Yonex R7

Yonex R7 with original Yonex racquet bag from early 1980s

The previous owner of this stick must have been a Navratilova fan because not only is this the racquet that she started her career with but the racquet bag is a special edition to commemorate her Grand Slam achievement in 1983 -4.  She won the Australian, Wimbledon and US in 83' and picked up the French in 84'.  Not a bad year's work!  Unfortunately, I cannot offer comments on the playabilit of this racket because the string tension is such that it feels like a trampolene.  But a nice piece of tennis history nonetheless.

Wilson Hammer 6.2 Stretch (aka 'The Skunk')

The distinctive black and white paint job of 'The Skunk'

A racket I picked up recently for a couple of euros...one that I had heard a lot about.  In fact, I used it this morning for the first time and won my match.  Firstly, it offers good control combined with good plough through due to its head heavy balance. Being a bit longer it means you can hit the ball higher/earlier on the toss, which helped me make fewer double faults because the angle of the ball leaving the racquet was narrower and so reduces the likelihood of hitting long.  Getting familiar with the longer frame will no doubt take a bit more practice because the swing pattern is slightly different from my normal game, but this stick could definitely become a favourite of mine.

Yamaha Silver 90

The Yamaha Silver 90, with sliding side bars so head weighting can be altered

Yamaha is one of the lost names of tennis racquet production, but their quality is second to none.
These are ceramic frames, which I normally do not go for since I find ceramics a bit toothless ususally. However, what makes these frames notable is the way you can alter the weight/head balance by moving plastic sliding panels on either side of the frame in order to generate more spin or more plough.  I am suprised this very innovative idea never caught on, but I imagine the patent was lost when Yamaha exited the tennis scene.  Maybe it is time to resurrect this idea...come on Wilson, give Yamaha a break and either buy the patent off them or allow Yamaha to re-enter the racquet market.

by moving the slide panel, head balance can be altered

Prince Graphite

The Prince Graphite 90 Series and original Prince Graphite (110)

The Prince Graphite is one of those sticks that often comes up in players' all-time favourite racquet lists.  Used by Michael Chang and Andre Agassi to name but two pros who swung them to great effect. With the distinctive T-bar, Prince never really made anything better than these beauties and it is not too suprising that they  recently re-introduced these classic looking frames for a new generation of tennis fans.  But these are the original early models.  For consistent and solid play I would put them right up there with the Wilson Pro Staffs.

Dunlop Max 150g and Dunlop Max 200g

Dunlop Max range : the 150g (top) and 200g (forever to be associated with McEnroe and Graf)

 Found these two at my local recycling centre and was mightily pleased, as you might expect to get a piece of tennis history for a few euros.  The smaller headed Max 150g was the forerunner for the larger Max 200g, but more about that in a moment.  The Max 150g was styled on the old wooden frame and is fairly rare to find these days. With its 63 sq. inch head size and blue paint job, it otherwise shares the same injected graphite moulding process as the Max 200g, which John McEnroe would make famous. It packs quite a punch for its size given the hefty plow through it generates.

The Dunlop Max 200g is, of course, a well known classic used by The Mac and Steffi Graf.  Hard to know what to say about this stick that hasn't been said.  It has a nice smooth feel, generates good plough through and can still give modern frames a run for their money.  That said, both these rackets are heavy for serving.  But when one considers they were up against rival wooden frames there is just no contest.  Ironic that McEnroe championed the era of graphite sticks but nowadays he often laments the passing of wood and the rise of power tennis over spin and guile that the players of eras past displayed.I didn't notice him complaining when his ground breaking Max 200g was crushing his more traditionalist wooden frame wielding opponents!

Yamaha's Hi-Flex Lite and Hi-Flex Super Lite

The excellent Hi-Flex Lite from Yamaha

Flexible rackets are my favourites to play with and Yamaha and Fox are the two brands that, for me,
offer excellent arm friendly play and also give good control.  The Yamaha Hi-Flex Lite is a personal favourite.  Despite the rather plain paintjob, this racket really sparkles on court.  Flexible frames need to be strung at a fairly high tension, in my view, for the frame to really bend and snap back when ploughing through the ball.  This one is not has high as I would like, but is sufficiently tight to really 'Feel The Difference', as Yamaha's rhetoric goes.  Unfortunately, the Superlite (see below) needs a restring because the tension is far too low for anything to flex except the strings themselves.  However, I fully expect it to perform well once this is done.  These rackets are light, evenly balanced sticks that make me wish Yamaha still made ones like them!

In need of a restring, but the Hi-Flex Super Lite is one I really look forward to using soon.

Yamaha EOS (Efficiency of Swingweight) and Yamaha EOS RZ

Yamaha EOS with weight distributed towards top of the frame to promote swingability

 The Yamaha EOS was this great company's final entry into the tennis racket market - a sad day indeed.  Having owned a few rackets I can say that Yamaha have some of the nicest constructed rackets I have come across - real build quality!  They look good too.  Such as shame they no longer appear on the tennis tour.  The word online is that the EOS led to a patent infraction with Wilson over their Hammer model, and in order to settle the dispute Yamaha agreed to quit racket production altogether.  If true, I can see why Wilson settled for this because they knew they were losing a major competitor in the market.

