My Wilson Pro Staff 5.2 tennis racket

Here are some photos of my Pro Staff racket including the case. This was my first own racket that I bought at a shop I found in Yokohama. This was was at the Marui Building adjacent to the Yokohama Station where my Japanese labmates pointed me to when I asked where I could buy a nice racket. I also got other items from that sports shop including tennis shoes (my first Nike pair), balls, shirts and shorts.

The blue color of the case has faded after 29 years but is still very much intact. The zipper and straps are in great condition.

The racket is intact with no damage to the frame and, surprisingly, the strings. The vibration dampener is also in great condition. I was thinking the rubber would have deteriorated (i.e., crumbled) but its as if it was bought and installed recently.

Stretch means this is a longer racket than the usual.

The Pro Staff was headlight, meaning the user had more control but have to generate the power for each hit. This one featured a Perimeter Weighting System that helps the user with stability, power and control.

Close up of the side of the racket frame

 

I will also share photos of my Sledge Hammer in a future post.

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Autographs - Pugad Baboy with Pol Medina, Jr.

I am very happy today as I got an autograph from one of my favorites Pol Medina, Jr. or PM Jr. He is the man behind the popular Pugad Baboy comics. I have been enjoying his work since I can remember. I do have the compilations though I have not been updated recently. Some actually perished in floods in the 1990s and I had to find replacements. Fortunately, there have been several re-issues of the older compilations. I brought one, maybe my favorite Vol. 4 to the Komiket at Ayala 30th. 

Mr. Medina signing Vol. 34

Autograph on my old Pugad Baboy 4

I used to have other autographed items including a couple of caricatures from a Humanities II project when I was a sophomore at UP Diliman. Our project had us interview a couple of artists. My partner and I interviewed the famous cartoonist Larry Alcala and political cartoonist Norman Isaac (Bulletin Today/Manila Bulletin). We interviewed Mr. Alcala at his home in UP Village while we went to the Bulletin's office in Intramuros for Mr. Isaac's. We both got caricatures from them as souvenirs. Those perished with my autographed planner (Monica Seles and Mary Joe Fernandez from the Japan Open in 1999) in the floods of Ondoy (Ketsana).  I will take good care of these newly autographed items along with other souvenirs since then.

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Tennis anyone?

After Alex Eala's win at Washington, D.C., I suddenly had the urge to check out my old rackets. I had kept them at one of my offices at U.P. and had removed the grips, which have already started disintegrating. I have kept two of three rackets that I purchased while in Japan in the 1990s and early 2000s. I gave the newest one (at the time) to my father who also played tennis at our village every Sunday with his buddies.

One my rackets was a Sledge Hammer from Wilson. 

I like to joke that at one time, I wielded a hammer - a Sledge Hammer to be exact. This is somewhat a dad joke referring to Thor, of course, but with some truth to it. Will I go back to playing tennis again? I do have access to tennis courts at UP but there seems to be a scarcity near our home as a lot of people have taken to pickleball instead. We'll see how it goes but I am leaning more towards badminton or table tennis. Magku-kuwento na lang muna ako about tennis.

More about tennis in future posts. 

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