Here is a cute junior racquet from my collection dated circa 1900. It is 24 inches in length and is suprizingly light. Next to my current racquet it demonstrates clearly the huge advances in today’s construction process.

Antique racquet construction

The racquets of this period were made of a pliable material such as ash which would have been steamed around a mold. Next (in this example) a convex wedged throat piece of a hardwood such as walnut would be inserted and glued and pinned into place.

The grip size would have been determined by inserting a tapered piece of wood between the steamed bent ash at the handle, or sometimes the walnut throat wedge would extend down for this purpose. Two wooden strips of (normally) cedar were then added to both sides of the grip to widen it and make it look more attractive. A leather butt cap was then added (missing on my racquet) to the bottom of the handle to hide the wooden layers, and finally a leather strip was wrapped around the base of the grip.

The racquet was then oiled or varnished to protect the wood.

The strings

Once the holes were drilled, the racquets were strung in gut from sheep or cattle intestines.

John Key

Antique junior tennis racquet Antique junior tennis racket