Technology Which Changed Tennis Game

As you go through a tennis racquet selection guide, you are likely to come across products that come with the fanciest technologies and the latest developments. The goal of these technologies is to improve your game. Some examples include the development of durable and lighter tennis rackets and strings to enable players to play better, save money, and reduce their risk of injury. The following is an overview of some of the most commonly used pieces of tennis equipment made as the result of technological developments:

Graphite rackets – Consult any tennis racquet selection guide and you will find that the most highly recommended rackets are those that are made of graphite and Kevlar. These materials changed the tennis game, as they helped players swing faster with lightweight frames. However, it enabled players to develop stronger bodies and higher technique requirements, too. Performance tennis rackets are manufactured with combined fibers that change their feel, response, and flexibility for every player.

Polyester strings – Polyester is another major game changer in tennis. It was introduced in the mid to late 1990s as synthetic strings, which helped develop aggressive and offensive tennis players. The strings are durable and capable of keeping up with the demands of professional and trained players, as they help generate more spin and speed.

Telemetry sensors – These are devices that help players keep tabs on their game and serve as an aid in improving their technique by providing real-time data analysis. The information is generated from the racket, so the data is more accurate. A tennis racquet selection guide can recommend specialized rackets with telemetry sensors.

Hawk eye – Introducing computer systems to the court has helped tournaments in accurate scoring. The Hawk Eye is a computer system designed to track a ball’s trajectory. Though it was initially used for replay purposes on TV and broadcast systems, it enabled players to understand the trajectory of the ball, too.

Material and Tennis Rackets

When searching for the right tennis racquet, you are likely to come across recommendations involving rackets made with different kinds of materials. Tennis rackets used to be made of wood. Nowadays, you will find them in a wide range of materials that are aimed to maximize durability and performance. Knowing and understanding the type and qualities of each material used in tennis rackets can help you make an informed decision when choosing the best tennis racquet. Here is a brief list of the types of materials used in tennis rackets:

• Graphite – Most lightweight frames are made of 100 percent graphite or with a composite like fiberglass, titanium, tungsten, Kevlar, and copper. Pure graphite will have a stiffer feel, so they are ideal for players who can hit with a lot of power. Composite graphite tennis racquet frames are more flexible and generate less vibration, making them suitable for beginners.

• Kevlar and boron – While similar to graphite, a tennis racquet frame that is made of boron and Kevlar can transmit vibrations readily. They are durable, but less forgiving compared to aluminum and graphite, making them best for more experienced players who have mastered control.

• Aluminum – If you find graphite tennis rackets expensive, aluminum should be a good alternative.  Most entry-level rackets are made of this material, but they are typically heavier compared to graphite. They are ideal for recreational players, too. Aluminum frames are either bi-hollow or tubular, and the shape should determine their durability and flexibility. They provide a moderate level of feel and power. Bi-hollow frames are ideal for beginners, while tubular aluminum frames are ideal for experienced players who can hit with more power.

• Tungsten and titanium – Some tennis racquet manufacturers build racket frames with tungsten and titanium, which are typically combined with carbon fiber or graphite to make the product stiffer as necessary.

5 Ways by Which You Can Customize Your Tennis Rackets

A tennis racquet selection guide may help you find the perfect racket, but customizing your tennis racket is the way to go if you are not satisfied with the quality and features of ready-made rackets. Many touring professionals play with a customized racket, so it is not unusual to have yours customized, too. Customizing a racket may occur during its manufacturing or after-market. In any case, the goal is to have it tailored to the player’s unique physique, playing style, and game objectives. Customizing your tennis rackets may help you gain an edge on the court. Here are five ways to do it:

• Customize the racket’s balance and weight – This involves adding weight to any strategic location on your racket to control its overall distribution of weight, a factor that determines how the racket will play, feel, and swing. Weight will affect control, stability, power, arm safety, and the location of the sweet spot, too. Likewise, it will determine the maneuverability of your racket. 

