Wood classic dunlop maxply fort and three of our fav players ...

[joe sch]

The wood classic racket, maybe GROAT woody is the dunlop maxply fort and three of our fav players to discuss are Rod Laver (may he is GOAT since double grand slam champion), Johnny Mac (no contravery here and Nasty Nastase (maybe best known for using spaghetti racket to break Great Vilas win streak).

Here is a poster I own that sums up these great tennis history events. Ofcourse they all used the maxply fort to dominate tennis for awhile. What a great woody ! What great times in tennis history ! Really tennis today is boring in comparision. Agree or not, looking forward to your comments ...

 

[BorgCash]

I think it's the greatest wood racquet at all, it was my first racquet (actually it was Russian pirate copy named Moscow). Top Soviet player Metreveli also used it, he has his own contract with Dunlop for racquets and tennis shoes. He told that he supplied some other Soviet players with Maxply because everybody wanted it but it was almost impossible to get it for them then.

 

[treblings]

The wood classic racket, maybe GROAT woody is the dunlop maxply fort and three of our fav players to discuss are Rod Laver (may he is GOAT since double grand slam champion), Johnny Mac (no contravery here and Nasty Nastase (maybe best known for using spaghetti racket to break Great Vilas win streak).

Here is a poster I own that sums up these great tennis history events. Ofcourse they all used the maxply fort to dominate tennis for awhile. What a great woody ! What great times in tennis history ! Really tennis today is boring in comparision. Agree or not, looking forward to your comments ...

a certain Lew Hoad from Australia also played with the Maxply

 

[joe sch]

a certain Lew Hoad from Australia also played with the Maxply

 

[treblings]

beautiful racqueti own one of those with Lews decal but don´t play with it

 

[joe sch]

A pair a Mac racs

 

[joe sch]

beautiful racqueti own one of those with Lews decal but don´t play with it

I would also just enjoy looking at the Hoad maxply and play the most recent model

 

[joe sch]

Nastase loved the maxply but this picture shows his historic weapon that jolted tennis history

 

[MAX PLY]

^^^Vilas' least favorite racquet!

 

[DUROC]

That adidas metal frame was a re-branded PDP Open..............back then adidas owned Le Coq Sportif who had in turn purchased PDP Products. adidas and LCS both added the open frame to their individual tennis lines in the early 1980s - adidas went with blue plastic and LCS used brown -

Nasty used the metal frame as the spaghetti set up just worked better in metal - Mike Fishbach loved using the Head Pro as many others.

 

[DUROC]

a certain Lew Hoad from Australia also played with the Maxply

Not the only one.........along with Slazenger (no.1) Dunlop dominated the scene post WW2 thru the 1970s.

Lendl, Goolagong, Wade, Oker, Panatta........etc etc all at one time used it.

 

[treblings]

I would also just enjoy looking at the Hoad maxply and play the most recent model

i own about three dozen maxplys including the McEnroe, but not this one. and it´s in new condition as well. lovely racquet

 

[treblings]

Not the only one.........along with Slazenger (no.1) Dunlop dominated the scene post WW2 thru the 1970s.

Lendl, Goolagong, Wade, Oker, Panatta........etc etc all at one time used it.

didn´t know about Panatta. i only remember the WIP Panatta

 

[Rabbit]

I have that Adidas frame, I believe it's the ADS 660. I did not know it was a rebranded PDP Open.

 

[MAX PLY]

^^^I think the Adidas and the PDP were pretty much identical save for the orange stripe encircling the PDP aluminum frame. The throat piece is the same. Same genus as the Head Pro, Wilson World Class, Dunlop Volley II, etc.

 

[robbo1970]

I have two of the Maxply Tournament Graphite racquets. One still has the plastic on the grip.

Both in great condition as they came out when metal and graphite started to overtake the woods, so they hardly got used.

 

[coachrick]

I have two of the Maxply Tournament Graphite racquets. One still has the plastic on the grip.

Both in great condition as they came out when metal and graphite started to overtake the woods, so they hardly got used.

