1978-86: The Professionals' Transition to Graphite

[Sanglier]

Anyone ever try chopping that central spur out, or did LCS have a model without it?

I have not tried it myself, but I suspect it will not make the racquet play worse. The stock TXM weighs 390g (13.8 Oz) strung and has a 64 RA measured flex. It won't miss that middle shaft if it's taken out.

This middle shaft became a unique LCS feature quite by accident. The model that started it all was the TXF, initially developed for Adidas by a Californian contractor. The three shaft layout not only brought back memory of the elegant Streamline, but also fit in nicely with the German brand's longtime trademark. However, Adidas had acquired LCS at about the same time, and decided for whatever reason to pass the model to LCS instead, and LCS just ran with it after that.

The TXF is stiffer than the TXM, but plays way nicer. Its middle shaft only has fiberglass in it, while the main shafts are graphite and boron. By contrast, the TXM is 100% graphite all over.

 

[Casey 1988]

There are no steel rackets produced today as far as I'm aware. Aluminum is lighter and has been cheaper since the 1980s.

I thought some of the Titanium were actually Stainless Steel today or something like this. I know in the 2000's some of those were just a light coating of the cheapest grade Titanium with mostly Steel/Stainless Steel as the racquet, especially the Cheap Pro Kennex and the Wilson models claiming Titanium.

Also, some very Cheap Chinese made models can be bought new that are made of stainless steel to get the weight/stiffness up on the model yet still use the same pattern as the cheap Aluminum garbage they sell. Kevens is one of the brands doing this

 

[Grafil Injection]

I thought some of the Titanium were actually Stainless Steel today or something like this. I know in the 2000's some of those were just a light coating of the cheapest grade Titanium with mostly Steel/Stainless Steel as the blade, especially the Cheap Pro Kennex and the Wilson models claiming Titanium.

Also, some very Cheap Chinese made models can be bought new that are made of stainless steel to get the weight/stiffness up on the model yet still use the same pattern as the cheap Aluminum garbage they sell. Kevens is one of the brands doing this

The 2000s rackets mentioning titanium usually contain a small portion of Ti used at a strategic area of the frame, or a very low level woven into one layer of the graphite. I.e. <5% of the layup. Various other metals like copper, tungsten, Densimet etc were also used like this.

Taking a brief look at the rainforest site, the Kevenz and other strange makes mostly say they are made from aluminium or aluminium/carbon composite. However, I do see one that says it has an alloy-steel shaft, and an aluminium frame. It is likely that this is referring to the steel weighting that is often used in the handle of a racket, be it mainly aluminium or graphite. This is not generally considered to be relevant to the behaviour of the racket, and you can see that that racket is further described from a performance standpoint as aluminium.

Similarly, Artengo graphite rackets like the popular TR960 list the composition of their handles as 70% steel, 30% polyurethane elaborating the use of such steel 'commercial' weights, as is required under French retail laws. This does not mean it is not a graphite racket, it is simply a breakdown of all the components, like mentioning the Zytel grommets or the PU butt-cap. It is not a steel racket in any way, as any modern full-sized racket made primarily of steel would be far too heavy to use.

 

[kevin qmto]

I tried to research what rackets Ken Rosewall used in the last few years of his incredibly lengthy career and have come up mostly empty. You’d be shocked how hard it is to even find a dated google image of him playing from 78-80. You’d think as he wound down his career photographers would make sure to document a great players last matches on court, but seemingly nope. I wanted to see if he dabbled in any fiberglass or graphites in 79-80.

He only played 6 matches in 1980 but he won half of them, most of them against top 100 players, super respectable considering he was 44 years old.

 

[Grafil Injection]

I tried to research what rackets Ken Rosewall used in the last few years of his incredibly lengthy career and have come up mostly empty. You’d be shocked how hard it is to even find a dated google image of him playing from 78-80. You’d think as he wound down his career photographers would make sure to document a great players last matches on court, but seemingly nope. I wanted to see if he dabbled in any fiberglass or graphites in 79-80.

He only played 6 matches in 1980 but he won half of them, most of them against top 100 players, super respectable considering he was 44 years old.

Yeah, I actually included him in the table at first, but then I realised how infrequently he played in those 1980s years, that they were more like exhibition matches I believe. He had the Wilson aluminium World Class in the late 70s, then the Ultra 1 graphite in the early 80s. I think he also had some weird make on the side when he played in Australia, like Emrik.