Tennis rackets

What tennis racket should I buy?

To start, a lightweight racket with a large head: it is more forgiving on off-center hits and does not require a full swing to perform. Of the brands we have reviewed, only Wilson publishes a recommendation for each level with specific figures: 105–110 square inches of head size for beginners, 100–105 for intermediate players, and 95–100 for advanced players.

The weight ranges for each level—260–290 grams for beginners and 300–340 grams for competitive players—are a commercial convention: no brand publishes such a table, and no study has measured it. They are guidelines, not rules.

And there is one fact that puts any precise weight comparison into perspective: manufacturers declare a tolerance. Babolat lists its rackets with a tolerance of ±7 grams, meaning a 14-gram range. Two rackets of the same model can differ by more than a 300-gram model differs from a 305-gram one.

If the racket is for a child, go to the children's section: there, the criterion is not weight, but height.

How to choose a tennis racket

Look at three things, in this order: how much it costs to move, the head size, and the string pattern.

The most important factor is not weight, but swingweight: the racket's resistance to rotating, not moving. It has been measured: an experiment published in the Journal of Sports Sciences separated the two variables using bars of the same mass but different swingweights, and vice versa. Swing speed decreases as swingweight increases, and remains practically the same when mass increases with a fixed swingweight. The honest limit, which the study itself states: it was done with bars, not rackets, and with four subjects.

A larger head is more forgiving, and the reason is not the surface. The mass is simply further from the handle's axis, so the racket twists less on off-center hits. The original patent for the large head, Howard Head, 1976, claimed exactly that: the moment of inertia. The "larger sweet spot" came later, and it is the commercial translation.

The open 16×19 pattern generates more spin than the closed 18×20 pattern, and the reason is not friction. In a laboratory, using video at 420 frames per second, it was shown that friction does almost the same job in any configuration. What generates spin is that the vertical strings stretch sideways and return to their place. And the open pattern has a cost: more shot-to-shot dispersion, less predictable bounce.

It is useful to know the overall framework. The tennis rules only specify maximum dimensions: 73.7 cm in length and a stringing area not exceeding 39.4 × 29.2 cm. Neither weight, head size, balance, stiffness, nor tension is regulated by anyone. Everything sold as a specification is defined by the market, not the federation.

The ITF, the International Tennis Federation, does not certify rackets, and it says so itself. It does certify balls. So, between two rackets, compare swingweight, head size, and string pattern: no certification seal will solve it for you.

What grip size do I need?

Measure your hand. Place a ruler on your palm and measure from the tip of your ring finger to the second crease in your palm: that number in millimeters is your size. This is the method published by Babolat and the British federation, and it comes from a traumatologist, Nirschl, not a standardization committee.

If you are between two, take the smaller one. Babolat recommends this for a practical reason: a small handle can be enlarged with an overgrip by about half a size, according to the British federation, and a large one cannot be reduced without taking it apart.

There is a second check, the index finger test: hold the racket and put the index finger of your other hand between the fingertips and the palm of the grip. If there is room left over, the handle is large; if it does not fit, it is small.

Two things to know. The first: the "105 mm" that is circulated for L1 is not the handle, it is the hand: it is the hand measurement column in the Babolat table, and they happen to coincide. The second, more serious: it has not been proven that a poorly chosen size causes tennis elbow. A study using needle electromyography on 16 tennis players compared the recommended size with one-quarter of an inch larger and one-quarter smaller, and found no differences in forearm muscle activity. Size is chosen for comfort and control.

And the scale is not a standard either: it is a manufacturer convention. The word grip does not appear once in the tennis rules. If you need to adjust your grip, look at tennis overgrips.

Tennis racket brands

The ones with the deepest selection in our catalog are Wilson tennis rackets and Head tennis rackets. We also carry Yonex tennis rackets, Tecnifibre tennis rackets, and Dunlop.

Wilson publishes five performance lines and assigns the level itself: Clash and Ultra for those starting out; Defyer, Blade, and Pro Staff for intermediate and advanced players. Head has the Speed, Radical, Gravity, Extreme, Boom, Prestige, Instinct, and Squared lines, the latter new in 2026, in addition to a recreational range. Yonex puts the benefit in the name of each one: EZONE is power, VCORE is spin, PERCEPT is control, and ASTREL is comfort.

Does the brand matter? Less than the weight and the grip: within the same brand you will find very different rackets. Decide on your specifications first, and then the logo.

What distinguishes each one in tennis racket brands.

What rackets do professionals play with?

Very often, not the one they advertise. Wilson warns this on every product page: the specifications of store models may differ from those used by professionals in competition. And many professionals play with an older mold featuring the decoration of the current model, as we explained in Head tennis rackets. So the correct reading is "the racket endorsed by", not "the racket played with".

Which model each player endorses is available in their brand's collection: Wilson, Head, and Yonex, which is the only one of the three that attributes a player to a model on its own product page.

And Roger Federer? He retired from professional tennis in September 2022 and was inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame in August 2026. His connection with Wilson did not end with his career: Wilson now describes a long-term alliance between the RF and Wilson brands, and from there the RF Collection was born. The old Pro Staff RF97 Autograph is no longer manufactured; its successor is the RF 01, a new 98-square-inch platform.

Tennis rackets for children

Height determines the size, not age. And there is hard evidence here: the ITF rules link racket, ball, and court length by stage.

Manufacturers do not agree with each other, and it is useful to know it. For 26 inches, Wilson says 11 years and up, and Tecnifibre says 10–11. Babolat has directly removed age from its table and only publishes height, and their ranges overlap: a child who is 129.5 cm tall falls into 23, 24, and 25 inches at the same time. Wilson itself resolves it: if the child is tall or short for their age, height is what matters.

And the age and height table that circulates around the internet is not from any manufacturer: it appears attributed to Wilson on one site and to Head on another, identical figure by figure, and it does not match what Wilson publishes on its own website.

The material is not decided by the size, it is decided by the range: at the same length, beginner aluminum models and competitive graphite models coexist.

How much does a tennis racket cost?

The range determines the price, not the logo: junior aluminum rackets and beginner models are the cheap end, and Wilson and Head competitive frames are the expensive end. Sort the collection by price and see the exact figure at the moment.

What drives it is the construction: a competitive frame has more graphite, finer weight and balance control, and a smaller head designed for a full swing. A beginner racket seeks the opposite, to forgive and weigh little. In the middle is the performance range, the one used by most.

Complete your equipment

A racket is played with tennis balls and held with grips and overgrips. When it is time to change the strings, look at the tennis stringing; and if the vibration bothers you, the vibration dampeners.

To carry it, tennis racket bags. And for the court, tennis shoes.

Are you between two rackets? Write to us and we will tell you which one fits your game, and which one does not.

Guide updated in September 2026.