Life Span of a racquet?

H

High Altitude

New User
How do you know when a racquet needs to be replaced? Does their playability change with time?
My Wilson Ultras are about 3 years old. I have 3 that I use in rotation and restring at least once/ month. The grommets are fine.
I’m a 4.5 player who’s working on hitting bigger tempo on my groundstrokes.
 
gold325

gold325

Hall of Fame
They get a little flexier over time. Eventually will develop a crack somewhere at a point on the frame where there was stress due to restringing or just an original manufacturing weakeness. No reason to change or worry about it unless you feel a sudden change in one of them... will be very obvious when that event happens.
 
socallefty

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
They get more flexible and less powerful over time. But, you will notice it only if you compare them to a brand new racquet strung the same way. After about 300-400 hours, I feel like the difference with a new racquet is materially noticeable in terms of power potential particularly on serves.
 
S

Steve Huff

G.O.A.T.
Sometimes I wonder how much flexier they really get. I used a PK 5g for quite a while. When I hit with the newer model (ki 5), my older ones felt flexier. But, I can't say the racket was really getting toward the end of its life cycle or the newer one just was made stiffer. I've played with older Destiny models and they felt just as good as previous ones I used in the 90s.
 
P

pow

Hall of Fame
You can keep playing it if it's not cracked. It may crack from too many string jobs but it shouldn't crack if you don't throw your racquet and replace your head guard when it wears down.
 
dak95_00

dak95_00

Hall of Fame
taylor15 said:
For me I know it is getting to be time when there is graphite exposure near the top of the hoop.
Click to expand...
Are you aware you can have the plastic bumper guards replaced before a racquet wears through?

Your stringer can advise you on this.
 
T

taylor15

Hall of Fame
Yep, it's generally wear just outside of the bumper coverage area. Doesn't happen much anymore, but back when I used dunlop frames it was more common.
 
1HBHfanatic

1HBHfanatic

Legend
Steve Huff said:
Sometimes I wonder how much flexier they really get.........
Click to expand...
-i once got to try a old timers head.prestige, guy had been playing it since the start of the prestige's i guess/surmise (or got it second hand, year/S prior), well over 15 years by that point
-i was/am familiar with the feel of the prestige's,, but this "thing" felt like a wet noddle!, no joke, no other word to describe it
-seemed like nothing i've hit with before,
-i would almost say it felt as soft as a wood racquet, if you could imagine that feel ??!!
-i inspected the racquet for major cracks that would/could attribute to the very flexible feel, but none where visible
-the old timer was/is a bit of a cheap skate, so this was/is his main stick,
-this racquet had been through alot of miles!
-so to answer your question, a 20pt RA change, would not be surprising to me! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
P

pow

Hall of Fame
1HBHfanatic said:
-i once got to try a old timers head.prestige, guy had been playing it since the start of the prestige's i guess/surmise (or got it second hand, year/S prior), well over 15 years by that point
-i was/am familiar with the feel of the prestige's,, but this "thing" felt like a wet noddle!, no joke, no other word to describe it
-seemed like nothing i've hit with before,
-i would almost say it felt as soft as a wood racquet, if you could imagine that feel ??!!
-i inspected the racquet for major cracks that would/could attribute to the very flexible feel, but none where visible
-the old timer was/is a bit of a cheap skate, so this was/is his main stick,
-this racquet had been through alot of miles!
-so to answer your question, a 20pt RA change, would not be surprising to me! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
I'm going to have to disagree with your 20pt RA change estimate for how much stiffness a racquet loses over time. A Babolat pure drive is 70 RA and a prokennex Redondo is 58 RA so they are about 12 RA points apart. I don't think a PD will ever feel remotely close to the soft and buttery flex of a Redondo no matter how soft the PD has become.
 
BlueB

BlueB

Legend
High Altitude said:
How do you know when a racquet needs to be replaced? Does their playability change with time?
My Wilson Ultras are about 3 years old. I have 3 that I use in rotation and restring at least once/ month. The grommets are fine.
I’m a 4.5 player who’s working on hitting bigger tempo on my groundstrokes.
Click to expand...
They don't need to be replaced, unless structurally damaged.
 
