Updated, October, 2017. Interested in playing tennis? Congratulations, it is a great, fun and a challenging sport! Of course, before you start playing the game you will need a tennis racquet. And as a beginner, the information about this topic is so huge. The racquet you choose should be easy, reliable and can improve your game.

5 Best Tennis Racquets for Beginners

1. Head Ti.S6 Tennis Racquet

The Head Ti.S6 Tennis Racquet is a really popular racquet. This racquet is really light, it only weighs 8 ounces and fits perfectly for beginners and intermediate tennis players that have slower swings. The racquet is already strung, so you can use it right away. The Head Ti.S6 will give its users excellent power and more control than the older Head Ti racquets.

The frame is built solidly and have a great torsional stability. The racquet’s head size is 115 square inches so expect that it has a large sweet spot. One more thing I really liked about the Head Ti.S6 is it has a “ShockStop” system which can be found in the handle of the racquet which will give players an exceptional shock absorption.

It also has an amazing control, especially from the baseline. It’s relatively easy to hit power shots and put it where you want it to. All in all, the Head Ti.S6 is a well-balanced racquet with solid control and good power that can help you improve your game.

2. Babolat Pure Drive Tennis Racquet

Babolat tennis racquet is a popular brand in the world of tennis. The Babolat Pure Drive is an easy, forgiving and a reliable racquet which make it a great beginner tennis racquet  It also provides a great combination of power and spin. Its head size is 100 square inches giving you a big sweet spot.

The racquet is easy on your arms, it only weighs 11 ounces. Not the lightest but certainly not a heavy racquet. Advanced players loved it too because it provides maximum comfortability and playability. The Babolat Pure Drive has a nice matte kind of finish for more professional look and feel.

3. HEAD MicroGel Radical Tennis Racquet

What can I say about the Head Radical? Well, this is the great Andre Agassi’s racquet of choice! Although he used the older models, this updated Radical tennis racquet now comes with MicroGel technology that distributes the impact load around the entire frame. Resulting in extreme comfort and feel.

The racquet is also lightweight weighing only 10.4 oz and giving the user additional control and power in every shot. The head size of Head MicroGel Radical is 98 square inches and it is also great for more advanced players.

 4. Wilson Hyper Hammer 5.3 Tennis Racket

The Wilson Hyper Hammer is a legendary hammer that has been around for about 20 years. It is designed for beginners and for intermediate players with a moderate swing speed. It offers enough power and easy to maneuver which gives the user great directional control of the ball.

The racquet is also very forgiving and gives your serve plenty of pop. Additionally, the racquet can also generate a powerful topspin. It is also extremely lightweight which makes the Wilson Hyper Hammer 5.3 popular among women too!

5. Wilson Tour Slam Adult

Made out of aluminum, the Wilson Tour Slam Adult Tennis Racket is a good choice for beginners. It is not heavy compared to other aluminum rackets. It has an oversized head(110 square inches), giving the player enough power to improve his/her game.

Generally, aluminum racquets may vibrate a lot. Fortunately, the Wilson Tour Slam racquet comes with a stop shock pads that reduces the vibration making your game pleasurable and comfortable.

The racquet is great whether you’re a male, female or teen beginners that starting to love playing tennis and practicing with your tennis ball machine. Additionally, the stick is very affordable.

Criteria when Selecting a Beginner Tennis Racquet

Quick tip – Don’t have the time to read this whole section? Here is the summary:

The most popular choice for beginners, regardless of their gender are light rackets with large head sizes and head heavy balances. Don’t overthink this one, personally, I think racquets don’t make much of a difference until like 3.5+ anyways. But going for a more higher tier racquet is not a bad idea either.

1. Price

The first thing to consider is the price. From my personal experience, a lot of beginners are willing to spend between $100-$200 tennis racquets. But if you’re short on budget there is absolutely nothing wrong purchasing less than $100 racquet. The good news is, there are a lot of options to choose from. Just make sure you don’t buy ultra cheap racquets that are no good and have a questionable durability, so you can save your money to buy a more advanced racquet later.

2. Weight

This particular section is longer than the others because weight is really an important factor and it will teach you the right stroke and techniques depending on the racquet you choose. Generally speaking, weight is going to give you more or less power. A heavier racquet is more powerful than a lighter racquet. That is a fact! So, it’s not about whether a heavy racket or a light racket is good for everyone, it’s about whether it’s right for you. So, once person may want a light racket, another person may want a heavy racket based on what they need.

Now, for example, we have a couple of different hammers. The other one is a cut out with some cardboard and it’s the same size and shape as a regular hammer, but this is really light. This is a cardboard hammer. What I want you to visualize here is, let’s imagine I’m going to swing the cardboard hammer at 10 miles an hour, and I’m going to hit this tennis ball with this hammer.

It’s going to hit the ball, it’s going to go out and travel some distance, but it’s not going to have a lot of force and speed behind it because the cardboard hammer is going to be so light.

Now this time, I take a real metal hammer. This is probably 20 or 30 times heavier than the cardboard hammer, maybe even more than that. If I swing this metal hammer at the exact same speed as I did the cardboard hammer, let’s say 10 miles an hour again, it’s going to propel this ball a lot farther. That shot’s probably 10 times the difference with about the same amount of speed because this has a lot more mass to it.

The same thing happens in a tennis racquet. The heavier a tennis racket it gets, the more energy it has built up in that racquet and the harder it’s going to hit that tennis ball. That’s something to keep in mind. If you swing two rackets, one of them is light and one is heavy, both of them at 50 miles an hour, the heavy one’s going to hit it a lot harder. But one other thing to keep in mind is that we have to pick a racket that we can also control.

Anyway, here is the ideal weight regardless of skill level:

Normal adult male: 7.9-11.3 oz.

Normal adult female: 7.2-11oz.

Now, you may want a heavier racquet because of its benefits and the pros are using them a lot, but if you don’t have the strength for a heavier racket then they may not be for you and it just will cause a lot of fatigue in your arms and there are great players that play with very, very light racquets. 

Again, these are just my recommendations. Either you want to follow it or not is up to you, after all, what really important is you choose a racquet that you really want.

3. Hype and Marketing Mumbo-jumbo

As I’ve said earlier manufacturers hype their new products that claims it is the “one” or the “best” tennis racquet out there. One of the few steps in choosing a racquet wisely is: do not believe the hype. Racquet technology hasn’t changed that much in the last three decades. Don’t let the marketing mumbo-jumbo to fool you.

4. Head Size

It is the actual strung area of the racquet’s head and is usually measured in square inches. A lot of people will tell you that the bigger the head size the bigger its sweet spot. But it is not entirely true. Anyway, as a beginner, you may not want so much information right away and I don’t want you to be overwhelmed. So, I will make this very simple, beginners can choose racquets with bigger head size, they are also called oversized racquets.

Why? because it can help you save so much time of frustration. You would not miss the ball as often because the margin of error is much bigger and you will get more confidence hitting the ball. Larger racquets can also give you a small boost of power.

Head size common range:

Midsize: 85-95 square inches
Mid Plus: 96-105 square inches
Oversize: 106-118 square inches
Super Oversize: 119 square inches and above

5. Balance

Balanced affects the “swingweight” of a racquet.  If the balance point comes halfway up the frame, it is said to be as “evenly balanced” racquets. If the majority of the weight is in the middle is it called “head light” racquets. If the majority of mass is in the head it is “head heavy”.

A head heavy racquet adds more power and stability to a lighter frame but it has less maneuverability. Head light will increase the racquet’s maneuverability and can be found in heavier racquets.