I like the looks of that stick. Reminds me of the standard size PK Copper Ace but maybe a slightly longer throat. Probably nice and flexy feeling.This was supposedly taken during WTC 1985, but he was wearing the same hair and same shirt as in the video (but different shorts), and likely wielding the same racquet, so maybe there is a mixup in dates, unless he kept the same look for two years. I believe he was holding a "Magister", a very typical Taiwanese thin-beam of the period.
Best items you found at thrift stores (Goodwill)?
- Thread starter flashfire276
- Start date
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
I do too. I wonder if it was ever sold in the states, because the only ones I’m pulling up online are in Europe. Seems odd the other mid end adidas graphites sourced from Taiwan made it to the US, but not this one, which was nice enough to make it into the hands of some pros. I already forgot the name, but a female pro used one of these things too.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
A friend and I are spending a bit of tonight reconditioning a bunch of rackets to be donated to the East St. Louis Community Tennis Association, about 35-40 rackets either donated to a local shop, or found by my friend and myself at thrift stores. Mostly late 80s-early 00s stuff, all need new grips, and some are really dusty/dirty so we’ll wipe em down. The oldest racket in the pile is a Dunlop Black Max and the newest is probably some 5 year old Dunlop tweener.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
You're giving away a Black Max!!! Lol, just kidding. Make sure you get a picture though for your archives.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Oh I took pics of my black max ages ago.
vndesu
Hall of Fame
Found this beauty while looking around today for 9.99. Adding to my radical collection lol
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Very nice. Always a treat to find a nice radical out in the wild.
Casey 1988
Rookie
I love the styling the old late 1990's to about 2003/2004 models had, even on the cheaper side if buying Aluminum even most of these have odd fade in and out sections of color that was popular at the time and often words that look like they were done in a graffiti style or a similar art gallery graffiti style somewhere on the model.
Found this beauty while looking around today for 9.99. Adding to my radical collection lol
I am using the old 25 inch long Jr ProKennex Ace Pro Power Contour in red and blue number 2, 4.25 inch grip made in Taiwain as my main model with the later version of same identical model yellow and black number 1, 4 inch grip made in China model as for when I get tired so....
see my avatar above my name for the model I use as main model.
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emkayenaim
Rookie
Found this beauty while looking around today for 9.99. Adding to my radical collection lol
Slava Dosedel approves the smiley stencil.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Met up to do a local trade for only the 2nd time in my collecting career. Traded my Wilson Sledge Hammer 3.8 for this. A Slazenger Challenge Plus, plus doesn't mean extended length in this case, but referring to the head size of 95sq in which was still considered mid-plus by most companies in the mid 1990's when I assume this came out. It's aesthetic kinda reminds me of the short lived Head Prestige that was silver with lime accents that I hear most people didn't care for. But I guess that opinion didn't make it to Slazenger before green-lighting this. Feels pretty nice in the hands, coming in at 340g strung. This is full graphite, not a fusion, though cheaper models in the Challenge Widebody line were. Has a very PWS looking bulge at 3 and 9, surprised Wilson let them get away with that. Buttcap code of KEA if that means something. Strung with some of my favorite synthetic gut, Prince 16g, and in 9.5/10 condition, I'm happy to have another Slaz in the pile. It'll get along nicely with my other Slaz frames, one of which I still haven't posted here yet. I have a backlog of about 5 frames again. Been a busy guy.
Pictars!
Pictars!
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
I've no idea if and how the Slazenger codes work, but it's clearly not related to the Wilson codes as that would be three different years!
After a bit of research, and seeing the similar Challenge Pro in the Slazenger thread, I can confirm a 1992-93 release date for this Plus model with listings through to at least 1995. It was quite a concentrated mid-range selection of at least Challenge 2000, Graphite, Pro, Plus, Comp, Demon (!), 1500, 1400, 1200, Match, Gold, Lady and Junior. From £40 to £80 in the UK, when the top of the range Mystiques, Phantoms and Silhouettes were £100-140. The Challenge 2000 was probably the only one you'd see in tennis shops, with the others in good department stores or mail-order catalogues. The 'non-PWS' OMS (Optimal Mass System) debuted in the 1988 Silhouette and Phantom and I believe it's a metal infused rubber, so mass and dampening is provided.
