Tennis Racket recommendation needed (1 Viewer)

[Shayne Judge]

My wife and I are considering taking up tennis, so I am looking for some tennis racket recommendations. Basically looking for what I should look for in a racket, features, price, and curious if there are any tennis forums out there.

Thanks.

 

[Denward]

If you're really just starting out, racket performance won't mean much to you. For the beginner, the most significant differences will be in head size and weight and even then, you won't know what that means until you start hitting balls. Make sure you get new strings. Don't buy a pre-strung racket and take it out on the court. There's no telling what the tension is or how long it's been on the shelf. You can't tell just by pushing against the strings. Also, make sure you get the proper grip size. When you wrap your hand around the grip, there should be about the width of one finger between your fingertips and the big muscle below your thumb.

How much do you want to spend? If you go to a tennis shop (I'm sure there are many in Tampa) instead of a sporting goods store, many have demo programs where you put down a deposit of $10 or $20 and you get to try out rackets for a week or so at a time. If you buy a racket, the deposit is often credited toward the purchase price. Of course, these shops will not likely have low end rackets (maybe $70 minimum).

If you don't want to go that route, ask your friends if they have any rackets of recent vintage that you could borrow.

If you want to get reasonably proficient, take a 3 or 4 lessons together. It would be really fun if you're both just starting out. It would cost you maybe $40/hour, but you'll hit lots of balls since the instructor will have a basket and you won't spend all your time chasing around the 3 balls you've brought with you. You also can improve much faster since you won't be worried about keeping the ball in play for the benefit of your partner. You really want to learn how to take a full swing at the ball. I see too many people on the courts who just pooch the ball over the net just to keep it in. That doesn't seem like much fun to me.

 

[brentl]

I've heard VERY good things about Head Intelligence racquets.

A few people at my club play with them and can't say enough about them.

I suggest you don't get a cheap racquet and move up every couple of years. If you have friends with old graphite racquets borrow them while you get the strokes down.

But that's just me.

Brent
Mind you the Head racquets are just pretty pricey