The Evolution of Tennis Racquets and Strings
The innovations in the material of the tennis racquet — the strings and the frame — have changed tennis throughout the years; thus, fundamentally changing the game by allowing players to hit with more power, spin, and racquet speed. Many star professional tennis players in the past and present use new technology to help take their game to new levels. The change from a wooden racquet to a carbon-fiber tennis racquet and the change from cow gut strings to non-gut synthetic strings have changed the way tennis is played.
In the 1960s and 1970s, tennis players used wooden racquets and strings made from cow gut. The four main wooden racquet brands that players used were Dunlop, Slazenger, Wilson, and Spalding (“Tennis
Use of graphite became popular when another legendary professional, Arthur Ashe, began using Head Presige’s one-hundred percent graphite racquet (“Tennis Nuts” 2017). The graphite racquet became extremely popular because of the stiffness. Even though the racquet was quite heavy, the main characteristic that made the graphite racquet so popular was the reduced vibration when a player hit the ball off the racquet (“Evolution of Tennis Rackets” 2017). The graphite racquet continued to be popular and began to be used by many other professional tennis players as well, such as Pete Sampras, who won fourteen Grand Slam titles in his career. Sampras used a graphite racquet named the Wilson Pro Staff. The Wilson Pro Staff was introduced in 1983, and tennis players seemed to enjoy this racquet because of the distinct feel it gave off. (“Tennis Nuts” 2017) Another graphite racquet called the Dunlop Max 200G debuted in 1980. (“Tennis Nuts” 2017) This racquet was used by legend John McEnroe and one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, Steffi Graf. The Dunlop Max 200G was lighter in weight compared to most graphite tennis
To promote tennis playing Prince currently sponsors teaching pros, as well as, over 100 professional tennis players. There are several other
In the 1990's, Callaway introduced yet another new line of woods that featured the S2H2 design with an oversize head. Compared to "an oversize tennis-racket for golfers," the Big Bertha driver, which was named for a World War I cannon, permitted straighter shots on off-center hits. Pro golfers were impressed with the feel and distance they got from the club, and by the end of the 1992 golf season, the Big Bertha driver was ranked Number 1 on the Senior PGA, the LPGA and the Hogan tours. Callaway Golf was now well on its way to achieving a reputation for producing forgiving clubs that helped lower scores.
Years of playing the game and not improving, Gawande incidentally finds himself play tennis with a young man who is a tennis couch. The young man gives Gawande a tip about keeping his feet under his body when hitting the ball. At first he is uncertain, stating, “My serve had always been the best part of my game….. With a few minutes of tinkering, he’d added at least ten miles an hour to my serve. I was serving harder than I ever had in my life” (Gawande, 2011, p.3).
It is said that in 1949, Sobek and a partner began playing with a paddle and combined the rules of handball and squash to play what they called “paddle racquets.” He then decided to change from a paddle to a racquet itself using a tennis racquet as a model. He made 25 to sell to his friends to start the sport. There was one problem though; there were faults in the ball. Sobek then found a Spalding ball made for children that work well. He bought a lot of them and sold him to his friends in 1950 to keep his sport from dwindling out. Sobek eventually started his own company to make his own ball to his exact specifications for the game.
(b) Markings. Racquetball courts shall be marked with lines 1 1/2 inches wide as follows:
On September 10th, 1962 Rod Laver legend tennis player wins all four majors tournaments for the career grand slam. Winning the career grand slam consists of winning all four major tennis championships in one year. These tennis championships are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Laver became professional the next year, meaning that he could not compete in the Open championships, which at that time amateur-only. In 1968 the four grand slam tournaments stopped their amateur-only rule and let professionals compete, this would mark the beginning of the “Open Era” of tennis.
Achievements Off The Court Exceeded His Extraordinary Accomplishments As A Tennis Champion.” Philly.com 9 Feb 1993: n.p.
The golf ball has changed dramatically through the years. Smooth hardwood balls were used between the 1400 and 1700's.
A young African-American boy walks onto some rundown tennis courts at a local park with his father in Richmond, VA. Armed with an old wooden racket and a can of white tennis balls, his father begins to feed him some different shots and tells his son everything he knows about tennis. Being an African-American, this young boy did not have many friends that were as interested in tennis as he was. Since tennis is a predominantly white sport, Arthur Ashe’s desire to play was not encouraged by either race, but instead of giving up on the sport he loved, he continued playing to the dismay of many. Little did Ashe know, however, that his persistence would change the game forever. His efforts opened doors for many of the popular African-American tennis players, such as Serena and Venus Williams, MaliVai Washington, and Bryan Shelton. The class that he brought to the game of tennis and the bravery he showed by changing a sport dominated by whites made Arthur Ashe a legend in his own time.
... part of the games heritage. Sports have changed and will continue to do so. There will always be that technological advance that gives players an edge, but one can guarantee that there will be someone who thinks that edge is harmful to the game. To protect the integrity, each sport adds regulations and rules to the rulebook if necessary. As seen with golf, the golf ball and titanium driver are completely different than when they were back in 1960, but the USGA has placed regulations on how they are manufactured. Thus, in 2000, the winner only scored two strokes better on the most prestigious tournament the professionals play each year. Critical or not, professional sports are changing, becoming more competitive, and with it comes controversy. The facts are out there, and only you can be the one to answer the question, is technology harming professional sports?
The development of the lacrosse stick is really interesting because it started off as a one piece of wood. The stick was handmade by chopping down a tree and carving each individual stick out of it. Then the Canadians made the stick making process several times easier and less expensive by reducing the manual labor. The first modern stick model was produced by a company STX that still produces lacrosse sticks today. STX invented the plastic head stick in 1964 but did not manufacture it until 1970. The new model introduced a stick with a lightweight, symmetrical, perfectly balanced triangular plastic head with leather shooting strings and a synthetic material pocket. The new head assembly was attached to a wooden pole. But later the company created aluminum and other metal composite poles for lighter and stronger shafts with different colors too. The creation was a great innovation in modern lacrosse because the pocket structure could create mo...
...ne and the advancements that the equipment has made. For a physical project I will build a set of golf clubs to use for the upcoming golf season. I will compare the score that I have shot with my old clubs and the clubs that I have built for my senior project. This will help me further understand how it was to build the clubs that you play with like many men did generations ago. The great Ben Hogan sums up the game of golf the best with," It's the hardest darn game that will bring you back every time with that one elusive shot."(Hist. Of golf coarse, 7)
With this discovery, Phil Young persuaded Fred Bommer, to “head up the Acushnet Golf Division” (Titleist Story - Titleist.com. (2016). They set out to develop the highest quality and best performing golf ball in the world; one that would be uniform and consistent in quality, ball after ball. A trait that is still found within the Titleist brand (Titleist Story - Titleist.com. (2016).
The tennis seen as typical tennis today wasn’t truly how tennis began. The variation that everyone knows is known as lawn tennis, while the original variation is known as “jue de paume,” which means “game of the hand.” There is not a bit of information that helps prove the actual date of creation for the game, although it is sometime past the year 1000 AD as well as having a high potential of being created in France. Later on, racquets came into play and this beca...
The way Morgan incorporated tennis into his game is by using a similar net; however, he raised the height to six feet and six inches off the ground. He also created this game for his fellow businessman Blain. When Morgan invented his game he came up with a set of rules, however many of his rules have been changed or there are new ones. One of the rules to this game is that before the game starts, there is a coin toss. This coin toss determines which team gets to decide who gets the serve first.