Tennis technology

Tennis can be dated back to at least as early as 16th century England; moreover, from 17th century Scotland there are original courts extant at Falkland Palace. The object of the game was to hit the ball over the net into the opponent's side of the court to score a point. As the popularity of tennis raised tennis players required more consistency in their tennis equipment. As the materials became more readily available for tennis innovators, more and more technological advancements were made to every aspect of the sport.

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, such as d3o. 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.

Strings

Main article: Strings (tennis)

The earliest strings were made from cow intestines (now called natural gut), a very reliable string but very expensive. With time and improved technology manufacturers have been trying to duplicate the natural gut feel with synthetic materials. Also, manufacturers are creating strings that are designed to produce more spin, power, and durability. It remains unclear whether the technological innovations in materials, product architecture, and size affected the performance of players, even if such innovations are controversial and even contested by sport-regulatory bodies. The prevailing standards are as much due to advancements in musical string technology as to the social construction of the racquet by the tennis playing public and the manufacturers who furnish the sporting goods. Social construction refers to the framing or interpretation of the physical implement by the community of tennis players some of whom often challenged the putative benefits of certain strings or other aspects of the racket.

Balls

Main article: Tennis ball

Originally the tennis ball consisted of rough cloth strips tightly bound together. Eventually the cloth strips became the core, wrapped in twine and covered by a finer cloth or felt hand-stitched around it. In 1972 the tennis ball was manufactured with the optic yellow felt. Now tennis balls are mass produced for high performance at minimal costs.