B

blablavla

G.O.A.T.
High Altitude said:
How do you know when a racquet needs to be replaced? Does their playability change with time?
My Wilson Ultras are about 3 years old. I have 3 that I use in rotation and restring at least once/ month. The grommets are fine.
I’m a 4.5 player who’s working on hitting bigger tempo on my groundstrokes.
Click to expand...

as soon as your favorite players changes to a new paintjob you need to update your racket
 
A

Arak

Legend
I change my rackets every other generation which translates approximately to every three years. I don’t think my rackets are severely degraded when I change them. I just don’t like to look like a cheap guy playing with old rackets at my club :)
 
Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Hall of Fame
@High Altitude it sounds like your Ultras still have plenty of life left in them. Unless you strung each one once a week, and hit ultra hard and store them in a hot car, then maybe it's close to replacement time. Modern racquets are more glue than graphite. Okay that was an exaggeration.
 
A

Arzivu

Semi-Pro
Arak said:
Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a bit here? Using words like wealth and superiority is a bit insulting.
Click to expand...
Words like "cheap guy" and the impression that playing with old rackets will spoil your reputation at your tennis club are symptoms of elitism.
 
A

Arzivu

Semi-Pro
Arak said:
Are you a communist? ;)
Click to expand...
No need to add a political 'color' on this thread. I just found your view of changing your racket to not correspond at all with my philosophy as an athlete and a human. We have quite different ideals it seems..
 
A

Arak

Legend
Arzivu said:
No need to add a political 'color' on this thread. I just found your view of changing your racket to not correspond at all with my philosophy as an athlete and a human. We have quite different ideals it seems..
Click to expand...
Your philosophy as an athlete and a human!!!! Ok, nothing else to say here. Goodbye.
 
Shangri La

Shangri La

Hall of Fame
1HBHfanatic said:
-i once got to try a old timers head.prestige, guy had been playing it since the start of the prestige's i guess/surmise (or got it second hand, year/S prior), well over 15 years by that point
-i was/am familiar with the feel of the prestige's,, but this "thing" felt like a wet noddle!, no joke, no other word to describe it
-seemed like nothing i've hit with before,
-i would almost say it felt as soft as a wood racquet, if you could imagine that feel ??!!
-i inspected the racquet for major cracks that would/could attribute to the very flexible feel, but none where visible
-the old timer was/is a bit of a cheap skate, so this was/is his main stick,
-this racquet had been through alot of miles!
-so to answer your question, a 20pt RA change, would not be surprising to me! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

On that wet noodle Prestige, did you notice any lack of power/stability/feel/etc or any other performance degradation?
 
rafa_prestige89

rafa_prestige89

Professional
1HBHfanatic said:
-i once got to try a old timers head.prestige, guy had been playing it since the start of the prestige's i guess/surmise (or got it second hand, year/S prior), well over 15 years by that point
-i was/am familiar with the feel of the prestige's,, but this "thing" felt like a wet noddle!, no joke, no other word to describe it
-seemed like nothing i've hit with before,
-i would almost say it felt as soft as a wood racquet, if you could imagine that feel ??!!
-i inspected the racquet for major cracks that would/could attribute to the very flexible feel, but none where visible
-the old timer was/is a bit of a cheap skate, so this was/is his main stick,
-this racquet had been through alot of miles!
-so to answer your question, a 20pt RA change, would not be surprising to me! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
20 pts change in RA? Only possible if the owner was a pro that had only one racquet for 15 years (assuming he was playing everyday obviously).
 
1HBHfanatic

1HBHfanatic

Legend
Shangri La said:
On that wet noodle Prestige, did you notice any lack of power/stability/feel/etc or any other performance degradation?
Click to expand...
-it really did feel like playing with a wooden racquet!
-maybe i exagerated with the 20ra difference a bit, but it was flexible
-more than a wilson.ultra.tour (if you know that racquet and its flex!!)
-with super flexible frames, power is low, stability is different
-slices, touch shots are where soft frames shine! IMO
 
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