Tennis Man
Hall of Fame
Does anyone remember this Donnay racquet, Borg Boron (Midsize, 85 sq inch)? It looks and plays very similar to PC1 and PS85 and Borg Graphite but I'd love to know the specs and a bit more history of it.
Donnay Borg Boron
- Thread starter Tennis Man
- Start date
I've seen a few of these random Donnay borons from the early to mid 1980s pop up on the big auction site. What's missing is context. When the Prince Boron was introduced in 1982, the industry briefly flirted with the idea of boron as a feature racquet material, because it provided stiffness and power. Five years later, the same results, actually more, were achieved with less expensive materials by simply widening the beam. Back to Donnay. Donnay lost Borg in 1982 (that year again!) as an active member of their pro team, and moved to plan B. They seemed to be scraping for anything to make up for the lost hook of the effectively moot Borg Pro (yes, yes, Arias used it, but the game was moving to graphite just as Borg left). Donnay's only two flagship "boron" frames were 1984's Boron 25 and Boron 35 - the 35 even got some play on the pro tour with Pistolesi. All other Donnay "borons" may indeed be nice to hit with, play well, etc., but were hardly the Toyota Priuses of the Donnay line (where all the R & D went). Donnay continued to roll out Borg's name on frames into the later mid 1980s because it had been so marketable for Donnay before and, what the hell, he was still under contract and no one knew if he was coming back or not for a good 10 years. In short, I don't have an answer re: specs - suffice it to say that there were likely scores of 1980s Donnay frames that milked "Borg" and "boron," so seems predictable that the two terms would end up together on a frame as well.
Tennis Man
Hall of Fame
Thank you, Colpo. That's a nice piece of information. I loved the way the racquet plays and assume "boron" wasn't a marketing gimmick.
Thank you, Colpo. That's a nice piece of information. I loved the way the racquet plays and assume "boron" wasn't a marketing gimmick.
An 80s Donnay will generally play and feel quite good, no matter where in the line it was situated. The Borg Pro would still feel great. I had a pair of Supermid Ceramic in the late 1980s that played fantastic. Recall too that the Prince Boron and Wilson Ultra 2, as the definitive boron model examples, had only ~5% boron material, used as a stiffening agent at key frame points only and not throughout. One could clearly get away with titling a frame boron this or that with a minimum amount of that material.
Tennis Man
Hall of Fame
On the same note, do you know anything about this frame, Donnay Heritage Limited Edition?
Dino Lagaffe
Hall of Fame
teachingprotx
Legend
my pro growing up was sponsored by donnay so my first racquet was a silver model of the pro cynetic which he used...i was 12 years old weilding that thing it was also a 4 and 5/8s ...because he told me that the bigger the grip the better....i stayed with donnay for 3 years with various models my last was the donnay APOLLO!!!!!
my pro growing up was sponsored by donnay so my first racquet was a silver model of the pro cynetic which he used...i was 12 years old weilding that thing it was also a 4 and 5/8s ...because he told me that the bigger the grip the better....i stayed with donnay for 3 years with various models my last was the donnay APOLLO!!!!!
Loved the Apollo. Great feel, balance, and the sculpted grip was perfect for topspinning baseliners who like to keep the handle knob in the palm of the hand. Not a great frame for collecting because it's almost impossible to find them with the original assortment of butt cap weights, and because the finish was prone to chipping, but a great hitting frame.
