Get More POWER, SPIN and STABILITY From Your Racquet

Coaches always say not to blame your racquet, but EVERYONE runs into physical limitations with their gear. In 2014, Federer changed racquets. In 2018, Djokovic updated his racquet and Rafa has added weight regularly over the past 10 years.
Written article: tenncom.media/technology/how-...
Manually Measure Your Swingweight: twu.tennis-warehouse.com/lear...
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00:00 Intro
00:44 Know Your Specs
01:10 Find Your Maximum Swingweight
02:07 Diagnose Torsional Stability
03:08 Test Maneuverability
03:42 Determine Recoil Weight
04:45 Re-Evaluate Static Weight
05:50 Enjoy and Tinker

[@alfandosavant4639]

Things to remember if you add some weight: -weight at 12 will make the shots have a curve trajectory -weight at 3&9 will make the shots flatter -weight at handle will make the string surface feels softer *This is only based on my experience adding weights, for different person it might have different effect

[@nicolasrivero3027]

Thank you very much

[@goldencalf5144]

Rock solid info.

[@YehShano]

Great video Beckett, I’m currently tinkering with my newly bought Auxetic Extreme Tours🍻

[@K4R3N]

Fantastic

[@PrecisionPointTennis]

Excellent

[@benobuckerfilho4891]

very good

[@andytran8968]

Love this video… what strings you got in the aero pro drive original?

[@TennCom]

I got RPM Blast in them for a video where I test out Rafa's spec!

[@rezabidell7725]

Hi man, great video and great points, do you know to to measure the twist weight? any simple way to do it at home? thanks again.

[@TennCom]

No great ways to do it at home without equipment. I don't actually think that even measuring swingweight at home is accurate enough due to human error. This product is probably the cheapest way to measure twistweight. www.briffidi.com/product/sw1/

[@pro71]

Great tips! Can you do a comparison video of your original aero pro drive and the current pure aero?

[@TennCom]

Absolutely

[@pro71]

@@TennCom Cool! Looking forward to it!

[@andytran8968]

Ooo would love to know this one? So many people prefer the original..

[@golfnerd3]

Thanks for the tips! When limit testing swingweight by adding weight at 12 do we have to add weight to the handle to maintain the same balance throughout the test? 🙏🙏

[@TennCom]

Good question! I personally don't. For me, balance tuning (recoil weight tuning) comes after I've found the maximum swingweight. Though once I've countered in the handle I do also re-attempt the limit testing just in case. I have not personally experienced a case where the initial limit test proved insufficient after I've rebalance the frame. I've actually found that I can tolerate a higher SW only in cases where static weight is lower than average. Mileage may definitely vary case by case, depending on racquet and player, but I don't think its necessary to take the extra step to rebalance at every SW adjustment.

[@glademaster]

I’m an intermediate player with a Gravity Pro and a Gravity MP (lower static weight, less HL, lower SW). I’m using the Pro for training since it helps me develop proper technique, but I intend to use the MP for matches since it’s more forgiving and lighter (i’m not in top physical shape). How should I add weight to the MP so that I can most readily switch between it and the Pro with minimal changes in my technique & timing? Is it more important for me to match the balance (by adding weight to the MP’s grip) or the SW for this purpose?

[@TennCom]

I don't know exactly how you should add the weight. Head racquets can very in spec quite a bit due to quality control standards. The beset thing to do is to have both racquets measure with the same string and use Tennis Warehouse's customization tool on the TWU website.

[@hybrid11theory75]

I get the idea, but the MP has a more open string pattern and a thicker beam... even if you have the same swing/weight on both, they will still be different feeling racquets... ;) The Pro has still the most control and feel, while the MP has more power and access to spin with less maneuverability than before.. ;)

[@radinmoradi9903]

Hi , is there anyway to increase the racket's topspin power? Thank you

[@TennCom]

There are some options in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/oH60mql9gMZroKc

[@vanodne]

Can you please clarify the difference between lateral stability that comes from weight (3 and 9, for instance) vs stability from racquet stiffness? I have found that racquets with the same twist weight/swingweight/balance can behave very differently depending (seemingly) on stiffness. For instance, I find that off-center shots on my Gravity Tour (with 2g each on 3 and 9, no less, twist weight over 15) tend to lose gobs of power whereas my Blade 104sw (twist weight under 15) is far more forgiving of off-center shots (but unfortunately it jars my elbow...).

[@TennCom]

I am reluctant to go into this because I don't have any research to back up my findings. You would need to have a machine that can test RA, but on a different axis. Right now, RA is measured so that the racquet bends at the throat. To test the torsional rigidity of racquets, we would need to test the flex so that it bends down the centre of the frame (along the twistweight axis). I suspect that both stiffness and beam shape/size would have a significant impact on this. The other thing to consider is thee relative stiffness's of the hoop and different off-centre positions. From what I have read from Prince, is that there are difference flex regions on a racquet. For example, a between 12 and 3/9 is region 1, 3/9 to 6 is region 2 and the throat is region 3. You could have different stiffness's across these regions, meaning your torsional rigidity would be difference depending the location of your off-centre shot. To make it even more complication, many racquets with have variable beam shapes. I suspect that only manufacturers have the data on exactly what time of beam shapes lend themselves to different types of torsional rigidity.

[@vanodne]

@@TennCom I suppose the only thing to do is accept each racquet as it is and tweak it's inherent tendencies where you can. I've really tried hard to make the Gravity Tour work for me but there's just some limiting factor I don't quite understand. Tennis nerding can be such a rabbit hole! Thanks for the quick response. I love your new channel and hope you get bigger quickly!

[@TennCom]

@@vanodne Thanks for the well wishes! We've all run into limiting factors, but the journey to the perfect racquet is all part of the fun!

