Znak

Hall of Fame
Hello!

Looking for your help for a little side project. I was hoping with your knowledge you could help me make a list of the 20 most important, revolutionary or iconic racquets of the past 100 years. I don't have a vast knowledge on this stuff but eager to learn more with your input.

Thanks in advance.

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BorgCash

Legend
From metal it easily will be Wilson T-2000 and Prince Classic.
From wood: Dunlop Maxply Fort
Wilson Jack Kramer Pro Staff
Donnay Allwood
Slazenger Challenge №1
Composite: Dunlop Max 200G
Wilson Pro Staff Midsize Original (6.0 85)
Prince Graphite 110
Head Prestige Classic 600
Kneissl White Star Pro
Adidas GTX Pro (Pro-T) - variant of Kneissl WS Pro
Yonex R-7
Rossignol F 200
Puma Boris Becker Winner
Head Pro Tour 630
Wilson Pro Staff Classic (6.1 95)
Wilson Pro Staff 6.1Tour
Babolat Pure Drive
Babolat Aero Pro Drive Original

So, there are 20 racquets, that's my list. Waiting for other opinions:).
 

jxs653

Professional
I am not an expert at all but emergence of wide body was one of the key incidents in history of racquet development.

The titanium fad is also worth mentioning although I cannot pick a particular model.
 

BorgCash

Legend
I am not an expert at all but emergence of wide body was one of the key incidents in history of racquet development.

The titanium fad is also worth mentioning although I cannot pick a particular model.

The widebodies were very popular at one moment but not long and as i think was a wrong way.
 

JW10S

Hall of Fame
From metal it easily will be Wilson T-2000 and Prince Classic.
From wood: Dunlop Maxply Fort
Wilson Jack Kramer Pro Staff
Donnay Allwood
Slazenger Challenge №1
Composite: Dunlop Max 200G
Wilson Pro Staff Midsize Original (6.0 85)
Prince Graphite 110
Head Prestige Classic 600
Kneissl White Star Pro
Adidas GTX Pro (Pro-T) - variant of Kneissl WS Pro
Yonex R-7
Rossignol F 200
Puma Boris Becker Winner
Head Pro Tour 630
Wilson Pro Staff Classic (6.1 95)
Wilson Pro Staff 6.1Tour
Babolat Pure Drive
Babolat Aero Pro Drive Original

So, there are 20 racquets, that's my list. Waiting for other opinions:).
Good list. I would add the Spalding Smasher and the Head Master or Professional to the metal list and the Spalding Pancho Gonzalez Autograph and a TAD Davis racquet (Supreme? Classic? Imperial?--take a pick) to the wood category. I would also add the Head Arthur Ashe Competition to the composite list. As jxs653 mentioned the Head Ti.S6 or Ti.S7 Titanium should be included because they introduced the super-light racquets to the market and are to a big extent the reasons racquets in general are lighter now than they were 20 and more years ago.
 
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Znak

Hall of Fame
Awesome thanks so much for the help, will do some research on my end to check these out. I'll keep you posted on the project once it's complete!
 

BorgCash

Legend
Good list. I would add the Spalding Smasher and the Head Master or Professional to the metal list and the Spalding Pancho Gonzalez Autograph and a TAD Davis racquet (Supreme? Classic? Imperial?--take a pick) to the wood category. I would also add the Head Arthur Ashe Competition to the composite list. As jxs653 mentioned the Head Ti.S6 or Ti.S7 Titanium should be included because they introduced the super-light racquets to the market and are to a big extent the reasons racquets in general are lighter now than they were 20 and more years ago.

I was thinking about adding many of racquets mentioned by you to the list. But then the list will expand. I know that there should be some Spalding racquet, the tool of great Pancho Gonzalez. I just don't know if it will be wood or metal one.
In this case i will add:
Metal:
Head Professional
Wood:
Spalding P.Gonzalez Autograph
Reinforced:
Head A. Ashe Competition
Head Vilas
Composite:
Wilson Profile
Fischer Superform
Fischer Vacuum Pro 90
 

BorgCash

Legend
Head Ti.S6
Hugely popular ground breaking, fan string patterned,oversized racquet. King of the seniors doubles leagues.

