Racket (sports equipment)
A racket or racquet is a sports implement consisting of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of strings or catgut is stretched tightly. It is used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as squash, tennis, racquetball, and badminton. Collectively, these games are known as racket sports. This predecessor to the modern game of squash, rackets, is played with 30 1⁄2-inch-long (77 cm) wooden rackets. While squash equipment has evolved in the intervening century, rackets equipment has changed little.
The frame of rackets for all sports was traditionally made of laminated wood and the strings of animal intestine known as catgut. The traditional racket size was limited by the strength and weight of the wooden frame which had to be strong enough to hold the strings and stiff enough to hit the ball or shuttle. Manufacturers started adding non-wood laminates to wood rackets to improve stiffness. Non-wood rackets were made first of steel, then of aluminium, and then carbon fiber composites. Wood is still used for real tennis, rackets, and xare. Most rackets are now made of composite materials including carbon fibre or fiberglass, metals such as titanium alloys, or ceramics.
Catgut has partially been replaced by synthetic materials including nylon, polyamide, and other polymers. Rackets are restrung when necessary, which may be after every match for a professional or never for a social player.
Racket is the standard spelling of the word. Racquet is an alternative spelling used more commonly in certain sports (squash, racquetball, badminton) and less commonly in others (tennis).Racket is the preferred spelling in tennis. While some writers, especially those outside North America, prefer the French-influenced racquet, racket is the predominant spelling by a large margin. Similarly, while some believe that racket came about as a misspelling of racquet, racket is in fact the older spelling: it has been in use since the 16th century, with racquet only showing up later in the 19th century as a variant of racket.
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