Choose Your Tennis Racket Wisely to Prevent Injury

Before owning my first racket, I usually borrow my friend's Wilson Blade 97, weighing 305 grams, to be used when practicing as a Newbie. After being selected as a participant in my office tennis tournament, I realized that if I want to improve my gameplay, I couldn't rely on my friend's racket. So, without enough experience trying various racket types because of the tight deadline, I bought a Wilson Pro Staff V11 97L based on its weight only, which should be around 290-300 grams without being aware of other aspects such as its stiffness and head size.

Wilson Pro Staff | source: tenniswarehouse-europe.com

As time passes, maybe around one year of usage, no problem occurs. I've used that racket in various training sessions and two tournaments, even with one becoming a second champion. Then, there was a time in a week when I played tennis frequently, almost every day, and then a problem started to happen. I feel pain and aches in my right hand, and when I wake up in the morning, my wrist could not move freely. I thought that was because I never got proper rest after tennis. Then I tried to rest for three days without playing tennis. But unfortunately, the pain and aches are increasing. At the peak moment, I could not twist my wrist anymore to open the door key due to the intense pain.

Tennis Elbow Treatment | © Author

Then I went to a physiotherapist, and he said my symptoms were a tennis elbow, a common injury for tennis players. But in my case, it's already in stage two, which almost becomes a severe injury if I still force myself to play tennis. I got two treatments, the first one is a needle puncture for releasing problematic muscles. That method was painful and sore, but the therapist said it would give the fastest healing. The second one is ultrasound exposure, as shown in the picture above. I also suggested taking full rest for a month, even though the pain had already vanished in only three days, which was surprising. Still, I dont want to get injured again because that one session of physiotherapist has the same price as three times a coaching session, which is expensive 😂.

When I took the rest, many friends asked me why I never joined the match or training again. I said I'm still at rest after a tennis elbow injury, and maybe I could not play as frequently as before. However, my friend and one of my coaches suspects the reason is not the tennis frequency because other players play more regularly than I do. Then, they checked my racket and discovered I used Wilson Pro Staff, which they said was sometimes mocked as "Pro Stiff" because of its stiffness.

Later, I realized that Pro Staff is designed to have the same feel and specs as a classic racket, which has few modern technologies for maintaining the raw feeling and connection between the racket and the user's hand. Simply put, the shock from the ball's impact is fully transferred to our hand. That is the source of elbow injuries if we're not trained to handle it well. Some big athletes, such as Roger Federer, can handle it very well and become unbeatable because they have already created strong connections and feelings with that racket characteristic. But if we are not professional athletes, we have a big risk of tennis elbow injury instead of a big benefit from that racket.

Stiffness Index | source: www.wilson.com

Besides the stiffness, my Pro Staff racket also has a small head size, which means a smaller sweet spot for ball impact. The benefit is that the power transferred to the racket can be more focused, resulting in faster and harder ball movement than with another racket that has a larger head size. However, the drawback is that you need more precision when hitting the ball because if the ball impact is not in the sweet spot, the shock will be worse and could be the source of injury.

After a month of rest, I bought a second racket with hand-friendly characteristics because my hand is not as strong as other players' when handling the ball impact. My wrist is also quite sensitive to ball impact when doing groundstrokes in the baseline, but more flexible when doing volley battles near the net. With that characteristic and preference, I chose Yonex Ezone after trying various racket types. The detailed spec of my second racket is shown below.

Yonex Ezone | source: www.tennis-warehouse.com

Some people say the racket is too easy to handle and is sometimes mocked with the name Yonex EzeastOne. I agree because I often find more women than men using the racket. But of course, I don't care, as long as my wrist is safe and I never face elbow injury again. After six months of using that racket, I feel 180 degrees different from my Pro Staff. With Pro Staff, I don't need extra power to do a groundstroke on the baseline. But with Yonex Ezone, I need to utilize the body weight transfer to get the same ball speed and power as using Pro Staff. However, I feel the Yonex Ezone is more flexible in other situations like volley and slicing. It may be because of its lighter weight, larger head size, and the VDM technology, which makes the grip more comfortable and causes less pain on my wrist.

To fix the baseline problem, I loosened the string tension from its standard of about 50 lbs to 35 lbs. Some people say it's too extreme, but for me, it helps generate power on the baseline. Of course, more precision is needed when handling ball impact. Sometimes, my ball becomes too flat and out of the court because less topspin is generated by that loosened string tension. Until now, I've been practicing that condition even though I already use Solinco Barb Wire string, which has a specialized design for generating topspins.

Solinco Barb Wire | source: www.solincosports.com

In conclusion, I recommend you try various racket types for at least a year to recognize your hand characteristics. Sometimes, players prefer Babolat and Head rackets, and even Yonex Vcore instead of Yonex Ezone because it can be played more aggressively, and the ball becomes sharper and targeted. But for me, those rackets still cause pain in my wrist, and I could not use them in a long-run game like in a tournament. You might be wrong if you think I need extra training in my hand, elbow and wrist. Besides tennis, I also have a gym membership and consistently train my elbow and wrist strength at least two times a week with pull-ups, push-ups, weight training, and other types. But still, when playing a game with an unmatched racket, wrist pain occurs.