adidas Racquets Are Back

Freddy did it.

Puma did it.

Converse, Stan Smith.... need we go on?

And now, following in the footsteps of tennis legends Ilie Nastase and Ivan Lendl, adidas racquets are back.

In a quest to provide tennis players with everything they need to take part in one of the most popular sports in the world, adidas will be introducing three lines of racquets designed for players of every level. And using a little play on words, each racquet is named after one of adidas tennis shoes lines — Barricade, Response and Feather.

Four Barricade models have been created; The Barricade Tour is designed for the "Tournament Player."  It is the heaviest at 330g and the
stiffest of the new adidas rackets, ideal for fast swinging players who can generate their own power and look for additional control.  

The Barricade Tour Light is 30g lighter, suiting good juniors, but it offers the same control with every swing. Both the Barricade Tour and
Tour light come with and 18/20 string pattern to give excellent control and a crisp feel.

The third racket in this range is the Barricade itself; a lighter and less stiff version of the Tour racket with a 16/19 string pattern to
ensure a forgiving and playable racket for competition players. The Barricade Junior, meanwhile, satisfies the needs of young budding tennis
stars. 

All rackets in the Barricade family feature the adidas POWER STRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY (PST). Three structures at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock act like the claws on the Barricade shoe to improve torsional stability. This technology transfers to adidas rackets by adding weight at the same
points, putting pop into your shots and increasing the sweetspot.

The Response racket has the perfect combination of power and control for most club players. The higher frame height gives greater power while the stiffness and string pattern bring control. The Feather is the lightest of the adidas Tennis Racket range just like the Feather shoe. However the Feather actually has the thickest frame offering a little extra power for the recreational or older club player seeking an easy to handle racket.

If you want to be one of the first to play with one of these new racquets, you'll have to wait for a while. They aren't expected to hit store shelves until early 2009.