Are you 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 should choose must be easy, reliable and can improve your game.
Usually beginners tend to choose a lightweight racquet with a head size of 98-115 because an oversized head can be forgiving and it can help them to hit the ball more to avoid frustration during play or practice.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the best tennis racquets for beginners.
5 Best Tennis Racquets for Beginners 2018
1. Head Ti.S6 Tennis Racquet – Best overall racquet
- One of the best beginner tennis racquets in the market today
- Forgiving
- Bigger sweet spot
- Great shock absorption feature
- The string that comes from the racquet tends to break easily
The Head Ti.S6 Tennis Racquet is a really popular racquet. This racquet is 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 – Great performance racquet if you have the budget
- Great option if you have the budget and taking tennis seriously
- Provides great spin and control
- Outstanding performance
- Quite expensive
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 makes 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 – Arm friendly racquet
- Lightweight and powerful
- Great for teenage tennis players too
- A little rough to use – tends to vibrate often
What can I say about the Head MicroGelRadical Miplus? 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.
The racquet has a great feel and very consistent. The sweet spot is just about right and it is forgiving as well. The Head Microgel Radical Midplus is also great for younger/junior players. Combine it with a poly string and you will immediately feel its great control and spin. Overall, this is a great all-around racquet that is good for beginners to intermediate players.
4. Wilson Hyper Hammer 5.3 Tennis Racket – Best oversized racquet for beginners
- Light weight
- Easy to maneuver
- Perfect balance of power,spin and control
- Less powerful than the other racquets
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 – Cheap/affordable tennis racquet
- Perfect of total beginners and teenagers
- Easy to maneuver
- Basic racquet
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 Wilson Tour Slam is a good choice for beginners especially for those who do not want to invest a lot of money for the moment. This is the cheapest racquet on this list, although not as durable as the others.
It is not heavy compared to other aluminum racquets. It has an oversized head(110 square inches), giving the player enough power to improve his/her game while being forgiving during mishits.
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, this stick is very affordable.
The other finalists
Babolat Pure Aero Lite – Arm friendly Babolat racquet
If you’re a fan of the Babolat Pure Aero racquet but concerned about the arm issues it can cause, then the Babolat Pure Aero Lite is a great option. It has the outstanding playability of the original Pure Aero but in a lighter and more user-friendly package. That’s why this is great for the beginners and the not-so-beginner players out there.
The Pure Aero Lite has a solid feel and has an above average stability. Compared to other arm friendly racquets, the Pure Aero Lite has more spin and power. It is also very good and more stable on slices, returns and volleys.
Prince Textreme Tour 100L – Comfortable and stable tennis racquet
The racquet is great if you are a beginner that has some knowledge in playing, already has good technique or coming out from junior division. The Prince Textreme Tour 100L is lighter than the 100T.
Being at 10 oz. strung weight, the racquet is light and maneuverable. It has enough power and control to generate good stroke speed so you can have effective spin. The Prince Textreme Tour 100L is also great for topspin players. It is fast on the net and very user-friendly.
Another selling point of this racquet is its comfortability and above average stability. Overall, the Textreme Tour 100L is a flexible racquet that players from different skill levels will love.
Wilson US Open Junior Racquet – Great for kids
The Wilson US Open Junior is a great starter racquet for beginner kids and juniors. You can select a length between 19 to 25 inches depending on your child’s age. For more junior racquets, you can visit my GUIDE HERE.
It is made of aluminum which makes it light and easier to swing. Depending on your choice of length, the racquet’s headsize varies from 82 inches to 106 inches. These features makes learning tennis much more pleasurable.
Overall, the Wilson US Open Junior is a great starter racquet without investing too much on a tennis racquet.
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 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.
More FAQs
1. I found out this tennis racquet with “New Technology”. Is it a good buy?
Don’t believe the marketing hype. You can see a lot of manufacturers often market their racquets as “new and improved” or ” has a bigger sweet spot” or “new technology racquet”. Sadly, many players not just beginners fall for these marketing hypes. The first thing you should do when choosing a racquet is don’t ever believe the hype.
In fact, there hasn’t been any substantial breakthrough in racquet technology in the last 3 decades. The manufacturers and their marketing departments have the drive to convince people to buy different racquets more frequently than they actually need them. That is why they are making the latest buzz and all those commercials.
Just remember, a solid or a well-built racquet will last for years!
2. Which length to choose?
Generally, racquets with a length of 27 or 28 inches are perfect for novice players. This gives the players more power with great control. It is also important to remember that the longer the racquet(29 inches or more), the more power it gives but less control.
3. Which material should I get?
There are several types of materials used in making a tennis racquet. Graphite racquets are extremely light, easy to swing and powerful. Aluminum racquets are affordable but not as durable as graphite racquets. Kevlar and carbon fiber tennis racquets are premium racquets and the most expensive. For beginners, graphite or aluminum racquets will do the job.
4. How do I find a racquet with power?
Looking for more power? Select a heavier racquet. Power is all about weight. The heavier the tennis racquet the more power it can generate.
5. How long should a racquet last?
It all depends on how you take care of your racquet. Durability is not an issue when it comes to high-quality racquets. They are extremely durable and will last for many years.
6. What is a sweet spot?
All tennis racquets have a sweet spot. You can find the sweet spot in the center of the hitting surface. It’s a matter of physics, nothing else. It takes practice to determine how big or small your racquet’s sweet spot is.
7. Are there men and women’s tennis racquets?
Racquets are not made specifically for men or women but this is not the case for kids or juniors. There are sticks that specifically caters juniors and kids.
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