taiwan ps60s

[joe sch]

Want to show off 5 excellent condition taiwan ps60s.
It is interesting that many players prefer the taiwans over both the newer china and older st vincent models.

http://s920.photobucket.com/albums/ad46/woodtennis/tennis/rackets/ps60s/taiwan ps60s/

 

[Tennis Man]

just curious why do you refer to them as ps60s?

 

[TMR]

... maybe it is short for 6.0 ?

 

[VGP]

Call me a purist, but I refer to anything pre-China as the Wilson Pro Staff Midsize (that was produced with the Largehead and 125).

The ones from China I call PS85s.

I dispense with the 6.0 designation because of the Pro Staff 6.0 dual taper beam 95/110 and the Triad 6.0s that Wilson released.

It's initial use of "si" as "stiffness index" made sense. Hang a weight on the end of a clamped down frame and measure how much it bent. Simple. Then it was morphed into the "swing index" whole thing that implies playing style. Wilson started using this designation as early as 1989 for the Pro Staff Midsize. It just wasn't labeled as such.

 

[joe sch]

Call me a purist, but I refer to anything pre-China as the Wilson Pro Staff Midsize (that was produced with the Largehead and 125).

The ones from China I call PS85s.

I dispense with the 6.0 designation because of the Pro Staff 6.0 dual taper beam 95/110 and the Triad 6.0s that Wilson released.

It's initial use of "si" as "stiffness index" made sense. Hang a weight on the end of a clamped down frame and measure how much it bent. Simple. Then it was morphed into the "swing index" whole thing that implies playing style. Wilson started using this designation as early as 1989 for the Pro Staff Midsize. It just wasn't labeled as such.

Many now are confused with the midsize term, ie Wilson Pro Staff Midsize

Agree ...

ps85 is preferable to ps60

perhaps ps85_taiwan or ps85_china or ps85_stvincent or ps85_china_2011 is even more distinct

 

[joe sch]

Call me a purist, but I refer to anything pre-China as the Wilson Pro Staff Midsize (that was produced with the Largehead and 125).

The ones from China I call PS85s.

I dispense with the 6.0 designation because of the Pro Staff 6.0 dual taper beam 95/110 and the Triad 6.0s that Wilson released.

It's initial use of "si" as "stiffness index" made sense. Hang a weight on the end of a clamped down frame and measure how much it bent. Simple. Then it was morphed into the "swing index" whole thing that implies playing style. Wilson started using this designation as early as 1989 for the Pro Staff Midsize. It just wasn't labeled as such.

Agree ...

ps85 is preferable to ps60

perhaps ps85_taiwan or ps85_china or ps85_stvincent or ps85_china_2011 is even more distinct

Many are now confused with the midsize term, ie Wilson Pro Staff Midsize

 

[VGP]

Thanks for sharing your pics, joe. Nice examples.

I started with the Taiwanese Pro Staff Mids. In the mid to late 80s I used Prince frames. I got into the Pro Staff after the SV factory closed and didn't know to (nor could easily I given my location) tap into the used market for SVs and Chicagos.

I consider them "harsher" than the SV. According to the recent Wall Street Journal article Courier and Sampras "hated it and thought the old frames were better. Courier suspected the St. Vincent rackets were superior because of the volcanic island's humidity. Sampras thought the Taiwanese rackets "felt a little flimsy." IIRC, Mary Pierce was using the Taiwanese frames when she won Roland Garros.

I have a few earlier Taiwanese frames and ones like in your pics. Great frames. Well built with Fairway grips. It's nice to see ones that are not all beat up.

The Taiwanese frames look to be a period stuck in limbo. Not a "Connors/Evert/Edberg" frame or a "Sampras" frame and not a "Federer" frame. The interest and used market prices kinda reflect that.

 

[faultfoot]

Thanks for sharing your pics, joe. Nice examples.

I started with the Taiwanese Pro Staff Mids. In the mid to late 80s I used Prince frames. I got into the Pro Staff after the SV factory closed and didn't know to (nor could easily I given my location) tap into the used market for SVs and Chicagos.

I consider them "harsher" than the SV. According to the recent Wall Street Journal article Courier and Sampras "hated it and thought the old frames were better. Courier suspected the St. Vincent rackets were superior because of the volcanic island's humidity. Sampras thought the Taiwanese rackets "felt a little flimsy." IIRC, Mary Pierce was using the Taiwanese frames when she won Roland Garros.

I have a few earlier Taiwanese frames and ones like in your pics. Great frames. Well built with Fairway grips. It's nice to see ones that are not all beat up.

The Taiwanese frames look to be a period stuck in limbo. Not a "Connors/Evert/Edberg" frame or a "Sampras" frame and not a "Federer" frame. The interest and used market prices kinda reflect that.

Venturing a little OT, VGP this is an interesting article you referenced from the WSJ. Thanks for sharing. Good read. 2 things stand out. 1. Courier's stockpile of new SVs (drool). 2. Can't help but wonder what modern frame Pistol Pete was referring to--Babolat? A new Wilson PS on the horizon?

 

[VGP]

I was surprised to hear that Courier say he has a bunch of SVs in his garage at home. He started using the Chinese PS85 in 1995 but by '96, he was back to the SV. In '97 he was using that 'blacked-out' no PWS something else.....not sure if he ever used the Taiwanese frames and from a distance it's hard to know from pictures on the internet.

Sampras did use a Taiwanese made PS85 in 1991. It was his signature model painted like the dual taper beam widebody Pro Staff 6.0. I think he only used it for Queen's Club in '91 and lost to Derrick Rostagno.

Sampras must have been as tired of tennis when he retired as he says he was. I read that he only kept 8 of his SVs, which sounds like he kept them for sentimental reasons and not with which to hit. But, he is a rather rich guy and if he really wanted them he could either call up Courier or hit e-bay like some people do on here.

With regards to your second point, I thing Sampras initially was talking about the strings. He used to refer to it as "Cheat-ilon." Then he started using Federer's racket, the n90 pj frame when he started playing again. Then they made the kPS88. With those frames he used the gut/poly hybrid. As far as I know, as of this post he has been using the Babolat PST (recently blacked-out) with full RPM Blast.

If he is in the works with Wilson to make a new frame for him, as the rumor mill seems to be churning again, I wonder if that's the motivation for him to use the blacked-out frame. Perhaps Wilson doesn't want to bolster Sampras' image of having a Babolat frame in his hands. Especially with the Champions' Series collection of tour dates coming up.

 

[OriginalHockeytowner]

Beautiful sticks! Love the photos

 

[Bobby Jr]

Sampras did use a Taiwanese made PS85 in 1991. It was his signature model painted like the dual taper beam widebody Pro Staff 6.0. I think he only used it for Queen's Club in '91 and lost to Derrick Rostagno.

Just for interest sakes, here's some of the only photos you'll ever see of Sampras during his pro career using a variation from his St Vincent frame. From the 91 Queens tournament and the French Open.

 

[VGP]

Here are the others: