the Wilson Ultra 2
- Thread starter plasma
- Start date
Bud
Bionic Poster
Very nice collection!
I have one of the originals with the metal PWS plates riveted to 3/9 o'clock (2nd from the left). It appears you have all 3 iterations.
Are these yours?
joe sch
Legend
The Ultra 2's are soo powerful, the ultra pws original is really the best stick for a player with classic tennis strokes. Check out the diffs between the 3 diff versions of the Ultra rackets. There were some other ultra models, but these are the 3 main variants:
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultra3racs.jpg
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultraThroats.jpg
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultraSides.jpg
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultra3racs.jpg
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultraThroats.jpg
http://www.woodtennis.com/sampras/ultraSides.jpg
yes, I remember watching Aaron Krickstein as a kid ballistically jump balls over opponents heads with the Ultra 2 standard!!!...one standard is unused, I hit with the other one in the rain today I love it so much! Wish I could find a st. vincent mid and the rare Ultra 2 mid with the ugly wide throat piece. Ulta 2 Mid was once top of the line (above the PS 85!). It has much more power than a prostaff with less trampoline. I found the St. Vincent PS amazing but felt tension and shock in my arm and body after playing. No such experience with the Ultra 2 mid as they are much stronger and absorb shock and dampen vibration much better... also better feel, control and dwell time in my opinoin ( I have played bumperless and bumpered sv at all tensions known to mankind, chinas, taiwans, everything but the Chicago)....like ps 85's the U2 mids can be used effectively in a modern game...unlike the ps 85 they can also hammer a nail into a wall!
rain?
Hey, plasma, is that my old Ultra 2 Standard you're taking out in the rain to hit? Don't get it wet! Watch out, or I'll take out that Secret 04 you sent me and play with it in the snow.
Just kidding. Glad you're enjoying it.
But I think you should use an old Yamaha YFG 30 and not the Ultra to hammer your nails.
Hey, plasma, is that my old Ultra 2 Standard you're taking out in the rain to hit? Don't get it wet! Watch out, or I'll take out that Secret 04 you sent me and play with it in the snow.
Just kidding. Glad you're enjoying it.
But I think you should use an old Yamaha YFG 30 and not the Ultra to hammer your nails.
Kirko
Hall of Fame
yes, I remember watching Aaron Krickstein as a kid ballistically jump balls over opponents heads with the Ultra 2 standard!!!...one standard is unused, I hit with the other one in the rain today I love it so much! Wish I could find a st. vincent mid and the rare Ultra 2 mid with the ugly wide throat piece. Ulta 2 Mid was once top of the line (above the PS 85!). It has much more power than a prostaff with less trampoline. I found the St. Vincent PS amazing but felt tension and shock in my arm and body after playing. No such experience with the Ultra 2 mid as they are much stronger and absorb shock and dampen vibration much better... also better feel, control and dwell time in my opinoin ( I have played bumperless and bumpered sv at all tensions known to mankind, chinas, taiwans, everything but the Chicago)....like ps 85's the U2 mids can be used effectively in a modern game...unlike the ps 85 they can also hammer a nail into a wall!
the ultra II what a fantastic frame !!!! David Pate used it also.
Yes and also Hana Mandlinkova, form the 80's czech tennis revolution, ( not at liberty to discuss or reply to these accounts, pls don't ask): I know for an actual fact that they beat the crap out of their players so bad, intimidating them and slapping and beating them violently after loosing matches...no wonder they were so good!
talk about "made to win" sorry bad pun
talk about "made to win" sorry bad pun
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Kirko
Hall of Fame
Yes and also Hana Mandlinkova, form the 80's czech tennis revolution, ( not at liberty to discuss or reply to these accounts, pls don't ask): I know for an actual fact that they beat the crap out of their players so bad, intimidating them and slapping and beating them violently after loosing matches...no wonder they were so good!
talk about "made to win" sorry bad pun
that was a terrific frame !!!! Ken Rosewall used it also for a long time actually saw him play Mal Anderson in a seniors event ; Anderson used the Dunlop 200G.
Kirko
Hall of Fame
he actually used the 1st generation ultra so did Pancho Gonzales. before the ultra he used a slazenger frame like the blue & white one Virginia has, but with black & white photographs of rosewall & margaret court on bthe sides of the shaft. has to be the nicest looking wood racket I ever saw. the pro where I lived in reno,nv used it also. it was made in australia. rosewall used the ultra standard then the ultra II for a very long time. rosewall also used a seamco racket which I heard played very well, but looked cheap kinda like the wislon world class he used for a while. I hade to get an ultra II when I saw him play Anderson. how clean he hit the ball like the sweetspot was the size of an ocean ; just a greasy small black "dot" in the center of the stringbed.
