Founder from Upper Austria

Innovation was named after a tennis legend

Alexander Eckmayr founded the Faelcon Rackets brand, which stands for sustainable tennis rackets.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Faelcon Rackets, Faelcon Rackets/Markus Wenzel)

Heavy and not very flexible - these are the characteristics that come to mind when you think of the wooden rackets used by tennis players in the past. Carbon has long been the material of the hour. But an Upper Austrian is now campaigning for a comeback for wood. In the spirit of sustainability, Alexander Eckmayr founded the Faelcon Rackets brand.

His idol: Roger Federer, who spent 310 weeks at the top of the tennis world rankings; his favorite shot: the forehand; his playing tool: the Björn model from the Faelcon brand, which he founded himself.

"I've been playing tennis since I was six," explains Alexander Eckmayr. The 37-year-old from Neukirchen near Lambach worked at Stiwa for 13 years and was involved in the design of punching tools and the development of automation systems. "My experience in the field of construction combined with my passion for tennis gave me the idea of developing a wooden tennis racket myself," he explains, relying on the expertise of technology manufacturer SFK in Kirchham.

"It's a niche product"
Currently, only rackets with carbon frames are played in the professional and amateur sector. Eckmayr is a realist and does not dream of revolutionizing the entire tennis world, but wants his brand to be a sustainable alternative to the existing range. "It's a niche product," he says and enthuses: "With the wooden racket, you feel the ball more when you play."

I was at the ATP tournament in Kitzbühel in July 2024. I also played in the One-Shot Cup there and made it to the final. There was a lot of interest in the wooden racket. Everyone says that it's a cool idea and that they really want to test the racket.

Alexander Eckmayr, Gründer Faelcon Rackets

The Faelcon Björn rackets are currently made from a wooden composite frame that combines wood with carbon. The goal is clear: "In the future, we want to replace carbon with a flax fiber." According to Eckmayr, who took part in a start-up program run by Sparkasse Oberösterreich and has already invested a lot of time in developing the sports equipment, experiments are already underway at Johannes Kepler University. Incidentally, all the pieces are handmade.

Why did he name the first model Björn? "It's a kind of homage to one of the best tennis players of the 1980s. Anyone with any interest in tennis will remember the match between Björn Borg and John McEnroe in July 1980," he says, referring to the Wimbledon final in which the two tennis stars faced each other. Björn Borg is a legend, having won eleven Grand Slam titles, among others.