The Official Tennis Thread (Vol. 2024 US Open)

You're making me even more animated for the US Open. Already love summer to begin with, good tennis will only improve the quality of those months.
 
Here's a few I dug out from the top of my chest of Wimbledon trips gone by. Will need to have a route around to find the rest. Sorry about the quality these are scans of real photos, no digital photo in those days.

Chang on practice courts circa mid 90s

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Kraijeck on practice courts from the same era

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Courier on Centre Court. I don't know the year but again it's mid 90's. No doubt one of you will know from the kicks he is wearing?

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And finally for now me on Centre Court in 1990 waiting for play to start - this is about 2 hours before play taken from the gantry by the museum thus the interp panel. Check out that adidas Edberg shirt I'm rocking. He won Wimbledon wearing it that year I had a lot more hair then.

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Awesome!

Looks like something from '97... Not sure about the kicks though.  Don't look like Air Resistance 2's... 

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And shout-out to Bow Brand! 
Man, get on it... early rounds... even practice... it's all worth watching! 
 
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I used to love that Edberg racket with the ball motif stenciled on it. Remember that final set so well against Becker
 
Yep, that's the Bow Brand stencil!  Bow Brand natural gut strings!  Not sure why he didn't have a Wilson stencil at the time.

You may or may not know this, but I'll talk about it anyway cuz it was my first insight on paint-jobs & PE's.  

For basically his entire career he used the Wilson Pro-Staff 6.0, 

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In 1991 (I think it was), they released the Pro Staff 6.1 to the public... but like most tennis pros, Edberg didn't switch frames... so instead, Wilson made some paint-job-PE's for him... the 6.0 frame, painted like the 6.1.

Pro Staff Classic 6.1 (general release version)

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Edberg's PE

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From TT.

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It was fascinating cuz at that time, I remember looking at some pics and noticing the 6.1 red/yellow cosmetic, but knew it was the 6.0 frame.  

Kinda like Rafa wearing the 4.3's painted in the LunarBallistec laser-crimson.  

Anyway, sorry for the racquet geekery. 

... but in the early 90's, they made paint-job PE's of the Pro Staff 6.1...
 
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^^

Thanks for that insight didn't know that. I always wondered why the Wilson Pro Staff on sale in my local Olympus Sport didn't have the ball motif on, Now I know what it means after all these years
 
You bet! 
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Later when he switched to Babolat VS Gut, the 2-line stencil appeared.

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I personally prefer... 
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Fabio's certainly guilty of illustrious antics and will honestly never make a worldly impact away from the clay surface. I just hope you give David Ferrer the same judgment and treatment. Repeat offender.
 
That vid was more of a joke, but I wasn't knocking his clay-game, but rather his overall attitude.  

I don't deny Fog's talent.  I just think it's such a shame he doesn't take a lot of it seriously (at least, it seems like that anyway).  There's a difference between keeping it light-hearted and whatnot... but a lot of times completely checks-out.  

Fer grinds out each one of his matches, whether it be on clay or hard or whatever.  Gotta respect that. 
 
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Wow, Gael beat Richie too!?  

And in a final...
 
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New pick-up.  Didn't bother posting in the pick-up thread cuz no one in there would probably appreciate it...

Circa 1989... DS too.  Hopefully no issues with the stringing.

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Holy ****...I think I actually demoed a more modern version of this racquet.

It was at a time my game hadn't fully developed yet so I didn't enjoy it at all.

Now I feel like I would love this racquet. 90 in. headsize?
 
Yeah, it's a 90 sq-in (93 actually), but this is more for collecting & messing-around purposes.  I usually play with a POG oversize, but have since switched to the recently-released POG 100, which BTW is a fantastic stick.  

For sure, I'm not good enough to hit with this 93 sq-in on a consistent basis! 
 
 
Yeah, it's a 90 sq-in (93 actually), but this is more for collecting & messing-around purposes.  I usually play with a POG oversize, but have since switched to the recently-released POG 100, which BTW is a fantastic stick.  

For sure, I'm not good enough to hit with this 93 sq-in on a consistent basis! 
Oh that is awesome. Never personally met anyone who collected tennis racquets. That is pretty sweet. 

Mhm, your post really got me thinking. I currently use the Head Microgel Prestige Mid+, but wouldn't mind having some fun demoing some new sticks.

It was Prince EXO3 Graphite 93 Mid now I remember seeing it on tennis warehouse. 
 
^ I hated that racquet... the balance was all funky and the Exo-ports... I hated them.  I bought the JPN-spec version, which had a better balance, but still, I just didn't like the 'emptiness' of the Exo-ports.  Traditional grommets for me, thanks.

Assuming you live in the States, I'd definitely try to take advantage of the demo-program they have over there.  Wish I could demo the new-old Prince Response.

And while I have my fair-share of racquets, I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a racquet-collector. 
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  I'm sure there are proper collectors out there with a lot more stuff than me.  Like kicks, I only 'collect' what I like... a bunch of Prince Graphites and a bunch of Donnay's (Agassi).  Oddly enough, I only have 1 Head.  

EDIT ~ Like a bawse.

 
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^ The showman Monfils!

I like the new 100 sq in headsize standard length Graphites. But I don't want to bother getting used to a new racket especially since I'm in the groove with mine now. (Babolat Pure Drive Roddick)

I do need to get a Wilson Pro Staff 6.0 85 in my bag. Just to mess around with. :p
 
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