Tennis technology article

[gzhpcu]

Old article, but still valid. I played with the spaghetti strings a couple of times. Way more spin with trampoline effect than copoly strings, but much less power. Sorry if it was already posted, looked but didn't find it...

[stotty]

Nice find. I hadn't read that particular article before. That was unlucky for Vilas. He broke his own 46 match winning streak broken by walking off court like that. After that incident I believe he won another 28 consecutive matches (total 74), which would have been something of a record. His entire winning streak was achieved on clay courts. I guess the tour was different back then and you could play clay courts all season round more or less. Interesting Vilas played 145 matches that year, winning 130 and losing 15. That guy played a lot!

I never got to play with the spaghetti racket. I wonder how it would compare to rackets today? Would it still be considered a weapon? Or have modern rackets far surpassed it?

This would have been Geoff's territory. Geoff disappeared one day in a puff of smoke....never been back since. And Julian, he never returned either.

[johnyandell]

Always wanted to try those... Yeah not sure where those guys went!

[don_budge]

Virtual Morality...Ethics

It's called cheating pure and simple. I have never in my life ever had any discernible impulse to use strings or anything else "to gain unfair advantage over my opponent". This expression used to account for a notion the was largely unwritten in the tennis lexicon and it could be found under the term "tennis etiquette". Most of the tennis players today are unfamiliar with the ethical questions that go along with the equipment that has been used to play the game of tennis for the last 150 years or so.

The article gives a nice accurate timeline with regard to equipment changes but conveniently skews the rational and ethical considerations when it discusses the modern equipment. The spaghetti strings are more or less a red herring that is designed to distract the fledgling aficionado from arriving at the correct ethical position.

All of this nonsense falls under the main category of cheating. Gaining unfair advantage over your opponent. This is why when the major changes came down the pipe the players at the very top of the game resisted the longest. The players at the top worked the hardest and were therefore being rewarded in the only just and ethical manner that they desired to be rewarded in...a fair ranking system that accurately reflected their competitive status in the game. It was the laws or survival of the fittest...the natural order of the food chain. If you wanted to elevate you status...you had to eat your way up.

The ITF certainly dropped the ball...at the very least. More than likely they are guilty of a treason of sorts...selling out the game. Those officials could be drawn and quartered as far as I am concerned and left to rot. Despicable folks who deserve a one way ticket to hell. To gain unfair advantage over an opponent may have been unwritten in the legal sense of the world but it was the law of the land. Everyone knew it yet they turned a blind eye to the moronic unethical idiots who sold the game and the future of the game down the river. It is no coincidence that this nonsense started to occur at the time when the professional game emerged. It was all a prostitution and pimping affair. Big money...bigger pimps. Manufacturing companies.

Life and karma can be real bitches. There is a huge price for selling out something so precious as the game of tennis. To ignore the implications on the game as the officials did on those mid-seventies is quite a large scale deception. But it's human nature afterall. We don't often set the bar too high. This is a betrayal to the human spirit of Biblical proportions.

I know that Julian did not disappear...he went away when he lost his wife.

[gzhpcu]

I played with it. The double strings moved tremendously. Lots more spin that copoly. Only, it really had no power. The moonballs you could hit were incredible. Modern rackets come no where near it in respect to spin. The strings moved much more.

[don_budge]

Ethical Considerations...be damned

I played with it. The double strings moved tremendously. Lots more spin that copoly. Only, it really had no power. The moonballs you could hit were incredible. Modern rackets come no where near it in respect to spin. The strings moved much more.

Yes...you played with it and you are a typical "cheater". You are proud of it. You would do anything to improve your chances on the tennis court. There are no ethical limits for you because you have not devoted your whole being to the art...the art of tennis. Nor would you understand if somebody did exactly that. You are a "social player" and your impact on tennis is approaching zero...therefore you are not obligated to adhere to any rules or limits. That's fine.

But it's the professional game that should have established specific rules and regulations to prevent what happened to "the game" as it happened.

It's human nature. That's all. Eve ate the apple. Judas sold out for so many pieces of silver. The whole entire human race would sell their souls to the devil. Just to get a leg up on the rest. In fact...they do it on a daily basis.

[gzhpcu]

You are a world class jerk do_budge. I never played tournament matches with the spaghetti strings. I was just curious to see how it played. I unfortunately saw your stupid reply because I had timed out and somehow it then ignores the ignore list. Will never happen again. Confirms me choice to put you on my ignore list. Rant away, I won't hear it.

[stotty]

I wonder why the strings moved so much? Was it designed to be strung loose? I wonder how usable it would be these days, in the modern game. I Googled some images. I looks a separate patch of string has been inter woven onto an otherwise normal stringbed.

Stotty

[gzhpcu]

The strings moved so much because they were very loosely strung. The vertical strings were normal. The horizontal strings were present twice: in front of and in back of the vertical strings, but not intertwined. To keep the together, they were tied to each other with a thin rope. Note also that strings at the junction points slipped through a plastic tube. The vertical and horizontal strings were not intertwined like in a normal racket!! This caused all the horizontal strings to slide together giving a brushing effect. You would brush up vertically, and the loosely strung strings, tied together, would cave in and up. And the rope and tubes increased the bite. Strings are not intertwined - held together by a thin rope!

http://www.templeducordage.com/media...-spaghetti.JPG

[stotty]

So strange how the whole thing works. It was quite an amazing discovery for its time. A guy brought one down the club in the 1970s but I never took the opportunity to give it a go.

It's a wonder the ball didn't balloon out with it being strung so loosely. This was kind of the reverse of Borg who strung his rackets extra tight to gain better control of his topspin.

Stotty

[gzhpcu]

It was the rope tying the strings together that did the trick. They allowed the strings to shift only up to a certain point, then worked together to give a brushing effect.

