OK, here's an inquiry from the Bureau of Useless Knowledge: The Danish doubles pair Lars Paaske and Martin Lundgaard left Forza as they were offered a fat Yonex deal after reaching the finals in the 2001 Japan Open. Lars Paaske switched from a Ti Tech 1100 to a Yonex model which I haven't identified. It looks like a MP-77 but it's all silvery -- almost no black and no visible Ti inserts... Has anyone seen it? He used it in the 2001 Danish Open for instance. I just can't figure out what model it is, so maybe you guys have some ideas? It could be the Aerotus 100, but there are two reasons why I think it's not: 1) the racquet looks like a typical isometric frame, and the AR-100 is more oval, correct? and 2) is it likely that a newly recruited Yonex player would be offered an obsolete model?
As for sponsorship, the players will let the sponsor know which racquet(s) they prefer and the specs (tension, grip size, weight, etc) and the sponsor provides. It doesn't cost the manufacturer that much to provide top of the line racquets. It's like music CD, it costs about 50cents to produce and they retail for $14.00 and up.
When I looked at the stringing stand during the Japan Open, there were racquets being strung for Lundgaard and Paaske. For both players, they were both MP70 (not 77) strung at 30lbs with Bg65. I assumed that they they were already using Yonex during this particular tournament.
Sounds like MP 70 to me, because I've noticed slight variations in the tint of paint from Japanese, to North American models. Unless the racquet is a prototype? Not sure, you'd have to ask one of the sponsored guys in your clubs.. they might know. MP 70/77 are a very nice piece of equipment, actually the entire mp series is from what I've seen thus far. The most silvery model in my opinion is the mp80 though.. do you think you could have seen him using that instead?
Hmmm... MP70 you say? Yes, my initial guess was the MP77... but it's just that it was missing the dark color on the top 3/4 of the frame... oh well, it's not really important... I was just considering the possibility of a new model I guess... Thanks all! (BTW, Lundgaard has since abandoned the MP70/77 for the Ti-10. Paaske still uses it though.)
