Since September 2014, technologist Keyvan Azami has headed fixed-income derivatives trading technology for Bloomberg LP in New York City. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he held several different technology development positions at Barclay’s Capital, first in London, and then in New York City. Outside of the office, Keyvan Azami supports several charities and enjoys a broad range of fitness activities, including playing soccer and tennis.

1. Keyvan Azami

2.  Since September 2014, technologist Keyvan Azami has headed fixed-
income derivatives trading technology for Bloomberg LP in New York City.
Prior to joining Bloomberg, he held several different technology development
positions at Barclay’s Capital, first in London, and then in New York City.
Outside of the office, Keyvan Azami supports several charities and enjoys a
broad range of fitness activities, including playing soccer and tennis.
While there’s evidence that games similar to the tennis played today were
enjoyed thousands of years ago, the game as we know it first appeared in
1877 at the All England Croquet Club. The club modified the rules of a
patented game called Sphairistike, changing its hourglass-shaped court to
the present rectangular shape and dimensions. Players used wooden
racquets strung with sheep gut, which had been used for quite a while in an
earlier indoor version of the game called “real tennis.”
Sheep gut was the preferred material for making the strings until a sheep
shortage after World War II forced the use of alternatives like pig, horse, and
cow intestines.

3.  Cow intestines were eventually adopted as the standard. Synthetic
strings, made primarily of nylon, were developed in the 1970s as an
economic alternative to natural gut, but many players still prefer
natural gut.
Ash was the preferred wood because of its strength and toughness,
as well as its ability to be bent to shape. Other popular woods were
maple, sycamore, and hornbeam. The wood was sliced into thin
veneers, which were bent and glued together. Although it was known
that tubular steel would perform well as the racquet body, it wasn’t
until 1953 that Lacoste devised a method of stringing steel racquets;
previously, the holes drilled for stringing left sharp edges that quickly
destroyed the strings. Lacoste patented its revolutionary steel-frame
racquet and marketed it as the Wilson T2000, famously used by
Jimmy Connors to crush Ken Rosewall in the men’s singles final at
Wimbledon in 1974. Since then, aluminum and graphite have
overtaken steel as the racquet material of choice for professionals
and amateurs alike.