First Racket

LOBALOT said:
I do not actually recall any clips on the end of the strings. I think the surface tension of the oil kept the oil inside the string. When the string sheered/snapped is when the oil got all over but again it was many years ago.
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The metal plugs were there. Problem was stringing with two-piece methods...oil would drip out of the cut ends and get all over everything if you weren't careful.
I think the Head string was just called Oil-Filled Nylon. The idea behind the oil was to maintain tension as the oil would not compress as the string "tried" to lose tension over time.
There were a lot of interesting string ideas that came out of the '70s and '80s...some stood the test of time, others not so much ;)

The rackets of the same period were much more interesting than the mass-produced tubes of this century. Early composites, sandwich construction, metal frames that actually played well(Can't even guess how many Red Head Pros and Prince Pros were used by tournament and college players back then)...lots of creativity back then, all in the name of Power AND Control!!!! Sound familiar???
 
My first racquet was a Chemold steel racquet! It was pretty good actually; I think that Laver played with it. I got it for Christmas. I had a relative who played tournaments and was regionally ranked and manufacturers would give her free racquets to play test and hopefully switch to but she was a devotee of the Dunlop Maxply and later, a Head Edge. So I got the racquet she did not want. The first racquet I actually purchased was a ProKennex Golden Ace. For some reason, I always played best with either wood or metal racquets - they had great feel and did not get pushed around. Graphite frames were always too stiff and/or too light - they changed the game and I struggled to be competitive and later with injuries due to their stiffness.
 
coachrick said:
The metal plugs were there. Problem was stringing with two-piece methods...oil would drip out of the cut ends and get all over everything if you weren't careful.
I think the Head string was just called Oil-Filled Nylon. The idea behind the oil was to maintain tension as the oil would not compress as the string "tried" to lose tension over time.
There were a lot of interesting string ideas that came out of the '70s and '80s...some stood the test of time, others not so much ;)

The rackets of the same period were much more interesting than the mass-produced tubes of this century. Early composites, sandwich construction, metal frames that actually played well(Can't even guess how many Red Head Pros and Prince Pros were used by tournament and college players back then)...lots of creativity back then, all in the name of Power AND Control!!!! Sound familiar???
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Thanks!

The string I recall playing with was red with texture to mimic natural gut on the outside. It looked awesome paired with my fiberglass Yamaha YFG Black with Red with White Text on the racquet. A member of this forum sold me 2 of them earlier this year. I have strung up one and hit with it on occasion and when it is not in use I hang it in my family room. The other I have left in it's original packaging.
 
LOBALOT said:
Thanks!

The string I recall playing with was red with texture to mimic natural gut on the outside. It looked awesome paired with my fiberglass Yamaha YFG Black with Red with White Text on the racquet. A member of this forum sold me 2 of them earlier this year. I have strung up one and hit with it on occasion and when it is not in use I hang it in my family room. The other I have left in it's original packaging.
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I played the 30 for a bit and switched to the YFG 50 for a while. Sold a BUNCH of those whistling things!!! John Sadri was using the red when NC State visited South Carolina for a match. That guy could absolutely SMOKE a serve with that racket!!
 
coachrick said:
I played the 30 for a bit and switched to the YFG 50 for a while. Sold a BUNCH of those whistling things!!! John Sadri was using the red when NC State visited South Carolina for a match. That guy could absolutely SMOKE a serve with that racket!!
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I was (and still am primarily a dubs player. I am more an athlete playing tennis vs. a tennis player.). As a kid I had a pretty big serve and good hands around the net. I could crack a serve with that racquet.
 
I was rocking the Dunlop Marty Riessen, the white and brown frame with Marty's headshot, long hair and the porn-stache! I bought it @ K-Mart for $12.99.

il-570x-N-718741881-i9z1.jpg
 
Bancroft Borg. Bought for $25 brand new in 1975 from a tennis shop in Berkeley. I loved that racquet.
 
