armfriendly racquet

[Jeroen]

apologize for my bad English language, but in Belgium we don't have high-quality shops about tennis. They only try to sell their own products and not to help.

I play tennis for 3 years and now search a new racket.

Knowing that in the meantime I have caught a tennis elbow and that is still there after 15 months, I started looking for a partial solution. A less demanding racket.

I started testing a few light rackets:
- babolat pure drive g lite 255g
- wilson burn 100 uls 260g
These two were really too light. I also could not get power from it.

Next test:
- wilson pro staff 97 ls 290g, was way too stiff
- wilson blade 98 ls 285g, this felt good, but the test racket was not properly stretched

Last test in the same weight class:
- head graphene touch extreme s 280g, no good feeling

My intention is to get up to 2-3 rackets that I like & test. Now it is rather a feeling of being unsupervised. In the store they say: you have to feel it. But I can hardly test 50 rackets, then I'm still testing next year. And every test racket costs me at least 5 eur for 3 days.
Now for medical reasons, I was advised, of course by a Prokennex distributor, a Prokennex, especially the entire range 
But in Belgium there are not many playing with Prokennex and so I do not find many play reviews.



In that weight class around 280g within Prokennex, the only remaining four remains:
- qplus15
- qplus5
- series 15 shown
- ki series 5
But I do not quite understand the difference between qplus and ki series.
Could you guide me what to test in comparison with a wilson blade.



At wilson there is an extra countervail to relieve the arm, but does it work just as well as the bullets of prokennex?
And where there is countervail, all of them look heavier rackets and therefore probably deadly for one arm.

I read in some places that the whole prokennex frame is full of bullets, others say only certain points, but I do not find that anywhere online.



Or would you advice me another racket or 2 which are armfriendly, but with the possibility to create enough power?



thanks in advance

 

[PMChambers]

ProKennex 5g. It's older than Ki but softer.

Generally lighter = stiffer, often better to go heavier and softer.

 

[musicsoul]

Why are you looking for rackets that are so light? I think you need minimal weight of 300g. I started with 300g and it still felt light (I started playing 2 years ago). It's also important for me that the racket is not too stiff, because of the pain I got in my shoulder and elbow. I play with the Head Prestige Mid, the new one (320g, 61ra). It's small, but very solid. I don't have any arm issues anymore!

 

[Big Bagel]

I agree, I would stay away from the really light racquets if you have arm pain. Especially any Babolat and the Wilson Burn you mentioned; they are very harsh racquets, and their light versions are even worse than the normal ones. Don't be afraid to try something a little heavier. Head Prestige line has a nice low RA in the low 60s.

If you get the chance, I'd highly recommend trying out some Snauwaert racquets. The Grinta 98 Tour I tested had an RA of 59. The normal Grinta 98 also had a good flex of 60. Look at their website and see if there's any Snauwaert representatives nearby that can help you demo a few of their racquets.

Volkl also has been known for having comfortable racquets. I don't have much experience with them, but that is what I hear. In regards to Wilson Countervail, I've heard mixed reviews. Some people love it, some people think it made the racquets worse and even less comfortable.

 

[Dartagnan64]

It's a big fallacy that light rackets are arm friendly. It's like saying a Triumph Spitfire is collision friendly. Go heavier and softer.

And countervail doesn't work but Textreme does.

 

[Darrell]

I would recommend that you try the Yonex DR 98. I was using the Pure Aero prior to switching to the DR 98, and it is a night and day difference in terms of arm comfort.

 

[li0scc0]

An arm friendly racquet:

There are varying levels of acceptable stiffness. It is hard to argue that more flexible is easier on the arm. All things being similar, a lower flex (overall flex, not just in one spot) will be more arm friendly.
As for weight, yes. Provided one can handle it without timing issues, or changes in form, heavier is easier on the arm. Notice my caveats...without timing issues or changes in form! I have wielded a 402 gram Rossignol with extremely low (<40) flex, and it destroyed my arm in just an hour of hitting. My one handed backhand was a rocket launcher, but it caused extreme pain. Too heavy.
For each person there is an optimal weight.
One further caveat on the above is with respect to power. For many people, a TOO LOW powered racquet causes issues. They simply have to swing too hard to get any juice on the ball.
Thus, it is a complex matter.

