The True Story of the Spaghetti String Revolution

What exactly was the spaghetti revolution and why was it so brief?

In Part I of this series, we showed how copoly strings really work and the role they’ve played in transforming the way pro tennis is played. (Click Here.) But forty years ago, a radical stringing invention used the same sliding/snapback mechanism to nearly turn the game upside down.

It may seem hard to believe, but for a short time in the 1970s, the infamous “spaghetti strings” generated more spin in pro tennis than even the best modern copoly. But unlike copoly, which has gone unregulated, “spaghetti strings” were banned by tennis authorities shortly after they hit the pro tour.

It’s a story that had been largely forgotten until the dominance of copoly called attention to the history of heavy spin technology. Now in this article we revisit what actually happened in the (brief) spaghetti era and in the aftermath, and include portions of a rare new interview with the obscure German inventor who created spaghetti strings.

Spaghetti string inventor and Bavarian horticulturist Werner Fischer.

Spaghetti Strings?

In 1971, a Bavarian horticulturist and tennis enthusiast named Werner Fischer noted how the addition of a sponge rubber sheet to the…