Collecting vintage Tennis racquets (rackets) is a wonderful hobby which has been expanded considerably thanks to Ebay. Racquets never seen in Australia can now be purchased and the array of brands and designs is quite staggering. To appreciate the subject we recommend you find a copy of Siegfried Kuebler’s book “The Book of Tennis Rackets”. It is a wonderful testament to the first racquet makers through to the 1990’s. More updates are planned, and presented here are some unusual designs that have broadened the horizon of shape, function, stringing and look. One of the most significant developments in tennis racquet design has occurred due to the new construction materials such as graphite. This has allowed designers to explore a variety of shapes and string surface areas, the latest being 137sq in., (Gamma BIG BUBBA) that earlier wood materials could not withstand.

Some people like paintings, racquet collectors enjoy the skill of fine workmanship in wood, unusual designs and special effects in the very same way and artisticly, look sensational along any wall.

This gallery includes racquets made all round the world from the early 1920’s to 2005. Please also see some modern unusual racquets under a separate heading and you will see more unusual designs, such as the variety of wooden handles under other sections devoted to wood racquets, strings etc.

Hazell Streamline UK 1930’s

Made popular by Henry Wilfred “Bunny” Austin who played with these at Wimbledon.

Way ahead of their time, models were also produced for squash and badminton. Models were differentiated by coloured star logos and you may well find green, red, bue and white star examples all of which are very expensive.

Grays, famous even today for their Royal Tennis racquets took over Hazell and produced a version themselves shown with the red background.

In 1937, at around the same time, a very similar looking Snauwaert Triumph model hit the market in possible contravention of Hazell’s patent. Donnay made one in this style in the 1950’s called the Court King.

Toulet “Oxford”
France c 1920s

Nice example of a hexagon shaped head starting just above the shoulders.

In Australia, Slazenger evaluated a wood racquet which had a tear drop shape along these lines to improve aerodynamics.

Dayton USA 1922 – 1990’s

One of the first metal head/wood handle combinations. They were strung with piano wire. The factory made this product almost without change, including the wood handles up to 1995.

There were plenty of models and colours so whilst available the trick is to find them in good condition with not to much rust or paint loss and learn how to differentiate the age of various models.

They were sold in Australia late 1922 and used by Gerald Patterson and Pat O’Hara Wood in local tournaments over 1923/1924.

So rather than importing them from the USA, some lucky collectors may find some local delivered examples.

Please note that the Birmal was also sold in Australia.

Silver Fox UK c 1930’s

Potentially the first stainless steel metal racquet with a wood combination. Dayton used carbon steel.

A patent number printed with the logo cannot be confirmed as being correct.

Maybe a dummy patent was a good marketing idea back then?

See Arco stainless steel racquets to read about the first full frame welded stainless steel racquet invented in Australia in the mid 70’s.

Birmal Aluminium c1923 UK

An all metal racquet which appeared at around the same time as Dayton in the USA. Originally with the pictured cord grip they eventually moved to a wrapped leather grip. In Jeanne Cherry’s book she cites the earliest metal racquets to a Scotish company called the Metallic Racquet Corp. c 1887. This photo is courtesy of www.woodtennis.com These racquets were sold in Australia in the mid late 1920’s and included in an ad from the Northern Territory and a 1927 McEwans catalogue at a mid price point of 55 shillings compared to 95 shillings for the best wood racquets.

‘Allo ‘French Prototype c1940’s

Solid cast aluminium. Might be a one off. Found in a full length Allo bag. Allo were making weapons and car parts c 1940’s and had made wooden racquets from about 1900. The workmanship in the casting is extraordinary and you can see the string waves in the throat and the guides on the inside of the racquet. The strings sit in a protected channel around the frame which deepens at the top where most damage occurs.

A lot of thought has gone into this.

Maynard AirPower Racquet
c 1990’s

USA designed, the string set comes on a separate frame which is held in place by a tube filled with air.

Really out there for design and if anyone has got one, how does it play?

See the Tretorn below for another version of a pop out string set.

Pro Am (USA late 1974)

Designed by Tom Galich.

Single piece casting with an alloy construction and hollow handle. Not a rivet in sight.

Please take note of the very early Allo (suspected) French aluminium prototype in this section.