I couldn't agree more. In my opinion it is the best racquet Wilson ever made and light years ahead of the PS 6.0 and PS 6.1
First time I saw an Ultra 'in the flesh' it was in the hands of a young American player who was part of US team that came out to Australia and competed in a number of McDonald's sponsored junior events. He had the Ultra, his partner had the POG OS and there I was, still swinging my Stellar Centre Court wood.
The kid with the Ultra - Ty Tucker: current coach of the Division 1 Ohio State Buckeyes men's tennis team
The kid with the POG OS - Andre Agassi: he did okay for himself as well.
Bud
Bionic Poster
Thanks for this little tidbit.
I was wondering how the Ultra 2 compared to the current KPS88... as far as solidity and feel.
Bud
Bionic Poster
Gut strings, dampness and wear over time. I notice when I play on a damp court (from fog)... the ball picks up a ton of court dirt and transfers it to my gut strings.
yes, I remember watching Aaron Krickstein as a kid ballistically jump balls over opponents heads with the Ultra 2 standard!!!...one standard is unused, I hit with the other one in the rain today I love it so much! Wish I could find a st. vincent mid and the rare Ultra 2 mid with the ugly wide throat piece. Ulta 2 Mid was once top of the line (above the PS 85!). It has much more power than a prostaff with less trampoline. I found the St. Vincent PS amazing but felt tension and shock in my arm and body after playing. No such experience with the Ultra 2 mid as they are much stronger and absorb shock and dampen vibration much better... also better feel, control and dwell time in my opinoin ( I have played bumperless and bumpered sv at all tensions known to mankind, chinas, taiwans, everything but the Chicago)....like ps 85's the U2 mids can be used effectively in a modern game...unlike the ps 85 they can also hammer a nail into a wall!
Terrific quiver, plasma. I was a big, big Ultra 2 head back in the old days. The mid was the flagship, Wilson rolling it out to both Tennis and World Tennis magazines for their reviews. Both reviews gushed over the power and stiffness - the power assessment has probably changed relative to today's frames, but you won't find a stiffer bat. Definitely not a topspinner's frame IMO because not whippy or torquey, but great for baseline slapping, volleys, and serves. 4.5 or better, please!
Note that the ugly wide throatpiece model was not the mid but the 1st gen. largehead. The mid always looked the same, except for Wilson dropping the plastic throat collar in the late 1980s. The largehead became a one-piece with yellow accenting first, then a one-piece with the same orange accenting of the mid.
My favorite was the standard. Lots of bells and whistles for a 70 sq. inch frame! The Krickstein frame!
Claudia Kohde Kichle (german), Manuela Maleeva, plus as mentioned above Krickstein, Pate, Mandlikova.
Kathy JOrdan, Annabel Croft, Gigi Fernandez, Zina Garrison
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Kirko
Hall of Fame
she sure did !!!!!!!!!! you have good memory !
don't forget my dear jaegermeister:
Did Andrea Jaeger use Ultra 2 as well?
I can only remember Mel Purcell and Jaeger used the original Ultra.
Kirko
Hall of Fame
I don't think Jaeger used the ultra II she dropped out of tennis. I forgot about Purcell he reminded me of what huckleberry finn mighta looked like
Virginia
Hall of Fame
Kirko, which incarnation of the Ultra II did Rosewall play with? I believe there's a "Standard" model as well as the err, standard model. I'm sure he wouldn't have played with the OS. BTW I have the Seamless Rosewall, the Seamco Rosewall and the Wilson World Class. The World Class is one of my favourite aluminiums - it looks so classy and elegant.
Bud
Bionic Poster
Which version?
ultra 2 was much more of a racquet than the ps 85. Just like the ps 85, 200g, R22 or f 200 though, its composition, design and beam width combined to create a perfect machine with its own unique characteristics and flavor. The wider beam and stronger overall structure gave an access to stability and power not found in the ps 85, the feel and response was also more true.
Bud
Bionic Poster
Check out the first post, you can see the different versions of the U2. As far as the weight/balance, not sure if the built in PWS U2's were different than the U2's with the metal riveted PWS plates.
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
I'm still hoping that someone will tell me whether Rosewall used the Ultra II or the Ultra II Standard - please!
Do I have to go over to Sydney and ask him myself?
I recall Ken Rosewall used the Ultra, which was only available as a Standard, and not the Ultra 2, which was available as a Standard, Midsize, or Oversize.
racquetfreak
Semi-Pro
i am truly in awe of the collective memory exhibited here. although i love rackets, i only can "remember" which racket was used by who based on research and the memory of my TW collegues.
they should put the players pictures on the racket like they used to. oh, wait a minute, most of those models weren't used by the racket's namesake. if you can't trust the racket company, who can you trust? :shock:
they should put the players pictures on the racket like they used to. oh, wait a minute, most of those models weren't used by the racket's namesake. if you can't trust the racket company, who can you trust? :shock:
Bud
Bionic Poster
don't forget my dear jaegermeister:
Peace and love be with you :lol:
Kirko
Hall of Fame
I'm still hoping that someone will tell me whether Rosewall used the Ultra II or the Ultra II Standard - please!
