Really classical design for Nadal’s outfit. Nothing distinguishes Nadal‘s outfit from Federer’s outfit anymore. Creativity anyone?
After Ivan Lendl had cancelled his adidas deal in 1990, he signed a reported $20 million racket and clothing contract with Mizuno, a Japanese company.
Watch out one of Ivan’s commercial for Mizuno: I play to win
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxvLHaGS_zA[/youtube]
adidas started producing tennis racquets in 1974. In the 70s, during the wood era, Ilie Nastase was adidas’ flagship player. But in the 80s, a new star emerged: Ivan Lendl.
Lendl rose quickly in the pro ranks, using a white Kneissl composite during 1980-1981. That frame was called the White Star Pro. In December 1980, Kneissl introduced the White Star Ivan Lendl which was similar to the White Star pro, but additionnally featured the component kevlar.
In 1981, Lendl signed with adidas and started to play with the GTX Pro model, which he would use through 1985. Lendl’s early GTX were paintjob Kneissl, as Kneissl produced the GTX pro frames for adidas in Austria.
Photos by: nctt8
In 1986, Lendl started to play with the adidas GTX pro-T until 1990. In 1990, he signed a reported $20 million racket and clothing contract with Mizuno. After Lendl’s shift to Mizuno, adidas lost significant market share and retired from racquet production in 1992, but came back in 2008.
About adidas return to racquets market:
“When they were leaving the racket business back in the early 1990s, they were telling us it was no longer a good business to be in,” Lendl said. “Maybe the climate has changed. Still, I’m very surprised.”
Mats Wilander is best remembered for his tenacity and his fair play, but also for his racquet, the mythic Rossignol F200.
The F200 Carbon was one of the early graphite models that replaced wooden and aluminium racquets in the early 80s.
During the 70s tennis boom and the transition from wood to graphite, some ski companies jumped into the tennis business: they had some expertise in the composites area that they put in their tennis racquets. HEAD was the first in 1969. Voekl, Rossignol, Kneissl and Fisher followed.
Mats experimentally played with a Prince CTS racquet at Wimbledon in 1989, and with another Rossignol model until the end of his career.