• Change the strings – Another popular way to customize tennis rackets is by changing the strings. There are many different strings to choose from, from natural gut to synthetic, and in some cases, they come in many different colors, too.

• Customizing with lead tape – Lead tape comes packaged as strips of lead that are one-fourth of one-half inch wide, in pre-cut strips or rolls with sticky backing. It is applied to the frame of the racket on both sides of the strings. A stringer may apply a ½-inch wide tape while stringing the racket with the grommets protruding through it. Adding lead tape to a tennis racket will provide more weight to it and increase your shot’s power. Apply lead tape at the six o’ clock area of the racket’s frame to add weight without affecting the balance.

• Add lead tape for stability – If the tennis racquet selection guide led you to a racket that lacks stability, you can increase that factor by adding lead tape, too. This time, lead increases the weight on the sweet spot to minimize vibration and twisting from any off-center hit. Tape the nine and three o’ clock areas of the racket to achieve stability.

• Boost plow through with tape – Apply two eight-inch strips of tungsten customization tape to the racket’s inner hoop at the 12 o’clock area to boost the total mass by 0.2 ounces. This means two balance points, a 20-point jump in the swingweight, and less head-light.

Why Is a Tennis Racquet Selection Guide Important?

While in the process of selecting a new tennis racquet, it may be helpful to refer to a guide that is written by experts to eliminate the guesswork and narrow down the choices to only the best racquets that suit your ability and skill level, as well as your playing style. A tennis racquet selection guide can help you choose the best product according to personal factors. Some of the best tennis racquet selectors are based on specially formulated algorithms that take a look at the data points from your answers to specific questions before recommending a reliable and unbiased selection of tennis racquets to you. This way, you can minimize the need to spend a lot of time researching and looking up user opinions.

When choosing a tennis racquet, it is easy to choose a product based on what professional players are using. However, that should not be the sole basis for selecting the right racquet, especially for beginners and intermediate players. This is where a tennis racquet selection guide can help by making you understand the factors that will affect your tennis game and your playing style. The guide lets you go over the string pattern, stiffness of the frame, the string material and tension, gauge, swing weight, head size, balance point, and other important factors to help you identify the best racquet for your needs. Those parameters are crucial if, for instance, you are looking for something that can provide more control or power, or a combination of both.

All kinds of players can benefit from referring to a reliable tennis racquet selection guide. By referring to a guide, beginners can easily determine the right racquet that can help them develop their swing, power, control, and serve, and intermediate and advanced players can acquire reliable and accurate information when they want to upgrade their gear.

Things to Consider Before Choosing Tennis Racket as a Beginner

Tennis rackets vary in terms of size, weight, features, and their overall look and feel, and these factors must be considered before you choose any tennis racket as a beginner. Rackets for beginners are designed with the skill level and the age of the player in mind. The ideal weight for the racket will depend on your gender and age, with lighter rackets weighing between 0.15kg and 0.18kg recommended for older players and women, and those weighing between 0.17kg and 0.2kg recommended for men. Regardless of the weight, beginners must look for rackets that have larger heads, which can be more forgiving with a bigger sweet spot. Here are more things to consider before selecting a tennis racket for beginners:

• Game improvement or power rackets – Consider tennis rackets with oversize to super-oversized heads that are about 107 to 135 square inches, but make sure they are light (i.e. eight to 9.5 ounces) and long (27 to 29 inches). These rackets are stiffer and head-heavy, so there is enough weight in the hit zone. Hence, they are ideal for players who have short and slow swings, but would like more power from their racket.

• Prices – Comparing the prices can become overwhelming when choosing a tennis racket as a beginner. Keep in mind that manufacturers may produce rackets in similar sizes and weights and comparable price points and features. To avoid confusion, decide on a budget that is based on your frequency of playing tennis. Consider a reasonably priced racket first, then upgrade as you improve your standard. Rackets that are in the $50 to $150 range may not contain dampening features and not completely made of graphite, but they should be ideal for occasional players. If you are serious about tennis and play frequently, consider rackets that are at least $150.

