Evolution of the Tennis Racket
Karen and Rikki's Web Site

    In the past, tennis racket frames have been made of wood or laminated wood with a leather grip and with a standard size and shape.  Recently, metal frames were introduced in 1967 and the style of the oversized head in 1976.  The first breakthrough for tennis was frames made of steel and aluminum.  The belief was that the stronger, or more stiff, the frame, the better the performance.  Time proved otherwise, with an increase in tennis elbow in players.  The shock and force of the ball hitting the racket was transferred from the racket to the player, therefore having the player carry the impact.  In order to aleviate this problem, manufacturers began using frames of graphite and composites of graphite and other materials, such as Kevlar.  They were more light weight and flexible, improving performance and decreasing the amount of pressure put on the athlete.  Yet they believed that performance could be increased to a greater level, and so introduced new material.  The most innovative frames are made of boron and titanium, and can be combined in different amounts into a composite including fiberglass, aluminum, and/or graphite.  From previous years, manufacturers used their knowledge of the success of composites to create this new era of tennis racket frames that are lighter, stronger, and more durable and flexible than earlier models.
    Polymers have primarily been used in the rubber or leather grip and strings of the racket.  When tennis was first introduced, lamb and sheep gut were used for the strings.  Later, its abundant supply introduced beef gut and silk as possibilities for strings.  After WWII, DuPont introduced
mono-filament nylon for tennis strings.  Athletes quickly became fans because of its extremely loww cost as compared to natural gut.  In 1977, Ashaway Line and Twine Company produced the first Kevlar string, leading the way for the synthetic string of today.  Strings now are made of a large array of synthetic materials.