Outline of Racquet History

Tennis as a game has been around since the mid 1800s. During the past hundred years or so, the equipment we use has evolved drastically. So much that it has changed the way we play the game entirely. I will focus mainly on the tennis racquet as it is the main piece of equipment, and it’s developments have had the greatest influence over the sport.



The Early Years



During tennis’ early years as a sport, it was played with mainly wooden racquets. These racquets were extremely heavy and offered very little maneuverability or power. As a result, it was quite difficult to hit a ball hard and fast enough to get past your opponent while standing at the back of the court. And even if someone could hit the ball hard enough with these awkward racquets, the ball typically went out. Due to these restrictions a certain style of play evolved known as “serve and volley”. This tactic is where the server serves the ball, and then immediately runs towards the net in order to take volley the ball out of the air. The advantage of this is if the server is able to get close enough to the net and hit a good enough volley, they have lots of court space to hit the ball into depending on where their opponent is. Nearly every player used this tactic since it was difficult to hit a ball fast enough to get it past the person at the net, this giving the server a distinct advantage.



Since these racquets were so difficult to use, it also made it quite difficult for amateurs to play the game. To actually hit a ball back and forth over the net required a good deal of practice and proficiency with these racquets. As a result fewer people played tennis, and those who started often got discouraged and gave up early. Many of todays top coaches insist on giving kids (younger than 9 typically) wooden racquets when they first start playing. This is because it does require a lot more racquet skill to use a wooden racquet. When Andre Agassi (an undisputed tennis great) gave his son his first tennis racquet, he gave him an old wood one.



Steel



In the early 1970’s Wilson released a steel racquet known as the T2000. The construction of this racquet allowed for a few things. Firstly the frame was much lighter and more flexible than the traditional racquets. This provided greater power and maneuverability allowing players to hit the ball much harder. However, this power is useless without being able to control the ball enough to hit it in. The T2000 also used a stringing method (originally patented by lacoste in 1953) which allowed the racquet to be strung at a higher tension which allows the player to put more topspin on the ball, thus making the ball drop down and land in the court.



While many players remained traditionalists and stuck with wooden racquets, Jimmy Connors was the one to first pioneer the T2000. Connors lacked a powerful serve and exceptional volleying ability, but he made up for this with his speed on the court. Instead of serving and volleying like most players would, he preferred to stand at the baseline (back of the court) and chase balls down. The power and spin provided by the T2000 allowed him to do this successfully. As more players gradually switched to this style of play it became known as “baselining”.



Modern



Again nearly a decade later a new breed of racquet was released. This racquet exhibited similar qualities as the steel frame, only to a much greater extent. This again made life much more difficult for players that served and volleyed, since balls were coming at them much harder and faster. Players were now separated into two main catagories; “Serve and volleyers” or “baseliners”. With technology as it was, it allowed for players to still employ both playing styles successfully, providing the player was particularly skilled in that method.



Today most racquets are made of a variety of alloys. Some include piezoelectric fibers which convert kinetic energy into electricity, thus reduction the amount of shock. Others include extremely small (nanosized) silicon dioxide crystals applied between the carbon fibers of the racquet to increase stability of the racquet. There have been many different technologies applied to the racquets, but they all yield a similar result: More power, more spin, and more control. So now we must look at what effect this has had on two different worlds of tennis, that of the pros, and that of the amateurs.



Pros



With today’s racquets, most professional players are “baseliners”. This is because the balls now move so fast, that it is impractical to serve and volley frequently. Usually the time between the server hitting the ball, and the receiver hitting it back to them, is only enough to take one or two steps. With players who are able to serve the ball this fast (up to about 150mph) it is extremely difficult for the receiver to hit the ball back into play in many cases. To be a top player now, you MUST have a good serve. If a player is not able to win the point off their serve alone, it almost always puts them in an aggressive position. This makes the serve a HUGE part of the game, more so than it ever used to be. This produces less “rallies” or long points, but those points that are long are very exciting and fast paced. This attracts a large audience worldwide to many venues every year.



Amateurs



Now for those of us who aren’t hitting balls at 100+mph, this racquet technology has had a very different effect of the game. Since racquet manufacturers are now able to produce more racquets for cheaply, typically a line of racquets is now produced instead of a single racquet. This line of racquets is designed to have a racquet that appeals to many different playing levels and abilities. Oversized racquets (racquets with large heads) are produced for beginner players with short swings. These racquets provide them with more power and a larger surface for them to hit the ball off. With racquets being tailored to every level of play, people are able to become fairly skilled at tennis, with less of a time investment required. This results in many more players, thus providing more revenue for tennis clubs, and more demand for public recreational facilities. Mass production of these racquets has also made quality racquets more affordable.



In addition to this, the materials now used are designed to minimize stress on a players body. This prevents a lot of injury that used to plague the recreational player. Ever heard of tennis elbow? It used to happen to players who put stress on their forearms due to poor technique. Since many people had poor technique, it used to be quite common. Now with new racquets players are able to have imperfect technique to an extent, but still not apply any harmful stress to their arms.