Your wish is my command. :lol:
I strung it up recently with NXT OS, and it plays sweet; just as I remember it. I liked this one better than the Original Graphite. (Maybe it was the color!)
I'm really interested in this as it rare for a player to use exactly the same racquet for his entire career, and yes I know there are exceptions, and many players use a very similar racquet, but Lendl seemed to use the exact same racquet for about 15 years on the Pro circuit!
I still havn't found any proof of his pre 79 White Star Pro, but from 79 his Kneissl White Star Pro was Graphite/Fibreglass. He then switched to Adidas at the beginning of 81 and used paint job of this Kneissl White Star Pro racquet, that's all that I know for definite!
I then reckon he continued to use this Graphite/Fibreglass Kneissl White Star Pro paint job racquet until Adidas started making this racquet in France as GTX PRO Ivan Lendl, and when the slight changes were made in 85 for the slightly lighter GTX PRO-T Ivan Lendl, he continued to use the original French made GTX PRO Ivan Lendl version (which was actually his Kneissl White Star Pro) in paint jobs (GTX PRO-T Ivan Lendl and then Mizuno Ivan Lendl) through until the end of his career. Only using a Bosworth version (slightly smaller mold) of the GTX MID-T Ivan Lendl at Wimbledon in 85 and the Mizuno Lendl (90sq in) at Queens and Wimbledon in 90, and the larger Bosworth custom frame a few times in 93 and 94.
So I reckon Lendl never used any of the Kevlar racquets; the Kneissl White Star Pro Ivan Lendl (which we already know to be the case), but also the Austrian made GTX PRO and Austrian made GTX PRO Ivan Lendl!
This is my theory
I wonder what others think?
Well, with Prince it was obvious; those were the model names of their Graphite and Composite (80/20 G/F, IIRC) frames, back when they only had three or four models, two of which were aluminum frames. HEAD's use of the word Composite in their model naming scheme dates from 1984 with the introduction of the Composite Edge and Composite Director, bolstering the Composite and Tournament Edges and Directors. For the myriad of other manufacturers, the reasons have to be varied. I suppose they could have used "Graphite/Fiberglass" (sic Fiberglas), but in some places, Owens-Corning held TM for fiberglass, not unlike DuPont with their Kevlar or Enka BV with Twaron. But in a nutshell, I dunno. I could postulate for hours. It would be boring stuff to read and I do have a life
Well, Fischer has hung their hat mostly on the 630 cm2 head size (98 sq-in) for their performance frames for quite some time now, but they have made some noteworthy performance Mids over the years. Here's a shortlist:
The Superform Stan Smith or Superform XL have to be considered. My hero, Anders Jarryd, did quite well with these. So did my other hero, Stan "The Man" Smith!
The Superform Open (open throat models) from 1986 on should be included. They were Fischer's first high end open throat composites, moving them conservatively away from the monoshaft designs which were their trademark.
The Vacuum Twin Tec Pro was a fabulous frame (used by Carl-Uwe Steeb at the height of his career), and very technically interesting. I think it measured in at around 95 sq-in. The first two versions of that frame are still highly prized by the cognoscenti, mostly in Europe.
The Vacuum Pro (90 sq-in), the highly regarded frame made famous by Michael Stich, needs no introduction to this audience and has to be the most famous of all the high performance Fischer Mids.
I recently get a brand new Fischer superform Open, not the red pro version, just the 1986 version without tuning system, do you know who ever played with it? thanks!Well, with Prince it was obvious; those were the model names of their Graphite and Composite (80/20 G/F, IIRC) frames, back when they only had three or four models, two of which were aluminum frames. HEAD's use of the word Composite in their model naming scheme dates from 1984 with the introduction of the Composite Edge and Composite Director, bolstering the Composite and Tournament Edges and Directors. For the myriad of other manufacturers, the reasons have to be varied. I suppose they could have used "Graphite/Fiberglass" (sic Fiberglas), but in some places, Owens-Corning held TM for fiberglass, not unlike DuPont with their Kevlar or Enka BV with Twaron. But in a nutshell, I dunno. I could postulate for hours. It would be boring stuff to read and I do have a life
Well, Fischer has hung their hat mostly on the 630 cm2 head size (98 sq-in) for their performance frames for quite some time now, but they have made some noteworthy performance Mids over the years. Here's a shortlist:
The Superform Stan Smith or Superform XL have to be considered. My hero, Anders Jarryd, did quite well with these. So did my other hero, Stan "The Man" Smith!
The Superform Open (open throat models) from 1986 on should be included. They were Fischer's first high end open throat composites, moving them conservatively away from the monoshaft designs which were their trademark.
The Vacuum Twin Tec Pro was a fabulous frame (used by Carl-Uwe Steeb at the height of his career), and very technically interesting. I think it measured in at around 95 sq-in. The first two versions of that frame are still highly prized by the cognoscenti, mostly in Europe.
The Vacuum Pro (90 sq-in), the highly regarded frame made famous by Michael Stich, needs no introduction to this audience and has to be the most famous of all the high performance Fischer Mids.
It seemed as though the Fischer-sponsored ATP and WTA pros didn’t really warm up to the double-shafted Superform Open in 1986. Anders Jarryd carried on with a paintjobbed Stan Smith (monoshaft) Superform, and made the switch to the new Vacuum Pro Mid in 1987, for instance. I recall there were some journeyman (journeywoman?) pros from Austria, such as Gilbert Schnaller, who used the new Superform Open in 1986, but probably the highest ranked player who used this frame was Jo Durie of Great Britain.
You’re welcome!
Fischer Vacuum Pro Ms/90! Best racquet ever
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Does anyone think the Superform series was the MAX 200G of its day? I know they talked a lot about the power(I tied for first in a fast-serve contest using the Superform---a YAMAHA contest!!!!!); but the obvious similarity in frame/tube design makes me think Fischer was on to something and gave up too soon. Of course, Johnny Mac's switch was the perfect storm for the success of the 200G...no such switch with Fischer, of course.
I am big fan of vintage frames, Fischer superform series and Dunlop Max200G were both charming collections for me. in my view, Fisccher paid less attention to their racket business than Dunlop. whatever, I am still looking for brand new Fischer superform and dunlop max200G versions as my collection.
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I know Spalding Accomplice wood racket. In 1979, Spalding introduced a beautiful boron composite reinforced wood frame, Spalding Accomplice, which was regarded as one of the most beautiful wood frame ever made. American Dick Stockton switched to it from Wilson Advantage, another ultra-beautiful wood frame. In my view, yours was a following version of early wood frames.Spalding Graphite Accomplice.
85in2 Head Size. 330g Strung Weight. 14x18 String Pattern (not common?).
Cover claims that it’s a Ceramic/Graphite Composite, yet on the racquet itself it says Graphite Fiberglass Composite.
Does anyone know any more details/background on this model?
I got a brand new one last month. charming beauty!
Thanks for that. Hopefully then as much consideration of the design and performance of the original Accomplice was put into its graphite ceramic successor.