Tennis racket advice

[Geri]

I need to go and buy a man's tennis racket in a bit, they seem to be all different sizes. What size should I be looking for your average bloke?

 

[fen_boy]

Save your money, he'll give it up after Wimbledon.

 

[kained&able]

I need to go and buy a man's tennis racket in a bit, they seem to be all different sizes. What size should I be looking for your average bloke?

what level is he at?

other then the junior/mens sizes the different sizes are for different things.

Loger handles = more leverage and therefore more power, these tend to also have smaller heads and therefore less control, bigger head for nicely angled shots etc etc etc.


dave

 

[DaRealSpoon]

Yeh, unless he's really good. Go with something with a nice big head (oo err missus), big sweet spot, better control etc

 

[Geri]

My usual tactic is to go into the shop and buy the cheapest. I assumed they were all pretty much the same, but my racket is quite a bit smaller than the one my ex used to use, which I'm not sure was by accident or design.

I'm guessing he will be pretty bad at it, but better than me.

 

[kained&able]

different materials, designed for different things, different quality of strings all sorts of differences.

as darealspoon says if he is very beginner something cheap(probabley by head) with a big face and you wont be far wrong.

If he has a bit of epereince it really depends on his game. If he has big serve and likes staying back you need a racket deisgned for power.

If he rushes the net alot you want one designed for a bit more finesse.

If he is in between you have do do your reserch a bit more carfully!


dave

 

[butchersapron]

I'm the level of excellent

 

[Geri]

I'm the level of excellent

I think I will get you the one Andre Agassi used to use. For a tenner.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

I'm the level of excellent

You'll be wanting one of these then

 

[kained&able]

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com

is very good for reviews.


what the fuck is that thing in the post above?


dave

 

[Leafster]

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com

is very good for reviews.


what the fuck is that thing in the post above?


dave

It looks like something Frew MacMillan might have tried out.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

what the fuck is that thing in the post above?


dave

Dunno, for siamese twins maybe?

 

[Leafster]

The only thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is grip size. It makes a big difference to the amount of control you have over the racquet so it's important to get it right.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

Pedantry inc.

^^^

Loger handles = more leverage

dave

 

[tommers]

here's an interesting question for a monday morning... is it "racket" or "racquet"?

 

[kained&able]

have you people still not bored of corrrecting my spelling and english.

fucking nazis


dave

 

[DaRealSpoon]

have you people still not bored of corrrecting my spelling and english.

fucking nazis


dave

I was actually pointing out that you had already mentioned grip/handles

 

[Leafster]

I was actually pointing out that you had already mentioned grip/handles

I was talking about circumference of the grip not the length of the shaft.

 

[DaRealSpoon]

I was talking about circumference of the grip not the length of the shaft.

pffffft! te hehe he he

 

[mattie]

Get the grip size sorted, everything else is personal preference.

A guide here, but I'd recommend getting him to try a few They have two ratings for grip size, numbers 1 to 5 or in inches (I think from 3ish to 4 7/8ish, I forget). You can of course pad out a grip, but it becomes tricky to feel the bevels in the grip - basically, the grip rounds out and you cna't tell which way the face is pointing.

Larger headed racquets tend to be more powerful for slower swing speeds (i.e. beginners) but have less touch. Most are so good now that even cheap ones will be perfectly servicable, but try to avoid aluminium racquets as these bend and aren't always that responsive. As others have said, look at the decent manufacturers, alongside Head I've found cheaper Wilsons to be reasonable - I played with a 40 quid Wilson Staff for 5 years (although this may be more thna you want to spend).

Avoid anything called a 'player's racquet' as these will reward high, accurate repeatable swing speeds but punish anything else.

Again, get the correct grip as you can induce all sorts of muscular and nerve problems with the wrong size over time.

eta: Leafster had it covered, although smuttily.

 

[Leafster]

pffffft! te hehe he he

 

[kained&able]

I was actually pointing out that you had already mentioned grip/handles

Oh, in that case your wrong i was on about lengh of racket not grip.

mattie:"Larger headed racquets...... have less touch."

wrong! larger head = more touch


dave

 

[Leafster]

Oh, in that case your wrong i was on about lengh of racket not grip.

mattie:"Larger headed racquets...... have less touch."

wrong! larger head = more touch


dave

I was always led to believe that what Mattie says is correct. Larger headed racquets have bigger sweet spots which leads to less control.

I can't vouch for that as I tend to wallop the ball as hard as I can and a bigger racquet head makes it easier for me to hit the sweet spot.

 

[mattie]

Oh, in that case your wrong i was on about lengh of racket not grip.

mattie:"Larger headed racquets...... have less touch."

wrong! larger head = more touch


dave

No Dave, smaller headed are for serve-volley or similar, larger for baseline borefests.

http://www.stringforum.net/about_racquets.php

 

[DaRealSpoon]

Oh, in that case your wrong i was on about lengh of racket not grip.


dave

I still think you should apologise for calling me a 'spelling nazi'

 

[kained&able]

hmmmm maybe theres a difference between rackets at the beginner side of things.

I tend to play quite near the net and with a hell of a lot backspin on everything and find it much much easier to sort out my angles and generate spin with an oversized racket head.

I was under the impression thats why agassi used an os model as well same with chang.

dave

 

[kained&able]

I still think you should apologise for calling me a 'spelling nazi'

never!

 

[DaRealSpoon]

never!

nazi

 

[mattie]

hmmmm maybe theres a difference between rackets at the beginner side of things.

I tend to play quite near the net and with a hell of a lot backspin on everything and find it much much easier to sort out my angles and generate spin with an oversized racket head.

I was under the impression thats why agassi used an os model as well same with chang.

dave

Agassi used the racquet he was paid to play with, but his game relied upon hitting early on groundstrokes so he could usefully trade some control for forgiveness. Chang just ran around. Lots.

Also, oversizes tend to have wider spaced strings which can help generate spin, which is why you might find it easier to control.

 

[kained&able]

ahh okay, intresting.


I can live with that, think that only makes me half wrong.


dave