Yeah, I think it wasn't until the late 1980s that they realised a flat-topped hoop makes more sense for squash. Or perhaps it wasn't until then that they could build them with adequate stiffness and not too much weight / swing-weight.
I would love to have one of those someday. Lately I have been using a Fischer or a Prince. Stateside, and it seems acutely here in my sector of California, squash is a rather obscure sport and not well supported.
I’ll be honest. I have no idea where squash players play in STL. The last time I saw squash being played was when I was in college. My university rec. center had a court. And usually the only people using it were foreign exchange students. Though at Play it Again Sports shops, they almost always have a small section of new and used squash stuff.
I guess you guys have historically played Racketball instead of squash, but the World Championships are apparently in Chicago often. Are there lots of Racketball courts?
There are. Even a decent amount of outdoor courts in public parks.
Not sure if there are any in the UK. I think they 'repurpose' squash courts here.
Yeah, and all sorts of other injuries! Tennis is so much more civilised!
Three-walled Handball courts, great to practice tennis during the winter. Even Snowzilla approves!
My dad said they used to play high school tennis matches indoors on wood gym floors if it rained (this was 1974-78). He even said their school actually had tennis specific lines painted on the basketball court floor for such purposes. They had only 2 courts and it took forever to get all the matches played. (Varsity only, JV was canceled if it rained because screw them I guess lol).
Very fast courts because the ball's felt cannot grab the surface and it slides.
Yep. At least this was back in the wood era and since they didn’t hit that hard, it was more playable than it would be now.
Hmmm… tempting. However, the squash frames seem to be strung quite a bit more loosely than a tennis racket, and are designed to strike a ball that only weighs 23-25g, where a regulation tennis ball is 56-59.4g—over twice as heavy. These two factors suggest to me that the squash racket hitting tennis balls would feel very flimsy and might not be structurally up to the demands for very long.
Nice find! I bought one of these back in the 90's from a big-box sporting goods store - I think it was Sports Authority for around $25 and was pre-strung. I never had much luck using it. I still have in my collection and got Mats Wilander to sign it - even though he never used this frame. He asked me "where in the hell did you get this?" LOL.I don't see a single Rossignol racket in any store for 2 straight years, then find two a couple weeks apart, go figure. This one's a later widebody version. I guess its called the Quantum, very thin beam, light at 312g strung but swingweight of 336g. It's in impeccable condition, the head guard is near totally unblemished, I don't think it was ever spun for serve. Somehow I almost don't believe this thing is 110sq in, it just doesn't seem possible, seems smaller.
Interesting. I had no idea Rossi’s were ever seen in big box stores here in the states. I remember when Pro Kennex’s were but that ended a long time ago. These days it’s all just Wilson, Babolat, and Head at the remaining big box stores that sell tennis. (And Prince at Dick’s Sporting goods because I think they have a special arrangement).
It was the first and only time I ever saw a Rossignol frame in a US retail store and I'm pretty sure it was the only model I saw amongst the racks of Wilson, Head, and Prince frames.
What you can see with the Toalson and the Saber is they have the usual tennis handle size and shaft width, and I think they used to say 'the shaft is the engine of the racket'. Whereas, squash handles are typically 3 5/8 size and the shafts are thin, so a lot less power is transmitted, but a lot more speed and control is possible. So you would need to expand the circumference of the squash racket handle and shaft by about 1-2cm to play tennis with it.
Hmmm… tempting. However, the squash frames seem to be strung quite a bit more loosely than a tennis racket, and are designed to strike a ball that only weighs 23-25g, where a regulation tennis ball is 56-59.4g—over twice as heavy. These two factors suggest to me that the squash racket hitting tennis balls would feel very flimsy and might not be structurally up to the demands for very long.
But by all means, for the sake of science and in the bold spirits of both Captain Kirk (“to boldly go where no man has gone before”) and George Mallory (“because it’s there”), give it a try and file a full report here!
Why hold back? Start with a badminton racket! Make sure you wear a wrist brace though!
I guess if the opponent also uses a squash racket, the impact forces should be safe.
Jimmy Connors played on a wood court growing up which is cited as a reason for his compact stroke she was taught by his mother & Grandmother.
I highly recommend a 10 minutes mini-tennis warm up in each session if heavy midsizes aren't your usual stick. After a month or so you should be used to the extra concentration requirements.
Commit to the 200G for at least a month, then you'll know. A good session is a 20 minute start with the Max, then move on to a 'normal' racket which will seem easy, and finish back with the max when you are relaxed and you'll soon be revelling in the comfort and precision.
I will definitely keep it in my bag it was fun to hit with but my match racquet will remain the aeropro drive probably. I found two at thrift stores in short succession and then two more for bargain prices off auction sites so I thought well I have four now so I could just as well make it my main stick. It took some time to get used to it coming from the pro staff 6.1 95 but the Babolat was just easier to play with eventually.
Aha, that's a big change.
Yes I just wanted some easy power on some of my service games. I left all my Babolats at home so I wasn't tempted by them.
Recall switching from the MAX200G to the Yonex SRD-90 & 95. Great sticks....................No longer worthy
I have a feeling I will start to buy every Yonex I see soon I only have one cheap thrift store find, lightweight 270 g 98 sq inch RDS006 but to my great surprise I play really well with it despite the low weight. They are good racquets.
Still have a RDX-500 mid & mp. Not worthy Fav was/is the NSRQ 7 100 and any of Martina Hingis' racquets
I do that too because my inner hipster hates them for being too mainstream.
That’s 1990When Play it Again Sports dries up, Savers picks up the slack for me recently. 2 locations, 3 finds yesterday, all for $4.99 each.
First up, Head Aspire 660. Interesting Austrian made 'Star Trek font' era frame, likely from the early 90s. I was most shocked to see only minor cracking on the throat racket stats sticker. Most Head frames (even new old stock ones) from this era are a mosaic of cracks by now. Thicker beam than the Malaysian made Epic 660 I found a couple months back, but fantastic paint work. My bright studio washes out some of the glitter colors, under more natural light, there's some magenta sparkle going on here, which I quite like. Has the buttcap that I personally feel is Head's most iconic in shape and colors, with '500' stamped into it; interesting. Hopefully it plays well, Head made like a billion different named rackets during the 5 years or so of their super widebody days.
1990 does indeed qualify as early 90s in my book.
Yes, I was just giving a specific year because of the butt-cap sticker and graphics of the frame. If you’re not interested that’s okay.
No no I am, don’t misunderstand me lol.
My other Max 200 G this one I will have to play with replacement grip only or the grip size will be too big. I'm not confident playing with the bare leather grip so had to remove that. This was also a thrift store find from a couple of years ago and I paid 15 dollars for it. Definitely need to change the strings I tried to play with them before didn't work out well. This racquet in general though is in better condition still has all the gold paint on. Any string recommendations and tension range?
Lol they probably thought it was real gold!