After a bit of research, and seeing the similar Challenge Pro in the Slazenger thread, I can confirm a 1992-93 release date for this Plus model with listings through to at least 1995. It was quite a concentrated mid-range selection of at least Challenge 2000, Graphite, Pro, Plus, Comp, Demon (!), 1500, 1400, 1200, Match, Gold, Lady and Junior. From £40 to £80 in the UK, when the top of the range Mystiques, Phantoms and Silhouettes were £100-140. The Challenge 2000 was probably the only one you'd see in tennis shops, with the others in good department stores or mail-order catalogues. The 'non-PWS' OMS (Optimal Mass System) debuted in the 1988 Silhouette and Phantom and I believe it's a metal infused rubber, so mass and dampening is provided.
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kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Blew 2 match points to lose in league play today. Ugh. First time that’s ever happened to me. Crazy score line of 6/1, 1/6, (10-12). I can try and blame my running out of gas on attending my local USTA banquet and having maybe 1 too many rum and cokes but I felt mostly fine. Had my chances. Actually started the match TB down 0-5, came back and even got up a mini break and had 9-7 on him before dumping a volley in the net that would’ve won me the match had it been 1in higher.
@Grafil Injection heres a Q for you. You know when Dunlop/Slazenger quit making rackets in Europe? I see those Jimmy Connors Panters pop up from time to time and they dated from 87-89, and were either made in West Germany or England. I don’t know which site lasted longer in terms of production but I don’t see many models from the 90’s from England or Germany for that matter.
@Grafil Injection heres a Q for you. You know when Dunlop/Slazenger quit making rackets in Europe? I see those Jimmy Connors Panters pop up from time to time and they dated from 87-89, and were either made in West Germany or England. I don’t know which site lasted longer in terms of production but I don’t see many models from the 90’s from England or Germany for that matter.
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Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Various articles state 1992 was the last year Dunlop\Slazenger made rackets in the UK, which would probably be just the MAX 200G by then.
I think all the wide body models were made in Asia from the late 80s, starting with the Impacts and Silhouettes, and hence the Panther Pro Ceramic and a couple of other thin beams would have been the last compression moulded models made in England up until about 89-90.
I don't know but I assume they would have moved the PPC to England as part of stopping manufacture in Germany around 1988, as the Max Competition seems to be short lived too (86-87).
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WYK
Hall of Fame
I live not far from the Slazengers. This is where all that sports money went:
Powerscourt Estate - Wikipedia
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
I live not far from the Slazengers. This is where all that sports money went:
Powerscourt Estate - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I guess that's where the Dunlop acquisition (1959) money went. Kinda had to buy it with a historic name like that!
Sanglier
Professional
Not only that, but the presumably asset-rich-cash-strapped seller was also a Major Wingfield (no relation to Walter Clopton), whose son was able to stay in the game by marrying the Slazenger heiress after the sale and producing his own heir.
Building an empire is hard. Holding on to it generation after generation is harder. The Wingfields made it to nine.
WYK
Hall of Fame
To this day, the hollow where Phelim O'Toole was murdered by Sir Richard Wingfield is marked by a small run off duct. They say a horseman comes forth from there for Samhain...
I took this photo there last October 28th..:
WYK
Hall of Fame
Alex Slazenger is the head gardener there now. He's a bit younger than myself. I've met him several times and found him a very amicable and respectful man.
His cousin, Sarah Slazenger, is the current manager. I've only met her a few times. A lovely lady, who takes no nonsense.
I recall a time I had upset her while driving about the estate on my motorbike like an idiot. I flew past her at the entrance, which startled her enough she flagged me down.
I had all my protective gear and goggles on, so I disguised my voice and did not turn the bike off so she would think it was someone else.
I did apologise, and said 'ma'am', which is a rare address to hear here in Ireland.
I think she suspected it was me, though.
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I can't stand the way you write a post.
10sbeast888
Hall of Fame
- almost everything in the proKennex Ace line..
