21 March 2019

How to choose a racket!

For every tennis player, the moment comes when you have to choose a new racket. We asked our specialist partner, HEAD to give their expert advice. Whatever brand of racket you go for, we hope these tips will be useful!

What is wrong with your current racket?

Or to put it another way, what do you need your racket to do to support your game? Are you looking for more power, more control, more feel, or are you just after a change?

Once you have identified your needs, look for the type of racket that is likely to help.

  • Power - usually the wider beam rackets with a larger head size and which are lighter than average (225g to 260g)
  • Control - usually the mid-range models, with medium beam width and average to heavier weight (260g-295g)
  • Feel - thin beam rackets that generate lots of feel (through vibration) and on the heavy side of any range (295g+)

What is your price bracket?

You can pay anything from £70 for a current full graphite model up to £250 for the ‘top’ of the range racket. But it’s not always the most expensive that is the best for you. You have to try them. (Juniors rackets range from £20 for an entry-level racket to £100).

Online advice

There are some good retailers and company racket selectors who will do some of the work for you, if you know what ‘specs’ you require.  A good place to start is the HEAD online racket selector:

HEAD Online Racket Selector

But try out other manufacture guides too including, Babolat, Völkl and Dunlop, and the guides provided by online retailers such as Direct Tennis, Tennis-Point and Tennisnuts.

Even if you don't go for the recommended brand or model of racket, the process will tell you more about the decision-making approach.

Seek advice and a trial

Be warned, choosing a racket, even using the online selectors, is not an exact science so you won’t always get it spot on! The best plan is to get some advice from a coach or a senior player (but even very good players may not be experts at advising on rackets) and then try some demos out before purchasing. Many tennis specialist shops will allow you to try a racket before buying, and some even have internal hitting walls.