Volley Heritage
Mark Edmondson
Edo took a nap and woke up a champion
When Mark 'Edo' Edmondson played the 1976 Australian Open, he was unseeded, unprepared and virtually unknown. Edo was a bloke who figured it out as he went. He preferred a pre-match nap to a psyche up, worked odd jobs to pay tournament fees and called his world tour a 'contiki with a racquet'. Safe to say, nobody saw him coming. But on that day in '76, the sleeping giant awoke and beat Ken 'Muscles' Rosewall to make it through the semis to a final standoff against John Newcombe. In true Edo form, he made a last minute switch to Volleys, found his game and took home the cup. He made do and did pretty damn well. Now, the Volley International has been reset to its original 1975 specifications. The same ones that worked out alright for Edo.
Evonne Goolagong
Evonne put on her Volleys in '71
and never took them off.
In 1968 Aussie tennis legend Adrian Quist predicted that 16 year old Evonne Goolagong would be the best female player by the time she was 21. Three years later at the young age of 19, she won the Wimbledon grand slam. Quist saw it coming, but Evonne was way ahead of him. She picked up her first racquet at the age of three and as a young lass, used to practise every day by hitting balls against the wall. And then on that glorious day in '71, she claimed her Wimbeldon victory in a pair of Volleys. Evonne stayed true to the shoes for years and to this day, they have a place in her heart.
