Choose the Right Tennis Racket to Add Strength on Serves and Smash

Looking for the right tennis racket to buy? Just run a simple online search – you will find internet message boards and sports community forums strewn with questions about which racket will improve serves and an equal number of answers from good Samaritans, parroting old wives’ tales that they heard somewhere. People will advise you to change rackets more frequently, go with a particular manufacturer or to look for a specific weave. Yes – there is a lot of confusion out there and No, the above factors don’t matter too much. Choosing the right tennis racket to add strength on your serves and smashes is easy – you just need to understand the inherent science involved!

The physics of a Tennis Shot

A tennis shot is basically transfer of momentum – from the racket to the ball. At the core, you can consider it as taking a heavy object (the racket) and using it to strike a less heavy object (the ball), transferring kinetic energy from one to the other. No matter how you dress it up, there are only a handful of factors that can affect your racket’s ability to hit the ball harder and generate better serves and smashes. Let’s consider each one:

• Weight

Many people believe that lighter tennis rackets are more effective in producing better shots but the opposite is, in fact, true. The heavier the racket, the more power it has and the more momentum it will transfer to the ball to generate a smashing serve. One may argue that heavier rackets can lead to exhausting your arm muscles quickly, making it difficult to play longer matches. To manage this, you must pick a racket as heavy as you can and train yourself to effectively use it.

• Balance

A tennis racket’s balance determines how its weight is distributed. This factor has a direct impact on the swing-weight of the racket. Modern manufacturers put in a lot of R&D into creating rackets that which are heavier around the head, which makes it feel heavier when it comes in contact with the ball thereby, generating more power. This creates a light weight, easy to maneuver racket that generates power like a heavy-weight one. However such designs happen to be a major contributor to the ‘Tennis Elbow’ health issue.

• Stiffness

This factor impacts two major aspects of a tennis player’s game – power of the shot and comfort while playing. The stiffer the racket, the more power it will add to the shot. However, this strategy will have you compromising on comfort. Softer frames and string-beds will provide a player with more ease of use and lesser impact on his/her wrists, elbows and shoulders while playing.

What should you choose?

Once you understand the actual science of a tennis shot, selecting the right racket becomes easier. Just look into the pros and cons of each of the factors listed above and select the right tennis racket to suit your comfort and playing style, while adding more power to every serve of yours!

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