About the Wilson Hammer Tennis Racket

Another in its game-changing series of new rackets, the Wilson Hammer was introduced in 1990. Wilson has a reputation for innovative designs when it comes to tennis rackets. It was responsible for marketing the first metal racket in 1967, which was made popular because Jimmy Connors used it to play in major tournaments around the world. The tennis rackets produced by this company have been the choice of championssuch as Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Serena Williams.

Wilson Hammer tennis rackets evolved after decades of wooden racket development followed by the first metal racket made from aluminum. In fact, the earliest patent for a wooden lawn tennis racket was filed in 1874 in England by Major Walter C. Wingfield. Wood continued to be the material of choice until Wilson made the first metal racket. This was made from aluminum which, while being less prone to breakage than wood, was too flexible to withstand the powerful hits and serves of the most dominant professional tennis players. Aluminum rackets were not as efficient shock absorbers as the wooden rackets either so the players who used the metal rackets had to consider the potential damage to their wrists, elbows and shoulder joints.

By 1980, Wilson developed a new composite material, graphite, from which to make tennis rackets. This involved mixing carbon fibers with a plastic resin. The result was a stiffer racket than aluminum, but the graphite rackets were too heavy. They did not perform much better than aluminum, either, when it came to absorbing vibrations. In 1987, Wilson introduced its Prostaff racket which was specially designed for Pete Sampras, who was seeded number one in the world from 1993-1998. This racket was wider because of a thicker frame which increased the stiffness and helped absorb shock.

The next improvement was the Wilson Hammer racket. Its unique advantage was that it is head heavy. This means that more of the weight is in the head of the racket instead of in the handle. Keeping the weight of the racket in the area where the ball hits gives players more stability and power. The "sweet spot" is larger. A sweet spot is where the player intends to make contact with the ball in order to have the most control over where it will go.

The Wilson Hammer was designed to have a strung weight of between 10 and 11 ounces, which is lower than any of its predecessors. Heavy rackets can absorb more shock from balls than light ones. It had a standard length of 27 inches. While a longer, "stretch" racket has more reach, it also adds weight to the handle, changing the balance of the racket. The Wilson Hammer comes with a standard string pattern, 16 by 20. Players can choose to play with a more open pattern which gives more potential for them to put spin on the ball or they can elect to use a denser string pattern which makes the strings last longer.

Wilson has continued to roll out newer tennis rackets that improved the design of the Hammer racket. The next model, the Wilson Hyper-Hammer HP racket added Oso-Zorb grommets to absorb more shock. It also used a new mix of materials to include both graphite and hyper carbon. Since these improvements, Wilson has developed another ingredient that relies on nano-carbon graphite mixed with Kevlar. They are committed to provide tennis players with rackets designed to maximize their performance on the court.