 

[Ramon]

I have the Pro Kennex Ki5 320. Even though it doesn't feel that soft, it's very arm friendly. It has a crisp response without hurting your arm. Best of both worlds!

 

[AMGF]

Arm friendly: softer, HL, heavier, gut, foam filled. You can't go wrong with this.

The most arm friendly frame I've hit with lately was the Angell K7. It packs a punch and is spin friendly too. But there are many arm friendly frames out there. Just stay away from stiff ultra light frame. Don't know why you seem to think light frame is comfortable?

 

[Dartagnan64]

One further caveat on the above is with respect to power. For many people, a TOO LOW powered racquet causes issues. They simply have to swing too hard to get any juice on the ball.

Low power in a frame can be easily adjusted with strings and tensions. One of the advantages of low power frames is that they can easily handle the power of multis and natural gut, the best comfort strings out there. Powerful rackets often are too powerful requiring muted strings like poly to tame them.

 

[CopolyX]

angell/donnay are options

 

[tennis_always]

This is what I did for arm-friendliness:
0. Heavier racquet.
1. Lower RA (<65).
2. Go head light to offset heavier racquet.
3. STRINGS: Natural gut mains + round poly cross. (Nice mix of power, control and durability).
4. Low powered racquet to accommodate #3.

Above all: Right technique and right conditioning to match your style of play. (Can't stress this enough). For example, if you go with a heavier racquet, learn to use the weight of the racquet to your benefit.

Volkl PB10 mid worked wonders for me. YMMV.
Now, I use Prince Phantom Pro 93P. It is not *AS* arm-friendly as Volkl. But, it fills some blanks left by Volkl PB10.

 

[flanker2000fr]

This is what I did for arm-friendliness:
0. Heavier racquet.
1. Lower RA (<65).
2. Go head light to offset heavier racquet.
3. STRINGS: Natural gut mains + round poly cross. (Nice mix of power, control and durability).
4. Low powered racquet to accommodate #3.

Above all: Right technique and right conditioning to match your style of play. (Can't stress this enough). For example, if you go with a heavier racquet, learn to use the weight of the racquet to your benefit.

Volkl PB10 mid worked wonders for me. YMMV.
Now, I use Prince Phantom Pro 93P. It is not *AS* arm-friendly as Volkl. But, it fills some blanks left by Volkl PB10.

These are all great recommendations, but it might be too much for the OP to go from the 280g-290g that he seems to favour to the 330g of the 93P (which I have started playing with and I love, btw). I think a Yonex Ezone DR98 would be a happy medium, not too light at 310g, but not too heavy either, and with a nice flex and headlight balance. Still has enough power and a modern feel, on top of being very soft on the arm.

 

[Dartagnan64]

These are all great recommendations, but it might be too much for the OP to go from the 280g-290g that he seems to favour to the 330g of the 93P (which I have started playing with and I love, btw). I think a Yonex Ezone DR98 would be a happy medium, not too light at 310g, but not too heavy either, and with a nice flex and headlight balance. Still has enough power and a modern feel, on top of being very soft on the arm.

I agree that 12+ oz might be a big leap but there are plenty of 11+ oz rackets that are flexible and arm friendly.
Yonex Ezone, Technifibre TFight Ltd, Prince Textreme Tours, Prokennex Ki Q+ line.

Love my Phantom 93P but it's not for everyone.

