Tennis rackets for beginners
Learn which tennis racket best suits tennis beginners
Tennis rackets for beginners
The tennis racket is the most important tool of every tennis player. During your first tennis training with a coach, you will almost certainly be provided with a rental tennis racket. Nevertheless, it is advisable to have your own tennis racket at an early stage in order to be able to swing the tennis racket independently.
It is important to inform yourself before buying your first tennis racket. It does not have to be the current tennis racket of tennis professionals, as this may be unsuitable for tennis beginners. At the same time, it is also not advisable to buy a discount tennis racket, as this may no longer meet normal quality requirements, resulting in arm pain or even tennis elbow.
In the following, we will show you the different tennis rackets, support you in the right choice of tennis racket and name their costs – enjoy reading.
1. Tennis racket introduction
While in the founding days of the sport of tennis was initially played with the palm of the hand, later switched to wooden tennis rackets. Today, no one plays with a wooden tennis racket anymore, except for the club-internal fun tournament.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) specifies that the tennis racket must not exceed an overall length of 29 inches – with 27 inches being the standard. The total width is limited to 12.5 inches. For children and teenagers, depending on their height, there are shorter tennis rackets with a length starting from about 23 inches or less.
The frames of tennis rackets are nowadays also no longer made of aluminum but are produced from robust and at the same time lightweight materials, e.g. carbon and graphite. For tennis beginners with arm problems, a particularly light titanium tennis racket can also pave the ideal way into tennis.
2. Features of tennis rackets
When buying your first tennis racket, you should consider grip strength, balance point, weight and size of the hitting surface. The following overview offers you the necessary support in finding the ideal tennis racket as a beginner in the multitude of tennis racket offers:
a) Grip thickness
The grip thickness indicates the thickness of the grip: from grip thickness 0 – thin – to grip thickness 5 – thick – you make the decision. For tennis beginners it is important that you feel comfortable holding the tennis racket.
- Grip strength 0: For children
- Grip strength 1: For teenagers
- Grip strength 2: For women with normal hand size
- Grip strength 3: For men with normal hand size
- Grip strength 4: For men with large hands
- Grip strength 5: For men with very large hands
b) Balance point
The balance point of the tennis racket reflects the center of gravity: it ranges from the top-heavy to the grip-heavy tennis racket.
- Balance points ≥ 13 inches – top-heavy: For tennis beginners.
- Balance point 12 – 13 inches – grip-heavy: For advanced tennis players.
c) Weight
You can use the weight of the tennis racket to focus on power or control. Tennis beginners are advised to start with a racket with more control.
- Weight < 9.9 oz: For more control
- Weight ≥ 9.9 oz: For more power
d) Size of the hitting surface
Depending on the size of the hitting surface, technical errors are more easily forgiven. The larger the hitting surface of the tennis racket, the less accurate the ball has to be hit.
- Hitting area 100 – 106 square inches: Large hitting area to promote comfort
- Hitting surface 97 – 100 square inch: Medium hitting surface
- Hitting surface 93 – 97 square inch: Small hitting surface to promote technique
3. Buy the right tennis racket
With the help of the previously described features of tennis rackets, it should be easy for you to find the right tennis racket.
Most online stores have the appropriate filter functions, so that the racket selection can be narrowed down significantly. By the way, the most popular brands for tennis rackets are Babolat, Head and Wilson in alphabetical order.
We recommend that tennis beginners do not buy the latest model for more than 200 dollar, but ask for last year’s model, for example, which is usually much cheaper.
4. Tennis racket cost
The cost per tennis racket varies based on the features selected, year of release and size.
Below is an approximate cost estimate per tennis racket:
- Tennis rackets for children: 40-80 dollar
- Tennis rackets for teenagers: 60-100 dollar
- Tennis rackets for adults (last year model): 100-160 dollar
- Tennis racket for adults (current model): 180-280 dollar
It is also important to find out whether the preferred tennis racket is already strung and therefore ready for immediate use. If not, the tennis racket still needs to be strung. A new stringing costs on average about 40 dollar.
5. Summary and conclusion
Tennis racket is the most important tool for every tennis player, so when choosing it should be thoroughly informed. Not the most expensive, but also not the cheapest tennis racket should be purchased, but the tennis racket that best suits the current playing strength.
Probably the best known brands are Babolat, Head and Wilson, but many other suppliers also produce high-quality tennis rackets. As long as you take the characteristics of the tennis rackets into account, nothing will stand in the way of your successful tennis start.