adidas, Swinging Back Into Racquets

Are you old enough to remember adidas racquets? This is a classic shot. Tennis legends Ivan Lendl (pictured) and Ilie Nastase wore the tip to toe adidas package with obvious success but soon after the racquets slipped from the company's line. Well they're back and we're dying to check them out. New for Spring 2009, six new racquets total: four Barricade models, The Response, and the Feather. All are named after benchmark adidas tennis shoes.

The Barricade Tour is designed for the tournament player, the Barricade Tour Light for strong juniors, the Barricade (pictured below), a more forgiving racquet, for the recreational player, and the Barricade junior for budding tennis stars. All Barricades feature adidas' power structure technology to improve torsional stability -- more simply, it adds pop and a larger sweetspot.

The Response offers a combination of power and control for most club players. A higher frame height gives greater power while the stiffness and string pattern bring control. The Feather is the lightest of the new adidas tennis racquet range but with the thickest frame it offers a little extra power for the recreational or older club player seeking an easy to handle racket.

The Barricade range of rackets will be out in the US February 2009 and will retail between $145 and $185 USD. They will be sold through adidas' own retail as well as tennis specialty stores worldwide. We'll keep you posted. 

Lendl image courtesy of the Information Research Center at the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum, Newport, Rhode Island.www.tennisfame.com