Challenge Promatic P4

The “Challenge” wooden racquets became the brand of choice for many club players through the late 50′s to the mid 1970′s and the name continued on into the Aluminium era. Design was created by the famous Australian artist Constable which featured a rocket on the shaft. While the salesmen didn’t like it, MD David Blacklock made the call to run with the design and it became a best seller. While we will need to hunt down an example, space, stars and rockets were a feature on many designs along with other sub-names such as the Challenge Constellation given the public interest in the first space flights in the 1950′s through to the moon
landing in 1969. We also recently found a Fred Perry “Laurel” racquet made in Australia, using Canadian Ash under the company called the Fred Perry Racquet Company (Melbourne), no doubt a Slazenger subsidiary.