Ok, forget about Ti series (i never liked light racquets).
So, let's pay tribute to the seniors and add it:
Composite: Head Ti.S6
 

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
My list, in no particular category: 1. Jack Kramer wood 2. Wilson t-2000 3. Head Arthur Ashe Comp 4. Spalding Pancho Gonzales wood 5. Wilson Pro Staff (Sampras) 6. Yonex R-22 7. Prince Aluminum 8. Dunlop Max 200G 9. Dunlop Max Ply 10. Pro Kennex Destiny series (lead to Babolat) 11. Babolat Pure Drive 12. Babolat Aero Pro Drive 13. Head Radical OS (Agassi) 14. Wilson Pro Staff (Federer) 15. Head Ti Radical 16. Pro Kennex Black Ace 17. Wilson Profile widebody 18. Prince Graphite OS 19. Davis Classic wood 20. Kneissl Lendl model
 

coachrick

Hall of Fame
Head Ti.S6
Hugely popular ground breaking, fan string patterned,oversized racquet. King of the seniors doubles leagues.
Interesting...the TiS6 was a teen girl's stick back in Atlanta...the senior men were using Profile Largeheads with fishing weights taped to them!!!
 

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
Wilson Jack Kramer Autograph
Wilson Jack Kramer Pro Staff
Wilson T2000
Wilson Pro Staff Midsize
Wilson Pro Staff Classic 6.1 95
Wilson Profile
Dunlop Maxply Fort
Dunlop Max200G
Slazenger Challenge No.1
Prince Pro
Prince Graphite Oversize
HEAD Master
HEAD Professional
HEAD Arthur Ashe Competition
HEAD Graphite Edge
HEAD Prestige Pro/Prestige Classic 600 - same racquets just different paint jobs
HEAD Pro Tour 630
Kneissl White Star Pro Master
Babolat Pure Drive
Yonex R-7
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
Head's Graphene line was very revolutionary and brought about a serious change to players frames. Not necessarily a good change but it was certainly revolutionary in some aspects.

For actual icons etc. I'd look no further than the post above mine.
 

Sanglier

Professional
Since the OP is asking for a list of iconic/revolutionary/important racquets that go back 100 years, when none of us were around, with the possible exception of Coachrick :), the candidates proposed so far (all of them very good) are a little thin on the really early stuff, and understandably so. The difficulty is not in finding iconic and/or important early racquets, but in deciding which of the recent GROATs should yield its pedestal to a long forgotten one (the "apples vs oranges" dilemma). It is a largely subjective exercise. As I remember, Joe Sch's site (woodtennis) used to have a nice GROAT list for every decade since the era of Major Winfield, which would be a good place to visit for the OP. I'm not sure what happened to it?

For me, these oldies below deserve a spot or two on the "Best of the Century" list:

1920 Wright & Ditson aluminum, the first aluminum racquet in the world, earlier than the iconic Birmal.
1922 Dayton steel, not the first steel frames ever, but they stuck around longer than all others.
1935 Hazell Streamline, the highly sought after brainchild of Frank Donisthorpe, who also experimented with the first ever oversized frame.
1940 Andreef Speedshaft, the first ever "modern"-shaped racquet, cleverly designed and attractively made, appropriately modeled by the equally well put together Liz Taylor here:
elizabeth-taylor-liz-taylor-1949-C5N9A3.jpg



Among the more recent offerings, I would have included some of the earliest all synthetic frames, which fundamentally changed the industry, if not the game itself.

1972 Voelkl Zebra, not the first all synthetic frame to be developed, but it was the first to be in production and to reach the market.
1975 Aldila Cannon and Tony Trabert C-6 - the first commercially successful all synthetic graphite frames.
1979 (Pro)Kennex Black Ace - the opening (and very successful) salvo of Taiwan's conquest of the racquet market. To paraphrase Louis XV: Après le Black Ace - le déluge!
 
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Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
Thanks for recognizing the Black Ace too. I probably should have said the Aldila Cannon and/or the Tony Trabert C-6. If they would have sold in larger numbers, I probably would have. They were definitely giant steps in racket technology.
 

ollinger

G.O.A.T.
^^^ when Steve "The ProKennex Whisperer" Huff talks, people listen. Having a great time lately playing with my PK Ki 15 PSE sticks lately. Hard to find an "oversize" these days with that kind of plow and stability.
 

BorgCash

Legend
Head's Graphene line was very revolutionary and brought about a serious change to players frames. Not necessarily a good change but it was certainly revolutionary in some aspects.

For actual icons etc. I'd look no further than the post above mine.

What was so revolutionary about graphene and what changes (don't even mentioned about "serious") did it make to racquets? I tried it and don't like it and as i know many other players felt the same. It's nothing even close to iconic Prestige feeling in Head racquets. Graphene is just another new so called "nano technology" material nobody could understand. Really just a new commercial to push not so skilled customers to purchase it.
 

coachrick

Hall of Fame
Nice to see my name mentioned along with the dinosaurs! My actual playing days started in 1969 and I started working in a shop in '72; so I might not be the OLDEST in this group!

