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Despite pretty paint jobs, player endorsements and slick marketing campaigns, the racquets that pro players actually use are often quite different from the retail models available to the tennis playing public. This has been a badly kept secret in the industry for years, and is worth bearing in mind if you feel swayed by a photo-shopped masterpiece of your favorite player appearing to use a particular brand and model. You could track down an actual racquet used by your favorite player, but that might not be such a great idea – read on to find out why.
Custom racquets and the mythical ‘Prostock’ frame
The aim for all players is to have a racquet that brings out the best in their game – pros are no different to anybody else in that respect – although they do tend to stick with one racquet for far longer than recreational players. If you’re a successful pro, then you might use a prostock racquet – a racquet made using a mold that isn’t currently available to the general public. These are often molds of old frames that are no longer sold – perhaps a player grew up and had success with a particular frame and wants to stick with it. Elite players may be offered greater customization, in effect creating a one-off racquet frame with, for example, a unique drilling pattern for string holes to enhance spin or control. Differences may be subtle, but at the top of the game the search for that edge can become an obsession. Plenty of professionals also use off-the-shelf frames as as starting point.
Once a bare frame has been sourced, it has to be finished to an exacting set of specifications – welcome to the world of customization. This meticulous process can include balancing, adding weight, shaping and sizing the grip and butt cap, and stringing. A key part of the equation is to make sure all of a player’s racquets are exactly the same – essential given the number of racquet changes during the average match. Babolat, for example, have an entire division – the Babolat Performance Lab – dedicated to customization for their pro players, producing from 40 to 60 racquets per player per year – more than 3000 in total. They produce frames to the nearest gram, with precise weight distribution and custom grip shapes. The other big manufacturers have similar operations to service their touring pros, and technicians can all spend from 20 minutes to an hour and a half per frame crafting that perfect weapon.
Why do pros use the racquets they do?
You might think that all professional players have gone through a careful and thorough testing process to determine the best racquet for their individual game, before contacting the manufacturer to sort out a sponsorship deal. You’d be very wrong! Sure, some racquets are particularly good for certain game styles, but for most players, there are likely to be multiple frames that could work perfectly well, especially with a touch of customization.
In truth, other factors dominate the decision process: what racquet did the player use as a junior? Have they had a string of good results with a certain racquet and attributed part of their success to that racquet? Have they had a tempting offer from a particular manufacturer, or a junior coach with a contact at a major racquet company? What racquets are successful peers using? What are the top players using?
As players advance through their career, there’s a strong incentive to stick with a manufacturer and racquet – If you’re moving up, why change what’s working? Conversely, if your career is flagging, you might not be able to negotiate a good deal with another supplier. There’s also a very short off-season to get used to, and perfect, a new racquet setup. In contrast, recreational racquets with fancy new paint jobs are constantly hitting the market, but the advances are often minor, and of little benefit to people who consistently hit the ball in the middle of the racquet.
Money, sticks and mud
So professionals end up playing with a racquet for a myriad of different reasons, some very good, and others rather more random. This invites the question of whether the conservative instinct to stay with a frame that they’re comfortable with hurts their game long term. During any 20 year career, the playing style will evolve, court surfaces will change and equipment will get better – all of these factors can make a racquet choice made at age 18 less than ideal a decade or more later.
Roger Federer is a good example of a player who has moved with the times, changing from a small headsize to a larger one as dashes to the net became rarer and baseline ralleys more physical. Contrast to Pete Sampras who stuck with a tiny head and ultra-tight gut strings as the game gradually moved towards larger heads and poly strings. Could he have extended his career and played better with a different racquet? In interviews, he has suggested that a different setup would have been an advantage at the French Open – and lets face it, despite winning 14 Grand Slams, his old model Wilson Pro Staff isn’t used by anybody now… it seems even legends can suffer stick-in-the-mud syndrome.
What would a pro’s racquet be like to play with?
Although they all have different specs, there are a few things that all pro racquets have in common: they’re set up for control and accuracy over power and maneuverability – especially those used by male players. In plain English, they’re usually really, really heavy! They would make a terrible choice for the average recreational player: you would have to be a 4.5 or above player in excellent physical condition to even begin to explore their abilities. Its interesting to note that many pros who have retired and no longer live on the practice court and in the gym now use completely different racquets. The senior tour is a great example of pros embracing new gear to match their changing needs.
Lessons for the rest of us
Good racquets ain’t cheap, so make sure you choose one that’s right for you…
- Try to ignore what your favorite player uses – they may be using a completely different frame, or a heavily modified version of what you’d find in a shop. Either way, the racquet is set up for their unique game and physique, not yours.
- Find a racquet and setup that works for your personal game and the surfaces you play on. Equipment is supposed to enhance your game, and everybody has a slightly different set of requirements. If you buy a pro’s old racquet on Ebay, then expect to hang it on the wall, not hit balls with it!
- Your perfect racquet doesn’t exist – all frames are a compromise between varying factors, and one person’s medicine is another’s poison
- Once you find a racquet you like, experiment with grip shape, adding weight, string material, gauge and tension. Remember that strings lose tension over time.
- You may want to fine-tune a racquet in response to changing conditions – string a few pounds looser for cold winter play, change grip material for sweaty summer matches etc.
- The impact of a racquet on your game is, for most players, dwarfed by issues with technique and tactics. A couple of hours with a good coach could have a far more profound payoff.
- Beware of very low power and small head racquets – you need a certain level of technical proficiency to use them. They’ll massage your ego right up to the point when you hit your first ball!
- Lastly, remember that manufacturers design racquets to appeal to a well defined subset of the tennis playing population. When multiple companies are trying to tempt Dave, a 4.0 weekend warrior who hasn’t been near a gym since he got married, they tend to come up with similar offerings; just because you’ve always used, say, a Wilson, don’t forget to demo a similar racquet from another brand. You may be surprised how familiar it feels… and it may be on offer.
For those who really want to suffer…
If you want to know what a professional frame is really like, you have a few options. You can customize an off-the-shelf frame to approximate a particular pro’s specs (there are articles online on what frames, weights, balances, strings and tension players are using), or you could buy a used frame… for a price. Alternatively, there are a few signature racquets that are made with very similar specs to the actual racquet used on tour – see below.
Roger Federer has worked with Wilson to produce the RF range – part of the Prostaff lineup, but with slightly different specs that are similar to what he actually uses on tour. These are great racquets, but they’re very heavy, so you’ll need a fair bit of strength and good technique to use them properly. The RF 97 is often considered the classic version, but the later RF 01 Pro is probably more suitable for the average player, with a slightly larger head and lower weight. The evolution of the RF range follows the change in Roger’s game.
Raffa Nadal has also brought out a racquet that gets very close to what he actually uses on tour: the Pure Aero Raffa Origin. This also has a very high weight and swingweight, as well as being quite stiff. Its very solid and can be great in the right hands, but it also requires great physicality and technique – beyond the average player. The paint job is also rather…loud. You certainly won’t lose it!
And finally…
The perennial question: why don’t manufacturers make prostock or pro-spec racquets available to the public? An easy answer: 99% of players would play far, far worse with one and probably end up blaming the manufacturer. Painting racquets to look like something hanging in a shop display might be a little cheeky, but the specs of retail racquets really are designed with the playing public in mind. There’s also the issue of pros sticking with old racquets for their entire career – not the most cunning marketing strategy for getting the public to buy the latest racquet every few years…