[johnyandell]

Playing a few times with spaghetti strings doesn't make anyone a cheater or a moral criminal. If that was true Roger Federer would be a cheater and a moral criminal, because out of curiosity he tried them. And as I said, wish I had had that chance myself--jealous Phil--would have been very interesting to experience what drove Vilas to throw away his streak--as crazy and wrong as that was.

[don_budge]

Temptation...

So strange how the whole thing works. It was quite an amazing discovery for its time. A guy brought one down the club in the 1970s but I never took the opportunity to give it a go.

It's a wonder the ball didn't balloon out with it being strung so loosely. This was kind of the reverse of Borg who strung his rackets extra tight to gain better control of his topspin.

Stotty

Somehow...you may have resisted the temptation. It figures...doesn't it? Never had the opportunity? A guy brought one down to the club...it was there, you were there. Maybe it was fate that interceded with your opportunity. This happens in other areas of life as well...think women. I had the opportunity...but...or.

You find it amazing...I find it stupid and queer. Go figure. It's something a guy like Geoff Williams would come up with.

I personally couldn't care less what Phil does...whether he is out on the tennis court with something new and shiny...some techno gizmo or device...some spaghetti strings...trying to gain an advantage. Pondering what it wold be like. It makes me happy to no end to get the response that I did from him...he confirms everything. He is so weak that he bristles when someone goes outside of his control limits. I've got words for him too...you can imagine. His opinion about me ranks a big fat zero. Why would I bother? But I nave control...what is power?

I don't need anyone to come rushing to my defense. I stand on my own two feet. I stand by what I wrote. In case you have forgotten or misunderstood...here it is again.

Virtual Morality...Ethics

It's called cheating pure and simple. I have never in my life ever had any discernible impulse to use strings or anything else "to gain unfair advantage over my opponent". This expression used to account for a notion the was largely unwritten in the tennis lexicon and it could be found under the term "tennis etiquette". Most of the tennis players today are unfamiliar with the ethical questions that go along with the equipment that has been used to play the game of tennis for the last 150 years or so.

The article gives a nice accurate timeline with regard to equipment changes but conveniently skews the rational and ethical considerations when it discusses the modern equipment. The spaghetti strings are more or less a red herring that is designed to distract the fledgling aficionado from arriving at the correct ethical position.

All of this nonsense falls under the main category of cheating. Gaining unfair advantage over your opponent. This is why when the major changes came down the pipe the players at the very top of the game resisted the longest. The players at the top worked the hardest and were therefore being rewarded in the only just and ethical manner that they desired to be rewarded in...a fair ranking system that accurately reflected their competitive status in the game. It was the laws or survival of the fittest...the natural order of the food chain. If you wanted to elevate you status...you had to eat your way up.

The ITF certainly dropped the ball...at the very least. More than likely they are guilty of a treason of sorts...selling out the game. Those officials could be drawn and quartered as far as I am concerned and left to rot. Despicable folks who deserve a one way ticket to hell. To gain unfair advantage over an opponent may have been unwritten in the legal sense of the world but it was the law of the land. Everyone knew it yet they turned a blind eye to the moronic unethical idiots who sold the game and the future of the game down the river. It is no coincidence that this nonsense started to occur at the time when the professional game emerged. It was all a prostitution and pimping affair. Big money...bigger pimps. Manufacturing companies.

Life and karma can be real bitches. There is a huge price for selling out something so precious as the game of tennis. To ignore the implications on the game as the officials did on those mid-seventies is quite a large scale deception. But it's human nature afterall. We don't often set the bar too high. This is a betrayal to the human spirit of Biblical proportions.

I know that Julian did not disappear...he went away when he lost his wife.

Ethical Considerations...be damned

Yes...you played with it and you are a typical "cheater". You are proud of it. You would do anything to improve your chances on the tennis court. There are no ethical limits for you because you have not devoted your whole being to the art...the art of tennis. Nor would you understand if somebody did exactly that. You are a "social player" and your impact on tennis is approaching zero...therefore you are not obligated to adhere to any rules or limits. That's fine.

But it's the professional game that should have established specific rules and regulations to prevent what happened to "the game" as it happened.

It's human nature. That's all. Eve ate the apple. Judas sold out for so many pieces of silver. The whole entire human race would sell their souls to the devil. Just to get a leg up on the rest. In fact...they do it on a daily basis.

[gzhpcu]

John, I never saw anything like it. Glad it was banned, but it was fun trying it out. It transformed the game. The trampoline effect was huge. It was silent too. No sound on impact. It had to be banned also because it consisted not only of tennis strings, but thin rope and plastic tubes as well. You needed to tie the strings loosely together to get the brushing effect. I saw two guys in a tournament playing with them against each other, and it was immensely boring - high topspin lobs from the baseline, no variety. It all went into topspin but had very little penetration. No hitting flat.

[stotty]

There is little doubt that the racket was viewed as cheating by those who had to face an opponent using it...or at the very least an "unfair advantage". It was an innovation that probably came before its time. Vilas didn't have to wait too long before it was outlawed I believe.

I guess if you went back to 1977 and gave Nastase a snow shoe racket with poly strings it would have been banned on the spot..seen as outrageous. Manufacturers cannot take leaps too big...eke 'em in slowly is the only way.

Something to ponder would be what direction tennis might have gone if spaghetti rackets had been allowed to stay. You have to assume every player would have succumbed to using one. Today's game might look very different from what it does now. You are often left wondering about the path we didn't take.

Seats at the changeovers, time wasting, towelling down, toilet breaks after every set. These are all things that have crept into the game and it might be better if they crept back out. Give it time and players will be allowed to shower between sets, take a cerebral massage, or have their nails done. It's time to take a stand....

Stotty