600 in March 2001, but due to pressure has done two SMU (Special Make Up) runs for the consumer.

The highest profile player of HEAD using the Prestige Classic 600 is Marat Safin. His racquets are currently painted to look like the Flexpoint Prestige mid. The Pro Tour 630 was discontinued for the consumer at the end of 1997, but has never stopped being manufactured for the players on Tour.

Not just Gustavo Kuerten uses the Pro Tour 630. Young guys, in their early twenties, are using the Pro Tour 630, such as Gilles Simon of France and Robin Soderling of Sweden. The Pro Tour 630 is probably the most popular HEAD racquet on the ATP Tour.

Most of the players you see on Tour with racquets painted like the Microgel Extreme are really using the Liquidmetal Instinct. What Prince has done right is they are no longer deceiving the public with what the pros are using on Tour. You can't fake the O Ports on their racquets. You see Sharapova using a real O3 White and you can buy an O3 White. That is huge in this industry and is contrary to the other racket manufacturers. This has reflected positively by increased market share and Prince's bottom line."

Head officials were not in the office when I called for comment this morning. I will get their reaction to this when I can get through."

http://www.stubhub.com/sites/corpsite/?gsec=news&gact=news&article_id=4770

i dont buy the crap about prince selling the same racquets to the consumer either...you dont have to pj o port racquets to sell a different spec racquet to the public and paint the pro racquet to look like it....thats what pj racquets are all about...

vinnier6 said:

i dont buy the crap about prince selling the same racquets to the consumer either...you dont have to pj o port racquets to sell a different spec racquet to the public and paint the pro racquet to look like it....thats what pj racquets are all about...

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i don't either. i've recently seen O-ports in walmart this month.

Good find saram. Really informative. I appreciate threads like these.

liked the indepth info on head pjs. nice article.

Thanks. I am thinking DY is playing with a PC 600 or i Prestige mid for some reason. Probably the PC 600 as Head is still producing them for sponsored pro's and Young falls into that category.


By baselinetennis at 2007-08-27

Also appears he has leather/calfskin under that overwrap....

Going to see if I can blow up his stick for further analysis for the pro's on here...

Ok, break it down...


By baselinetennis at 2007-08-27

tennispro11 said:

Good find saram. Really informative. I appreciate threads like these.

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I think most of us on the boards knew much of this already...and it doent change my mind about the situation(it doesnt bother me at all)

DY's stick is for sure a pj

Chauvalito said:

I think most of us on the boards knew much of this already...and it doent change my mind about the situation(it doesnt bother me at all)

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So............ I could care less. I didn't know about most of this stuff up until a few years ago. I found this article very informative.

Chauvalito said:

DY's stick is for sure a pj

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Yeah, someone had a great image of it here in these threads and i have yet to find it. someone posted a portrait taken of him and the breakdown of the stick is just great.

tennispro11 said:

So............ I could care less. I didn't know about most of this stuff up until a few years ago. I found this article very informative.

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You could care less about what? I didnt know until a few years ago as well. I didnt say the article was not informative (it is), I just said a lot of people know on the boards(the boards does not include anyone).

looks like a PT630 or an i.prestige MP. it's not a PC because of the indentations in the throat. could also be an older radical but my money os on the PT630.

saram said:

Yeah, someone had a great image of it here in these threads and i have yet to find it. someone posted a portrait taken of him and the breakdown of the stick is just great.

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The one you posted works quite well, you can see the painted flexpoints.

So if he has a calfskin leather grip under the overgrip, does that indicate a prestige classic with the plastic peice removed?

Richie Rich said:

looks like a PT630 or an i.prestige MP. it's not a PC because of the indentations in the throat. could also be an older radical but my money os on the PT630.

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My i Prestige mid has the indentations on the throat.

and the stick in his hand is a mid...

saram said:

and the stick in his hand is a mid...

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could be. it's hard for me to tell b/w a mid and MP unless i hold them side by side.

looks like he's used every head model under the sun the last few months. didn't he use an instinct a while ago?

Richie Rich said:

could be. it's hard for me to tell b/w a mid and MP unless i hold them side by side.

looks like he's used every head model under the sun the last few months. didn't he use an instinct a while ago?

