What new brand names would be interesting for the future ?

Crocodile

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
This sort of stuff has been discussed over the years but as time goes on things change and different brands become popular or maybe more prestigious or even cool. A lot of brands are wary entering the racquet market because it’s quite a tight market, but done well, anything is possible.
Remember when Adidas tried to have a second shot at tennis and it didn’t work because their racquets weren’t good. Puma in the 80’s did have good racquets and for a while had a real offering.
Could the following brand names gather traction:
1. Apple
2. Nike
3. Ferrari
4. Luxilon - ( a proto type exists )
5. Uniqlo
6. Tesla
7. Lockheed
8. Bring back Yamaha or Kawasaki
Your thoughts
 
Adi ... third time lucky.

Just love their stuff and with the right investment they could make it work. It would have to be a labour of love for them as they make better money elsewhere on other product. It might provoke Nike to compete ...

Pure nostalgia for an awesome brand, a Fred Perry range would be super cool. Never gonna happen but an iconic hypothetical. That logo even as a string stencil has got me.
 
adidas-symbol-logo-black-clothes-design-icon-abstract-football-illustration-with-white-background-free-vector.jpg
fred_perry_logo_logotype.png


:love::love:
 
Boeing
They know composite materials pretty well...also aerodynamics

A little surprised a carmaker hasn't tried getting into it, even if just a licensed, re-branded racquet from another company
 
Yamaha for sure - the Secret was one of the best racquets of late 80s.

Apple doesn't work as there's nothing electronic / techie about a tennis racquet - unless they wanted to launch a line that incorporated some cool tech embedded in the frame that you could use for analytics.

Boeing/Lockheed wouldn't work as they have little to no consumer facing brand equity. Auto companies do, and a high end company like BMW/Ferrari/Mercedes/Volvo/Porsche could pull something off. Ideally though, resurrecting an existing tennis brand w/ co-branding would be awesome - something like Prince/Ferrari co-branding lol.

Does anyone remember Wimbledon racquets? Something like that or Donnay could align themselves with a high end car company brand.
 
Porsche did have a racquet at one stage. It was actually a C10 repainted with a Porsche logo and was on display at a motor show. I thought it looked great and would have appealed to many.
I have also seen a Mercedes racquet and used to play with a Wimbledon Graphite, they also made a Boron. The Boron had a cross bar and was Gold with a lime fleck through it, where’s the Graphite was more bronze. I believe PK made them and they felt a level above the normal PK sticks, almost like a prestige line.
 
Crocodile said:
Porsche did have a racquet at one stage. It was actually a C10 repainted with a Porsche logo and was on display at a motor show. I thought it looked great and would have appealed to many.
I have also seen a Mercedes racquet and used to play with a Wimbledon Graphite, they also made a Boron. The Boron had a cross bar and was Gold with a lime fleck through it, where’s the Graphite was more bronze. I believe PK made them and they felt a level above the normal PK sticks, almost like a prestige line.
Click to expand...
Yeah I had that graphite Wimbledon stick back in the day! Thought it was way cool
 
I think Lacoste could do a bit more with their brand and alliance with Tecnifibre. They need a players stick.
And here’s an idea, if women are prepared to spend big money on a Louis Vuitton hand bag, would they open their purse to accessorise their life for a Louis Vuitton tennis racquet and balls.
What about a Rolex or omega tennis racquet to match the watches people wear?
I think Tennis needs to be creative. When Roger had his own RF Laver Cup frames they looked premium especially the red and blue versions, they stuffed up with the tuxedo ones and the current white one with red and blue grommets look like a Kmart special - they should have stuck with premium solid colours. Maybe this years version should have been a premium white with blue or violet Pearl, something upmarket and bespoke,
 
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Toroline has that cool factor that appeals to the younger generation. Their Wasabi string already has a loyal following that is steadily growing. I can see them eventually foray into the players’ racquet market with some fresh cosmetics and cool names (e.g., Toroline Bluefin 98).
 
Crocodile said:
This sort of stuff has been discussed over the years but as time goes on things change and different brands become popular or maybe more prestigious or even cool. A lot of brands are wary entering the racquet market because it’s quite a tight market, but done well, anything is possible.
Remember when Adidas tried to have a second shot at tennis and it didn’t work because their racquets weren’t good. Puma in the 80’s did have good racquets and for a while had a real offering.
Could the following brand names gather traction:
1. Apple
2. Nike
3. Ferrari
4. Luxilon - ( a proto type exists )
5. Uniqlo
6. Tesla
7. Lockheed
8. Bring back Yamaha or Kawasaki
Your thoughts
Click to expand...
Luxilon? Is that an old prototype?
Hard to believe they would get into racquets now given their participation with Wilson over recent years.
That said I would love to see a Luxilon racquet!!!!
 
I would like to see a racquet from:
(In order from most likely to least likely)

TRU PRO (formally Tier One Sports) - I believe they have 2 prototypes from the last year but not much information.

Asics- I would like to see them give another go at racquets post BZ100

Nike- why not, right?

Garmin - they could engineer some technology into the racquet where others have failed
 
Selfish choice ... I use a full bed of Kirschbaums Max power Rough in my stick so you know where I'm gong with this ... a Kirschbaum 98 players stick in the mould of a PK Redondo 98, open 16x19, high 50's flex, 12oz's approx 6pts HL. Kirschbaum product is good quality and would trust their QC to produce sticks v close to published specs.

images
 
In one of the other threads I made a suggestion that some of the older brands that are trying to make a come back could refresh their image with a new name.
While I like the Prince brand and name I think others will see the name as a past relic so what I suggested is that they could rename themselves as Hydrogen as they already have hydrogen inspired cosmetics, and use that name to market themselves as a fresh and modern outfit. Maybe they could trial that with more of their models.
I think it’s very hard when a brand falls to come back with their old names:
I think Pro Kennex could do with a refresh as well, maybe call themselves Kinetic, which they are famous for.
 
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