Princely Strings

I have been bashing tennis balls since I was a wee lad, with whatever wood or aluminum bit of stringed flotsam was handy. Imagine my Luddite glee when I officially joined the New Athletic Millennium and tried one of the Prince EXO3 racquets. It was nothing short of a revelation. These babies are beautifully balanced, effortlessly powerful and afford one enough control to spin a ball from here to Beijing and back.

The resurgence of the Prince line is one of the great brand-name rebound stories in recent memory. Famous for the first oversized aluminum racquet to crack the market, designed by Howard Head in 1976, the company went on to create many high-tech variants -- out of magnesium and boron and graphite. The tennis craze itself has enjoyed a spike recently, and Prince's backroom technology eggheads are going full steam ahead to serve their demanding customers' need for new gear -- same as in the golf world.

Much of the company's move to number two worldwide behind Wilson is due to the excitement generated by their 03 technology -- rudimentarily, the pin-sized string holes on the side of the head have been enlarged into giant O-ports. This lends itself to more power and stability and much larger sweet spots. As pudding-proof, Russian pro Nikolai Davydenko went from number 20 in the world to number 7 less than a month after switching to an 03 racquet! Maria Sharapova is on board and won two of her three Grand Slams with O3 in hand, as well as Jelena Jankovic, who reached #1 in the world with Prince O3, as well as world #10 Gael Monfils, the most recent convert. Can't argue with success....

In this era of bleak prognostications from Wall Street, it's great to see an American company like Prince Tennis thriving -- a testimony to technological innovation and marketing savvy, both. P.S., while you're getting fitted for a racquet, try on a pair of the OV-1 tennis shoes, utilizing the same hole-y technology. They too are built for speed and comfort, and even look a little intimidating, never a bad thing when trying to humiliate an opponent. All hail the Prince!!