last standard size head wood tennis racket produced

[joe sch]

There has been some discussion lately regarding the last standard size head wood tennis racket produced and the last ATP player to use a woody in competition. The Snauwaert Brian Gottfried autograph tennis racket made in 1986 was the last standard size head tennis racket produced. Brian Gottfried was was one of the last players to use wood rackets on the ATP tour. His namesake racket is a part of tennis history as the last of the wooden era production. Brian was a throwback that had an all-court game that benefitted with the extra touch and feel possible with a wood tennis racket. I think it was interesting that most of the tour players from the wood tennis era believe only "sissies" played with larger head rackets. They believe that the bigger heads were for players with inferior strokes that did not have the skill to use classic stroking techniques. Sure is interesting how beliefs change I have a few picture links to the Snauwaert Brian Gottfried autograph tennis racket below:


http://www.woodtennis.com/briangottfried/

 

[Sixpointone]

Hi interesting Joe. When I started to Play Tennis I used a Wood Racquet, and on occasion I still hit with them. Thank You for sharing this piece of History.

 

[StealthGnome]

I have yet to try a wooden racquet. I can probably find one in a garage sale somewhere.

 

[AndrewD]

Joe,

I would imagine that the last standard sized wood racquets produced - for use by a professional player- were the ones made for Bjorn Borg during his ill-fated comeback in the early 90's.

 

[Bud]

Joe,

I would imagine that the last standard sized wood racquets produced - for use by a professional player- were the ones made for Bjorn Borg during his ill-fated comeback in the early 90's.

I thought those were graphite racquets.

 

[Bud]

^Nope. Looks like he was using the same Donnay Racquets in 1991. Weren't those a mix of wood and something synthetic?

 

[joe sch]

Joe,

I would imagine that the last standard sized wood racquets produced - for use by a professional player- were the ones made for Bjorn Borg during his ill-fated comeback in the early 90's.

Andrew, You are correct in that Greys did produce those wood rackets for Bjorn's comeback attempt but they were not a mass produced racket for the public. The Snauwaert Brian Gottfried was the last of the wood rackets manufactured to be sold for the tennis playing consumers.