Tennis Raquets - Do They Serve Your Emotions?

No doubt about it: "Tennis Raquets tell a lot about the skills and the playing style of a tennis player." Every player wants to feel comfortable with a racket and this feeling starts already before he has held it in his hand the first time.

That`s what a friend of mine stated when four of us were sitting in our tennis club recently while we watched the players on the court. He recognized soon, the rest of us were astonished by his statement.

"What are you talking about?", I asked him. (He is a well respected player that has more than twenty years of experience and usually doesn't tell nonsense.)

Nevertheless he saw in our eyes that he had to explain it to us more detailed.

"Look," he continued, "have you recognized the young woman over there on the court?"

Of course we did. She was a beautiful lady in her twenties that always impressed with her sense for elegant style. She trained since about one year and was quite talented.

"She could make much faster progress if she used an appropriate raquet!"

I looked over to her and recognized that she used an high end pro raquet that one of the big names in tennis is using. Definitely not a beginners raquet.

As every experienced player knows, to guarantee improvement a raquet has to fit to the current playing abilities of a tennis player. Since the seventies, when producers began to use other materials than wood, raquets were developed as high-tech instruments with many different parameters. Every one of them should be customized for a person individually.

At least head size, weight, length, grip and material are the important ones.

For each player has his own playing style, his own experience level and his individual technique when he chooses the right one he can improve his playing to the next step. With the wrong racquet playing gets harder as it had to and one could loose the fun while practicing with it.

In fact the typical tennis injuries like tennis elbow often are caused by a raquet that doesn`t fit to a tennis players needs.

Back to the young woman: My friend stated, she would do better if she used a bigger head raquet because she still was a beginner.

"Maybe," he mentioned, "when she purchased it she didn`t have the best advice." "Or," I replied - "she simply was attracted by design, colours, brand and the image of 'her' raquet."

I have to admit then she'd be much like me. Ok, a bit different because I always consult an expert or my trainer which one was the best for me at my current playing level.

If I have the choice between various fitting models I choose the one that "speaks" emotionally to me.

I pick the one that gives me a feeling of confidence and being a winner. More irrational I decide primarily by its look.

Am I comfortable with the colours, the design and the brand?

I have to feel good about it to want to play it and not to loose the joy of training with it.

When I can say "Yes" to all these questions inwardly I take it in my hand.
If it still is feeling "right" I have found my racquet for the next season.

I admit that that is a highly emotional driven approach but for me the choice of tennis raquets is based on feelings and emotions.

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