By the bye, it seems Prince and Kennex have entered the Pickleball market! Wilson and Head are already there. I wonder what paddles will be considered GOAT in another 50 years ;)

Back to the subject at hand, I might swap out the Slaz No. 1(in the States anyway) for the Yonex/Yoneyama 7500/8500 and honorable mention to the Yamaha YFG series(mainly 30) for the number of folks those frames helped switch from wood during the mid-late '70s. And while the Profile blazed the trail for widebodies, I believe the Hammer series made more impact on the 'everyday' tennis player. Hard to name just one in the series; so I wouldn't quibble about the original Profile taking the spot.
 

Hotrocks

Rookie
What was so revolutionary about graphene and what changes (don't even mentioned about "serious") did it make to racquets? I tried it and don't like it and as i know many other players felt the same. It's nothing even close to iconic Prestige feeling in Head racquets. Graphene is just another new so called "nano technology" material nobody could understand. Really just a new commercial to push not so skilled customers to purchase it.
Worst racquet I ever hit with....absolutely no feel what so ever! I agree with you 100%! Just another advertising gimmick!
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
What was so revolutionary about graphene and what changes (don't even mentioned about "serious") did it make to racquets? I tried it and don't like it and as i know many other players felt the same. It's nothing even close to iconic Prestige feeling in Head racquets. Graphene is just another new so called "nano technology" material nobody could understand. Really just a new commercial to push not so skilled customers to purchase it.

Yeah I agree completely (other than the not understanding graphene part, as a student in materials and mechanical engineering I must inform you thay we have a great wealth of understanding of this "2D" allotrope of carbon). Anyhow, you should've read my post instead of immediately getting triggered and attacking :)

Graphene racquets changed the way the HEAD players frame was constructed. It's not necessarily iconic, nor is it necessary good (I think it's neither, some people think it's both), but the whole point was that HEAD wanted to make frames with more mass at the tips so they stiffened their racquets and used a gimmick (if you look at their patent for the use of graphene in racquets it says how they only use a very minor and most likely negligible amount of graphene powder which is just randomly thrown into the epoxy matrix which is a phase of the composite structure of a tennis racquet)

I'll mention that in my original post I even stated implicitly yet very clearly that it wasn't an actual icon (since many or even most players of players racquets disliked it). Something revolutionary is something that redefines and changes a certain thing or class of things (not necessarily for the best, think revolutionary wars).

Next time you go on a rant attacking people on the Internet for something they wrote at least try to read, process, and understand what they actually wrote first and instead of attacking and stating that your opinion is irrevocable fact try having a more humble and respectful approach :)
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
Worst racquet I ever hit with....absolutely no feel what so ever! I agree with you 100%! Just another advertising gimmick!
Everything revolutionary or iconic in tennis begins with gimmicks and marketing hype. Otherwise it wouldn't get sold and would never become revolutionary/iconic. For the rest, read my reply to BorgCash above :)
 

BorgCash

Legend
Yeah I agree completely (other than the not understanding graphene part, as a student in materials and mechanical engineering I must inform you thay we have a great wealth of understanding of this "2D" allotrope of carbon). Anyhow, you should've read my post instead of immediately getting triggered and attacking :)

Graphene racquets changed the way the HEAD players frame was constructed. It's not necessarily iconic, nor is it necessary good (I think it's neither, some people think it's both), but the whole point was that HEAD wanted to make frames with more mass at the tips so they stiffened their racquets and used a gimmick (if you look at their patent for the use of graphene in racquets it says how they only use a very minor and most likely negligible amount of graphene powder which is just randomly thrown into the epoxy matrix which is a phase of the composite structure of a tennis racquet)

I'll mention that in my original post I even stated implicitly yet very clearly that it wasn't an actual icon (since many or even most players of players racquets disliked it). Something revolutionary is something that redefines and changes a certain thing or class of things (not necessarily for the best, think revolutionary wars).

