The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Choosing a Tennis Racquet Short summary of the main points. For a more detailed explanation, read the following Introduction.
Introduction to Racquet Science Introduction to the racquet ranking and evaluation method used on this site. Read this first to understand how science relates to tennis racquets. Topics include: what causes tennis elbow, the effect of string tension, whether light racquets are better, the effect of heavy, large, or soft balls, the effect of extra-long racquets, the effect of handle size, whether big head racquets are better, the effect of weighting at 9 and 3 o’clock, and whether your racquet should be head-heavy.
Formulas This is the list of formulas used to evaluate the racquets under the performance criteria. A complete legend of variables is included at the end. The constants in the formulas are supplied by the benchmark conditions.
Derivations of Formulas for the Racquet Performance Criteria The math is only high school algebra. The Derivations Page has preliminary remarks explaining the procedure and assumptions for the derivations. For the equations and mathematical notation, go to these particular formula derivations:
Science Topics One of the benefits of spending some time at this site is that you will pick up the rudiments of first-year college physics by examining a real-life problem, instead plodding through frustrating and overly abstract exercises. It’s the difference between doing scales and listening to music — which do you think is better?
How to use the Quality Index to evaluate new racquets not ranked here.
Customizing Balance A formula and guide to finding the new balance point resulting from added weight. Better than trial and error. Here’s the derivation.
Customizing to Match Racquet Specs How to make two racquets play the same, so in case you break a string you will have an identical spare in your bag.
Tailweighting study of Wilson Hammer 6.2 95 The benefit of adding a handle end weight is calculated using the evaluation criteria and measurements taken on the Babolat RDC. Performance improves significantly.
A Few Tennis Links Annotated links to sites that may be of interest to our visitors.