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G.O.A.T.
Prince’s New Racket Releases Dip Into Nostalgia, Break New Technical Ground
Prince had planned to spend 2020 celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary, rolling out nostalgia-inspired racket designs and reconnecting consumers with modernized takes on the popular frames of old.
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The Synergy, also launching Feb. 15 and geared toward intermediate to advanced players, offers something completely different than the Ripstick. “The Ripstick is the ultimate one-shot power racket, the Synergy is a grind your opponent down with relentless power,” Puttock says. With a higher swing weight and added texture at 3 and 9 o’clock to act like dimples on a golf ball and help the frame maneuver through the air, he calls it a really unique frame unlike any the brand has produced before.
As the market focuses on 16x20 string patterns, the Synergy offers an 18x18 design, reducing the number of cross strings to allow the string bed to deform, but keeping the main string count high enough that players don’t hit the ball with too much height. “It still gives you a pocket, but a flatter trajectory,” Puttock says. “It is not intended for a player who hits with a lot of spin, this is for a counter puncher and someone who wants to hit really solid groundstrokes.”
Expect Prince to debut a third new franchise later in 2021. “Really, in this space, the most competitive and biggest part of the pie, we needed much more definition,” he says. “That middle part of the market needed more distinct models.”
Along with the Ripstick and Synergy, Prince still features the Phantom, Tour and Legacy models to bookend the brand’s range. ...
The CTS Synergy DB 26, made famous by Jennifer Capriati, is another ‘90s rackets with a following. Prince brought that one out of the archives too, retooling it from scratch. “It was surprising how solid this racket still is, even 25-plus years after its original introduction,” Puttock says.
A special range of Phantom rackets has hit the market, inspired by the Original Graphite, and dubbed the Phantom G collection. These include three models—the 100G, 100G LB and 107G—all based on the Phantom P designs, but with an additional crossbar reminiscent of the Original Graphite. “These are great playing frames,” Puttock says, “but more of a modern take.”
Puttock, a 15-year veteran of the brand who started as a junior engineer in in the Italy office and is now running the brand from New York, says product is where his heart lies. That product has become the focus of a new wave of Prince racket design.