Next time you go on a rant attacking people on the Internet for something they wrote at least try to read, process, and understand what they actually wrote first and instead of attacking and stating that your opinion is irrevocable fact try having a more humble and respectful approach :)

I've read your post, it was very short and it was very difficult not to read it.
I did not attack you, it's just a normal responce to smbds post. If you considered this "attacking" then you got a very rich imagination and maybe it's better for you to beware internet forum discussion.
Now let's back to the subject. You have read carefully the topic name, it's "List of best all time racquets", ok? So we don't discuss here changes that made just made changes or that lead to nothing or failed. If you want to discuss it then open another thread.
Also, all changes that companies invent to racquets should improve playability of racquet, not just raise the price or compete commercially with other brands. And the only way to discover these improvements is to try different many racquets of different brands and series inside one brand.
How many racquets did you play with in your life? Especially player's frames that you've mentioned in your start post?
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
I've read your post, it was very short and it was very difficult not to read it.
I did not attack you, it's just a normal responce to smbds post. If you considered this "attacking" then you got a very rich imagination and maybe it's better for you to beware internet forum discussion.
Now let's back to the subject. You have read carefully the topic name, it's "List of best all time racquets", ok? So we don't discuss here changes that made just made changes or that lead to nothing or failed. If you want to discuss it then open another thread.
Also, all changes that companies invent to racquets should improve playability of racquet, not just raise the price or compete commercially with other brands. And the only way to discover these improvements is to try different many racquets of different brands and series inside one brand.
How many racquets did you play with in your life? Especially player's frames that you've mentioned in your start post?

I'm glad you weren't attempting to attack me, but I stand behind my opinion that the tone you used could easily be seen as an attacking one.

I have read the name of the thread, however I also read the tags and original post in the thread. Yes the title says best all time racquets, but the original post takes that in a different direction, which is good since "best" can never be objective and "revolutionary/iconic" are easily objective when one considers big changes and overall beloved products respectively. Maybe you should've read the original post, and if you have, then you should have understood my point. I will also say that I agree with your point that all changes should be positive, ur that's not the reality of it. A stab in the back of midplus racquets is just as important as a glorification of them. Both open new doors of change. Again, that's what revolutionary means, even if you don't like it.

Now you may not know me, and that's fine, but I've played with several players frames since first falling in love with them. I've played:

Head:
Radical Tour Bumblebee and Zebra, Pro Tour 280, I.Prestige MP and Mid, Liquidmetal Radical MP, Microgel Radical MP, FXP Prestige MP, FXP Radical MP, Youtek/IG Radical MP, Youtek IG Prestige MP, and Elektra Pro. Also the PC600 very soon. Not sure if MG Instinct MP counts but that too. Also these obviously don't count per my previous post, but the Graphene Prestige MP and Pro. Also have two PT57As on the way

Wilson:
All Blade 98s, BLX Blade 93, BLX Six.One 90 and 95, Pro Staff Six.One 95, Original Pro Staff 6.0 95, and Ceramic Mid (plus Chris Evert woodie if that counts). Very soon H19

Babolat:
All versions of the PSL/PC95, Pure Control Tour, all 2014 Pure Strikes, and AeroStorm Tour Cortex (if they count, probably not but still), plus Pure Control XL and Soft Control (yes the originals from '96) (yes that's before I was born)

Others:
Dunlop AeroGel 300 Tour, Dunlop Black Max II, ProKennex Redondo MP, Yonex RD Ti.70 Long, Prince Diablos and Tour 100s.

I hope that's enough for me to be considered someone who knows players frames :)

I've played some non-players frames, albeit not as much since I only started my racquet craze after first trying players frames. I've played the following:

APD (Cortex through Active Cortex), PD (2003 through 2012), Graphene Radical Pro, MG Instinct MP, Speed MP and Pro (IG through GrapheneXT), Babolat XS 109, and Six.One 95S. Enough racquets? :)
 

BorgCash

Legend
Ok, quite enough racquets:).
Speaking myself i was trying more than 300 since 1982 and i own at the moment around 200. May i will not list all?
For me, and not for me also (speaking about Head Prestige fans, who strongly don't like Graphene racquets) revolutionary means to be a better one or very popular at the moment (like with widebodies). Neither has anything to do with Graphene racquets.
Can't believe that you can like anything like Graphene trying PT 630/280 and PC 600 before:).
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
Ok, quite enough racquets:).
Speaking myself i was trying more than 300 since 1982 and i own at the moment around 200. May i will not list all?
For me, and not for me also (speaking about Head Prestige fans, who strongly don't like Graphene racquets) revolutionary means to be a better one or very popular at the moment (like with widebodies). Neither has anything to do with Graphene racquets.
Can't believe that you can like anything like Graphene trying PT 630/280 and PC 600 before:).
That's the thing, I don't like Graphene. It's not god-awful, but it's certainly not in the category of racquets that I like. I still think it brought about a huge change in what many people considered players racquets and somewhat threw a dagger in the back of the traditional players racquets. According to Google, revolutionary means causing or being a part of causing dramatic change, nothing about good or bad mentioned. Iconic means symbolic of something highly regarded and important. You may disagree with these definitions, but they're called definitions for a reason, and that reason is to clarify not to obscure. Thus I shall remain to stand behind what I said. Graphene was revolutionary as it brought about and symbolized a huge change, albeit a negative one for the majority of people. That is all :)
 

