Head sizes: who was the first to...

[dominikk1985]

... play a:

85 sq inch
90 sq inch
95 sq inch
100 sq inch
100+

over the years the head size of rackets got larger. do you know who (and which year) was the first ATp pro to use the above mentioned racket sizes?

 

[HRB]

... play a:

85 sq inch
90 sq inch
95 sq inch
100 sq inch
100+

over the years the head size of rackets got larger. do you know who (and which year) was the first ATp pro to use the above mentioned racket sizes?

Andre was most likely the first and only Pro to play world class level with 100+...the others are going to be tough to figure out and get the exact chronology....spelled I'm too lazy to do the research!

 

[dominikk1985]

Andre was most likely the first and only Pro to play world class level with 100+...the others are going to be tough to figure out and get the exact chronology....spelled I'm too lazy to do the research!

aren't there some pros using 102 sq inch?

 

[robbo1970]

I think you'll find some of the pro's using the Prince Classic and Pro110 were the first. Tiriac, Shriver, MacNamee.

 

[robbo1970]

I'm trying to think what pro's were using prior to JMac's 200G in 1983.

Apart from the woods, Jimmy's T2000 and Roscoe's P thingy (all under 85sq) I can only think of the Prince users I mentioned.

Obviously a surge of players using the 85sq 200G and PS85 from 1983. Saying that, was Wilander using the F200 in 1982? I think Chris Lewis was using a POG OS in the 1983 Wimbledon final. Was Becker's Puma a 90 in 1985? Pat Cash's Mag I believe was a 90 in 1987.

 

[HRB]

aren't there some pros using 102 sq inch?

My bad...actually like that spec...got a few sweet old Head's that size. I forgot Serena is using around 104.

 

[TobyTopspin]

There were pros before Agassi using the POG. It was quite popular in the mid 80s.

 

[embot]

I remember watching Gene Mayer in the early '80s (maybe 1980 or 1981) using a Prince Oversize racquet.

 

[BreakPoint]

Pam Shriver got to the 1978 US Open singles final using a 110 sq. in. Prince aluminum racquet.

 

[dr325i]

What did Monika Seles use?

 

[BlueB]

Pog. Not sure if it was Lb...

 

[Vcore89]

At the 1978 U.S. Open, Pam Shriver became the first player to play a Grand Slam final with an oversized racquet, namely the 110-square-inch Prince Classic. Though she lost the match to still-wood-wielding Chris Evert, Shriver’s performance with the aluminum frame despoiled the woody in many eyes, setting the stage for the emergence of game-changing racquet technologies. As Stephen Tignor explains in High Strung: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and the Untold Story of Tennis’s Fiercest Rivalry, “[Shriver’s] frame had been manufactured two years earlier, but it had been widely derided among recreational players as a ‘cheater’s racquet.’ Once Shriver legitimized it, the floodgates were open.”

Using a cheater's racquet and still manages to lose the championship.

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Andre was most likely the first and only Pro to play world class level with 100+...the others are going to be tough to figure out and get the exact chronology....spelled I'm too lazy to do the research!

I remember Gene Mayer(interesting game, 2 hands off of both wings) playing with the Prince OG in the early eighties. He got up to #4 in the world.

 

[Rabbit]

There were quite a few OS users at first Mayer has been named,
Vince Van Patten
Andy Roddick (? as a junior I think prior to signing with Bab)
Marcelo Rios
Paul Annacone
Paul McNamee
Michael Chang
Vince Spadea
Chris Lewis
are just a few that I can think of.

Peter McNamara played with the OS Woodie
Jay Berger played with the Prince Pro OS

Some of the first midsize (80 inch) were
Robert Seguso - Pro Kennex Silver Ace
Roscoe Tanner - Le Coq Spotif TXM
Rod Laver - Pro Kennex Golden Ace
Schlomo Glickstein - Pro Kennex Black Ace
Jose Luis Clerc - Pro Kennex Golden Ace (endorsed it and tried it but wound up going back to his Rossignol)
John McEnroe - 200G

 

[TobyTopspin]

There were quite a few OS users at first Mayer has been named,
Vince Van Patten
Andy Roddick (? as a junior I think prior to signing with Bab)
Marcelo Rios
Paul Annacone
Paul McNamee
Michael Chang
Vince Spadea
Chris Lewis
are just a few that I can think of.

Peter McNamara played with the OS Woodie
Jay Berger played with the Prince Pro OS

Some of the first midsize (80 inch) were
Robert Seguso - Pro Kennex Silver Ace
Roscoe Tanner - Le Coq Spotif TXM
Rod Laver - Pro Kennex Golden Ace
Schlomo Glickstein - Pro Kennex Black Ace
Jose Luis Clerc - Pro Kennex Golden Ace (endorsed it and tried it but wound up going back to his Rossignol)
John McEnroe - 200G

The Prince Pro was my first real stick. I had forgotten about it. I wasn't good enough to know if it was a good or bad stick....

 

[mad dog1]

The Prince Pro was my first real stick. I had forgotten about it. I wasn't good enough to know if it was a good or bad stick....

it was a good stick.

 

[martini1]

What famous players used the 90 b4 Fed?

 

[High street sw19]

Using a cheater's racquet and still manages to lose the championship.

Perhaps you can post a image of your US OPEN runner up trophy ?

 

[BreakPoint]

What famous players used the 90 b4 Fed?

Sampras. But not in an official ATP match.

 

[Vcore89]

Perhaps you can post a image of your US OPEN runner up trophy ?

It didn't matter Chrissy was way above her league that is why.

 

[Don't Let It Bounce]

What famous players used the 90 b4 Fed?

There was Michael Stich (Fischer), and the many who used the Head "600"s (Prestiges, Elite Pro, etc.). These were all well after non-standard-sized rackets had taken over, though, so they probably won't answer the OP.

 

[hrstrat57]

What did Monika Seles use?

Mostly SRQ 500 (105si)