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.
February 10th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Rod, I have Darsonval tri shaft and several Macgregor Tourneys in my collection. Of course have a nice Streamline. I also have 5 left-handed Handlers left from my supply;I used them in serious tournament play. They are unlike any other model and one must be trained to use the racquet properly.Love your articles. All the Best, Greg High