Prince Pro 110 from a Service Merchandise store.
All black frame with gold lettering.
Mostly "aluminum" with a leather grip.

Made the tennis team my junior year with it and then my parents bought me a Prince CTS Precision OS (purple frame) as a b-day present before senior year for good grades and for moving up to #2 player on the team.
I still have that CTS Precision with purple Prince Syn Gut which was strung in 1997.
The Prince Pro 110 was given to the DC Tennis and Education Foundation at the tournament in DC at Rock Creek Park. Used to be called the Legg Mason and now the Citi Open.
 
prince equipe.
Then to a Dunlop 200GMW for years & years.
My bag got ripped off and I went on a demo frenzy for a few years before settling on the Becker Melbourne, pretty steadily since 2012.
 
My first racquet is on the left, a Jack Kramer Autograph Junior. My mom's first racquet is on the right and my grandmother's, undoubtedly, only racquet is in the middle. I found these when I was cleaning out my mom's house. I took the picture as a memento but threw out the racquets, along with my junior trophies she had saved. She never missed a match.
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I have kept at least one of each racquet that I have played with in the past 45 years, with several notable exceptions. I take one out every once it a while just for fun. My progression starting at age 10 is as follows: Cheap John Newcombe Autograph (Rawlings??)>Head Master>Head Ashe Comp 1>Snauwaert Gottfried Autograph (anyone else gone from a composite back to wood? Bad move)>Prince Pro>Prince Original Graphite (no grommets, the GOAT)>Wilson Profile (POS worst frame ever, screwed up my strokes for ages)>Head Pro Tour 280 (another GOAT)>Volkl C9 Pro>Volkl Tour 9 (awful)>Volkl Catapult 6>Head Speed MP>Head Prestige Pro>Head Gravity Pro (awesome).
 
Plainsman83 said:
I have kept at least one of each racquet that I have played with in the past 45 years, with several notable exceptions. I take one out every once it a while just for fun. My progression starting at age 10 is as follows: Cheap John Newcombe Autograph (Rawlings??)>Head Master>Head Ashe Comp 1>Snauwaert Gottfried Autograph (anyone else gone from a composite back to wood? Bad move)>Prince Pro>Prince Original Graphite (no grommets, the GOAT)>Wilson Profile (POS worst frame ever, screwed up my strokes for ages)>Head Pro Tour 280 (another GOAT)>Volkl C9 Pro>Volkl Tour 9 (awful)>Volkl Catapult 6>Head Speed MP>Head Prestige Pro>Head Gravity Pro (awesome).
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Pretty sure if I had one of every model I played with over 35+ years, the total would exceed the number of vintage rackets in my "collection" as it sits(4 dozen). I was a bit of a racket junkie(but...I was in the business, so there's that ;) ).

The Wilson Profile and Cat 6 don't fit, that's for sure :)
 
Donnay aluminum then donnay ceramic , then donnay apollo , then fox wb , prince CTS approach, prince graphite 2, Wilson 6.1 classic ,
Puma super, Estusa pro van tech , puma super again , Wilson 85 pro staff , puma super again , Wilson pro staff 85 again , rossignol f200, Wilson 95 pro staff 6.0, Wilson courier 95 pro staff . Quit tennis for 4 years .
Became a teaching pro Then till now .. way too many . Don’t have enuff time to write :)
 
My first racket was a Wilson Hammer 6.4 Power Holes OS Stretch.
Now, i'm playing Head Graphene Extreme 360.
Played with a few rackets during the last 20 years: Head Ti. Radical MP, Head I.Radical OS, Head I.Prestige, Wilson Pro Staff Tour 90, Babolat Pure Storm, Head Microgel Radical MP, Wilson Pro Staff BLX Six.One 95, Wilson Blade 98S, Prince Tour 100 16x18 and Yonex Ezone 98 (2018).
 
coachrick said:
Pretty sure if I had one of every model I played with over 35+ years, the total would exceed the number of vintage rackets in my "collection" as it sits(4 dozen). I was a bit of a racket junkie(but...I was in the business, so there's that ;) ).

