The Complete Idiot's Guide to Choosing a Tennis Racquet

Pick Up Appeal

It amazes me how little thought most people put into selecting a new tennis racquet. You know what I'm talking about - swing it a few times in the pro shop, check out the slick paint job, then casually fork over a couple of hundred dollars. That's it! For most players, cosmetics are the main criterion. Then maybe "pick up appeal", how light the racquet feels when you pick it up in the pro shop. Ask any of the sales people, it’s what sells. It’s the intellectual equivalent of kicking the tires at the auto dealer before buying that shiny new car. What works… well, who cares? At least until a few weeks of violent banging produces a burning sensation in the elbow which makes even the most mundane task like picking up a container of milk an excruciating ordeal.

The fact is, when purchasing a new racquet, tennis elbow should be your main concern. It's currently an epidemic, afflicting half of all players over 30 and the trend towards light, stiff, head-heavy racquets is only aggravating the situation. It’s as simple as that. Basic physics (which I will not bore you with, here) is clear on this, and so are the big hitters on the men's tour, none of whom use the new ultra lights so forget about cosmetics or pickup appeal.

Agassi's racquet is painted to look like a Head Ti Radical, but it weighs 2.5 ounces more

Head-light, Heavy Racquets are Better

First, the bottom line: heavy and head-light is best - best for performance and best for avoiding injury. Recommended specs for serious players: weight = heavy (>310 grams, or 11 oz.); balance = head-light; swingweight (strung) = >300; head size = small.

Pete Sampras uses a 14 oz. racquet that has an even balance, Andre Agassi uses a 13.2 oz. racquet that is 5/8 inch head-light, and Mark Philippoussis uses a 13.5 oz. racquet that is 3/4 inch head-light. These guys obviously know what works in top echelon tennis. What they use is no heavier than the old wood racquets, and even children could swing them. Although heavy, they feel light due to their head-light balance.

Back in the wood racquet era, the pros designed and put their signature on the racquets.  Today, it appears to be the sales department, pandering to the ignorant. Why don't the racquet manufacturers offer exactly the same racquets the top pros use?  For example, Agassi's racquet is painted to look like a Head Ti Radical, but it weighs 2.5 ounces more.  You can't buy one.
 
Most of the best sellers today are about 4 ounces lighter than what the pros use. These are the so-called "game improvement racquets," (referred to as "granny sticks" from their preponderance among the weaker players).  The so called "player's racquets" like the Wilson ProStaff line are heavier and more head-light.

What you want is a racquet that will give you the most ball speed for the least effort (Power), on a shot that goes in (Control), and which will not stress your elbow or shoulder (Elbow Safety and Shoulder Safety). What you don't want is to put in a lot of effort on wild shots and wreck your arm after a few months.

If you are inclined to buy a granny stick, consider this: if you were in a car crash, which would you rather be driving, a compact or a truck? We all know that the light car will get crushed. The collision of a racquet and a ball is the same thing: a heavy racquet will keep going on impact, crushing the ball more for better pace and spin.

Do the Math

Light racquet partisans argue that because you can swing the light racquet faster, it will hit harder than a heavy racquet. OK, granted that if you have the time and energy to execute a long violent stroke, you can swing the light racquet faster and get greater head velocity on impact. Three problems with that: (1) a violent stroke is harder to control; (2) when you are stretching for a shot, you don't have time to execute a long stroke, so velocity will be small and because racquet weight is small also, your shot will be weak; and (3) the light, fast racquet will slow down a lot on impact, stressing the arm. Ever try to hit a hardball with a softball bat?

But what if you put most of the mass in the head, making the racquet head-heavy?  Wouldn't you then have a light racquet that hits hard? Yes. The light, head-heavy racquet will have a high swingweight, which is good for pace and spin. Swingweight is the power storage capacity, the inertia (resistance to change in motion) of the racquet as it rotates.  What this means in practice is that it's harder to whip, but once you get the racquet rotating (e.g. on the wrist snap of the serve) it will tend to keep rotating when it meets the ball and will crush through, mashing the ball against the strings for better spin and pace.  

Sampras uses the legendary St. Vincent ProStaff 6.0, long out of production

That's the advantage of the Hammer and the extra-longs: high swingweight. But in combination with light weight, there are these drawbacks to head-heavy balance on closer scrutiny: (1) a light and head-heavy racquet is bad for the elbow and shoulder, because such racquets tend to have high Torque, Shock, Elbow Crunch and Shoulder Crunch; (2) having a high Moment (weight times distance of balance point from hand), a head-heavy racquet feels heavy and sluggish to position for volleys and returns; and (3) the power comes from your effort, not the racquet, and you have to work a lot harder to get a certain ball speed than with a heavy and head-light racquet.

Although the trend for years has been in the wrong direction, toward light and head-heavy racquets, there are some excellent oldies still available. But as time goes on, they get discontinued. So do like Pete Sampras (who uses the legendary St. Vincent ProStaff 6.0 85, long out of production): don't buy just one, but stock up when they go on closeout. And remember to restring often, even before you break a string, because strings quickly lose their bounce.

From Racquet Research, by permission

Last Updated 8/1/99. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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