johncauthen
Semi-Pro
September 10, 2014
Dear Steve,
I told you two years ago I would send you a racquet when I was satisfied with it. It was never good enough, so I never sent it.
But this racquet I have sent is dramatically good. I have made a breakthrough: the bell-shaped weight.
Wilson has been developing the Roger Federer Autograph to be a pro racquet that is light enough so average players will like it. Now, the time has come to introduce it, but it isn’t ready. People were commenting that Federer was not playing well with it.
I am familiar with that kind of failure. I thought I could send you a light commercial form of this weighting two years ago. And Wilson might have believed they could develop a racquet Federer would like that would be light enough for regular players.
I couldn’t send you that racquet when I thought I could because the problem Wilson and I were trying to solve is a hard problem. The Roger Federer Autograph weighs 340g unstrung; and so, regular players won’t like it. Wilson had to come out with four versions of it, and that is a failure.
But this modified Warrior I have sent you is 317.6g strung with an overgrip and a vibration dampener. That’s 11.2 oz ready to play on the pro tour!
Regular players will like it, and pros will like the same racquet.
My bell-shaped weight, which Wilson does not have is what makes it work. The bell shape for this kind of weight will be easy to patent and easy to protect.
But Prince will not communicate with me, nor look at this racquet. I need your help to get through to them. I only need for them to look at the racquet. It can quickly become the most popular racquet in tennis. Prince can outdo Wilson.
I just saw the W&S Final from Cincinnati. I realized the RF-97 was actually designed to feel like a very good head heavy racquet.
Serve and volley came into tennis when the racquets changed to skinny shafts and heavy heads in the 40’s. The typical modern wood racquet had a heavy head and a skinny shaft.
The 1940’s and 1950’s wood racquet was like a heavy weight on the end of a stick, though it was possible to set them up to not feel completely clumsy.
Before serve and volley, antique racquets were dominated by a longer thicker handle, and a thick shaft.
That made them feel more evenly balanced, and you could effectively return serve and hit groundstrokes.
Borg wrapped his grips higher, which made his racquets look and feel like antique racquets. He excelled.
The Wilson T2000 was designed by Rene Lacoste who was familiar with the feel of antique racquets. And due to being metal, the head was lighter.
It turns out Connors and Borg were both using racquets dominated by the weight of the handle, like antique racquets.
My great uncle, who was a 1928 South Carolina Doubles Champion told me he quit playing tennis because he hated the way the new wood racquets with heavy heads and skinny shafts felt. His old Wright & Ditson had more weight in the handle and shaft. It also had a fragile light head that would only last a couple of months.
The Jack Kramer had a one-year guarantee, so the head was heavier. The new, stronger wood racquets, which had a one-year guarantee brought about serve and volley, because players couldn’t effectively return serve with the head heavy wood racquets.
In 1976, during the week of my wedding when my wife and I were moving to Atlanta, I found my uncle’s racquet that he had won the state championship with in my grandmother’s basement in Columbia SC. It was the best feeling tennis racquet I ever held in my hand.
At the time I couldn’t figure out why it felt so well balanced. It was also unusual for antique racquets because it was a 4 1/2 Light. Almost no one has ever seen a 4 1/2 Light antique racquet.
I studied it intensely in 1979 after my wife left. She left because I couldn’t keep a job, and we didn’t have any money, and we didn’t have any hope of me ever keeping a job.
In 1971 my mother meditated and prayed in her meditation room, “Dear God, how would her son ever make a living?” She told me that God answered her by saying I would design a tennis racquet and become world famous.
Dear Steve,
I told you two years ago I would send you a racquet when I was satisfied with it. It was never good enough, so I never sent it.
But this racquet I have sent is dramatically good. I have made a breakthrough: the bell-shaped weight.
Wilson has been developing the Roger Federer Autograph to be a pro racquet that is light enough so average players will like it. Now, the time has come to introduce it, but it isn’t ready. People were commenting that Federer was not playing well with it.
I am familiar with that kind of failure. I thought I could send you a light commercial form of this weighting two years ago. And Wilson might have believed they could develop a racquet Federer would like that would be light enough for regular players.
I couldn’t send you that racquet when I thought I could because the problem Wilson and I were trying to solve is a hard problem. The Roger Federer Autograph weighs 340g unstrung; and so, regular players won’t like it. Wilson had to come out with four versions of it, and that is a failure.
But this modified Warrior I have sent you is 317.6g strung with an overgrip and a vibration dampener. That’s 11.2 oz ready to play on the pro tour!
Regular players will like it, and pros will like the same racquet.
My bell-shaped weight, which Wilson does not have is what makes it work. The bell shape for this kind of weight will be easy to patent and easy to protect.
But Prince will not communicate with me, nor look at this racquet. I need your help to get through to them. I only need for them to look at the racquet. It can quickly become the most popular racquet in tennis. Prince can outdo Wilson.
I just saw the W&S Final from Cincinnati. I realized the RF-97 was actually designed to feel like a very good head heavy racquet.
Serve and volley came into tennis when the racquets changed to skinny shafts and heavy heads in the 40’s. The typical modern wood racquet had a heavy head and a skinny shaft.
The 1940’s and 1950’s wood racquet was like a heavy weight on the end of a stick, though it was possible to set them up to not feel completely clumsy.
Before serve and volley, antique racquets were dominated by a longer thicker handle, and a thick shaft.
That made them feel more evenly balanced, and you could effectively return serve and hit groundstrokes.
Borg wrapped his grips higher, which made his racquets look and feel like antique racquets. He excelled.
The Wilson T2000 was designed by Rene Lacoste who was familiar with the feel of antique racquets. And due to being metal, the head was lighter.
It turns out Connors and Borg were both using racquets dominated by the weight of the handle, like antique racquets.
My great uncle, who was a 1928 South Carolina Doubles Champion told me he quit playing tennis because he hated the way the new wood racquets with heavy heads and skinny shafts felt. His old Wright & Ditson had more weight in the handle and shaft. It also had a fragile light head that would only last a couple of months.
The Jack Kramer had a one-year guarantee, so the head was heavier. The new, stronger wood racquets, which had a one-year guarantee brought about serve and volley, because players couldn’t effectively return serve with the head heavy wood racquets.
In 1976, during the week of my wedding when my wife and I were moving to Atlanta, I found my uncle’s racquet that he had won the state championship with in my grandmother’s basement in Columbia SC. It was the best feeling tennis racquet I ever held in my hand.
At the time I couldn’t figure out why it felt so well balanced. It was also unusual for antique racquets because it was a 4 1/2 Light. Almost no one has ever seen a 4 1/2 Light antique racquet.
I studied it intensely in 1979 after my wife left. She left because I couldn’t keep a job, and we didn’t have any money, and we didn’t have any hope of me ever keeping a job.
In 1971 my mother meditated and prayed in her meditation room, “Dear God, how would her son ever make a living?” She told me that God answered her by saying I would design a tennis racquet and become world famous.
