Do you remember.....?

wings56

wings56

Hall of Fame
Do you remember the first time you found out that players are not playing with their endorsed frames?
What led you to that? What was your reaction? How has that changed your view of the players and racquet makers?

I remember mine vividly...

It came to be from a harmless google search in high school that led me to this forum.

I was completely shocked. I was so naïve... I couldn't get enough of it. I had to know what every single player was using... what was really under there? Did so and so really switch to another brand!? What mods is this person using for claycourt season!? It kept me drawn in for so long.

I laugh now when I see testimonials from players about their racquet with such and such made up technology... how it has improved their game....

Share your experiences!
 
moon shot

moon shot

Hall of Fame
srvnvly said:
When Stefan Edberg endorsed the colorful now ProStaff 6.1, and it was obvious that he was using a painted Pro Staff 85.
Click to expand...

I can only guess Wilson hoped he would swap to that prostock 85 classic beam.

gFnx5Q7.jpg
 
moon shot

moon shot

Hall of Fame
I think my first inkling was when someone told me Andre's frame was 20x21 back in the 90s when I was in high school. Coming back into the sport around four years ago I noticed Murray's cap grommets and Isner's ports which lead me to this forum eventually. I'm still staggered at the scale this happens, that promising juniors get paintjobs. That even when a notable player switches brands and actually uses something remotely retail it is still altered for the next generation or completely dropped.
 
wings56

wings56

Hall of Fame
moon shot said:
I think my first inkling was when someone told me Andre's frame was 20x21 back in the 90s when I was in high school. Coming back into the sport around four years ago I noticed Murray's cap grommets and Isner's ports which lead me to this forum eventually. I'm still staggered at the scale this happens, that promising juniors get paintjobs. That even when a notable player switches brands and actually uses something remotely retail it is still altered for the next generation or completely dropped.
Click to expand...

Yes!
 
airchallenge2

airchallenge2

Hall of Fame
Never cared what players played with. I always knew I can never hit a ball like Rafa (for example) so why would I care about his frame?
 
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
I remember is Helena Sukova having her Kneissl White Star Pro Master painted like an Aero 20 or Mecir's wood/graphite racquets painted like a fully synthetic graphite racquet. Those were exceptions and not the rule like today.
 
moon shot

moon shot

Hall of Fame
PBODY99 said:
Rod Laver spray painting Dunlop Forts Gold when he endorsed CHEMOLD, which only had metal frames for sale.
Click to expand...

I had read somewhere that was just intended to promote the brand, not to deceive anyone as to what he was playing with. I have no clue if that is true though.
 
J

JW10S

Hall of Fame
moon shot said:
I had read somewhere that was just intended to promote the brand, not to deceive anyone as to what he was playing with. I have no clue if that is true though.
Click to expand...
Not quite true, Laver did indeed initially play with the Chemold aluminum racquets but went back to Dunlop Maxplys. Chemold hastely produced some low end wood racquets with Laver's name on them to save face and thus he was more of a brand ambassador. The association with Laver and Chemold did not last long.
 
moon shot

moon shot

Hall of Fame
I wonder when paintjobs reached critical mass, say 50% of tour. In the 90s there were several for sure but most seemed to play their dunlops, heads, and wilsons as what matched their mold at least. I would guess around 99-01 when Hypercarbon and Titanium were being pushed heavily.
 
B

BorgCash

Legend
vsbabolat said:
I remember is Helena Sukova having her Kneissl White Star Pro Master painted like an Aero 20 or Mecir's wood/graphite racquets painted like a fully synthetic graphite racquet. Those were exceptions and not the rule like today.
Click to expand...

Do you have the pictures? I have a picture of Jakob Hlasek playing with Aero 20, but is it real Aero or WSPM?
 
J

JW10S

Hall of Fame
JW10S said:
Not quite true, Laver did indeed initially play with the Chemold aluminum racquets but went back to Dunlop Maxplys. Chemold hastely produced some low end wood racquets with Laver's name on them to save face and thus he was more of a brand ambassador. The association with Laver and Chemold did not last long.
Click to expand...
Google image search for Laver shows some pics of him playing with the Chemold aluminum at Wimbledon, and if you scroll down far enough you can see the Chemold wood racquet with his name on it that they later put out.
 
MAX PLY

MAX PLY

Hall of Fame
Paint jobs go way back--it was even common in the wood days. Never cared . . . always based my preference on what I felt was suitable for me. Hate to burst bubbles but the same issue is also common in golf (custom shafts, grips and de-lofted irons), baseball (custom gloves and bats (and I am not including illegal corked bats)), hockey (custom sticks), football (custom helmets, pads, etc.) and so on. I also don't care if Roger drives a MB, whether Matthew McConaughey drives a Lincoln, or if George Clooney has a Nespresso (well, I have a Nespresso but not to be George Clooney--more Danny DeVito . . . Bottom line--I may not like a lot of pros' racquets and they may not like mine. My decisions are all mine.
 
airchallenge2

airchallenge2

Hall of Fame
jmacdaununder2 said:
You'll never have footwork like Agassi, and yet judging from your avatar...
Click to expand...


