It is supposed to be a personal choice. However, there are certain guidelines, (not rules, just guidelines) to follow to pick the perfect one for your play style.
In this article we’ll discuss one aspect: Heavy or light. There are many more things to consider, which we’ll discuss later.
First, keep in mind this important note: those weighing more than 300g are considered ‘Heavy’ and provide more power while those equal to/less than 300g are considered ‘light’ and hence, lack power. The advantage of a light one is that it’s easier to manoeuvre; implying accurate volleys.
Let’s compare heavy to light
- Heavy racquets have more power compared to light ones. Imagine a truck and a car speeding alongside each other. Same speed, but there’s a huge difference in mass. Trucks are heavier. Assume they collide with a wall. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen in reality, but just an assumption. Clearly, the truck would impart more force and damage the wall severely when compared to that of car. Heavier objects have more momentum.Thus, choosing a heavier one would have more power. Although there are numerous tennis pros who choose light ones. They compensate the light weight with high speed.
- Heavier ones tend to provide more spin than lighter ones. In heavier racquets, as the ball collides with the string mesh, there is more trampoline effect. This allows the player to impart more spin with less hand movement. On the contrary, light ones are most preferred for creating spin. The easy manoeuvrability makes it easy to create spin but more hand movement is required.
- Heavier the racquet, harder it is to swing. The logic is quite simple, heavier the object, harder it is to move fast. Light ones can be swung really fast with relative ease.
- Light ones, ironically, are harder to control. On impact from the ball, light ones tend to twist more those that are heavy. This leads to increased stress in a player’s forearm.
- Light ones are easy to manoeuvre. Control is different from manoeuvring, mind. This means that lighter ones can be easily moved in all directions with less effort.
- As discussed in point 4, heavies tend to absorb more shock when compared to lighter ones. Those that are light absorb less amount of shock from the impact of a ball, resulting in increased stress in your forearm. Your forearm, elbows and shoulder absorb the remaining shock. If you aren’t an experienced player, this might lead to injuries.
On a side note, it is always best to choose a light if you aren’t sure which racquet will improve your performance. Light ones can always be customized; simply add weight to it to make it heavier.
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