Facts About Wilson Tennis Rackets

Throughout history, tennis rackets have dramatically changed, from the kinds of materials used to their design. The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is one of the leading manufacturers of tennis rackets and has continued to keep up with these changes. They have introduced several new technologies that improve a racket's performance. Whether you are a beginner player or a top world player, Wilson has the right racket for you.

  1. Company History

    • The Wilson Sporting Goods Company has its roots in a company founded in 1913, the Ashland Manufacturing Company. This company used slaughterhouse waste to make such things as surgical sutures and tennis racket strings. In 1915, Thomas E. Wilson became the company's new president and changed the focus of the company towards the manufacturing of athletic equipment, including tennis rackets. Wilson named the company after himself in 1916.

    Wooden Rackets

    • The standards for tennis equipment, court dimensions and the rules of the game were introduced in 1874 by Major Walter C. Wingfield. The wooden tennis racket was the standard and remained the standard for about 100 years. The early Wilson rackets were made of ash, oak and other woods that were specifically selected for their strength and their ability to be shaped. The wood was softened, bent into shape and held together with animal glue. The head size was typically 85 square inches or smaller.

    Metal Rackets

    • Wilson Sporting Goods introduced a stronger and lighter metal racket in 1967, the T2000. One of the first tour players to switch to this new technology was Jimmy Connors. During most of the 1970s, he played with this racket, winning many titles including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. This steel-framed racket soon became a top seller.

    Graphite Rackets

    • Advanced players were looking for firm stiff rackets that they could control; rackets that were not flexible or too powerful. Wilson's answer to this was with the introduction the Wilson Prostaff 6.0 made of a graphite material. These rackets tended to be heavy and did not have a lot of vibration dampening.

    Widebody Rackets

    • The Wilson Profile racket was introduced in 1987 and was popular throughout the 1990s. With this racket, Wilson found a way to increase a racket's firmness without finding a stiffer material. At the middle of the head, the frame's thickness was increased to 39 mm. This was more than twice the size of the traditional wooded racket. The benefit to this design was to resist the impact of the ball and to provide more power.

    Hyper Carbon Technology

    • Wilson's answer to heavy, stiff rackets with little vibration dampening, came in 1998 with the introduction of a material called hyper carbon. Rackets made with this material were lighter, powerful and had vibration dampening qualities. This material was four times stronger and stiffer than earlier graphite rackets.

    Recent Technology

    • In 2004, Wilson introduced nCode rackets. The concept of this technology, nanotechnology, was to fill the micro-voids in the carbon fiber strands with silicone dioxide crystals. They claim that this improves the racket's performance at the molecular level, preventing the fibers from moving. Rackets with this technology are more stable and provide more control. This led Wilson to produce the K Factor, released in 2007. The K Factor technology is an improvement of the nCode design with the bonding of special materials at the molecular level. K Factor rackets are stronger, more stable and provide more feel.