Be the Professional, Please
A customer came in with a Wilson Pro Staff 97 V13 he purchased on closeout at the local golf/tennis “superstore” down the street from me, and told me an interesting story.
He bought the racquet for $100 (below my wholesale, for sure) and, while he was looking around, he noticed a Pro Staff RF 97 on the shelf, as well. Out of curiosity (I guess), he asked the lady there: “What is the difference in these two racquets?” She answered with. “One has an autograph and one doesn’t.”
Note: this lady is IN CHARGE of the tennis department at this store, he told me.
Well, once he looked at the racquets, he answered his own question.
Right there… RIGHT THERE on the racquet is the major thing: a 25g weight difference! If she sold the RF to someone “just because of the autograph”, she has done them a major disservice, and one that can’t be rectified (you can’t reduce a racquet’s weight by 25g!). She would have most likely set her customer up for poor performance at best, and injury at the worst.
This is why I don’t worry about these places. Sure, they’ll sell some racquets and do some string jobs, but stuff like this will send customers to guys like us (you notice this man didn’t let them string the racquet).
Professionalism — like we learn every day at IART — is a major “difference maker” in our business, and ensures we’ll be around long after these “superstores” are turned into warehouses or skating rinks.
Comments (5)
Nice post, Matt. I’d be willing to bet that if you put both of those racquets on an RDC, the stiffness readings would reveal that the lighter of the two is a knockoff!
I see your point Matt.
This is amusing because when I have a new racquet that I plan to sell, I leave the plastic on the grip, put on the overgrip, string the racquet, tune it, test it, and when it’s ready remove the overgrip, clean the residue off the plastic wrap, and it sells.
If I buy a new racquet and it does not come with the plastic on the grip, I have questions about new, or just slightly used.
25 grams for the plastic? Now that’s information I can use and would have never considered .
It’s not 25g for the plastic. The 2 racquets are 25g different in weight (PS 97 vs RF 97). Plainly printed on the handle in the picture.
Got it. And today I learned to read more carefully!
Some years back, just after Prince had to stop selling their Triple Threat line, a guy brought me a Prince RIP to restring and put in new grommets. I had the grommets, but they wouldn’t fit. The holes didn’t even line up. I opened a few grommet sets to make sure I didn’t have a bad set, and none of the holes lined up. So, I called Prince. The customer service guy didn’t know why, but agreed to transfer me to their “engineering” department. I told him the story. He said the guy probably got the racket at a big box store (it was Dick’s I found out). The engineering guy said that when Prince (or any manufacturer) quits producing a line, they often sell the rights to the racket to these box stores. They can use the name, make it look the same, etc., but they’re not required to meet any manufacturer’s specs. They get it made cheap, sell it cheap, and everyone makes money. It wasn’t even the same sq inches, but you’d never know it unless you held up a legit one next to the “fake”. I refer to them as “legal fakes”. So, when you look at rackets in these big box stores (Head Ti 5, possibly Ti 6, Prince Thunderbolts, etc come to mind), just know they may not be what you think they are.