For over a century ago, the world was introduced with the first Tennis Racquet. Now, the first model of a tennis racquet is very different from what we now call a tennis racquet. In that light, today’s modern tennis racquet has come a long way.

So, what are the differences between the new and old tennis racquet? Well, a modern tennis racquet is an upgraded version of an old one in so many ways. Some of the main upgrades were in the field of design, materials, and other crucial things that every tennis racquet depends on.

Never the less, let’s see the whole tennis racquet evolution right here. Let’s begin.

Tennis Racquet Evolution

Year by year, a tennis racquet has come a long way since the beginning. Let’s see everything about it.

The first racquet – 1874

As the history tells us, the first racquet was made in 1874 in London, and the maker was Walter C. Wingfield. This racquet was made entirely out of the solid wood which made it pretty easy to swing with and pretty powerful.
This racquet was a powerful and unique tennis requisite, but the only thing that it didn’t excel at is the precision. Later, the evolution of tennis racquet will combine this racquet model with newly developed features which will boost precision and accuracy.

Laminate Wood – 1947

As we already said, wood is the main material to make tennis racquets. Therefore, the next breakthrough in a tennis racquet field is when the world was introduced with the laminated wood Lacoste racquet.

This racquet was pretty comfortable to play with, and it was definitely a game-changer when it comes to tennis in general.

Wilson T200 – 1968

Now, we have come to the time where the first steel racquet was introduced to the game. The Wilson T200 is a very powerful and definitely one of the best tennis racquets at the time. The fact that legendary Jimmy Connors adopted this racquet as his own, tells us that this racquet was indeed a very good one.

It had everything that one tennis player could possibly ask for. However, it was a bit heavier, but that didn’t actually bother Jimmy Connors at all.

Weed Aluminum – 1975

The next tennis racquet that was brought to the world of tennis was a Weed Aluminum racquet. Now, this racquet didn’t really get any popularity and because of that, this racquet was quickly forgotten and put aside.

However, this really is a shame since this tennis racquet had some promising qualities and really great specifications that could help a lot.

Dunlop Max200G – 1980

Now, after the year 1980, most of the tennis racquets were made out of the graphite frames. Simply speaking, the wooden racquets were no longer popular choice and they simply couldn’t meet the standards of the player.

Anyhow, the well-known John McEnroe and Steffi Graf used the Dunlop Max200G racquet and they were quite pleased with the results. Therefore, this racquet is very good and stands for a perfect quality.

Wilson Profile – 1987

Next, we meet with the Wilson Profile tennis racquet. Why is this tennis racquet so special? Well, the Wilson Profile tennis racquet was the first racquet to bring the ‘’wide body’’ frame and design. This type of design made this racquet to have a powerful shot and a pretty large beam width.

Anyway, this tennis racquet was indeed the revolutionary one, and it definitely brought some new changes to the tennis game in general.

Yonex Brand – 1990

So, in the 90’s a new brand came up to the market. The Japanese brand Yonex made some promising results when they brought the Yonex tennis racquets on the market. These racquets were pretty good at the time because they offered stability and accuracy for the most part.

The fact that Monica Seles dominated her competition with this racquet, tells us what qualities this racquet is made out off.

Babolat Pure Drive – 2003

Next, there was some period in tennis where nothing special happened when it comes to tennis racquets. But, all of that would change once the Babolat Pure Drive entered the market and tennis world. This is one of the most lightweight racquets which is definitely powerful enough to make a good shot and an accurate point as well.

The legendary Andy Roddick actually won 2003 US Open with this racquet which made this racquet pretty famous and popular. Over the years, this racquet gained popularity when other tennis legends played on it and confirmed that it was actually pretty great.

Wilson K Factor – 2002 – 2012

Wilson tennis racquet again! Now, the Wilson K Factor really stepped up the game when Roger Federer won 17 major titles with it and used his signature on it. It doesn’t get better then this most of the people thought, but, this racquet actually showed some extraordinary qualities and it was pretty good at performing in any given occasion.

Head YOUTEK – 2012

The Head brand is a well-known company that makes tennis gear for a long period of time. This time, they really changed the game when they introduced a YOUTEK tennis racquet that offers quite good stability and an amazing precision and accuracy.
The tennis legend Novak Djokovic used to play with this tennis racquets and dominated for a long time in the tennis world. No wonder why he did it for so long, this racquet really offered him a great performance and even better quality.

Conclusion

All in all, that is the tennis racquet evolution. It all started pretty long ago, and as the years gone by, the tennis racquet had some serious upgrades and changes. But, everything that changes for the better is actually pretty great, and therefore, a tennis racquet now can’t even compare to the old models.

There were lots of variations and types of tennis racquets, and all of them were good in some field. However, only the best one stayed in the game and offered so much for both players and the audience.

The post Evolution of the Tennis Racquet appeared first on Team Sports Mania.