The star is rising... again

I have a particular fondness for cult products. Take tennis racquets for an example. Many of the frames I have loved are from brand names which have a very small market share or have stopped producing tennis racquets altogether. How many players in the pro tour are using racquets of Rossignol, Fischer, adidas, Volkl and Kneissl? But surely, some of these brands deserve more than a cult status as their products' performance are as good as their looks.

A classic example is Kneissl. As a recent Tennis Magazine article said, Kneissl has a great history, and they are an innovative brand. Not only have Kneissl designed and produced racquets which have been the weapons of great players such as Ivan Lendl, Thomas Muster, Sergi Bruguera and Helena Sukova, played and won with a Kneissl at some stages of their career but also they were actually behind a couple of high-profile frames which did not carry the star logo. The adidas GTX Pro Graphite that Ivan Lendl played with in the first half of the 1980s was actually a paint job Kneissl White Star Pro. The Puma racquet that Boris Becker won Wimbledon with was constructed by Kneissl.

Kneissl have sort of retreated from the tennis stage for a while. So I had a pleasant surprise when I recently saw a female professional player wielding a white frame which was an unmistakable Kneissl because of its distinctive shape and the white colour. According to the Tennis Magazine article, Kneissl is making a return to the racquet market. This is definitely welcoming news to me. Back in the 80s, I was crazy for those stylish, white, egg-shaped racquets which were very hard to find. The two I had were bought second hand and had gone past their heydays, but I treasured them nonetheless. I whole-heartedly wish that this comeback will be a success. Who knows? A certain tennis star of tomorrow might win a Grand Slam wirh a Kneissl.