- some Prince models brand new but somehow never painted, seems like some semi-finished product from the factory, sold on the bay for some coins.
- the most significantly is the i.Presitge MP xl... can't believe how much power it has and how much it helped the volleys.... so much so I have transition to the Presitige line.
- some Prince models brand new but somehow never painted, seems like some semi-finished product from the factory, sold on the bay for some coins.
- the most significantly is the i.Presitge MP xl... can't believe how much power it has and how much it helped the volleys.... so much so I have transition to the Presitige line.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
We can try and be civil. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess English isn’t his first language.
All the more reason to not be annoyed by a voice.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
I said I had another Slazenger find recently, and its one of their best. Found at PIAS, for the bargain basement price of $15, a Henman Pro Braided Xtreme. Aesthetically top shelf in my book, if only Tiger Tim had netted a Wimbledon or at least made a final these sticks might've been considered all time classics and sold better. But as it sits we'll have to settle for just another great hitting frame from Slaz. It's got some Gamma TNT pearlescent strings in it, though that effect only shows up in more natural lighting, strung tight as a board. The only downside about the Pro Braided's finish is that the clear coat tends to chip off if scratched, making any such scratches more noticeable than on other frames. Anyone else hit with this thing?
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Next on my backlog was this find. Information seems almost nonexistent about this almost fan-head-shaped-but-not-quite Fischer Break Point. (break point in your own favor one can hope). It's difficult to even find a picture of this specific model, it appears there's other frames sold under that name. Feels decent enough. Definitely a quirky frame I'm looking forward to testing, it even has Fischer synthetic gut string, didn't know they made any strings. 342g strung, factory tension range is oddly narrow, they phrase it as "56/54lbs" odd, usually they state it low to high tension.
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Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Always wondered what the Pro-Braided Extreme hit like? Is it also 1/2oz heavier as well as 28", so around 340g strung?
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
358g strung, SW is 351. Hits pretty great once I adjust to catching the ball a little further away from my body.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Aha, surprisingly beefy. That makes it similar to the 1-year earlier Revelation Braided Superlong, also at 28", 340g unstrung and 100% braided graphite. Although that was a 90sqi.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Next on my backlog was this find. Information seems almost nonexistent about this almost fan-head-shaped-but-not-quite Fischer Break Point. (break point in your own favor one can hope). It's difficult to even find a picture of this specific model, it appears there's other frames sold under that name. Feels decent enough. Definitely a quirky frame I'm looking forward to testing, it even has Fischer synthetic gut string, didn't know they made any strings. 342g strung, factory tension range is oddly narrow, they phrase it as "56/54lbs" odd, usually they state it low to high tension.
I'm fairly sure the 56/54lbs would be mains/crosses, as they started to realise that the longer mains needed to be a bit tighter in the 1990s.
Casey 1988
Rookie
Born in San Lius Obispo and everyone is right they could block my posts.
lol. ESL or just American.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
I found it to not be the easiest frame to play with. Sweetspot wasn’t where I was expecting. Hope you can have better luck than me. I strung it at 55lbs with Wilson sensation, I suggest something else lol.
Bisquick
Rookie
I want to try it out but I’m really enjoying the PS classics that I’m currently gaming. Interesting because I didn’t get along with the PS 97 LS? Just didn’t feel as solid/stable as the classic PS.
And besides- hitting with my friend tmrw at her fancy indoors club - she’s always on me about my racket whoring
sure I’ll hear about it if I show up with the Yonex in hand.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Bit of a noodle this Grays Harrier. The usual 356g, 32cm balance, but the flex must be around 50ra. I think it came out just when everyone else was moving to wide bodies.
Not a bad feel in the middle though. Unusually has 8 mains in the throat for a Taiwan 16x19.
Not a bad feel in the middle though. Unusually has 8 mains in the throat for a Taiwan 16x19.
dak95_00
Hall of Fame
I’m avoiding thrift stores for the time being. I had an issue in my basement which caused us to have to do a thorough clean and I DID IT!
I DONATED A BUNCH OF STUFF!!!!