The Wilson Profile and Cat 6 don't fit, that's for sure :)
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The Profile was a huge mistake driven by moving from hard courts at high altitude to clay at sea level. I mistakenly thought I needed more power since I wasn't putting balls away like I used to. The Profile had just been introduced and a couple guys on my league team had switched to them. Worst tennis choice in my life. The Cat 6 was better than you would think. I was coming back from an injury induced layoff and needed something with a bit of free power until I could get back to full strength and it did the job.

Like coachrick I played with a YFG50 for a bit but I didn't include it in my list. It was my Dad's frame and it really was not the right racquet for him so I tried it for a month or two when I was a teenager. Never forget that whistling sound (the YFG70 was even louder). I still have one and strung it up and hit with it one weekend a while back. That head is really small but it felt great when you connect. A couple guys in my group tried it and the only ones who could hit with it were those who learned with traditional small head racquets. The younger guys really had a hard time making solid contact. Fun stuff.
 
I started with a wooden Slazenger that was sawed down to junior sized. I used that until the butt cap exploded, and got an aluminum Prince Jr. When it looked like this was something I was going to stick with for awhile, my parents got me a Prince Jr Comp for Easter. From there on its been a wide collection of Prince, Puma, Wilson, Head, Yonex, Gamma, and Babolat. Currently I'm using a Head Graphene 360+ Prestige MP, but I rarely have it in my hand as I'm usually playtesting new demos so I can provide decent recommendations to members looking for new racquets.
 
First Rackets:
1) Snauwaert Mini
2) Sirtlamina
3) Sirtflex
4) Head Professional

Now:
Played Bancroft BJK Personal and Snauwaert Golden Mid today. Tomorrow planning some Donnay and - thanx to this thread - Head Professional.

Did I change a lot?
Hmmmm, I will discuss this with my shrink; cool idea, thanx again.
 
StringGuruMRT said:
I started with a wooden Slazenger that was sawed down to junior sized. I used that until the butt cap exploded, and got an aluminum Prince Jr. When it looked like this was something I was going to stick with for awhile, my parents got me a Prince Jr Comp for Easter. From there on its been a wide collection of Prince, Puma, Wilson, Head, Yonex, Gamma, and Babolat. Currently I'm using a Head Graphene 360+ Prestige MP, but I rarely have it in my hand as I'm usually playtesting new demos so I can provide decent recommendations to members looking for new racquets.
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I’ve often wanted to hit with that prince JR comp . Oversize yes? Dark blue or black with some color blocks on the 3 and 9 o’clock ? 26 or 25 ?
 
Some cheap heavy woody, maybe Chinese... Ruined my wrist with it...

Now, alternate between few Prince models and Head Ti Rad Team.
 
teachingprotx said:
I’ve often wanted to hit with that prince JR comp . Oversize yes? Dark blue or black with some color blocks on the 3 and 9 o’clock ? 26 or 25 ?
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It was black with a couple stripes running from the throat to the head. Very similar to the Graphite Comp. I don't know if it was a 25 or 26.
 
1st--Slazenger Challenge #1 2nd--Wilson t3000 3rd--PDP Open 4th--Head "Red Head" Pro 5th--Arthur Ashe Comp 6th--Yonex 8700 (green) 7th--Snauwaert Boronite II 8th--Garcia Graphite Comp Also tried a Bancroft Bamboo shaft Special, Then, graphite took over.
 
My first racquet, in what I will call my modern era, was a Prince Shark O3. I played as a kid just for fun and then picked up the sport again YEARS later in 2012. It is a little embarrassing how much I have spent on racquets in the last 8 years but there are worse ways to blow disposable income. :) If I recall correctly, I went Prince Shark O3, Prince Hornet, Babolat Pure Drive, Babolat Pure Storm GT LTD, Head Microgel Radical, Babolat Pure Drive Tour, Prince Textreme Tour 100T, RF97A, Wilson Blade v7, and now a 2020 Yonex Ezone 100. I still rotate between the last 4 and some were used when I got them.
 