• Type of strings – You are most likely choosing your first tennis racket as a beginner, so it is okay to buy one that has already been strung. If the strings break, consider a softer synthetic variety, like Wilson Sensation or synthetic gut because they provide excellent feel and power, while being kind to your arm. Serious players may consider firm polyester strings like Volkl Cyclone and Babolat RPM.

• Refer to an algorithm that lets you choose the right tennis racket online – Answer a few questions and the algorithm analyzes them before recommending accurate and unbiased results on the best tennis rackets for beginners. This way, you can save a lot of time and effort, and avoid the guesswork.

Tennis Racquet Strings Guide: How Useful Is It to Know About Strings?

It is easy to overlook the type and quality of the strings when choosing a tennis racquet, but these factors actually matter. In fact, if you want to ascertain the function and quality of your tennis racquet, you need to look up a tennis racquet strings guide and make sure that you choose the right strings and tension for them. Playability is one of the qualities you should look into when selecting strings. You may like them firm and crisp, or comfortable and soft. Playable strings were historically gut-like in resilience and feel, making natural gut strings (traditionally made from the intestines of cow) popular with players in the past. Natural gut is still widely preferred, but there are high-quality and reasonably priced synthetic types that offer high-quality playability, too, such as Dunlop Silk, Babolat X-Cel, and Prince Premier Power.

Referring to a tennis racquet strings guide can help you understand how durable the strings should be. When it comes to tennis strings, increased durability typically reduces playability, especially when doing shorter strokes, which can feel dead and stiff. Strings that are abrasion resistant and made in thicker gauges may be more durable, but they are not that resilient and elastic compared to their thin counterparts.

Hence, if you are breaking 16-gauge nylon strings, you may want to upgrade to a 15L version of the same strings. If you prefer a softer, multifilament feel, consider the comfort strings from Prince. They come in thicker gauges, like the Premier Control 15 and Premier Touch 15L. Otherwise, go for a durable nylon string like Wilson Synthetic DuraMax and Gamma Marathon DPC. Other alternatives are polyester hybrids (i.e. Volkl Psycho), firm polyester (Super Smash by Kirschbaum), and soft polyester (i.e. Polyfibre TCS). Advanced players may consider Kevlar hybrids, but they must be careful as the material can generate too much shock to tendons. You should be able to learn more about these materials by referring to a tennis racquet string guide.

In terms of string gauge, the rule of thumb is thinner strings improve playability, and thick strings improve durability. Gauges range from 15 (the thickest) to 19 (the thinnest). Half-gauges are identified with an L (i.e. 16L and 15L), which stands for ‘light’.

Can the Wrong Choice of Tennis Racquets Affect Your Tennis Game?

The tennis racquet is one of the major factors that can affect the way you play and ability to improve your game. Hence, the wrong racquet will definitely affect your game, impair your ability to play well, and make it difficult to master swing and serving techniques. Selecting the right tennis racquet makes sense if you want to improve your game, so you need to be careful in doing so. The following tips should make it easier to choose the best racquet that will enhance your tennis game:

• Things to consider – Take note of the weight, head size, string pattern, swing weight, string gauge, string tension, frame stiffness, string material, and the grip size. That way, you can easily understand how crucial it is to pick a tennis racquet that suits your unique needs. Some players may be looking for a racquet with more power, while others may prefer control. There are racquets that can provide the best of both worlds, too.

• Think about your play level – Manufacturers typically design and build tennis racquets based on a player’s skill level and ability. Hence, racquets for beginners are typically larger, longer, and heavy at the head, with a larger sweet spot, while those meant for advanced players are heavier with smaller heads, a balanced head, and have more flexible beams. You might be able to find a tennis racquet that is versatile and can easily be customized for beginners, intermediate, and professional players, too.

• Do the math – Some experts have developed custom programs that can help recommend the best tennis racquets to you based on your answers to a few questions. Look up an online service that can do this, so you can easily narrow down the choices in tennis racquets and explore unbiased recommendations based on those algorithms.