The “Ken Rosewall”
Seamless (Seamco)
c 1971

As you can see the string supports are located inside the extruded aluminium
frame leaving a very unusual smooth finish.

Ken was a consultant to the firm hence the interest to Australia.

If you like this smooth look out for a Wilson TX 6000 c1978 which has a smooth finish unlike the channeled look of the T2000.

Dunlop Monoshaft UK 1972

As the Wilson/Lacoste T2000 was booming, Dunlop produced these very nice looking racquets, often confused for squash racquets.

Slazenger Twin Shaft UK c 1972

Very similar design except with two shafts and was probably produced in the same factory.

Macgregor Tourney c 1970’s

Famous golf club company where the design guys thought why not. Two steel (golf club) shafts between the wooden head and handle make this a very attractive racquet.

Tourney is short for tournament by the way and Macgregor also marketed golf clubs with the same name.

Tretorn Sweden 1968

String set in the blue aluminium frame can be removed from the racquet frame by undoing the butt cap, sliding off the handle and undoing the spindle in the centre of the cross bar (pictured). This allows the frame to spring open so a new string set can be inserted. Takes a few minutes only.

They often came with 2-3 different string sets with different tensions or as back ups for breakage.

John Mott, Silver Shadow, UK

Hand made in Farnham Surrey.

The factory made tennis and squash racquets for a short time then sold the patents and left the industry.

The finish is superb with no visible rivets and the fit between the throat piece and frame is sheer precision.

We would like to learn more about this company.

Wilson Legacy 1983

Rare shape. Wood with plastic throat.

A bit weird, but that’s interesting.

Wilson Sting 1985

Aluminium frame with nice string treatment at the throat.

You can tell they are from the same family as the Legacy above.

Adidas Model

A nice shape with a v style throat used often in Europe by Volkl and Fischer.

Bancroft Slingshot USA 1983

Made in Germany under license by Markhill.

Great extended string pattern to the top of the very long handle.

Bio sports The Gripper 1984

A curved grip.

You might think you have seen everything but this is meant to help with tennis elbow by keeping the racquet face up in line with the ball.

The illustration typically shows this wasn’t a new idea and was tried back in the 1890’s.

The Erge (Sweden 1983)

Ergonomic Curved Grip racquet.

Far more pronounced and clearly inspiration for the Neoxxline Range (listed under modern unusual).

Aluminium model came in 1983 followed by a graphite version in 1984.

Wilson Javelin mid 1980’s

A very interesting twin throat design.

Epstein Sixty six Oval shape

No idea about where it was made but the unusual racetrack oval shape makes it a little different.

Danlo

Looks mid 70’s like a Yonex 7500/8500. The racquet might be not that unusual but the spider web stringing is fabulous.

Macgregor Bergelin Longstring c 1985

German idea designed by Herwig Fisher (Protagon Sportproukte) and endorsed by Bjorn Borg’s coach Lennart Bergelin. Sold in the USA under license as the MacGregor Bergelin Longstring. Owners can string themselves and then adjust tension via a tightening control system inside the handle. An allen key device connects into the butt cap allowing the owner to adjust tension at any point during a game. Racquet comes with a tension adjustment knob and stringing instructions.

After MacGregor went broke and lost the rights to sell the technology, Protagon went onto launch oval versions called Tension Master and Hi-Con.(page 293-295 Kuebler Book)

Spin G-300 USA & RoxPro Aust. c 1987

Fancy stringing system with long vertical strings to improve sweet spot performance. Was not within ITF rules but may have received a positive ruling. Also produced a squash racquet with a similar design.

Sold in Australia by Lewis Sports.

Please also see the very unusual Rox Pro DELTA 2000 wrap around stringing in the stringing section.

The Handler c 1992

Two handled racquet to pick up on the latest teaching techniques for double handed players. Much harder to volley and serve due to single hand play being off centre so you might want be a solid baseline player that can run to shots.

This is just one of 3 different versions we have seen trying this concept.

In March 1995 from Tennis Magazine the male designer, Elie Ban-Kheir claimed to have sold about 2000.

Gauthier G of G

Bridge design attempts to alter string tension at sweet spot. Very similar to the Spalding Powertech which has two bridges top and bottom. See below.

Gauthier are a recognised French brand, but little is known about this model.

Winsport UK c 1985

Very unusual split throat design.