LOBALOT said:
Whatever happened to Bancroft?
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I'm sure there were other factors; but they just didn't keep up with material changes in the game(small pun). A little bit like Davis, they had a rep and following; but couldn't capitalize when composites took over. I had a Bancroft Scorpion for a minute; but it might as well have been a Davis, Spalding, Snauwaert, or other brand that was slow to address the market changes.
 
coachrick said:
I'm sure there were other factors; but they just didn't keep up with material changes in the game(small pun). A little bit like Davis, they had a rep and following; but couldn't capitalize when composites took over. I had a Bancroft Scorpion for a minute; but it might as well have been a Davis, Spalding, Snauwaert, or other brand that was slow to address the market changes.
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That is a good point.
 
My first racquet was a Rossignol Strato. My second racquet was a Kennex Bronze Ace. Since then I've gone through a lot of iterations of different racquets. My strokes are sort of old school where my topspin comes from driving through the ball instead of from attempting to strike up radically on it, so I can still play with small frames. Haven't bought a good woodie to tinker with and may never will. I have a 73 sq in graphite racquet that is plenty old school.
 
My first was a wooden Dunlop. Could it have been called Explorer, maybe? I know there was a decal of a ship on it. Then came two junior alu frames. Quite a change from the wooden one. Then came literally hundreds of racquets... Nowadays I try new/newer frames that seem appealing, but most often I use the classics in my collection.
 
Prince Ceramic (white) racket that was given to me to get me on the court. Played racketball for years and got into tennis and never looked back.
 
Winners or Errors said:
My first racquet was a Rossignol Strato. My second racquet was a Kennex Bronze Ace. Since then I've gone through a lot of iterations of different racquets. My strokes are sort of old school where my topspin comes from driving through the ball instead of from attempting to strike up radically on it, so I can still play with small frames. Haven't bought a good woodie to tinker with and may never will. I have a 73 sq in graphite racquet that is plenty old school.
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I have a Rossignol Strato. If I want to hit with a woodie on a particular day, this is the one I take out.
 
The first racquet I used as a kid was the Ashe Competition 2 (my parents let me borrow theirs for lessons).

The first racquet that was 'mine' was the Yonex R-22 'Rexking'.

My current racquet is the Yonex VCORE 98 +.

I didn't change a lot (maybe every 3-4 years)...until I joined TT...
 
McLovin said:
The first racquet I used as a kid was the Ashe Competition 2 (my parents let me borrow theirs for lessons).

The first racquet that was 'mine' was the Yonex R-22 'Rexking'.

My current racquet is the Yonex VCORE 98 +.

I didn't change a lot (maybe every 3-4 years)...until I joined TT...
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The R-22 was a sweet racquet. I had a buddy with one back in the day.
 
My first racket was a $20 Pro Kennex from Kmart that I played through high school and a bit into college with. It broke in transport between home and college so I changed to a Prince TT Warrior OS. During this time I demoed quite a few rackets. I also taught my roommate tennis and joined the tennis club. My roommate was tall and strong, so we switched him to a Wilson PS 6.0 85 leaded up like Sampras' racket. For kicks I hit with his racket and loved it. Eventually I switched to a Wilson Pro Staff Tour 90. Along the way I bought and briefly played with a Dunlop HM 300G, Prince Precision Response 97 and Yonex MP-1 Tour 90. Got a summertime job coaching kids' tennis, and picked up an nCode 6.1 95 16x18--good for feeding, but I always went back to the Tour 90 for playing. Recently sold the nCode and bought a BLX 6.1 95 16x18. Didn't really like that. Bought a Pro Staff Tour 95 on a whim near the end of this past season and loved it. Going to test it a bit more next season before I commit to the switch.

