Professionals use heavier rackets, but why is it? If you’re thinking of changing to a heavier racket, but you’re not sure if it’s going to be better or worse for you, this Post might help you.

The main reason for professional tennis players to use heavier rackets is to have the stability to hit balls of the level they play with more power, control and comfort.

Using a heavy tennis racket is an advantage, but only if you can handle it well without causing any injuries.

If you are a child or a senior Tennis player is better to use lighter rackets, if you are a beginner adult or is at intermediate level, the best is to use a racket not too light and not too heavy like the Babolat Pure Drive that have a strung weight of 11.2 oz.

Heavy and lighter rackets have other differences besides the weight, if you are curios to know more, I have compared some Babolat rackets, including the Pure Drive, in this Post here, I talk about head heavy and head light rackets and which one is better for beginners or intermediate players.

I also have a guide to help you distinguish a racket ideal for beginner and for intermediate level, you can click here to access.

I consider myself an intermediate tennis player, I’m an adult woman, my height is 5.6 feet (170 cm) and I weight 127 lbs (57 kg), I use, without any problems a racket with 11.5 oz of weight.

Quick Tip: You can add more weight on your racket with lead tapes or silicone inside the handle, is a good way for you to test if you’re going to like it or not to swing a heavier racket. This is great to test before buying a heavier racket.

Reasons for you to use heavy Tennis rackets

If you are playing against big hitters: If you opponent hit hard, it is going to be difficult to return fast and heavy balls with a light racket, you will need a heaviest racket for more stability;

If you are a flat hitter: Tennis players who hit more flat shots can benefit more from heavy rackets, those rackets give you more control and are ideal if you don’t need to use your wrist too much to generate spin;

If you developed good technique and needs more power and control: At higher level you will need more power, but you can’t miss everything, so control is also good to have and a heavy racket can give you that.

A lot of Pro Tennis players add weight on their rackets, you can find the model of the racket from the ATP player clicking here and for WTA players here, in those two articles I even put where they add the weight in their racket.

If you want to know the average weight of a strung pro racket without the extra weight, you can click here to read my article about it.

How to know if your tennis racquet is too heavy

Over the years the concept of light or heavy rackets has changed a lot, in the past the rackets were much heavier than today and what is considered heavy now, was once considered light.

If the weight of you Tennis racket strung is more than 12 oz, your racket is heavy, unless you are a tall and big person or know the proper technique to strike the ball like a Pro does, this probably will be too heavy for you.

Take, for example, how the Tennis Warehouse store classifies rackets by weight:

You can see on the screenshot I’ve taken from their website that heavy rackets are the ones with 12 ounces or more and the light rackets are those with 10 ounces or less, considering weight of a strung racket.

When you add string on a racket, the weight increases considerably, the weight of a racket can also changes by adding Overgrips, Cushion Grips, Dampeners, Lead Tapes and etc.

You can find more about Tennis rackets grips here in this other Post I wrote.

In this Post I listed all the weight in ounces, but if you are not familiar with this measurement, I will put on the follow list some converted values.

Tennis Racket Weight in ounce	Tennis Racket Weight in grams
9.5 oz	269 g
10 oz	283 g
10.6 oz	300 g
11 oz	312 g
11.1 oz	315 g
11.2 oz	318 g
11.3 oz	320 g
11.4 oz	323 g
11.5 oz	326 g
11.6 oz	329 g
11.7 oz	332 g
11.8 oz	335 g
11.9 oz	337 g
12.1 oz	343 g
12.2 oz	346 g
12.3 oz	349 g
12.6 oz	357 g

Fun fact: In the past, tennis rackets where heavier and had small head size, they were made of wood which is heavier than aluminum and graphite and other materials used on modern tennis rackets.

Today, the professional Tennis players normally don’t use racket with a large head size (not as small as before), the ones with large head size are popular between juniors and seniors’ players, you can read more about the size of the Tennis racket head of Pro Tennis players in this Post here, you can find an average for the ATP and WTA players.

How to adjust to a heavier racket

Maybe you are stuck with a heavier racket, unable to chance to a lighter one, or you just want all the good things you can get from a heavier tennis racket and you are wondering if there is some formula for you to get used to it faster.

In my own experience playing Tennis for years, I could say there is no fast way, you body just need time and training to adjust.

To get used playing with a heavier racket, you need the proper technique to strike the ball using your entire body instead of only your arms, and you need to have a good timing in your hitting. A strong body can help, but technique is the key.

I really like the explanation from Tomaz (Feel Tennis Instruction Youtube Channel) to use your racket like a weight and not like a tool, I recommend you watch it, is a good starting point to prepare yourself to play with heavy rackets.