All that gold lettering made it feel like the whole grip was plastic!!!
Really pretty and high quality; but that 'ink' they used was slick as glass! Folks who didn't change their grips usually wore off the lettering by trying to towel off the grip so much, it was worn away. Slazenger did the same...I remember my frustration with those grips!!!

 

[coachrick]

By the bye, Dunlop-Greenville ended up pre-stringing the Maxplys and selling them for around $10 ea to clear them out after JMac switched to the 200G. They had the stringers at Sam Wyche Sporting Goods in Greenville, SC covered up with frames for weeks!

 

[chrisb]

I played HS and college with Spalding Gonzalez Autographs. (Almost identical to the Kramers) The switched to the Dunlop maxply after college until the graphites came out. They (the woods ) were both great frames. The Maxply was more headlight then the Kramer allowing for more topspin. The Kramer had a touch more plow thru and was great for flatter strokes. The game and the mechanics of the game were very different

 

[DUROC]

I have that Adidas frame, I believe it's the ADS 660. I did not know it was a rebranded PDP Open.

adidas bought PDP (also at the time owned Le Coq Sportif)...........LCS had the same frame but the plastic trim was brown. So you had PDP in orange/white, adidas in the royal blue and LCS in brown. All the exact same frame.

 

[Rabbit]

adidas bought PDP (also at the time owned Le Coq Sportif)...........LCS had the same frame but the plastic trim was brown. So you had PDP in orange/white, adidas in the royal blue and LCS in brown. All the exact same frame.

Awesome!

 

[joe sch]

adidas bought PDP (also at the time owned Le Coq Sportif)...........LCS had the same frame but the plastic trim was brown. So you had PDP in orange/white, adidas in the royal blue and LCS in brown. All the exact same frame.

There was also a Keubler model with roal blue throat that looks like the Adidas. Mabye a prototype since Sigfried Kubler did work as a consultant for Adidas ? The one I have is a mid-plus. Did PDP and LCS also produce mids ?

 

[DUROC]

There was also a Keubler model with roal blue throat that looks like the Adidas. Mabye a prototype since Sigfried Kubler did work as a consultant for Adidas ? The one I have is a mid-plus. Did PDP and LCS also produce mids ?

I honestly don't ever remember seeing mids on these................this was around 1980-81 and the mids were just starting to appear in the shops.

PDP disappeared soon after and Tanner had switched to the graphite LCS TXM frame - metals were starting to fade away as well.

At the time I was working weekends at a local tennis shop and we had those adidas frames cheap - We would sell them around $19 - $20 - adidas would give you great deals to take them.

 

[DUROC]

By the bye, Dunlop-Greenville ended up pre-stringing the Maxplys and selling them for around $10 ea to clear them out after JMac switched to the 200G. They had the stringers at Sam Wyche Sporting Goods in Greenville, SC covered up with frames for weeks!

Yep........on my college team we had two guys who still played the maxply thru 1982 - 83..........once JMac dumped that horrible maxply McEnroe the Dunlop rep would dump dozens of the maxply's and maxply McEnroes on anyone willing to commit to the free list.

Within just a few weeks all the Dunlop guys had switched to the Black Max or the 200G.........but we had boxes of maxplys laying around and in our dorms everywhere.

 

[topspn]

I still have two of them. One is a tournament edition in perfect condition

 

[Teardrop]

Yes they are great racquets,here's a Lady Maxply Fort.

 

[Rob2D]

Anyone know what weights they were using? Medium, Heavy etc....

 

[vsbabolat]

Awesome!

The Le Coq Sportif one was called Pro-Maker. It was a burgundy throat piece

 

[Larry Duff]

When I started in the 70s in Scotland the Maxply was a clear number 1 with Slazenger behind. The Head Arthur Ashe came along and was also popular with some using Wilson T2000s and Jack Kramers. Dunlop Green Flash shoes were almost the only court shoe worn back then.

 

[coachrick]

When I started in the 70s in Scotland the Maxply was a clear number 1 with Slazenger behind. The Head Arthur Ashe came along and was also popular with some using Wilson T2000s and Jack Kramers. Dunlop Green Flash shoes were almost the only court shoe worn back then.

