How to Buy a Tennis Racket

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Lincoln Ward, I am the director of the Austin Tennis center as well as a USPTA Certified Teaching Pro here in Austin, Texas. Today we're going to talk to you about how to buy a tennis racket. There's a couple of different factors you need to consider when buying a tennis racket. One of them would be cost of course, another one would be the level of player you are and three what you're willing to invest, how much time you're willing to invest. One thing I tell everybody, is you're not going to go buy a car without test driving it first, the same thing goes for your tennis racket. Don't just go to some store and choose a racket because of the color. Color is always nice and graphics are cool, but it's how the racket plays that makes the big difference. Rackets... there's so many different types of rackets out there you really have to pick one up and just play with it and hit around with it so you can tell it's flexibility, it's power, it's weight. Some things you should go check out, is go to a local tennis center. If you're here in Austin come to the Austin Tennis Center and check out one of the demo programs. Most tennis centers or places that you can purchase on the Internet will have a type of demo program, demo service for you to pick up the racket, go to the backboard and hit around with it just to get a feel for the ball, for the racket. Also if your racket comes with strings or if it doesn't come with strings usually higher end tennis rackets will not have strings on it and you could choose the particular string your want for the racket. If you're a beginner player, I would recommend not going for something expensive. You wanna, you want to get something and learn with it. Over time, the stronger you get, the faster you're going to want, you're going to figure out what kind of more advanced racket you're going to want to get. As a beginner you want something that's both light and flexible to give you some leeway in your stroke development. The stronger you get, the more you can go for a head heavy racket or a smaller head size. The larger the head size on your racket, the easier it's going to be to hit the sweet spot and get more instant success. Also, if you have a longer stroke or a shorter stroke, we'll help you choose your racket. A shorter stroke you'd want a wider body racket. A longer stroke you can use a smaller racket a heavier racket, a lighter racket , pardon me. That's a little bit about how to purchase your tennis racket. Thanks a lot."