This is a 25 year journey.
 
Winners or Errors said:
The R-22 was a sweet racquet. I had a buddy with one back in the day.
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I had two until not too long ago and I have to say they weren't anything special. Slightly shorter than the standard 27" (26.75 I think), and unstable. The Rx-32 was a better racket and their contemporary, the Max 200G was light years better.
 
Started with one of those cheapie Wilson Titanium frames as a kid (it had a picture of Sampras on an insert; ones with Agassi on it looked kinda weird), but my first real racquet came in high school, a Wilson Graphite Aggressor 95 that a friend found in the trash at a local public court. Hit with that and fell in love with heavy, flexy, classic frames as they tamed the power on my groundstrokes and felt so damn good. Still can't play with any of the newer, lighter frames. Too powerful, stiff, and hollow. Also find them harder to use if I wanna play around with changing pace, depth, and angle.

Since the Graphite Aggressor 95, I've since had love affairs with:
- Head iPrestige MP (still kind of experimenting with it, might use it on clay)
- the Yonex RQ-200 (lots of power, but very short handle for 2HBH)
- a warped Dunlop Max 400i (sweet, but inconsistent and hard to find)
- the first gen POG OS (makes me feel like a budget Michael Chang, but again, short handle)
- and a Yonex RDS 002 MP (my high school rocket launcher)

...but then ended up in a long term relationship with the sweetest taboo, the St Vincent Pro Staff 85. Waiting on a Yonex Vcore 89T to arrive in the mail to see if I can use the extra forgiveness in match play, but it's gonna be hard to find something better than the Holy of Holies.

I've since found the Graphite Aggressor 95 in various incarnation at thrift stores and given it a good hit - not as good as I remember, but it did set my taste in racquets for life.
 
yonexRx32 said:
I had two until not too long ago and I have to say they weren't anything special. Slightly shorter than the standard 27" (26.75 I think), and unstable. The Rx-32 was a better racket and their contemporary, the Max 200G was light years better.
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Ms. Navratilova would argue with you ;) We sold a boat-load of those and plenty came back cracked in the "corners" at the top of the face. YY had a promotion offering a logo towel with any R-22 purchase. I kept mine for 30 years at least...might be stuck in a bag somewhere(I've got a couple of bags from the mid-'80s).
 
Pre-strung junior Pro Kennex, aluminum with an anti-vibration insert at the base of the throat. I was 9.

Then came the Profile, 18x20. I liked that I could hit a very flat, very fast ball as a skinny 10-11 year old. But I recall making a lot of errors too.

Next was the RQ-310, my first “players” racquet. I didn’t have the terminology but I recalled it playing quite flexible and the sweet spot felt really nice. It was on sale at the local Big5. I wanted the yellow and black Agassi racquet or Michael Chang’s extended Prince, but they were too expensive. This was 12-14.

14-15. My uncle left us his tennis gear when he moved to another country. I briefly used his Spectrum 110. I used this racquet, together with the aforementioned Yonex, to make my high school’s tennis team. Other kids were playing with Hyper Carbon and Head Titanium racquets. My parents couldn’t afford the “good” stuff. After making the team, dad bought me a Head Ti S2. I loved that stick at the time until the gimmicky anti-vibration butt cap broke and made a terrible rattling sound.

Junior year, my parents bought me a Prince Triple Threat Rebel. It was a great control racquet for a skinny kid. My favorite stick up to that point. It made me feel like a real player.

I stopped playing for several years and my next racquet was the Volkl V-Engine Tour 10 Mid, purchased from TW on sale for less than $100, around 2006-2007 when I was a junior or senior in college. Great, great, stick. Later I bought the esteemed PB10, but I always liked the V-Engine more.

Took another very long break from tennis until 2018-2019. I had finished grad school and now was earning “real” money; racquetaholism hit me hard. The rest is history.
 
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