The Volkl Power Arm is another quite interesting throat treatment that will become collectable in the future.

Snauwaert Ellipse early 1990’s

Tri shaft racquet like the Hazell Streamline.

Head can be removed at the central shaft point but loathe to try this since this one is brand new. The company warranty was void if dismantling occurred so they weren’t designed to be interchangeable like the JENRO (modern unusual section)

Also of interest in this area are the French, Le Coq Sportif tri-shaft racquets made from 1987 and endorsed by pro player Yannick Noah.

Snauwaert Ergonom 1984 Belgium

Offset head to help players with a tendency to drop the racquet head to still keep the racquet in line with the flight of the ball.

There are a stack of these on ebay and since no-one bought them most are new. If you find a used one it will become a bigger collectors item. Or, I suppose you could buy a new one and try it out for a season.

The local tennis shop advises that being offset the string pattern which hits the ball as diagonal strings would, actually gives a serve that extra bit of top spin for a great kicker.

See the Neoxxline under modern unusual section

Lacoste Equijet mid 80’s

Used by Guy Forget.

No it isn’t sun damaged! Another interesting Lacoste design which aims to change the sweet spot via altered string tensions. It has a unique Vibration system in the butt cap which carried through to the Wilson T5000 model.

Major Nazka 1990’s

Retro design with vibration dampening system in the middle of the shaft. Graphics and shape are just great.

Blackburne Double String Late 1990’s

Racquet with two sets of strings about 2mm from the lip of the frame designed to reduce frame hits. The racquet warps when being strung due to the string pressures on one side and then reverts to shape as the second set is fitted.

In Siegfried Kuebler’s book there are quite a few examples of two sided stringing with the earliest promoted design going back to 1885.

Spalding Powertech 80 & 100

Double Inverted Bridge.
Mid 1980’s made in Taiwan.

Topway Hexangonal

Very unusual shape made in Taiwan.

The Kuebler Phillps Moore

Named after South Australian Barry Phillips Moore c 1980 in Germany.

This sample has been strung using a stringing technique called ‘spaghetti’ stringing.

Rival AU 700

Ceramic Composition c1993

The premise behind the shape was that it represented an open hand and was designed to deliver greater feel and control plus bring the sweet spot closer to the bottom of the frame.

There were quite a few models:
AU 100, AU 300MS, AU 400, AU 500 from 1989-1993 and were sold mainly in the USA.

Rayco c 1980’s?

Adjustable racquet length from 28″ to 30″ via an in-handle extension. Just a screwdriver away from extra reach.

Very rare. Not sure how practical or what would happened if the screw broke, net players beware.

Apparently, this was a low cost Kmart style racquet.

Adam Gunther was the head designer at Volkl before joining Puma where he designed the Boris Becker PCS. After Puma exited the market, Adams created his own modified version of the PCS with a knob system.

Head Legend c mid 80’s

The elongated head shape really is quite fascinating.

Like the T2000 next to it, they were both made in the USA.

Slazenger also had a similar Titanium model called the Omega.

Gamma Big Bubba

32″ tall and 137sq.in head.

An amazing weapon which was banned in 1997 after being approved. Ultimately they simply chopped 4″ off to make it a 28″.

Banned because it was thought that the game would end up being all serve and not much else. Our Aussie scud put these to a test against woodies.

Read the story under BLOG ARTICLES and scroll through a few others as well.

Spalding’s Orbitech was a given a big push in the early 1990’s

This is the XL-105.

Sold in the USA for $190 so an OK mid price racquet for the social players

The Chris 5 Star USA mid 1980’s

Another wide bow racquet design.

Grey: Power G model 100% Graphite

White: Competition Composite

Blue: Avenger Fiberflex

Very well balanced and stable due to the wide bow and collectors still really enjoy playing with them even compared to current designs.

Fox Ceramic Pro WB-210
c 1985

Warren Bosworth was a highly regarded stringer to many professionals and was heavily involved in the design of these and many other Fox racquets.

This series are unusual due to their 10 sided shape.

Tretorn Speedgun (Concept racquet) 2005

Computers meet tennis.

A string sensor picks up movement to determine shot speed to within +- 2.5kmh. Play a rally and see the last 10 shots on a screen built into the handle.

Only 1000 were made and they never achieved retail distribution. A rare find indeed and a great tennis brand name.