[@peejread2309]

Great video! I use a prestige pro 2020 and added 2g of lead at 12 to help me with the serve which was helping me. I have a hybrid setup strung at 50 lbs. But then when I tried my friend's stock babolat pure drive 2021 with poly strung at 57lbs, I was serving better. It was kind of confusing me since my racquet was strung loser but it is a control frame compared to the powerful frame of the babolat but strung tighter but still more power in the babolat. Any thoughts about it? Maybe an idea for a video. :)

[@TennCom]

I really like the Prestige Pro of that gen! Tension has very little impact on racquet performance. It’s more about adjusting the stiffness of the string bed, raising the pitch of the vibration, making it feel stiffer and lowering the launch angle. The thick beam from the Pure Drive with increase power on all shot even if it’s strung at 65lbs. It’s also possible that the lighter racquet also increased your racquet head speed. I do have a cool idea in the works on string tension!

[@peejread2309]

@@TennCom nice! Will wait for that video. Have you tried the recent version of the prestige pro? I think its named the prestige tour now. I saw from the reviews that its slightly better. Maybe the weight of the pure drive helped with me serving better. I was just shocked when I tried it on game play since I did not try any babolat racquets due to the high stiffness rating.

[@TennCom]

@@peejread2309 I haven’t but I can only assume it’s a pretty incremental update. Specs look almost the same. I’m having a hard time sourcing Head stuff cuz my stringer doesn’t carry it, but I want to try it

[@dickpiano1802]

You are objectively playing better with the Pure Drive.

[@Maiqel]

The way a racket swings is a function of all three static weight, balance and swing weight. Do you know your racket specs? According to TW (prestige pro 2020, i.e. graphene 360+?), it's 335 g, 32.5 cm, 327 SW (of course this is an average value for a bunch of rackets, yours can be way off specially in SW). But taking this values and adding 2g to the tip (12), you'll get approx. 337 g, 32.7 cm, 333.5 SW. The Pure Drive specs would be 318, 33 cm, 320 SW. It is curious that when you added 2g to the tip of your Prestige, (that is, increased SW), it felt better for serving, but when you tried a 320 SW racket (lower even than your initial specs) it actually felt even better. That could mean either you feel more comfortable with head-heavier balances or with low MGR/Is. MGR/I is maybe a pretty complex concept to dive into if you have never heard of it. But it's said to be pretty relevant to the way a racket feels while swinging, and particularly on serves (which is a very particular swing). If you are interested, I can recommend some sites and threads that talk about it. To have a gross approach, you could just multiply weight times balance and divide it by SW (in the units usually used, that is g, cm, and kg•cm^2, that is, the units I've used in this comment -in terms of units that would obviously be a mess, but as I said, to have a gross orientative value is actually ok), and most stock rackets would be somewhere between 31.5 and 33.5 (some pro's specs actually come closer to 31 or 34). Your Prestige pro stock would clock at 33.3, and 33.0 with the added 2g. The Pure Drive would clock at 32.8. Mind that the scale for actual MGR/I would be 20-21 instead of 31.5-33.5, which may be a little more visual. So I'd first go for head-heavier balances and see how they feel, you could add more weight at 12 if it doesn't become too much (333 is an already pretty respectable SW). If you find you feel more comfortable with lighter balances, then you can try with polarization (that is, weight both at tip and buttcap, which lowers MGR/I without increasing balance). If you like the feel of the low MGR/I but also like the flex and control of the Prestige, you may find some middle ground in the Radical MP, with a 98 head, 20/23/21 mm beam and ~20,5 mgri (that be 32.5 in the "gross" scale, that is middle ground). You could even try the graphene 360 (no "+", the blue one), one of the most polarized stock rackets (20.0 mgri). Although your comment is 1yo already so maybe you are way past all this 😅. I hope I have helped in some way in any case, and am open to any further questions you would like!

[@sportscastercanada]

How many times can you realistically restring a racket before the frame gives up?

[@TennCom]

Good question. It can be hard to say, because another factor to consider is how hard the is on the racquet during play. I find my racquets wear out about every 2 years. I typically play with a pair and restring an average of 1.5x per month. This averages to about 36 string jobs. I wouldn't say 36 is a golden rule, but I think 30-40x and the racquet's ability to return energy to the ball would be diminished. I think you would have to string a racquet hundreds of times to actually crack the racquet from stringing alone. Maybe more. This is assuming the frame is strung properly on a 6-point machine, within a normal tension range.

[@MrBolaextra]

To me, the real key to find wheter you are playing with too heavy of a racquet or not, is to play a tough three set match. If after the third set you can still swing your racquet normally, that means you can handle that weight. Otherwise, you should go lighter.

[@thamancer]

Rafa has his needed weight under his bumpers...

[@CH-yp5by]

Really helpful video, the dangerous catch on adding weight I have experienced is two fold , 1. you need to counter balance the weight from the hoop in the butt to maintain racquet balance for manoeuvrability. 2. The overall weight added will reduce your swing speed so less is more! I found you have to test weight configurations so I worked backwards like you did by reducing weight so I now only have 1g at 12 and 1.5 at 3, 9 then counter balanced that with two over grips which was about 1g and 3g in the butt of the handle so thats 8g overall. The dampener weights about 5gs so I replaced that with a 1g rubber band. So far the setup works with my Vcore95 which is 311g unstrung hence, why I am trying to keep the weight down. My next racquet will be around 300g I think.

[@TennCom]

Interesting point. Do you think it's an unfair assumption that the player will get stronger due to the weight, thereby returning to their old higher swing speed?

[@perrysawatzky9489]

Red arrow in thumbnail made me click

[@TennCom]

thanks i spent hours agonizing over the correct shade of red for this arrow