 

[DriveKing]

Wilson Blade with a lively, soft poly works wonders

 

[livanto]

I think rather than changing up the racket I think you should change the strings and the tension. Although it is true that the racket you use can be damaging to your arms but usually people tend to change the strings and the tensions
For example I currently use the Babolat pure control 95+
Up until a few months ago I strung the racquet up to 60lbs with babolat RPM blast 17g
I started developing arm problems so what I decided to do is to lower the tension and maybe use a hybrid.
So currently I’m using the same racket strung with RPM blast on the main and babolat Xcel on the crosses, strung at 55lbs.
Racket wise if you’re looking into the blade line I would recommend the 98S as it’s very comfortable to use. It may be a little over powered but you should feel more comfort and also I would recommend stringing it with isospeed cream if you’re looking to go for a full poly set up.

 

[RafaLazer]

Volkl PB 10 with NXT is EXTREMELY soft and comfortable.

 

[ewiewp]

angell/donnay are options

this, could be an option.

foam filled frames are really comforting.

 

[anhboa2]

Forgiving racket is the way to go, smart choice.

For someone started tennis as an Adult, enjoying the game w/o pain is more important than being picky with racket. I recommend oversize racket for more forgiveness, maybe Blade 104 or Volkl V1 mp/os ?!!! Those sticks solved my elbow pain, twice.

 

[Crocodile]

apologize for my bad English language, but in Belgium we don't have high-quality shops about tennis. They only try to sell their own products and not to help.

I play tennis for 3 years and now search a new racket.

Knowing that in the meantime I have caught a tennis elbow and that is still there after 15 months, I started looking for a partial solution. A less demanding racket.

I started testing a few light rackets:
- babolat pure drive g lite 255g
- wilson burn 100 uls 260g
These two were really too light. I also could not get power from it.

Next test:
- wilson pro staff 97 ls 290g, was way too stiff
- wilson blade 98 ls 285g, this felt good, but the test racket was not properly stretched

Last test in the same weight class:
- head graphene touch extreme s 280g, no good feeling

My intention is to get up to 2-3 rackets that I like & test. Now it is rather a feeling of being unsupervised. In the store they say: you have to feel it. But I can hardly test 50 rackets, then I'm still testing next year. And every test racket costs me at least 5 eur for 3 days.
Now for medical reasons, I was advised, of course by a Prokennex distributor, a Prokennex, especially the entire range 
But in Belgium there are not many playing with Prokennex and so I do not find many play reviews.



In that weight class around 280g within Prokennex, the only remaining four remains:
- qplus15
- qplus5
- series 15 shown
- ki series 5
But I do not quite understand the difference between qplus and ki series.
Could you guide me what to test in comparison with a wilson blade.



At wilson there is an extra countervail to relieve the arm, but does it work just as well as the bullets of prokennex?
And where there is countervail, all of them look heavier rackets and therefore probably deadly for one arm.

I read in some places that the whole prokennex frame is full of bullets, others say only certain points, but I do not find that anywhere online.



Or would you advice me another racket or 2 which are armfriendly, but with the possibility to create enough power?



thanks in advance

Some good advice here from the various posters. It seems to me that the racquets you have tested are a bit too light to give you arm comfort. A 270g racquet would be OK for a 12 year old girl or even a 11 year old boy as a starting weight when they get their first adult racquet. The pure drive light and burn uls are not good for your arm.
While it may take you time to adjust I'd be going as heavy as you can manage with the largest grip you can use. There has always been this misconception that if you go light then it will be less demanding but in fact you may find yourself having to work harder by swinging faster and resisting twisting, compared to the heavy racquet that will just plough through the ball.
To make things easy on yourself you are going to have to set yourself a target weight you can manage. For me personally comfort starts at over 300g and I'm happy with a 330g racquet, for you it maybe around that 300g level.
Generally if we are talking brands with a reputation of having comfortable offerings the order would be:
1. Pro Kennex
2. Volkl and Prince
3. Pacific and Donnay
4. Angell, Dunlop and Yonex
Now to the ones that I think should miss out:
Babolat: Most of their frames are too stiff. The exception would be the Pure Storm if you can still find one. If you like the Strike mp? You might be able to make it work.
Wilson: Their most comfortable frame is the Ultra Tour and it's a good one. The problem Wilson are having at the moment is that it's very hard to get 2 frames that are the same. The one you buy after you hit with the demo can be completely different. Going back in time any of the 7 series frames were very comfortable and some frames from the 6.5 upwards were OK,
Head are a maybe. Prestige, radical and Speeds are OK but not extremes, some instincts are Ok. The older racquets with the twin tube were the good one's
From my experience the following racquets are way ahead of the rest:
1. Pro Kennex 5g, 7g, 15g, ki5 Q tours, Redondo - I don't think you can go wrong
2. Volkl - Pretty much most of the 10 series, V1, V1 Pro, v sense 8 - safe buys
Prince - All the Phantoms , Textreme 95 and 100P. The POG oversize was a good one.
3. Pacific - X Tour 97 and X Force pro are stand outs
4. Donnay - Both Platinum snd Gold ( It's still available ) are great
5. Dunlop - Older versions of the 200, 300 and 400 series particularly the biomimetic frames are great. Current Srixon 2.0 is fine,
6. Yonex DR and V series racquets ( v Core , durl G and V Pro are great)
7. Angel - Any frame with the 66 RA and lower is great
At the end of the day you have to select from what is available to you where you live.