Do I have to go over to Sydney and ask him myself?
he used both.
Kirko
Hall of Fame
So Kirko, what you're saying is that he used the Ultra Standard, the Ultra II and the Ultra II Standard - I think I may have this wrong somehow. That seems too many Standards for a start!
I saw in person Rosewall use the old standard ultra (with the side-plates) to give PWS sensation and then some of the Best senior tennis I saw ever he used the midsized ultra II. it seeemed to really fit his style especially at his half century mark in age powerful & yet controlled. for that matter Pancho Gonzales used to the 1st generation ultra, last time I saw Gonzales play he was using the Prince Pro (black alu.) model.
roundiesee
Hall of Fame
Guys, in those days if you saw a pro actually playing a certain racket, you can be sure it wasn't a paintjob of some other racket?
Kirko
Hall of Fame
it was the real deal with Rosewall and Mal Anderson ; Anderson used the Yonex R-27 & the time I saw him play Rosewall he used the Dunlop 200G. as the ultra fit Rosewall the 200G was a "hand in glove" fit for Anderson. just think guys well into their fifties and hittting so so "clean". I was amazed at how well they traded groudstrokes.
roundiesee
Hall of Fame
Thanks for the info! Makes me wish that today's pros would have the same level of integrity. I think the last pro to repeatedly refuse a paintjob was Pete Sampras. I've heard that he kept playing the PS 85 without a contract until Wilson actually felt "bad" and offered him one.
I like how connors rejected the ps 85 which was designed for him in favor of his t2000's. He put ads up in the back of papers and bought up a huge stock of t2000's. Decades before the PS 85 was synonymous with Sampras it was associated with Chris Evert and Jimbo. Wilson not producing a single 85 is a facist move! fight the pawa!
Kirko,
Ken Rosewall was using a Wilson Ultra during a veterans event (America vs Australia) held here in Australia at the, then, newly opened National Tennis Centre. Would have been some time between 1988 and 1990.
Australian players were (again, those I remember), Tony Roche, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall and - I think- Mal Anderson.
American players I can remember were Stan Smith, Bob Lutz and Tom Gorman. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the other American player was Marty Riessen.
If memory serves - Smith was using a Prince oversize, Lutz was using a Prince Magnesium (thought it was OS but not sure), Gorman was using either a Wilson or a Wimbledon (it was white -ceramic- and not a mid-size) and Riessen was using a Puma (Red and Blue model). Newcombe was using Prince OS (think it was one of the CTS line), Roche was using a Mizuno (black, their smallest head size: think it was 95sq-ish), Anderson was using a POGOS and Rosewall was using a Wilson Ultra.
roudiesee,
I think that 'integrity' is going a bit too far. Pete's reason for refusing a paintjob was simply due to him being so particular about his racquets that he refused to have anything about them altered. That decision was made definite for him when the St.Vincent plant shut down and the stock he purchased all had the old decals on it. No way was he going to allow them to strip the paint off and re-paint them. Of course, if they'd continued to make racquets at the St.Vincent plant they could have painted them to look like whatever they wanted.
End of the day, he allowed the Wilson (who sponsored him in the early days) contract to lapse because the money they were willing to pay him to endorse a racquet that wasn't part of their premier range was negligible. What he lost in racquet endorsement he picked up in 'luggage' endorsement with Tacchini and then Nike (he used one of their duffle bags instead of a Wilson bag).
saigonbond 2.0
Rookie
Played with the Ultra 2 St. Vincent and the Ultra FPK when I was a kid.
Too bad I could never hit the rock like Krickstein and Mandlikova.
Definitely WMDs!
Too bad I could never hit the rock like Krickstein and Mandlikova.
Definitely WMDs!
Found one
I just found a Chicago Ultra 2 standard today. Has the old metal PWS plates riveted on. What looks to be the original leather grip. 4 1/4 size. Needs a string job but looks ready to be hit with. Might have to take her out this weekend! Also picked up a Prince CTS Graduate 110 with what looks to be a fresh Luxilon string job. Bought them both second hand, paid next to nothing.
I just found a Chicago Ultra 2 standard today. Has the old metal PWS plates riveted on. What looks to be the original leather grip. 4 1/4 size. Needs a string job but looks ready to be hit with. Might have to take her out this weekend! Also picked up a Prince CTS Graduate 110 with what looks to be a fresh Luxilon string job. Bought them both second hand, paid next to nothing.
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Tennishacker
Professional
Wow, I remember paying over $200 for those racquets.
