Wilson T2000
The steel racket based on René Lacoste’s patent, with which Jimmy Connors won.
René Lacoste, the tennis player behind the crocodile, developed a steel racket that he patented. Wilson bought the rights and sold it as the T2000 from 1967.
Jimmy Connors played with the T2000 when he won Wimbledon and the US Open in 1974. The racket was a first step away from wood towards the large heads and new materials that followed.
Materials: Tubular steel frame, nylon or gut strings
Manufacture: Made by Wilson from 1967 after René Lacoste’s French patent of the 1950s.
The thin, tubular steel frame.
Strings running through holes in the frame.
The small head compared with later rackets.