 

[ChaelAZ]

The Prince Pro Tour 100 18x20 is my favorite and the most forgiving I have hit with.

 

[Steve Huff]

I'd go with the ki5 320. You've been playing long enough to be able to handle that weight. Get it strung with a multifiliment string--say Technifiber Multifeel. Just because "everyone else isn't using it, doesn't make it the wrong racket for you". Maybe it just shows how much smarter and how much more research you did.

 

[elitekuo]

Try Volkl Classic V1.

 

[pro_staff_user]

All good advice above.

You haven't mentioned anything about your strings. If you have tennis elbow, stop playing with Poly strings. Switch to a multi filament string or synthetic gut or natural gut (if possible). If you are playing with multis/gut and still have problems, get a coach and fix your stroke mechanics.

 

[mike schiffer]

The string is the thing!!!...after being away from the game for over 30 years(TE problems and owned a restaurant) I cam back to find they came up with a new material that felt like a board and had a very limited lifespan....Poly was what I had my frames strung with unknowingly and back came the elbow problems....... I found a bang wall and worked on my technique and bought some Volkl Organix 5 racquets strung with Gosen 18 gauge....ice,massage and am back on the court...good luck....

 

[Xav]

Lightweight raquet are NOT arm friendly ? I have TFCC cut in two (like 20%'s population doctor say, typically from a front fall on your wrist like me). I get tired with 290gr LH raquet after 1 hour. If I have a lightweight one with me, I can goes on.

I understand the benefit of more weight when hitting. But before and after it add just more weight. To be precise I feel no pain in my wrist heavy or lightweight raquet. It's all my arm that get tired to move 290 gr in the air and get relief with lightweight.

The worst for me is not shock when hitting but vibration. The Burn uls I tested really vibrate. It's like to empty inside. I like the PS 97 LS a lot, no vibration at all, but with 290gr a bit tiring for me. PS 97 UL get good review. I guess it's not vibrating a lot like the Burn ULS. I want to try the blade UL just to see but find no review first.

 

[Steve Huff]

Actually, lightweight rackets have been shown to be easier on the shoulder. Heavy rackets are easier on the elbow. Pick whichever you need.

 

[flanker2000fr]

Actually, lightweight rackets have been shown to be easier on the shoulder. Heavy rackets are easier on the elbow. Pick whichever you need.

Too right.

Probably a weight around 305g - 310g offers the best compromise on both counts.

 

[tmc5005]

Can you try one of my top 10 arm elbow racquets listed below?:
Yonex EZone DR 98
HEAD XT Graphene Prestige MP
PACIFIC BXT X Tour Pro 97
Wilson Ultra Tour
Volkl Vsense 10 325g
Pro Kennex Q+ Tour Pro
Pro Kennex KI5 320
Head Graphene Touch Speed Pro
Wilson Countervale Blade 98 18×20
Dunlop Srixon Rev CX 2.0 Tour