Sorry about those shoes( UNless you had perfect feet and played only on soft courts!!! )

 

[Frankc]

On Nastase and Dunlop - (from memory) in his book he talks of how his Dunlops were special made by a maker who handled Hoad's frames, previous. Nastase liked a knob at the end of the grip and his heads "nervy" - that is, thinner and alive.

 

[BumElbow]

Virginia Wade used a Dunlop Maxply Forte also. I think Yvonne Goolagong also played with it early in her career.

My old friend Juan told me his classic story of the Dunlop Maxply Forte: He wanted to play like Laver so he went to Paragon Sporting Goods in NYC and demanded a Maxply Forte grip size 4 1/2 heavy - the same specifications Rod Laver used - despite the salesman's objections that it was not suitable for a beginner. He went directly to the local tennis courts but he could barely swing the too heavy racquet much less hit a tennis ball or play like his idol Laver with it. So, he brought the Maxply Forte back to the store and - fortunately for him - they understood his mistake and let him exchange it for something else! True story.

 

[chrischris]

Nastase loved the maxply but this picture shows his historic weapon that jolted tennis history

With strings attached, in Double

 

[chrischris]

The Flying Dutchman, Tom Okker, used it also.
He had game. Very whippy fast swing and topspin on his Forehand.

 

[1HBHfanatic]

-i can see why the dunlop maxply was a favorite at that time
-it just seems very robust and solid in the throat/handle area, tapering to the head
-it was my grandfathers favorite racquet
-i have played with several other brands on occasion and they seem flimsy in comparison
-my 2x favorites are the dunlop.maxply and/or dunlop.fort (white)

 

[Frankc]

In the day, the best regional players in my region carried a Dunlop Fort 4 3/4, Heavy...
A serving and volleying machine IF you can handle that frame - tight gut, of course...

 

[coachrick]

-i can see why the dunlop maxply was a favorite at that time
-it just seems very robust and solid in the throat/handle area, tapering to the head
-it was my grandfathers favorite racquet
-i have played with several other brands on occasion and they seem flimsy in comparison
-my 2x favorites are the dunlop.maxply and/or dunlop.fort (white)

Interesting...it felt like a noodle compared to my two favorite woods: Stan Smith Auto and Slazenger Professional. Years later, the Maxply McEnroe was beefy enough for me; but I was done with woodies by then.

 

[chrischris]

Virginia Wade used a Dunlop Maxply Forte also. I think Yvonne Goolagong also played with it early in her career.

My old friend Juan told me his classic story of the Dunlop Maxply Forte: He wanted to play like Laver so he went to Paragon Sporting Goods in NYC and demanded a Maxply Forte grip size 4 1/2 heavy - the same specifications Rod Laver used - despite the salesman's objections that it was not suitable for a beginner. He went directly to the local tennis courts but he could barely swing the too heavy racquet much less hit a tennis ball or play like his idol Laver with it. So, he brought the Maxply Forte back to the store and - fortunately for him - they understood his mistake and let him exchange it for something else! True story.

Tom Okker used them too.

 

[Grafil Injection]

This facebook page has a Dunlop Catalogue shows the 3 types of Maxply available in 1963 (Maxply, Maxply Tournament, Maxply Fort) as well as the other wooden rackets in Dunlop's stable.

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[Dunlop Catalogue towards the end]

The Silver Star and Malayan Ace look nice as well. Interesting that all rackets came strung, in either gut or 'DL' (Dunlop Syngut?).

 

[Grafil Injection]

I noticed it's difficult to see the linked page on mobiles, so here are the catalogue pages directly:

 

[Grafil Injection]

Anyone have experience of the performance and typical specs of a Maxply non-Fort? In the advert above the main difference appears to be the Fort has a 'double handle piece in contrasting woods', which is very nice and like a snooker cue I suppose. Was the non-Fort lighter or more flexible generally, or was it just the quality of the finishing pieces that made the £1, 5 shillings and 6 pence difference?