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Within the history of tennis racquet design and certainly pre fibreglass/ graphite, the use of two distinct straight shafts holds some fascination. In the wood era the most intriguing designs came from a French company making DARSONVAL racquets named after a respected tennis professor /coach of the early 1900’s. They produced racquets with 2 and 3 separate shafts so they really are quite unique and unusual. The desired effect was to reduce vibration. Other wood shaft racquets of note include the Hazell Streamline (only centre shaft was straight) and Lillywhite Frowd’s 1939 Twinshaft with a central join half way down.

Jumping to the 1970’s to see the next attempts, under the heading UNUSUAL RACQUETS we introduced photos of some steel shaft racquets. I really do think that the ideas did stem from the companies involved also being into golf club manufacturing and wanting to create something different.

The single steel shaft Dunlop Monoshaft looks like a squash racquet and was produced in the early 1970’s presumably to sell against the Lacoste designed Wilson T2000 which were selling extremely well. Weight has been added into the tube to give it the right feel. The thin shaft concept re-appreared in the 90’s with Prince’s Monoshaft, Ripstick, Mach 1000 range. The biggest issue with thin shaft racquets is losing control when you hit off centre. It feels like the racquet twists a little more in your hand, even with the Prince’s.

MacGregor, were mainly into Golf however they also made many wood racquets. One of their transition designs, pre graphite was this “TOURNEY” which I have seen also in a red graphical finish.The big difference with the Tourney is that the head is wood and only the shafts are steel.

Typically and one of the joys of visiting second hand goods stores is that you will never know what you’ll find. Out of the racquet box the other day came the light blue Slazenger Twin Shaft branded the TM. This was a huge surprise as it wasn’t listed to my knowledge in the Kuebler book. On a close inspection the throat piece is very similar to the Dunlop Monoshaft and both were made in the UK and probably in the same factory, since they were at this time the one company with two separate management teams.

One the other side of the World laying out in the elements two old racquets in old canvas bags lay in wait for the hard rubbish collection. A passerby looks at them with interest and thinks why not put them up on ebay.

And as they say the rest is history…… last week my package arrived from France with me a little nervous as what to expect since they were meant to be pretty rough.

The first was a Toulet Oxford. We know this racquet was made outside Paris in the 1920’s, however the really funny thing was that after searching the internet I found a reference to this (assumed same) racquet being sold in Melbourne in 1925 at Chandler’s retail store along with the famous English racquets by Prosser. Not warped, strings great a nice surprise.

Not only was this old woodie a genuine grooved wood handle but the frame shape was hexagonal which I had not seen before. You can just make out the shape change above at the top of the photo. Apparently, there were a few manufacturers using this technique at around this time so a very nice variation on the normal shape.

The second racquet and the original motivation for the purchase was the solid cast aluminium racquet minus a grip, looking decidedly unfinished and experiencing some major corrosion having been stored for over 6o years in an old ALLO canvas bag it was a bit of punt. There is considerable interest in metal racquets, the most desireable being the Birmal Aluminium racquet from the UK which can sell into the hundreds of pounds if you can find them. Then we have Dayton from the USA. While this was only in an ALLO bag and is unbranded, ALLO used to make wooden racquets in the early 1900’s and are listed in Siegfried Kuebler’s book as being involved in the manufacture of weapons and wheels. That’s all we know, so I reckon a strong liklihood that this is a genuine prototype. Given the rough condition, I thought I would take a chance and try to to finish it off, something I usually wouldn’t do. A mate, who has the very handy hobby of rebuilding vintage outboard motors was able to mask off the strings which were all intact and then like a panel beating exercise we filed away the corrosion and set about buffing it to shiny finish. Today my stringer found a butt cap which fitted perfectly and then wrapped a old style, perforated brown grip to give it a finished look.

The design is terrific. Apart from being solid cast, note the intricate throat shape which allows the strings to curve around the holes and the small knobs which are inside the frame to help the string alignment. These are also at the top of the racquet frame as well.

So now it sits on my wall looking quite splendid next to another solid cast racquet out of the USA from the mid 1970’s called a ProAm and other metal favourites like the T3000.

Isn’t this a great story instead of these two beauties ending up as landfill!

End result……….Tres Fantastique!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unusual racquets appeal to me simply because of the creativity applied to produce something different, yet at the same time with meaning. When I first laid my eyes on the Neoxxline I knew I had to have one for the collection because of the combined design elements of the offset head, like the Snauwaert Ergonom and the curved handle of the Bio Gripper (and others).

But, what about playability? From all reports the Ergonom was a shocker and so was the Bio Gripper. However, if you follow the logic of the design, it is all about helping people with weak or injured wrists by allowing the racquet head to drop into the correct position for half volleys and ground strokes. There are some playabilty benefits as well.

While this sounds fine as a concept and not just following the line on their website, one very experienced tennis player and site supporter was so excited he got a couple to hit with. After 2 weeks with the Neoxxline he has decided to sell off his other racquets…….a very big call. I am not joking here either because I bought one of Joes’s Gamma Big Bubba racquets. I am sorely tempted to hit the court with the Neoxxline next opportunity to see how we go.

Here are some comments from Joe and thanks for your input.

As promised on the opening pages of the site, I would like to give you all a taste of the future as Tennis Australia plan for a tennis museum hopefully in the next upgrades of Melbourne Park. In 2000, Rolf Jaeger brought his magnificent collection over to Australia and with tremendous foresight by Tennis Australia the collection was acquired and is now in storage. Although Rolf has re-commenced building another collection, he kindly sent over some photos of the display as it was presented at the Australian Open.

Compared to our site, the items amassed in this collection are of a world class standard truly worth seeing when it eventually comes to fruition.

Please drool over some of the amazing items courtesy of Rolf Jaeger www.tennisheritage.com

I can’t wait to see all of these live…….. Rod