Technology was revolutionizing tennis. There were a few diehards, including John McEnroe who became the last person to use a wooden racket at Wimbledon in 1982. Indeed when Bjorn Borg used a wooden racket, he lost most of his games. By 1990s, there was only one manufacturer left making wooden rackets.

The newer materials increased the velocity of the shots by up to 30%. Serves were now routinely exceeding 100 miles per hour. This has led to a rather boring style of tennis comprising devastating serves and volley, as played by Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Andy Roddick. Indeed Andy Roddick's best serve is 153 miles per hour. The Guinness Book of World Records lists William Tatem Tilden (1893-1953) to have the fastest service ever measured, of 163.6 miles per hour in 1931.

When Head introduced an even lighter weight titanium racket containing lightweight graphite fibers in 1998, I succumbed to peer pressure and bought one, despite its exorbitant cost. My playing should have improved, but unfortunately my opponents also bought the same titanium racket, thereby negating any advantage I would have accrued from this purchase.

In 1999 Wilson introduced a new racket made with a material called Hyper Carbon. This was an ultrahigh-modulus carbon fiber: 4 times stiffer, 65 percent lighter and 4 times stronger than most popular tennis racket materials.

Recently, Head has announced a new Liquid Metal racket comprising titanium mixed with carbon fibers, said to have better characteristics, including better shock absorption. The verdict for this racket is still out.

To my dismay, I have discovered that buying new rackets over the years, has not really helped my play. Perhaps psychologically I feel more confident. But this has only helped a smidgen. Nah, I won't bother upgrading to this new technology. Not unless I'm convinced it will improve my play.

"Pardon, it will improve my play, you say? Mmm, do you trade old rackets for new?"