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i believe i have seen images with him and an instict as well. the more i look at my i Prestige mids and break it down, it looks like an i prestige mid.

Chauvalito said:

So if he has a calfskin leather grip under the overgrip, does that indicate a prestige classic with the plastic peice removed?

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That doesn't indicate anything. You can put a leather grip on any racquet you want. It's not part of the mold.

To me, Young's racquet looks like a MP more than a Mid. I'm also guessing it's either a PT630 under the paintjob or one of the older Radicals.

I sat next to his MOM at the pilot pen, front row. I know my PT630's, DY uses a PT630 paint job.

it's a midplus for sure...just count the number of 16 mains before the last bottom cross. And saram, count how many you got in a mid. Is it 14? There you have it

pham4313 said:

it's a midplus for sure...just count the number of 16 mains before the last bottom cross. And saram, count how many you got in a mid. Is it 14? There you have it

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I have been wrong before....after all, my ex-wife is a hag but she's still hot. The hoop does look like mid to me--although your breakdown of mains is correct.

Even as a Prince user (and generally an advocate), I don't believe that just because Prince can't hide O-ports and Speedports, that their pros are using the same racquets that are sold to the general public.

It's really too bad. I'd love to play some of these pro sticks - Prince, Head, Dunlop, or any other brand.

I saw something really funny this weekend at a sporting goods store: A flexpoint radical junior racket with the actual "holes" painted on.

Those "worm dampener" things are disgusting.

Hey guys, have you seen that interview at the US open by USA network of John Wortheim, one of the senior tennis columnist from sports Illustrated. He stated that Blake is really using the Dunlop Aerogel and that is the reason his play has been inconsistant during this summer, he stated that he is trying to get used to the new frame and it is taking some time. I don't know what to make of this, with all the PJ stories.

HEAD Extremes are pjs of Instincts? Big deal Instincts were available to the consumer, nothing special about that.

Great article still

Fedace said:

Hey guys, have you seen that interview at the US open by USA network of John Wortheim, one of the senior tennis columnist from sports Illustrated. He stated that Blake is really using the Dunlop Aerogel and that is the reason his play has been inconsistant during this summer, he stated that he is trying to get used to the new frame and it is taking some time. I don't know what to make of this, with all the PJ stories.

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You misheard Jon Wertheim. That's not what he said at all. He wouldn't know an Aerogel from a Speedport if it jumped up and bit him in the ass.

Blake does not use a real Aerogel. How many times does that have to be said before it sinks in for you? Accept it and move on with your life.

By baselinetennis at 2007-08-29

BreakPoint said:

You misheard Jon Wertheim. That's not what he said at all. He wouldn't know an Aerogel from a Speedport if it jumped up and bit him in the ass.

Blake does not use a real Aerogel. How many times does that have to be said before it sinks in for you? Accept it and move on with your life.

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John said, blake has switched to new racket, New Dunlop he said.

Fedace said:

John said, blake has switched to new racket, New Dunlop he said.

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And Jon also thought Blake switched to a real Prince racquet and didn't like it so he had to buy back his old Dunlops that he gave away for auction. The guy is obviously clueless and doesn't know what he's talking about. I'd bet he doesn't even realize that many pros use paintjobs.

Here's a tip: Most of the tennis commentators on TV are clueless.

Yea I think Jon might've been out drinking with Safin and Roddick the night before and still had some Quervo in his system. I seriously doubt Blake was calling people from his cell phone asking for his racquets back....lol

Hmmm, interesting article. No mention of a PT this and a PT that. they do "mention" the PT 630 quite often.

Azzurri said:

Hmmm, interesting article. No mention of a PT this and a PT that. they do "mention" the PT 630 quite often.

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delete......

I actually have one of the Prince rackets Blake was testing out. Its black all over with no other markings, 95 inch head, feels absolutely terrible.

doom said:

I actually have one of the Prince rackets Blake was testing out. Its black all over with no other markings, 95 inch head, feels absolutely terrible.

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It's not at all surprising that you didn't like the in development "test" version of a SMU frame. Depending on what stage in the development that test SMU was at, those test frames and not produced or intended for the player's final use, much less for consumer use.

cheers,

Racquetcraft