From the wood to aluminium, passing through fiberglass and Kevlar, up to the revolution of graphite. The history of tennis is the story of a technological evolution contained in its most iconic instrument: the racket. We have gone from heavy tools made of ash or maple, with animal gut strings and a very small stringbed – the area from the racket that hits the ball – which required a high level of technique, to modern ones made of graphite. Today, pros use synthetic monofilament strings that perform so well that they need to be changed after just an hour of play. Let’s retrace together how the change in materials has transformed not only the tool, but the game itself, through its characteristics and its protagonists.
The first tennis rackets made of wood in the 19th century
The first rackets were made in wood (now a heritage for collectors). It is the only material used from the birth of the sport at the end of the nineteenth century in England until the 1970s. We are talking about solid wood, the internal and densest part of the tree trunk (ash or maple), with relatively long shafts, small head and natural gut strings. The assembly methods have gradually been refined even if the construction principle has remained the same, namely the stratified constructionthat is, the overlapping of many wooden strips of different quality and yield, compression and gluing.
Despite being a fascinating and easily available material, wood brought with it several defects: it had one limiting stiffnessit was heavy (approximately 400 grams) and subject to deformations (humps, humidity) and above all it “sweet spot”or the optimal area of the racket in which the ball, coming into contact with the string platereturns a substantially homogeneous response, it was very narrow. This required a gaming technique that compensated for these limitations. It was the Belgian racket brand Snauwaert, in 1989, that launched “Ultimate”, its latest wooden racket with the signature of the American champion John McEnroein an era in which this material was now extinct on tennis courts.
Lacoste’s transition to the metal racket in the 1960s
The first real alternative to wood was metal. In 1965 the former tennis player and established fashion designer René Lacoste he had the idea of creating a tool capable of guaranteeing a lower weight and a more homogeneous mass distribution. The most popular metal wasaluminum because it offered excellent guarantees of lightness. The frames gave greater balance between power and maneuverability. The transition to metal represented more than a simple change in material: it symbolized the widespread diffusion of advanced technologies in the world of tennis. Players, from amateurs to professionals, could take advantage of the innovative materials without compromising performance. The change in material therefore contributed to the democratization of tennis, making high-performance rackets more accessible. From elite sport to people’s sport.
Synthetic resins and Kevlar: the Head revolution in the 70s
A further change – probably even more radical than that achieved by Lacoste – is due to the aeronautical engineer Howard Head. Once he retired from his military career he decided to dedicate his free time to tennis and use his skills in creating an innovative racket. It was the end of the 70s when the stringbed was enlarged and the frame was also made using the synthetic resins. After Howard’s invention, looms became increasingly lighterbuilt with fiberglass, kevlar, boron and ceramic.
The modern era of graphite in the 1980s
In the early 1980s the first racket entirely in graphitewith a broad oval 630/640 square centimetres (compared to 440 of the wooden predecessor) and the weight around 300 grams. Materials with different names are sometimes used (dnx, nanocarbon, deltacore, etc.) which are however similar to graphite, i.e. carbon compounds. The use of these composites has allowed us to increase the surface of the stringing while maintaining the rigidity of the structure, thus conceiving rackets capable of adapting to every type of player. With the introduction of the first carbon rackets, players were able to generate more powerful and precise shotsradically changing the dynamics of tennis as we know it today.
The stringing and grip: from natural gut to synthetic materials
The string plate represents the other half of the sky of a racket. Initially, and until the early 1970s, natural materials were used, such as gut. The source was the cow (a part of its intestine called the serosa). Today the stringings are largely in synthetic material. From braided polyfilaments of nylonto developments in polyaramide (kevlar) And polyesterused above all for the highest performing strings in terms of power, made of monofilament (i.e. a single thread of the desired thickness). The choice of strings directly affects the performance of the racket and the feel of the shot. Today, players can choose from a variety of options, from harder to softer strings, to further customize their equipment with various tensions, including based on their own biomechanics. Sometimes to reduce the vibrations of the strings and the frame during the shot it is used to insert a ball between the strings anti-vibratorthat is, a small rubber object which, when tied between several ropes, absorbs vibrations. Many claim that this small object can reduce the risk of epicondylitis (an injury commonly known as “tennis elbow”), however there is no certain and substantial data that can truly support this thesis.
The grip it is an adhesive that serves to have a good grip on the handle and prevent the racket from slipping. THE’overgrip, instead, it serves above all to increase the thickness of the handle, to offer a better grip and is applied over the grip to offer greater grip and comfort and to absorb the sweating. The grip must be changed when it has lost grip or its absorbency, it can be made with different materials, including polyurethane, synthetic fabrics and obviously the eraser.
Curiosities and records on tennis rackets
Now that we have understood the history and technological evolution of the tennis racket, let’s see some curious facts about these objects:
- Professional tennis players they change racket during the game during ball changes (every 9 games) or after about an hour of training because they use amonofilament stringingwhose performance is optimal in the very short term and then drops irremediably and is considered “dead” after, precisely, one hour of use.
- The last high-level professional to use a racket in wood it was Slovakian Miloslav Mecir who became No. 4 in the world playing with a racket midsize of the Snauwaert company. He was so attached to his wooden racket that in the last years of his career he continued to use it “secretly”, with a metallic green color that simulated a similar graphite model;
- The racket most expensive ever it belonged to the 22-time Slam champion Rafael Nadal: the Prestige Memorabilia auction house sold it this year to 157,333 US dollars. This is the tool with which the Majorcan won his tenth Roland Garros in 2017 in the final with the Swiss Wawrinka.
- Jannik Sinner’s racket weighs 300 grams with a stringing pattern 16×19for an oval ‘Mindsize Plus‘ and with string plate from 645 cm2. It’s long 68.5 cm and thick 23 mmwith a balance in the frame a 320 mm.
