retrowagen
Hall of Fame
I really enjoy the hobby many of us share in studying, collecting, and even using classic and vintage tennis equipment. It's a form of time travel to a simpler time and a connection to the rich history of the sport we all feel so passionately about. I'm glad that from time to time I can offer what little information or experience I have; one of life's best pleasures is to be of helpful service to others.
I'm saddened when good information gets buried in the midst of opinion or ego battles on forums such as this; when the "noise to signal ratio" goes way out of whack. Online 'Hobby' forums are indeed a strange phenomenon, gathering communities of people with the same general interest from all over the globe and from every walk of life, and each with widely disparate experiences and opinions on the same general field of interest. And certainly the specific field of tennis gear is subject to much preference and opinion: one person's favourite racquet may certainly not appeal to another at all, in regards to colour, size, playability, weight, balance, brand status, pro endorsing it, pro not endorsing it, etc. Indeed, in some way forums to discuss tennis equipment might be as silly in concept as a forum to discuss toothpaste (an in all honesty, toothpaste ought to be a far more important part of our daily lives, shouldn't it?)
Let's all offer up to the community here an extra bit more decorum and forebearance. Facts can certainly be debated for truth and clarified - that certainly can be edifying to all who check in and read - but opinion and philosophy should be easily identified and respected as such. Let's keep this a friendly and collegial place, shall we?
Re: Collecting: As I get into what's considered Middle Age of my life, I've started simplifying out of sheer necessity: the more one has, the harder it is to take care of it or hang on to it. My personal collection of tennis racquets is down to those which I am actually using, and those which have historical value to me personally. I'm afraid I have concluded that while there are many others that are quite interesting to have and to look at, for me the usefulness of it as a consumer good is not there, and I have never really embraced tennis gear as art - just my preference. On the "Use It Versus Display It" issue, I check in personally as a use it or get rid of it guy. However, if a friend really wants to start a museum, I'd advise him or her to get one good "user" of a model in question, and one brand new one to keep for display. Having come from the world of collecing and restoring classic sports cars in the last decade (now THAT is a nutty community!), I've seen there is a certain value of preserving perfect specimens of these things in museums, so they can be studied as objets d' art and be archived for posterity; however, to see the car in question brought out on a race track and used in the context of its designed purpose brings much more enjoyment and amazement to many. Both schools of thought have their place. However, as I walked through the International Tennis Hall of Fame this year, enjoying the exhibits of tennis gear from the luminaries of the sport, I couldn't help that all of the equipment on display was used. Hardcore collectors call that "provenance:" the history behind the object. Certainly the ITHOF could have obtained and displayed one of the "deadstock," never used Adidas Lendl GTX Pros obtained from Bosworth, but one actually scuffed up during Lendl's 1984 Roland Garros final is a far more telling and interesting item. However, in the end, both are still only tennis racquets. Talk to a touring pro, and odds are he or she will be fairly nonchelant about the racquet, in the same way a carpenter might be about his tape measure, or a civil engineer might be about his computer. To me the best part of collecting older equipment is in the using of it, the sampling of it. On court it helps one understand how tennis used to be played (as constrained by the equipment of the time), and that magically creates a sympathy that reminds one of their place in the rich and long history of the game. It seems to me that modern equipment is "instant gratification" in this regard; it's tailored for modern trends and probably has little historical relevance, as though tennis was only invented in the mid-1990's. However, that's OK, and understandable - to take ownership of something long-running, every generation seems to have to assert that it does it better than any before it. Today's "Modern Game" with its modern equipment will be superceded by tomorrow's Modern Game with its modern equipment.. As Solomon (King, not Harrold) noted, "There is nothing new under the sun."
In the greater scheme of life, there are far more important things to worry oneself about, and this forum is a pleasant escape to a beloved hobby. So let's please keep it pleasant!
Thanks to one and all,
Your tennis friend
Retro.
I'm saddened when good information gets buried in the midst of opinion or ego battles on forums such as this; when the "noise to signal ratio" goes way out of whack. Online 'Hobby' forums are indeed a strange phenomenon, gathering communities of people with the same general interest from all over the globe and from every walk of life, and each with widely disparate experiences and opinions on the same general field of interest. And certainly the specific field of tennis gear is subject to much preference and opinion: one person's favourite racquet may certainly not appeal to another at all, in regards to colour, size, playability, weight, balance, brand status, pro endorsing it, pro not endorsing it, etc. Indeed, in some way forums to discuss tennis equipment might be as silly in concept as a forum to discuss toothpaste (an in all honesty, toothpaste ought to be a far more important part of our daily lives, shouldn't it?)
Let's all offer up to the community here an extra bit more decorum and forebearance. Facts can certainly be debated for truth and clarified - that certainly can be edifying to all who check in and read - but opinion and philosophy should be easily identified and respected as such. Let's keep this a friendly and collegial place, shall we?
Re: Collecting: As I get into what's considered Middle Age of my life, I've started simplifying out of sheer necessity: the more one has, the harder it is to take care of it or hang on to it. My personal collection of tennis racquets is down to those which I am actually using, and those which have historical value to me personally. I'm afraid I have concluded that while there are many others that are quite interesting to have and to look at, for me the usefulness of it as a consumer good is not there, and I have never really embraced tennis gear as art - just my preference. On the "Use It Versus Display It" issue, I check in personally as a use it or get rid of it guy. However, if a friend really wants to start a museum, I'd advise him or her to get one good "user" of a model in question, and one brand new one to keep for display. Having come from the world of collecing and restoring classic sports cars in the last decade (now THAT is a nutty community!), I've seen there is a certain value of preserving perfect specimens of these things in museums, so they can be studied as objets d' art and be archived for posterity; however, to see the car in question brought out on a race track and used in the context of its designed purpose brings much more enjoyment and amazement to many. Both schools of thought have their place. However, as I walked through the International Tennis Hall of Fame this year, enjoying the exhibits of tennis gear from the luminaries of the sport, I couldn't help that all of the equipment on display was used. Hardcore collectors call that "provenance:" the history behind the object. Certainly the ITHOF could have obtained and displayed one of the "deadstock," never used Adidas Lendl GTX Pros obtained from Bosworth, but one actually scuffed up during Lendl's 1984 Roland Garros final is a far more telling and interesting item. However, in the end, both are still only tennis racquets. Talk to a touring pro, and odds are he or she will be fairly nonchelant about the racquet, in the same way a carpenter might be about his tape measure, or a civil engineer might be about his computer. To me the best part of collecting older equipment is in the using of it, the sampling of it. On court it helps one understand how tennis used to be played (as constrained by the equipment of the time), and that magically creates a sympathy that reminds one of their place in the rich and long history of the game. It seems to me that modern equipment is "instant gratification" in this regard; it's tailored for modern trends and probably has little historical relevance, as though tennis was only invented in the mid-1990's. However, that's OK, and understandable - to take ownership of something long-running, every generation seems to have to assert that it does it better than any before it. Today's "Modern Game" with its modern equipment will be superceded by tomorrow's Modern Game with its modern equipment.. As Solomon (King, not Harrold) noted, "There is nothing new under the sun."
In the greater scheme of life, there are far more important things to worry oneself about, and this forum is a pleasant escape to a beloved hobby. So let's please keep it pleasant!
Thanks to one and all,
Your tennis friend
Retro.
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