Jan. 30, 2004 — Every year, tennis racket manufacturers fund a substantial amount of research and development in their quests for the Holy Grail of rackets: the playing stick that will become the most-sought-after model for the vast majority of recreational players.

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Matthew Cronin is the managing editor of Inside Tennis magazine, a frequent tennis correspondent for Reuters and co-owner of tennisreporters.net. Babolat’s VS Nanotube racket is tremendously responsive when you are out of position and can barely get your frame on a ball, but for players who can already can spank a groundstroke, it is simply too springy. In a vigorous play test, Wilson’s Double Core tennis balls held up nicely over three sets.

In recent years, tennis ball manufactures have also stepped up the pace of their R&D as competition for the lion’s share of a somewhat stable, but not wildly increasing, market has become stiffer.

That’s why up-and-coming racket and string manufacturer Babolat (News, Web) dove headlong into nanotechnology with its VS Nanotube rackets and why industry leader Wilson has done the same with its Double Core balls.

Of the two products, it’s the Double Core balls that are the more impressive because, unlike other balls that were built to last beyond the standard set-and-a-half of playing time, these entries are not quite as heavy nor as spin-resistant as their predecessors.

In a vigorous play test, these balls held up nicely over three sets and neither my partner, John, nor I felt like our arms were about to fall off when we were playing. There is no question that they are not as light as standard balls and it does take a tiny bit more effort to power a shot or put spin on them. But after playing with the Double Core balls for a set, we quickly got used to them.

Wilson has “nanocoated” the balls with a butyl-based barrier called Air D-Fense by InMat Inc. (News, Web), which the company says inhibits air permeation by 200 percent. The balls did not fuzz up quickly after taking a pounding on California’s hard courts, nor did they lose their spring deep in the second set after some long, brutal rallies from the baseline. Given how hard and heavy my partner John hits his topspin forehand, we were more than pleased with the balls’ responsiveness.

Wilson realizes that it is no great joy for frequent players to pack their car trunks full of standard balls, so based on spatial and environmental considerations alone (just how many millions of plastic tennis ball containers are annually dumped in recycling yards is anyone’s guess) the Double Core should be hugely successful.

It has already been approved by one of the sport’s leading bodies — the International Tennis Federation — and has been used in the men’s professional international team competition, the Davis Cup. It seems the only potential problem the Double Core faces in becoming a permanent part of the tennis landscape is its price (a case of 24 costs $141.54 on Amazon.com) and whether Wilson continues to produce standard balls to compete with the nanocoated variety.

The Racket

John and I hit with Babolat’s VS NCT (Nano Carbon Technology) Drive, a superlight racket at 9.0 ounces with a large, 110-inch head. Babolat joined with Nanoledge SA (Profile, News, Web) to obtain the nanotubes, which they say are 10 times stiffer than conventional graphite and are placed around the racket head.

John is a high-level recreational player who plays with another manufacturer’s frame, which is slightly jacked up for increased power but is not quite as light. I myself prefer classic, heavier rackets with 95-inch frames that combine a fair amount of power with maximum control.

In the VS NCT Drive, Babolat has produced an incredibly stiff (and therefore very powerful) light frame that is meant for lower level players and seniors looking for more thump on their shots. The VS NCT Drive can bludgeon a flat shot, is tremendously responsive when you need to react quickly or are out of position and can barely get your frame on a ball, but for those players who can already can spank a groundstroke, it is simply too springy.

Racket manufactures have been attempting to address this problem for years. Tennis is not a sport where power is the only thing that matters, considering that players have to keep balls inside the lines of the court. I have tested well over 100 rackets in my 12 years writing about the sport and I can safely say that even though don’t personally prefer superlight rackets when I’m returning serve or hitting shots from the baseline, for the most part, I’ve always been able to crush first serves or put away volleys with those frames.

The complication that racket manufacturers face when attempting to produce lighter more powerful frames is making sure that it’s possible to still control the ball, and that they have built in a system along the racket handle and in the grip that sufficiently dampens vibration. When they fail to do so, players often develop tennis elbow as well as other arm and shoulder injuries, which is extremely bad news for an industry that cannot survive when players are too hurt to take the court.

Babolat’s VS NCT Drive was a sweet-stroking racket when we took easy swings, volleyed fairly well, served with fire and a fair amount of precision. It was one of the most well-balanced “light-bodies” that I’ve ever played with, but we both had a difficult time putting a lot of spin on the ball and controlling our groundstrokes. That doesn’t mean another type of player who doesn’t swing as hard would have the same problem, but does say that if Babolat wants to enter the B-player-and-above marketplace, it must find a way to adjust the nanotechnology in different frames.

Without question, both the Double Core and VS NCT Drive are fine additions to the tennis marketplace. As long as both companies continue to educate the public about the value of nanotechnology in enhancing the sport, they should be around for a long time to come.