BorgCash

Legend
That's the thing, I don't like Graphene. It's not god-awful, but it's certainly not in the category of racquets that I like. I still think it brought about a huge change in what many people considered players racquets and somewhat threw a dagger in the back of the traditional players racquets. According to Google, revolutionary means causing or being a part of causing dramatic change, nothing about good or bad mentioned. Iconic means symbolic of something highly regarded and important. You may disagree with these definitions, but they're called definitions for a reason, and that reason is to clarify not to obscure. Thus I shall remain to stand behind what I said. Graphene was revolutionary as it brought about and symbolized a huge change, albeit a negative one for the majority of people. That is all :)

You could stay behind what you say, i really don't care, sorry. There is nothing even close revolutionary (dramatic change) with this Graphene. It seems that i read a Head commercial not post at tt forum.
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
You could stay behind what you say, i really don't care, sorry. There is nothing even close revolutionary (dramatic change) with this Graphene. It seems that i read a Head commercial not post at tt forum.
I don't see how my post could've come off as a commercial when I explicitly said I dislike graphene, but have it your way :)
 

BorgCash

Legend
I don't see how my post could've come off as a commercial when I explicitly said I dislike graphene, but have it your way :)

You name it revolutionary but it's simpe commercial.
But if you consider so you could make your own list of great racquets and include Graphene. That's all. Take care, play tennis:).
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
You name it revolutionary but it's simpe commercial.
But if you consider so you could make your own list of great racquets and include Graphene. That's all. Take care, play tennis:).
I'd never include Graphene in a list of great racquets, I'm unsure you understood me correctly or know how commercials work. But fine, this conversation is going nowhere other than to derail this thread. I'm actually about to go hit with my order H19 that I got in today :) good luck with everything.
 

Sanglier

Professional
I shouldn't stick my nose in this waning debate, but I have some work to do right now and don't feel like doing it, so here it goes:

Yes, the OP used the conjunction "or" instead of "and" when he listed his three criteria, making it possible to come up with more than 20 racquets that can go into his list (if he had used "and", I doubt that we can come up with a consensus of even 10). So a "revolutionary" racquet design doesn't need to be important or iconic (or even good) to belong here. The question really boils down to - Are these graphene racquets revolutionary?

Graphene, the material itself, IS absolutely revolutionary. Had Head made a racquet entirely out of graphene, things can turn out very differently indeed. But they didn't, because making such a racquet would have solved a problem that did not exist, and such a racquet would have cost the same as an average mortgage payment in Silicon Valley.

Instead they used it as a pixie dust, and, judging from the feedback by most players, the effect of doing so has been not only minimal, but possibly negative (though the negative aspects may not be directly attributable to the presence of the dust).

Head is an innovative company that likes to use cutting edge technology to sell its products, but there is a point of diminished return in this kind of pursuit. When the game is already saturated by great racquets, topping them via new and exotic technology becomes an increasingly difficult proposition, if not an entirely impossible goal once cost is factored in. Before graphene, Head had the EDS chip (i.S18, Protector), which was also more impressive in the pages of "Popular Mechanics" than on a tennis court. A look through TW's racquet technology survey section would reveal many such "this changes everything" product features of the past, few of which measurably changed anything in retrospect. Graphene doesn't really stand out from these other attempts at rejuvenating conventional designs with novel ingredients.

A revolution is only recognized as one when it has staying power, or if it influences other events long after it is declared over. Revolutions are by definition disruptive, but not every attempt at disruption qualifies as a revolution.

Who knows, if 20 years from now, some of the best racquets on the market come with significant amounts of graphene in their layup, we can then look back and tip our collective hat to these pioneering frames. Until then, it would be exceedingly difficult to convince most people here that they belong on the same honor roll as the proven GROATs from the past century.
 

BorgCash

Legend
I'd never include Graphene in a list of great racquets, I'm unsure you understood me correctly or know how commercials work. But fine, this conversation is going nowhere other than to derail this thread. I'm actually about to go hit with my order H19 that I got in today :) good luck with everything.
I think it's a good choice, good luck to you also.
 

