tennis racket

The average tennis racket is now about 28 in (71 cm) long, and weighs from 10-14 oz (284-397 g). There have been many recent innovations in racket technology, not all of which have caught on with players. One maker markets a hexagonal racket, while others are making rackets with extra wide bodies. A racket made of a new material—graphite fiber-reinforced thermoplastic viscoelastic polymer—was designed to have variable flexibility, depending on how hard the ball is struck. A design to alleviate tennis elbow employs small lead bearings enclosed in plastic chambers inside the head frame. The science of tennis rackets is surprisingly complex—not the manufacturing process but the physics of string and frame vibration as the ball connects with the racket. Rackets are now being designed by laboratory scientists who use mathematics to calculate the effects of weight, size, and material changes. Since the rules governing acceptable rackets are very broad, innovators have a lot of leeway. New rackets are also being made with computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), which allows precise calculation of material rigidity and center of gravity. As such advanced science is being lavished on the tennis racket, doubtless new models with eccentric features will continue to be developed. The trend today is toward lighter, bigger rackets, and these are viable because of advanced materials engineering. China is the leading producers of tennis racket.