The controversial technology was the brainchild of a German horticulturist, Werner Fischer. While a double-strung racket simply meant that two sets of strings passed through a single hole, the Fischer system was more revolutionary. Fischer’s racket had three planes of non-intersecting strings with only five or six cross strings. With fewer cross strings, the main strings held the ball on the strings longer allowing a player to impart more spin on the ball. Additionally, to prevent the strings from sliding and breaking, a system of knots and plastic tubing protected them. This plastic tubing led to the racket’s nickname: the “spaghetti racket.” Fischer experimented with a double-strung racket system in Germany in the early 1970s and provided rackets to a struggling German tennis club. Within three years the club emerged on the top level of competition after playing for years on levels three and four. Fischer was not, however, a marketing and sales genius, and thus the racket technology remained within German clubs until 1977. In the summer of 1977 Fischer entered into an agreement with Gunter Harz, whereby Harz was to get professional tennis players to use the racket and build an international sales network.