Ultra 2

Professional
Here’s mine.. it is in line with my personal tennis timeline. 1985 to 2000 or so.

Wilson Pro Staff 85
Wilson Pro Staff 6.1 95
Wilson Ultra 2
Wilson Profile
Head Graphite Edge
Head Graphite/Comp/Team Pro and variants
Head Prestige/Elite/Elektra Pro and variants
Yonex R-7
Yonex R-22
Kennex Black Ace
Kennex Graphite/Ceramic/Comp Destiny
Prince Classic/Pro
Prince POG
Prince Spectrum
Dunlop Max 200G/300i/400i
Donnay Pro Cynetic 1
Yamaha Secret 04/06/EX
Puma Becker Winner/Super
Babolat Pure Drive
Volkl C10
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
I'm going to think up a list of my own but at present I need to separate perhaps what is best in terms of playability with what was significant or iconic.
My other thoughts are trying to separate my own history of tennis with the history of tennis through the decades and the technological changes which occurred.
I don't know if I have it right but it's hard to get an awareness of where we are now in tennis because we are in it, whereas growing up in the 80's and looking back now it would seem that this period was a huge period of tennis participation and intersest and also one of vast changes in racquet technology.
Things continued to improve rapidly in the 90's and then we had the start of wide bodies and second generation of graphite construction.
If we move forward to the naughties and now it's been the strings and comfort technology catching up to deal with the strings.
To me in Australia I see things like this:

Late 1970's

1. It's all about Dunlop/ Skazenger with the Volley and Panther Aluminium frames and Maxply/ Challenge from the wooden frames.
2. We all took notice however when at the age of 19 Pam Shriver turned up to the U.S. Open with the silver and green Ptince Pro

Early to mid 1980's and then late 80's

1. Wood and graphite composites hitting the market and early Graphie frames. I would have to say the following frames were significant:
Prince Woodie
Pro Kennex Golden Ace
Dunlop 200 G
Head edge and Edgewood and director
Pro Kennex Silver, black, boron and copper ace
POG
Wilson Sting, Pro Staff 85 snd 6.1
Snauwert grsphite mid, graphite dyno
Rossignol F 200
That's all for now, will collect my thoughts and continue later.
 

jorjipy

Semi-Pro
I'm going to think up a list of my own but at present I need to separate perhaps what is best in terms of playability with what was significant or iconic.
My other thoughts are trying to separate my own history of tennis with the history of tennis through the decades and the technological changes which occurred.
I don't know if I have it right but it's hard to get an awareness of where we are now in tennis because we are in it, whereas growing up in the 80's and looking back now it would seem that this period was a huge period of tennis participation and intersest and also one of vast changes in racquet technology.
Things continued to improve rapidly in the 90's and then we had the start of wide bodies and second generation of graphite construction.
If we move forward to the naughties and now it's been the strings and comfort technology catching up to deal with the strings.
To me in Australia I see things like this:

Late 1970's

1. It's all about Dunlop/ Skazenger with the Volley and Panther Aluminium frames and Maxply/ Challenge from the wooden frames.
2. We all took notice however when at the age of 19 Pam Shriver turned up to the U.S. Open with the silver and green Ptince Pro

Early to mid 1980's and then late 80's

1. Wood and graphite composites hitting the market and early Graphie frames. I would have to say the following frames were significant:
Prince Woodie
Pro Kennex Golden Ace
Dunlop 200 G
Head edge and Edgewood and director
Pro Kennex Silver, black, boron and copper ace
POG
Wilson Sting, Pro Staff 85 snd 6.1
Snauwert grsphite mid, graphite dyno
Rossignol F 200
That's all for now, will collect my thoughts and continue later.


Pam Shriver was 16 at that 1978 US Open.....and if she had beaten Evert in that final after already having beaten Navratilova in the semis I suspect the authorities might have banned large-headed racquets and we would have been saved from the monstrosity that modern tennis has become.....after all, if a 16yo girl using that 110 square inch racquet could beat the best 2 players in the world who weilded a regular wood racquet surely the racquet is an unfair advantage....sadly for tennis, Evert was in top form that day and won a close match. In retrospect I wish she had lost
 

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
You know, I love Snauwaerts. They had an engineering department that made some of the best frames available, and they were inventive, not afraid to try new stuff. But, they didn't have a good marketing department, so they didn't sell in numbers to be considered significant. I wish they did. They had some really good frames. Another company that made good frames, but seemed to lack marketing was Le Coq Sportif. Tanner's last frames, Noah's frames. Nice.
 

frinton

Professional
I don’t want to start up the entire discussion again, but was just wondering if you could explain a bit more, if you actually looked into this:
... I must inform you thay we have a great wealth of understanding of this "2D" allotrope of carbon).
So, how or why is graphene different from Graphite and how would it do anything (good) in a tennis racket?

