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Why a square grip on a tennis racket?
I bought a "Bancroft Fort" wooden tennis racket at a flea market for $5.00. I bought it to be a wall hanger because my hero, Rod Laver, used one. I tried to use it once and found it to have a tiny square grip... with the sides about 1 inch. I had never seen a square grip before, it this normal? What was the point?
Sorry, it is a Dunlop, not a Bancroft. It is also a real piece of woodworking beauty... not a cheap toy. The grip is indeed a small square. I was wondering if these pro rackets were ever sold without grips... for final fitting after the sale.
2 Answers
- BobbyLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
I doubt very much if this racquet has a truly square grip. Laver certainly did not play with one. I have several old wooden racquets that are from almost 100 years old, up to some about 40 years old, and none have a square grip. The handles are all 8 sided (octagonal) New racquets also have 8 sided grips. This is so you can feel the correct position to hold the racquet, and so it will not slip in your hand. If it is truly square, it was not a tournament racquet, but was just a cheap toy.
Edit: Sorry. If it is well made, it is not a cheap toy, but probably was just made for display. Nobody played with a small square handle in Laver's day,and as far as I know nobody has in the last 100 years.
- ChuckLv 77 years ago
Was it a *Dunlop* Fort? Laver was very fond of his Dunlop wooden rackets for quite a while.
Most tennis rackets have some type of an octagonal pattern, if you look at the grip's butt cap. The corners [bevels] are, apparently, more pronounced [sharper] on your racket.
Wooden rackets were nice when they were new, but they would go soft after a while, absorbing too much of the impact, instead of retaining their stiffness. Metal, graphite, composite, etc rackets mostly didn't have this problem, which is likely why we don't see wooden rackets anymore, except for oldies from the 40's, 50's, 60's, and early 70's.