The EOS is a lightweight frame with nice flex, but certainly not as flexy as other sticks of theirs I have tried.  Importantly, these EOS frames can still hold their own against modern rackets, which is one of the reasons I love Yamaha so much.  Pictured above is the 100 sq. inch EOS model in sandal brown...and below is the EOS RZ, with the slightly larger 110 sq.inch frame and the much
 nicer paint job, don't you think?

a 1990s classic - powerful and light!

Yamaha Secret 04

the legendary Yamaha Secret 04

 Revered as one of Yamaha's best ever sticks!  Of course, beauty (and status) is very much in the eye of the beholder when it comes to tennis rackets as everyone's playing style and racket bias is different.  I bought this one knowing that it was a very stiff and heavy frame...not light and flexible like most of my other Yamaha frames, which I prefer.  But curiousity in a racket which seemed to be a seeming opposite to the other Yamaha's I had tried made be want to get it.  In terms of comparison, think more in the line of Wilson Pro-Staff for stiffness and plough through.  It is certainly a beast! Hard to find good examples too, so if you want a nice second hand one check the paint job carefully to make sure there are no chips.  Mine has several, but it hard to tell from the photos until you get up close and personal in real life!  Endorsed by Yannick Noah, this tells you how old it is.

strange signature style Mr Noah!

Coming this summer!

coming to classic racquets soon!

A lot of 'new' classic racquets are waiting in the wings to be uploaded this summer...these include the following:
Wilson Pro Staff Classic 6.1
Pro Kennex Shadow 90
Prince CTS Lightning
and many more....
For neat pics and insightful comments please drop in to www.classicracquets.blogspot.com !

Fox Bosworth Tournament

My all-time favourite stick, the Fox Bosworth Tournament: flexible frame, dense string pattern, tapered handle - just awesome!

This racquet is my match favourite and has been for a long time, even though I regularly test out other frames.  But this is the one I always come back to.

For those that don't know, Fox were an American racquet manufacturer who teamed up with Warren Bosworth, a professional racquet technician and innovator who worked with some of the sport's greats! He is possibly best known for being Ivan Lendl's personal racquet stringer in the 1980s.The story goes that Lendl needed rackets restrung and dispatched to him asap.He rang Bosworth up late one night but when asked for the stringing tension Lendl was not sure. So Bosworth set up a tape recorder and got Lendl to give the string tension tone of his existing match racket over the phone. Using this he was able to string up Lendl's new racquets to perfection. But Bosworth is also a master of experimentation with racquet materials and shapes and in this regard Fox signed him up to develop their Professional and Signature Series sticks.

the tapered handle that makes this racquet uniquely comfortable and spin friendly

The one here has a dense string pattern (18 x 20) that allows for a lot of control.It is also head light, which promotes good spin. But the standout feature of this model is the unique grip shape, which is tapered to fit easily and smoothly into the hand. It allows for extremely wristy shots and is paricularly helpful for imparting extra slice and spin because you can really snap your wrist sharply as you execute the shot. In my view, all racquet handles should be made like this but I imagine Bosworth owns the patent.It is the ONLY racquet I have ever seen with this feature and is why I love this stick so much. Added to which, this is a very flexible frame that holds the ball as you hit it for a milisecond and is arm friendly too. All in all, and pound for pound (well, gram for gram/ounce for ounce) this is my fave racquet of all time....and I have used quite a few!

Originally, I came across my beloved Fox Bosworth Tournament in a charity shop for around 3 GBP and this seemed a gamble as I had never heard of Fox or Warren Bosworth at this time. But I am SO glad I bought it.  I have used a lot of flexible frames, in particular Yonex frames (RD series, RQ, RDS) and also some other Fox Bosworth frames too - but none of these even come close to the flex and control I get with my Fox Bosworth Tournament.I especially enjoy using it to win against players using expensive modern frames, who often ask me what brand I am using. This really is an undiscovered classic in this reviewer's opinion! 
 
I have tried to find more examples of this stick on online auction sites but despite finding lots of Fox Bosworth sticks, never this one!  I would love to buy a spare frame, so if anyone has one to sell or will possibly swap with me for one of my other sticks, please get in touch!

Donnay Graphite Plus 35

Donnay produced this one in the early 1980s and was apparently used by Chip Hooper - but this name is a bit before my time.  The design reveals that Donnay were still in the early days of moving away from wood.  But this stick would have offered a flexible option back then.  The number 35 appears to relate to head size.  Donnay made a 25, 35 and 50 plus stick with the head size 25%, 35% and 50% larger than standard respectively.  However, if I am wrong about this and the number does relate to flex, then let me know.

Fischer Match Maker (1&2)

the fairly rare Fischer Match Maker 1 and rarer Match Maker 2

Here we have some of the first post-wood frames from Fischer - the Match Maker 1 and Match Maker 2.  These sticks from the late 1970s were designed to blow away wooden frames for power!  The heft, especially on the MM2 is massive - this being the heaviest frame I have ever picked up.  It is almost like wielding a sword rather than a racquet! It is essentially a wooden frame in design but cast in metal - or graphite composite. In comparison, the MM1, with its open throated design is closer in design to modern sticks, but it is still heavy.

Apparently the Matchmaker was used by Australian champ Bob Hewitt and his doubles partner, Frew McMillan - a bit before my time.

I don't have specs for these sticks but in terms of head size think of your classic wooden racquet.  May give these a try soon, though for serving one will need a strong arm and wrist. They do feel very inflexible to me also, but one link on Tennis Warehouse suggests they were designed to mimic the feel of wood.  Hard to believe on current evidence.