You are listening to Tennis Beyond The Court, the podcast with your host Bradley Deeds.

In this episode of Tennis Beyond The Court the Podcast we discuss: _The history of the racquets, The top five female players of all time, and another epic match of the century.

Tennis racquets originated from string and clay to make the outside of the racquet and the head of it. As time went on, builders started to develop racquets with wood so the ball would absorb the wood and so you could strike the ball harder than you could with a clay head. People used to gather actual sewing string to use as their string for their racquets, but they noticed the ball would fly right through it and that you could not generate any control over your shots and where they landed. Once people came to this issue, they started to make strings out of Polyester and RPG which is now the most popular tennis string brand for the pros today. 

Top 5 Female  Players of All Time

1. Serena WIlliams - She is known as the most popular female tennis player on the earth coming in with 29 grand Slam titles to her name and 13 doubles Grand Slam Titles with her very known sister, Venus WIlliams. 
2. Venus WIlliams - Serena's older sister who took fame before she came along. Venus is known for her sportsmanship and never quit attitude which has brought her to 8 Grand Slam titles and one of them was defeating her own sister in the final for it at the Australian Open in 2009. 
3. Iga Swiatek - Reigning world number 1 from the beginning of this year until now. She has been on a 42 match winning streak and with a combined total of 15 titles in a row leading up until now, you could say she's having a great year. 
4. Madison Keys - The top American female at the moment with a lovely attitude and a wanting to win always. Win or lose, she is always smiling at her opponent and she is known as one of the kindest players to play the game. 
5. Martina Navatolova - The highest winning grand slam title female who loved the game ever since stepped on the court at 6 years old. She has the record grand slams over Serena by 23 which is an enormous amount and she is now a part time coach for the world number 1 Iga Swiatek. If you ask me, maybe Iga has the right coach for her!

Pick 1 Epic Match

• Who - Serena vs Venus
• What  - Australian Open Championship final
• Where  - Sydney Australia
• When - January 2008
• How - Serena and Venus both advanced to the final after winning 7 matches each and they had a grueling match which lasted 3 hours and 6 minutes which at the time was the longest...