Now I’m afraid to go visit for fear I might buy my old stuff back. I need to wait at least 6 months. Anyone else have this experience?
I DONATED A BUNCH OF STUFF!!!!
Now I’m afraid to go visit for fear I might buy my old stuff back. I need to wait at least 6 months. Anyone else have this experience?
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
No. Sounds awful. I like having rackets sitting around the house like fidget spinners. I’ll be sitting on the couch watching a movie. I’ll have a racket in my hand. In the living room on hold on the phone, with a different racket in my hand. Kitchen table? Yep probably another sitting there. Watching tennis? Oh you bet I have several nearby.
dak95_00
Hall of Fame
My wife gets so upset with me because I randomly get up and start swinging a random racquet.
She works nights a few nights per week. We’ve been married over 25 years and she asks, “Do you do this when I’m not home?!”
OF COURSE I DO!!!!
Another question from her as I was swinging and she was getting annoyed because I was “fanning air” at her. “What is that?” while looking at the relic in my hand.
“It’s an Arthur Ashe Competition.”
“So it’s worth money?”
“Maybe $20 max. I tried to sell it for $10-15 recently.”
“Sell it!”
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
I’m having a weird streak going. I’ve got simultaneously my longest winning and losing streak going in tennis.
I play in 2 leagues. 4.0 USTA and a more informal 4.0-4.5 league at one club, that league is called Nightowls. And I’ve been having a great run at Nightowls this fall, I’m 13-0. But in USTA I just tied my worst streak yesterday. I’ve lost 5 in a row there. I only lost 6 matches all of 2023 and now I’m up to 10 this year with more matches left to go. No idea why I keep seeming to have off days when USTA rolls around on Sunday, but play well at nighttime on weekdays.
I play in 2 leagues. 4.0 USTA and a more informal 4.0-4.5 league at one club, that league is called Nightowls. And I’ve been having a great run at Nightowls this fall, I’m 13-0. But in USTA I just tied my worst streak yesterday. I’ve lost 5 in a row there. I only lost 6 matches all of 2023 and now I’m up to 10 this year with more matches left to go. No idea why I keep seeming to have off days when USTA rolls around on Sunday, but play well at nighttime on weekdays.
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I mean a wife asking a question like that - that could be grounds for a divorce. This shows a complete lack of understanding of one's spouse...
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
This last week, I picked up a circa 1918 Wilson “Popular” in playable, unwarped condition, and a circa 1950’s-1960’s Dunlop spring-loaded press in beautiful condition.
From what I can gather, the “Popular” was one of the earliest Wilson-branded models, and was a bit downmarket. It’s actually rather lightweight and has a grooved wooden surfacing in the grip area, with a leather strip fastened at the butt’s circumference via tack nails. This specimen is engraved with the name of a certain Winifred, so the lighter weight would likely have been appreciated by the fairer sex, and the downmarket model may suggest a less serious, or younger player originally purchased it.
If only a 106 year old racquet could speak!
From what I can gather, the “Popular” was one of the earliest Wilson-branded models, and was a bit downmarket. It’s actually rather lightweight and has a grooved wooden surfacing in the grip area, with a leather strip fastened at the butt’s circumference via tack nails. This specimen is engraved with the name of a certain Winifred, so the lighter weight would likely have been appreciated by the fairer sex, and the downmarket model may suggest a less serious, or younger player originally purchased it.
If only a 106 year old racquet could speak!
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Love the two thickness options on the Dunlop presses.
The Wilson stick sounds interesting, but it's a bit difficult to search for a 'Popular' Wilson wood racket without getting hundreds of JKs.
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
There’s one like my new acquisition currently on the large ubiquitous auction site, for the princely (as opposed to Wilsonly or Headly) sum of $1,008!
I said I had another Slazenger find recently, and its one of their best. Found at PIAS, for the bargain basement price of $15, a Henman Pro Braided Xtreme. Aesthetically top shelf in my book, if only Tiger Tim had netted a Wimbledon or at least made a final these sticks might've been considered all time classics and sold better. But as it sits we'll have to settle for just another great hitting frame from Slaz. It's got some Gamma TNT pearlescent strings in it, though that effect only shows up in more natural lighting, strung tight as a board. The only downside about the Pro Braided's finish is that the clear coat tends to chip off if scratched, making any such scratches more noticeable than on other frames. Anyone else hit with this thing?