...Graphene racquets changed the way the HEAD players frame was constructed.... HEAD wanted to make frames with more mass at the tips so they stiffened their racquets and used a gimmick (if you look at their patent for the use of graphene in racquets it says how they only use a very minor and most likely negligible amount of graphene powder which is just randomly thrown into the epoxy matrix which is a phase of the composite structure of a tennis racquet)
So, this minor amount of graphene would not actually have anything to do with the rackets being made more stiff and having more mass at the tips?

Anyway, just curious.

As for iconic rackets, I think there are a few nobody would disagree with, but from there to 20 sticks might be a huge discussion.

Not discussable I’d say are:
- Dunlop Maxply Fort - this racket has been produced and sold for decades, is a beauty.
- Pro Staff 6.0 85, played by various icons of the game and produced and sold in 4 decades
- Prestige Classic 600, incredible racket and also produced and sold (in different versions) in 4 decades.
- Pro Staff Classic 95, that was supposed to replace the PS 85, but didn’t really, but became its own legend and had a long production life as the 6.1 95 and is still one of the big rackets used by many Wilson Pro’s today.
- Dunlop Max 200g, unique in its construction, played by 2 (or more) icons of the game and man, if you have experienced what kind of magic dig-out volleys you can play with this thing, then you know it must be on the list.

Further close to the ones above:
- For sure the PT630, that became the PT57e (if my brain remembers correctly), not a stick that had a long retail life, but became a pro stock icon.
- Prince Original Graphite, probably OS, but mid is great too.
- some Head Radicals (Twin tube), but MP or OS?


Then I’d probably add a few special rackets:
- Wilander’s Rossignol F200, though I am not a big fun it seems to have a huge following.
- Noah’s Le Coque Sportif Concept 3 Oversize, for its unique composite construction and a unique design that was carried over into a graphite racket.
- Forget’s Lacoste LT301, unique design and an incredible racket.
- Lacoste Metall racket (sold in most places as Wilson T-2000), again a unique design and directly linked with a well know player called Jimmy Conners and many of his successes

Cheers
 

El_Yotamo

Hall of Fame
So, how or why is graphene different from Graphite and how would it do anything (good) in a tennis racket?

So, this minor amount of graphene would not actually have anything to do with the rackets being made more stiff and having more mass at the tips?

Anyway, just curious.

Well Graphene is very different from "graphite" in many ways. First I'll add though that by "graphite" what is referred to is the composite material of epoxy resin as the matrix phase and carbon fibre as the reinforcement phase. Anyways, that's immaterial to the discussion. The point is that HEAD took what were beloved, buttery smooth players frames and used a fake gimmick to turn them into the stiff and more polarised racquets we know the Graphene lines to be. That to me is a revolution in HEAD players racquets. Nothing good at all, but a huge change that until is undone (it's only been 4 years so far but still) will be considered a revolution by me. Of course in reality HEAD just changed the layup and undid a couple of screws (so to speak) under the pretense that Graphene, a wonder material, was behind it all.
 

Autodidactic player

Professional
Like others have noticed, some rackets are so significant that they can be added to a best list even if they weren't the best playing rackets. The original Weed fits into this category.

 

joe sch

Legend
Since the OP is asking for a list of iconic/revolutionary/important racquets that go back 100 years, when none of us were around, with the possible exception of Coachrick :), the candidates proposed so far (all of them very good) are a little thin on the really early stuff, and understandably so. The difficulty is not in finding iconic and/or important early racquets, but in deciding which of the recent GROATs should yield its pedestal to a long forgotten one (the "apples vs oranges" dilemma). It is a largely subjective exercise. As I remember, Joe Sch's site (woodtennis) used to have a nice GROAT list for every decade since the era of Major Winfield, which would be a good place to visit for the OP. I'm not sure what happened to it?

