Mike Fishbach's spaghetti racquet stuns Stan

On September 2, 1977, in the second round of the US Open, world No 200 Mike Fishbach created one of the biggest upsets in tennis history as well as a memorable controversy, beating former champion Stan Smith, 6-0, 6-2, using the famous spaghetti racquet. This double-strung racket generated unusual and unpredictable spin, and it would only take a few months before it was banned from professional tennis.

The Players and the Place

Stan Smith, born in 1946, had been one of the greatest players of the early 1970s. Runner-up at Wimbledon in 1971, he triumphed two months later at the US Open, which was then still played on grass. In 1972, he clinched a second Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon. Between 1972 and the middle of 1973, when he claimed no fewer than 17 titles, Smith was considered as the world No 1, although he never held that spot on the ATP ranking, which was established only in August 1973. He also reached the semi-finals at Forest Hills in 1973 and at Wimbledon in 1974. From 1975 onwards, he declined in singles and obtained his best results in doubles. Nevertheless, Smith was still world No 15 at the start of the 1977 US Open.

A former UC Irvine player, Mike Fishbach, born in 1954, was travelling in Europe in 1977 when he saw an Australian player, Barry Phillips-Moore, playing with a strange double-strung racket. Although Phillips-Moore didn't let him try it out, Fishbach, led by his curiosity, managed to find one and became slowly famous for using this unlikely instrument.

The match occurred at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, where the US Open was held until 1977. In the years between 1975 and 1977, the event was played on clay.

The Infamous Spaghetti Racquet

On paper, no one expected the US Open second round between a declining legend and the world No 200 to be one of the most memorable and controversial matches in tennis history. However, more than the players themselves, it was the racket used by Fishbach that went down in history.

In the previous few months, Fishbach had started to use what was referred to as the spaghetti racquet, which he had discovered during the European tour. Invented in Germany by Werner Fischer, it was already used by an Australian player, Barry Phillips-Moore. Actually, the difference was not about the racquet itself, but about the stringing technique. According to The New York Times, the elements included nylon strings doubled up, with fish-test line wound around them six rows vertically and six rows horizontally.

Fishbach had qualified for the main draw and beaten Billy Martin in the first round. Against Smith, the spin proved unmanageable. He claimed it made his shots dip like those of Bjorn Borg or Guillermo Vilas.

The equipment sparked immediate debate. Some questioned its legality, but existing rules only defined a racquet as the instrument used to strike the ball. Fishbach argued it required skill, noting that Adriano Panatta had tried it and failed spectacularly.

Aftermath and Ban

Fishbach's run ended in the next round. John Feaver lost the first set but adapted, eventually winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Feaver described the challenge, saying you don't know what's going on with the bloody thing. You can't hear the ball come off the face.

The controversy intensified. Ilie Nastase tried the racket after losing to a user in France and later beat Guillermo Vilas with it. These events prompted tennis authorities to act. They banned the spaghetti racquet within months, introducing precise rules for racket specifications. Using conventional rackets afterward, Fishbach never won another Grand Slam match, though he reached a career-high ranking of world No. 47 in January 1978.