Continuing My Obsession With Racket Weights Of Yesteryear - Hazel Wightman 1933

muddlehead

muddlehead

Professional
Reading this fantastic book about Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman. In 1933, when she was 46, she wrote a book about her thoughts / strategies of the game. She writes the optimum weight for a tennis racket is 13oz, or even lighter for young children.
 
Frankc

Frankc

Professional
No doubt - wood is delicious at that and even higher weights. Flex and mass - what more could a linear, control and power player want?
Fascinating individual - book must be excellent...
 
muddlehead

muddlehead

Professional
Frankc said:
No doubt - wood is delicious at that and even higher weights. Flex and mass - what more could a linear, control and power player want?
Fascinating individual - book must be excellent...
Click to expand...
Great read. Moves into my top all-time 10 or so. First Lady Of Tennis by Tom Carter.
 
Autodidactic player

Autodidactic player

Professional
Sanglier said:
Not directly relevant to the topic, but I find it somewhat interesting that just like many people today, a writer (and his editor?) in 1890 also struggled to differentiate between "forgo" and "forego". :)
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I considered forgoing a response to your foregone conclusion that Ms. Hotchkiss Wightman Henry Slocum was confused but, alas, like Mr. Sears and his trophy, I decided to get it done before the rest of my night's festivities. ;)

-10 points for lack of reading comprehension! :(
 
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Henry Hub

Henry Hub

Professional
Suzanne Lenglen played an evenly balanced c. 13.5 oz racket early in her career (the extract below is from her 1920 book), with apparently a 5” handle (she notes with relief that this is a more sensibly sized handle following the end of the big-handled fad!). In another part of the book she says she played with a bare grip, without a rubber overgrip (causes hands to overheat and develop blisters according to Mme Lenglen) or whipped handles (apparently the preserve of English and Colonial players). She also recommends having 2 rackets for tournaments - one for dry courts and one for wet - with the same weight and build and to ensure your name is clearly marked on the handles.

https://imgur.com/a/2XEqOPN
 
Henry Hub

Henry Hub

Professional
Interestingly, Molla Bjurstedt (later Mallory), the Norwegian-born and US-naturalised player who was on the other side of the net in one of Lenglen’s more controversial matches (when she retired citing shortness of breath after losing the first set against Mallory in the 1921 US Open), notes in her “Tennis for Women” that she had a preference for a 13.5 oz racket and suggests that Wightman, among others, were of the same mind.

Bjurstedt differed from Lenglen in preferring a head heavy racket though this is consistent with her reputation as a baseline with a punishing forehand drive (per Tilden in “The Art of Lawn Tennis” (1922): “She has no service of real value. Her overhead is nil, her volleying is mediocre; but [she has] marvellous forehand and backhand drives […]”).

She also goes in for a “small” handle - just the 5 1/8 inches…

https://imgur.com/a/aIxvsNl
 
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