For me, these oldies below deserve a spot or two on the "Best of the Century" list:

1920 Wright & Ditson aluminum, the first aluminum racquet in the world, earlier than the iconic Birmal.
1922 Dayton steel, not the first steel frames ever, but they stuck around longer than all others.
1935 Hazell Streamline, the highly sought after brainchild of Frank Donisthorpe, who also experimented with the first ever oversized frame.
1940 Andreef Speedshaft, the first ever "modern"-shaped racquet, cleverly designed and attractively made, appropriately modeled by the equally well put together Liz Taylor here:
elizabeth-taylor-liz-taylor-1949-C5N9A3.jpg



Among the more recent offerings, I would have included some of the earliest all synthetic frames, which fundamentally changed the industry, if not the game itself.

1972 Voelkl Zebra, not the first all synthetic frame to be developed, but it was the first to be in production and to reach the market.
1975 Aldila Cannon and Tony Trabert C-6 - the first commercially successful all synthetic graphite frames.
1979 (Pro)Kennex Black Ace - the opening (and very successful) salvo of Taiwan's conquest of the racquet market. To paraphrase Louis XV: Après le Black Ace - le déluge!

Sanglier is very correct and its understandable that most would nominate the rackets from their playing history and we probably dont have any posters that played prior to the 1950s. I did put together the GROAT list at the below url which google should serve up :)

http://www.woodtennis.com/groat.html

Another significant racket/player combo to consider is the
  • 1930s Spalding Open Throat Bill Tilden Cannon Ball
  • http://worldofwonder.net/bornthisday-tennis-player-bill-tilden/
  • A great looking and playing racket which I have stocked up on and now would like to suggest other collector/players who never tried, to give it a go. The joy of hitting a really classic wood is like drinking a fine wine or scotch from decades past.
 
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frinton

Professional
Sanglier is very correct and its understandable that most would nominate the rackets from their playing history and we probably dont have any posters that played prior to the 1950s. I did put together the GROAT list at the below url which google should serve up :)

http://www.woodtennis.com/groat.html

Another significant racket/player combo to consider is the
  • 1930s Spalding Open Throat Bill Tilden Cannon Ball
  • http://worldofwonder.net/bornthisday-tennis-player-bill-tilden/
  • A great looking and playing racket which I have stocked up on and now would like to suggest other collector/players who never tried, to give it a go. The joy of hitting a really classic wood is like drinking a fine wine or scotch from decades past.

Wow, cool video link to Bill Tildon’s advanced Tennis! I would love to give Bill Tilden Cannonball a go, if I knew where to get one to play with from.
Cool stuff!
 

jaggy

Talk Tennis Guru
1. Dunlop Maxply
2. Prince Pro
3. Slazenger Challenge No. 1
4. Wilson T2000
5. Wilson Jack Kramer Auto.
6. Prince Woodie
7. Head Arthur Ashe Competition
8. Donnay Allwood
9. Yonex R 7
10. Kneissl White Star Pro
 

joe sch

Legend
Many greatest racket lists from the last few decades.
Here is another look at the greatest rackets.
I nominate the racket used by my greatest player for each of the last decade for the last century.

2010s - Novak Djokovic - Head Speed Pro
2000s - Roger Federer - Wilson RF
1990s - Pete Sampras - Wilson PS85
1980s - John McEnroe - Dunlop Max 200g
1970s - Bjorn Borg - Donnay Borg Pro
1960s - Rod Laver - Dunlop Maxply
1950s - Pancho Gonzales - Spalding PG
1940s - Jack Kramer - Wilson JKA
1930s - Bill Tilden - Wright & Ditson Cannon Ball
1920s - Slazenger Doherty
 

joe sch

Legend
Wow, cool video link to Bill Tildon’s advanced Tennis! I would love to give Bill Tilden Cannonball a go, if I knew where to get one to play with from.
Cool stuff!
Probably hard to find on in Europe.
I could send one from US, maybe we could do a trade for something nice from Federer land :)
 

joe sch

Legend
Many greatest racket lists from the last few decades.
Here is another look at the greatest rackets.
I nominate the racket used by my greatest player for each of the last decade for the last century.

2010s - Novak Djokovic - Head Speed Pro
2000s - Roger Federer - Wilson RF
1990s - Pete Sampras - Wilson PS85
1980s - John McEnroe - Dunlop Max 200g
1970s - Bjorn Borg - Donnay Borg Pro
1960s - Rod Laver - Dunlop Maxply
1950s - Pancho Gonzales - Spalding PG
1940s - Jack Kramer - Wilson JKA
1930s - Bill Tilden - Wright & Ditson Cannon Ball
1920s - Slazenger Doherty

Maybe I will add this as another category to my GROAT by decade list at http://www.woodtennis.com/groat.html
 
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