SEAL BEACH : Tournament Brings Back Wooden Racquets

Tennis aficionados in this city are digging through their garages for those old wooden racquets to take part in the second annual Wooden Racquet Classic set for Jan. 13-15 at the Old Ranch Tennis Club.

At least the white tennis balls required for the tournament are still sold in some sporting goods stores, event organizers said.

Representatives from the United States Professional Tennis Assn. will help coordinate the tournament, in which players will compete according to age and ability level.

With the old-fashioned racquets, it’s harder to disguise lack of skill with the power that comes from the new lightweight racquets, according to tournament organizer Rick Acosta, resident tennis pro at the Old Ranch Tennis Club.

“You can’t get away with the short, choppy strokes the new racquets allow you to do,” Acosta said. “You also have longer rallies, because you don’t have that explosive power.”

Many of the old wooden racquets have become collector’s items, according to Acosta, who said he grew up playing with a wooden Jack Kramer model racquet.

“You will find that a lot of players who have touch and control are just as good with the wooden racquets as they are with the modern racquets,” said Acosta, who also serves as president of the California division of the United States Professional Tennis Assn.

“With the wooden racquets, people find out where their real skill levels are.”

The old racquets are heavier, weighing about 14 ounces, compared to some new racquets that are as light as 10 ounces, Acosta said. But long before tennis champ Pete Sampras dropped jaws with his high-speed serves, tennis legend Roscoe Tanner was serving up to 135 m.p.h. with a wooden racquet in the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to Acosta.

Most tennis ball manufacturers have switched to the yellow balls, but Acosta said Penn still makes white balls, which are required for the tournament.

The entry deadline for the tournament is Friday. Cash prizes will be awarded for men’s and women’s open singles and for the winners of senior events.

For more information, call (310) 598-8624.