History of the Tennis Racket
The first wooden tennis rackets appeared in the 15th century. Before then, different ball games were played with plain hands, gloved hands or wooden bats. In 1873 Major Walter Clopton Wingfield put together a set of official rules and invented what he called “lawn tennis.” Tennis rackets were made of wood until 1965, when the first steel racket was produced, soon followed by the first aluminum racket in 1968. The new materials allowed for bigger heads and as a result easier hitting with more power. The oversized racket—-at first not easily accepted by the tennis community—became standard at all levels of play in the 1980s.
(Suzanna McGee @ www.livestrong.com)