Sounds like it's averaging out for you.
Grafil Injection
Hall of Fame
Aha, I see it now. Great find.
Casey 1988
Rookie
And Duke models as well.
kevin qmto
Hall of Fame
Couple Princes I picked up in the weeks past. I'm not sure about the positioning of the Synergy Tour DB in Princes racket price hierarchy but I'm fairly certain the Comp Sport was entry level. I found about 3 other examples of models in their Sport Widebody series, a couple are aluminum, a couple are graphite fusions, and the Comp Sport appears to be a graphite fiberglass mix, while the Graphite Sport is apparently 100% graphite. Probably sold for under $100 in the mid 90's. Both of these frames are at the start of the trend where Prince stopped labeling the copyright year for when each frame debuted. Much to my timeline-oriented brain's disappointment, as I loved that feature on their frames.
As for the Synergy Tour DB, It hits like a good widebody aught to. Very little flex, good dampening and power when you start swinging out, and feels excellent on serves, perhaps thats what the DB does, or is that the Liquid Crystal Polymers job, or maybe that's me having no idea what either of those things actually are supposed to do. That's probably it. Has some of that ever common old school Prince syn gut in yellow. Didn't feel the need to rip it out. I guess I got distracted and forgot to take a top down photo of this one, whoops. Hopefully you get the idea.
Next is of course the Comp Sport. Aesthetically looks pretty nice, I like the darker blue grommets, buttcap, and head guard, and the fade is nice as well. I miss when decent paint work was also applied to cheaper sticks rather than solely the highest end models. It outweighs the Synergy Tour DB by a whole 2g. (352g strung vs 350g). 352g is certainly hefty for any entry level stick particularly one from this era. Initially fell into my hands with whatever Prince nylon came from the factory, I found it somewhat unpleasant to hit with. I felt it had a bit too much wobble on anything outside the sweetspot, it reminded me a little of the original USA version of the Prince Classic except not made of metal. Additionally it had a bit too much power and lacked spin generation in any meaningful sense, so I decided to rip out the strings and put in some of the just-released Gamma AMP Sapphire 16g at 55lbs. The difference was night and day for the better. Suddenly it became a spin machine and the feel improved 10 fold. Good enough that I plan on using it in a league match next week. Plus the color matched the frame so well that I went from being on the fence about selling it to putting it in my main gearbag.
As for the Synergy Tour DB, It hits like a good widebody aught to. Very little flex, good dampening and power when you start swinging out, and feels excellent on serves, perhaps thats what the DB does, or is that the Liquid Crystal Polymers job, or maybe that's me having no idea what either of those things actually are supposed to do. That's probably it. Has some of that ever common old school Prince syn gut in yellow. Didn't feel the need to rip it out. I guess I got distracted and forgot to take a top down photo of this one, whoops. Hopefully you get the idea.
Next is of course the Comp Sport. Aesthetically looks pretty nice, I like the darker blue grommets, buttcap, and head guard, and the fade is nice as well. I miss when decent paint work was also applied to cheaper sticks rather than solely the highest end models. It outweighs the Synergy Tour DB by a whole 2g. (352g strung vs 350g). 352g is certainly hefty for any entry level stick particularly one from this era. Initially fell into my hands with whatever Prince nylon came from the factory, I found it somewhat unpleasant to hit with. I felt it had a bit too much wobble on anything outside the sweetspot, it reminded me a little of the original USA version of the Prince Classic except not made of metal. Additionally it had a bit too much power and lacked spin generation in any meaningful sense, so I decided to rip out the strings and put in some of the just-released Gamma AMP Sapphire 16g at 55lbs. The difference was night and day for the better. Suddenly it became a spin machine and the feel improved 10 fold. Good enough that I plan on using it in a league match next week. Plus the color matched the frame so well that I went from being on the fence about selling it to putting it in my main gearbag.
