The cost of a tennis racket varies depending on the design, material, quality, and manufacturing brands. If you are recently searching for a good quality racket and do not know about its cost then we have a guide for you about how much does a tennis racket cost.
In this article we have discussed everything about a tennis racket, its cost, and the factors that you need to consider while buying a tennis racket.
What is a tennis racket?
A tennis racket is a sports implement featuring a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of strings or catgut is stretched tightly. Usually it is used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in tennis game. However, the design and manufacturing of a racket has changed considerably over the centuries.
Grip Size:
Grip size is the measurement between your palm and the length of the horizontal line running from your palm up to the start of your ring finger. That measurement is likely to be between 4” to around 4 5/8”. If you are still in doubt, yu can visit your local sports store where an expert will make you understand professionally.
Weight:
Usually, lighter rackets of 255-270 grams are easier to control, but they provide less power. You can get a nice balanced combination between both control and power with mid-weight rackets of 280- 310 grams. Whereas the heavier ones having weight around 330 grams provide a great deal of energy and give the player a lot more control.
How much does a professional tennis racket cost?
The cost of an average tennis racket may range from $20-$100 and above. You can purchase these rackets from a sports shop nearby your home or from online stores like amazon.com. As a beginner, you can purchase these rackets.
The average cost of a professional tennis racket is somewhere around $150 to $400. There are specific rackets that the professionals use, for example, the Wilson racket, which is quite popular. Most of the professional rackets other than these specific ones are going to be in the range of $150 to $400 as mentioned earlier. Some professional rackets may range up to $700, which is a dream product to purchase.
The professional players like the Williams sisters can afford to pay more for their rackets. Sometimes the rackets are provided by the sponsors, which is also a good promotion trick for the manufacturers of tennis rackets. They manufacture special type of customized tennis rackets for professional players as per their requirements.
Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray use rackets produced by the brand Head, which cost around $307-$344. The tennis superstar Roger Federer’s, Wilson Pro Staff RF 97 Autograph costs around $344. Mike and Bob Bryan use Prince Racket.
Cost of Strings for a Tennis Racquet
The cost of tennis racket strings depends on a variety of factors like the manufacturing brand and material. However, you should expect to spend between $10-20 if you are a routine player and want to purchase durable strings.
If you are planning to buy strings from online stores for your local club or pro shop, then you can save a few more bucks. You can find strings as cheap as $5 and as expensive as $50 at a few online stores.
However, you may expect to pay $15 extra for labour charges while stringing a racket. If you are a pro and know how to string your own racket, you can save this amount.
Things you need to consider while buying a tennis racket:
1. Material:
The material used in a tennis racket is one of the major reasons, why tennis rackets have become so expensive these days. Earlier hand-made rackets were very popular. These rackets feature a solid mass of wood with movable shafts and were the cheapest ones ever. Earlier these rackets did not feature strings, later on tennis rackets were made with the strings, which became popular and were better than before.
As the time progresses, different brands manufactured high-quality tennis rackets featuring different variety of materials. The different materials that the manufacturers use for tennis racket frames are Kevlar, copper, fiber glass, tungsten, titanium, and composite of graphite.
You can also find tennis rackets made up of lightweight graphite which is derived from carbon.
The grip of the tennis racket feature materials like leather, rubber, or neoprene. On the other hand, the manufacturers use nylon for tennis strings; nylon offers super tension and high quality performance.
All these materials are relatively expensive due to their quality and durability, hence tennis rackets are so expensive.
2. Shaft Stiffness
Tennis rackets are available in both flexible and stiff shafts depending on the different levels of tennis game play. The experienced players prefer a stiffer tennis racket shaft, while for a beginner or improver, a tennis racket having a flexible shaft is the best choice. A flexible shaft helps produce swing speed, which is convenient for a beginner or amateur player.
On the other hand, a professional player uses his wrist, forearm, and backswing to generate speed in strokes. So, they like to use stiffer ones. Usually, tennis racket shafts come in graphite and steel, as they are considered as the best materials for shafts. If you choose stiffer rackets, you may expect to pay more, where as the flexible ones can be purchased at a cheaper rate.
3. Tennis Rackets Strings
The two main factors that affect the performance and cost of strings are the material used to make strings and the second one is tension of the strings.
For high-quality tennis racket strings, Nylon is the best material; the strings made of Nylon give superb tennis tension that helps produce power strokes.
You can measure the tension of the strings in pounds. Usually, the ideal string tension ranges from 55 pounds to 80 pounds. However, tennis rackets having lower tension string can produce power shots with less control.
On the other hand, a tennis racket with higher tension string provides superb control but you are required to exert power on the ball to play strokes. So, rackets with better strings material and tension are more expensive.
4. Durability:
Tennis rackets that use steel or graphite are highly durable that you can use for several years without compromising with the quality. The durability of tennis rackets depends on materials used.
Usually, you can find shafts of tennis rackets made of steel as it does not allow rusting easily. On the other hand, the composite graphite, derived from carbon is also durable as the steel material.
However, there are also tennis rackets available in the market made of less durable materials such as aluminium, titanium, tungsten, fiber glass, or copper. Moreover, you can find material like Kevlar for tennis racket shaft.
You can also choose nylon for your tennis racket strings, which again adds a few more bucks to the cost. The materials like rubber or leather are used to manufacture tennis rackets grips.
All these materials are durable and provide better for quality performance. So, this is one of the main reasons why tennis rackets are so expensive.
The More related queries:
Is more expensive racket better than a less expensive one?
Ans: Yes, more expensive rackets are better than cheap ones in terms of durability and performance. They use highly durable materials such as Steel or Graphite which is derived from carbon, which makes them so expensive. The quality of the material used in a tennis racket highly affects your game and enable you to play a great game with better potential. The pro players ususally play with expensive rackets.
What is the cost of the most expensive tennis racket?
Ans: There are different types of high quality and expensive tennis rackets available in the market. But, the most expensive one among them is the Wilson Pro Staff 85 Original. You can expect this tennis racket at approximately $2500 and above.
If you consider the cost of a prize tennis racket, then you can talk about Proximus Diamond Game Prize Tennis Racket that is the most expensive racket in the world and costs $1.3 million.
There are about 1700 real diamond stones attached in the string of Proximus Diamond Game Prize Tennis Racket, which make the racket so expensive. This tennis racket weighs approximately 4 kg.
Conclusion:
Tennis rackets vary in prices; they can cost around $20-$700 and above. The cost of the customized ones that the pro tennis players use can go above this price range. So, the bottom line is, if you are a beginner and want to buy one for you then go for a cheaper one first. You can figure out what kind of player you are and hence can purchase the next level tennis racket accordingly.
By doing this you can avoid spending too much money on a product that you are not sure, if you are going to continue with this sport or not. Moreover, beginners should purchase the tennis rackets that are convenient for learning the sport. If as a learner you purchase a stiff shafted racket, you may fail to learn the basics with this kind of racket. Eventually this may end your interest in the sport.
So, you can first buy a learner’s racket rather than choosing a pro-type racket. This will save your hard earned money being wasted. Moreover, you can purchase from online stores to save some more bucks, as online websites are offering some exciting offers these days.
If you are a routine player and want to purchase a new one against your damaged racket, we will recommend you to string it rather than purchasing a new one. If you have purchased really an expensive racket, string it rather than replacing it with a new one. You can save money by doing so.