Hahahaha, that's funny. I'm a shoe designer and LOVE those Agassi shoes. I own 2 pairs of that specific model and never crossed my mind to play tennis in them. You do have a good point and you are right: my all time favorite shoes to play in are the adidas Stabil. And they are not even designed for tennis, they are European handball shoes.
 
MRfStop

MRfStop

Hall of Fame
I remember seeing Murray play on tv when I first started getting into playing. I noticed that the grommets on his racquet were different than the IG Radical that I had...did a google search and found all about paint jobs.
eUymhxg_d.jpg
 
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jmacdaununder2

jmacdaununder2

Legend
airchallenge2 said:
Hahahaha, that's funny. I'm a shoe designer and LOVE those Agassi shoes. I own 2 pairs of that specific model and never crossed my mind to play tennis in them. You do have a good point and you are right: my all time favorite shoes to play in are the adidas Stabil. And they are not even designed for tennis, they are European handball shoes.
Click to expand...
I found the Agassi's a little hard to play in to be honest; they felt a little jacked up and even slightly unstable - probably the visible/Max? Air - when shuffling sideways or especially backwards - a bit like wearing high heels on the court, not that I've ever done that, at least not that my wife knows...the lava ones in particular were the bees knees though. :)
 
airchallenge2

airchallenge2

Hall of Fame
brinkeguthrie said:
this thread brings to mind a couple of other 'disguised' products- i had read that Nastase's adidas frame was a painted dunlop, Sampra's "Tacchini" shoes were Wilsons, as were his initial Nikes. I don't know if that's true. Also the adidas Lendl's were at one point Kneissels.
Click to expand...

Totally right: Sampras' ST shoes were actually the Wilson Pro Staff model. Same thing with the very first round of nike shoes that Pete wore. Only for a very short time though. Nike managed to get Sampras out of those Pro Staff's.
 
WarrenMP

WarrenMP

Professional
More than just the racquets. Shoes, shirts, etc. When I see people with the nike vapors, I tell them that isn't the shoe Fed plays with. That really mess with their head. lol
 
cluckcluck

cluckcluck

Hall of Fame
I remember my first time; when the Cortex came out on the Aero Pro. Rafa never made the switch and Babolat painted the cortex onto his OG APD. Then it was all downhill from there.
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Found out when I started reading about those Head Flexpoints around 2006. I was just getting into tennis at the time and thought it was the coolest thing until I found out none of the pros were actually using them (with good reason). That's when I first started lurking on this forum.
 
airchallenge2

airchallenge2

Hall of Fame
vsbabolat said:
Pete did wear real Sergio Tacchini shoes in addition to the paint jobbed Wilson Pro Staff shoes.
85CmPnG.jpg

WujKE16.jpg

Isiowar.jpg
Click to expand...

Thank you for finding these photos! Obviously he got to wear real ST shoes at some point. I am not sure, Pete was famous for getting shin split injuries, right? Was that because of the ST shoes or just a specific problem of Pete. I love S. Tacchini brand, so that's not the reason I asked.
 
14OuncesStrung

14OuncesStrung

Professional
I never cared about what racquet a certain pro is using. I only care about what racquet I happen to be using at the time and what racquets I'd like to try in the future.
 
heninfan99

heninfan99

Talk Tennis Guru
I don't like it. I feel it's false advertising but it doesn't bother me enough to start a petition or anything. I learned that Henin wasn't using the nTour soon after buying a pair of them on a Father's Day sale at Sports Authority. I enjoyed those racquets & they turned out to be great.
 
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
airchallenge2 said:
Thank you for finding these photos! Obviously he got to wear real ST shoes at some point. I am not sure, Pete was famous for getting shin split injuries, right? Was that because of the ST shoes or just a specific problem of Pete. I love S. Tacchini brand, so that's not the reason I asked.
Click to expand...
Yeah, he was known for having shin splints. I dont know what the cause was.
 
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JOSHL

JOSHL

Hall of Fame
RCA open in the mid nineties I was in high school and I can't remember the brands or the player but I noticed the butt cap not matching the logo on his strings and I thought it was so strange!
 
suwanee4712

suwanee4712

Professional
I remember Tracy Austin having a signature metal frame Spalding racket that she, of course, did not play with. But the first time I really thought about it was when Martina blacked out the Dunlop. That got so much attention.
 
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
suwanee4712 said:
I remember Tracy Austin having a signature metal frame Spalding racket that she, of course, did not play with. But the first time I really thought about it was when Martina blacked out the Dunlop. That got so much attention.
Click to expand...
Spalding made the Spalding Tracy Austin Autograph that was wood, that she used and they sold.
 
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