Tennis Racquet technology

By far the most drastic change in technology was in the tennis racquet. Every aspect of the tennis racquet from the weight of the racquet to the shape of the racquet changed to better suit modern tennis players.

Size of the racquet

In 1976 Howard Head introduced the first major change to the tennis racquet: the large head which created the racquet size classification that is used today. The large head gave an advantage to the average recreational player so they could play better with a larger hitting area.

Size classification

• Mid - 93 square inches (600 cm²) and below
• Mid-plus - 94–105 square inches (610–680 cm²)
• Oversized - 106–122 square inches (680–790 cm²)
• Super-oversized - 122 square inches (790 cm²) and larger

In addition to head size, the balance point and grip size of a racquet also changed as technology progressed. The balance point of the racquet is now easily changed to the user's preferences. Depending on the player's style of play, the choice is made between a head-heavy racquet and a head-light racquet. Head-heavy racquets provide more power on serves and ground strokes, while head-light racquets provide more control. Along with racquet balance, the size of the grip on the racquet can affect play style as well. With racquets made for personal specifications tennis has grown leaps and bounds. Unlike football, American football and baseball where sporting goods are tightly regulated, tennis has been rather free in the successive innovations of its sporting goods—whether materials, product architecture or weight. While often controversial, innovations are rather ambiguous in their effect on performance and ergonomics so that standards are not as common and more the result of social construction and less due to imposition of regulatory or engineering standards.

Materials

The earliest racquets used in tennis were made of wood which caused a number of inconsistency problems such as the wood warping and the use of different woods in racquets making a different feel when striking the ball. Early designs used metals in their new designs many companies experimented with metals such as aluminum, magnesium and titanium. Then many companies experimented with materials such as boron, ceramics, graphite and composites. Each material had its own desirable qualities but ceramics and graphite were the best picks for being very stiff as well as being very good with vibration reduction. The most advanced of the racquet technologies created by tennis racquet manufacturers are described at Tennis Warehouse