adidas to re-release tennis racquets

The three stripes of adidas tennis, already seen on clothing and shoes, returns to racquets when the company revives its equipment line — last hawked by legends Ilie Nastase and Ivan Lendl in the 1980s.

If you don’t know much about these old adidas sticks, check out the amazing photo trove at 80s-tennis.com. That trefoil stencil is sick!

(By the way, I’ve been meaning to write about 80s-tennis for a while. So go check it out. I’ll do a bigger post later…)

In the current incarnation, adidas will produce three ranges to cater to all play levels, and will be named after their signature tennis shoes: the Barricade, Response, and Feather. As far as colors, the Barricades and Response have black/white/red colorways and the Feather — the lightest of the three — will be in white/silver/yellow.

So which of the pros are going to use this for match play? No agreements yet (it’s “a work in progress”, says an insider), but like all other equipment, they’ll probably introduce it to promising juniors with the hopes of getting exposure when the player succeeds on the tour.

Buy: adidas Barricade racquets, $185;Feather range, $165, and Response, $145. Available in the U.S. beginning February 2009.