Broke my first racket

[Attila_the_gorilla]

Yesterday my team played our lower grade competition doubles grand final. We were outplayed and beaten by a smarter, more skilled and experienced team. At one point in frustration I bounced my racket head first into the ground and it cracked at around 1 or 2 o'clock. It wasn't a full blooded throw, I held back, so didn't expect it to break. I had sort of thought about smashing a racket in the past, but the way it happened was an underwhelming experience, I was disappointed.

What's your story with breaking rackets?

 

[kingcheetah]

I've broken 3. One was accidental, it was a racquet I got for free that I broke playing a mini tennis game when I hit it on a brick wall going for a shot against my HS coach's son. The second was one I hit in frustration when I rolled an ankle during a tryout match... I hit it perfectly at 9 o clock on the head and barely cracked it. The third was when a teammate had a cracked frame and he wanted to break it. After he and another teammate attempted to finish it, I got a chance and went straight mortal combat on that one... but I don't abuse racquets over lost points.

 

[loosegroove]

Yeah, that stinks. If you're going to break a racket, might as well get to smash the bejesus out of it. Saw the same thing happen on match point at a USTA match of ours. Guy on the other team missed an easy shot and kind of gently flicked his racket in dismay. It hit the ground right around 1 or 2 o'clock and cracked. If it hits just right, seems the tension of the strings and impact cracks it regardless of how soft of a hit it takes. I haven't tossed and broken my racket since I was a teen, but I broke my fair share stupidly.

 

[nootles]

I've only broken one racquet. Didn't even notice until the stringer pointer out the crack at 9 o'clock. Don't even know when or how it occurred. My guess would be that it hit the ground a bit hard on a slice.

 

[caesar66]

The only one I've broken was a pure drive I had during my senior year of high school eleven years ago. I was hitting some serves with a buddy with a crappy overgrip (plum covered "whatagrip" sleeve from unique) and the racquet flew straight down onto the court on my follow through. I was DEVASTATED.

 

[struggle]

i obliterated a few in my youth. i did it right, strings holding pieces of the frame together.

roughly thirty years ago.

 

[Shroud]

Dude,

I hope you did it correctly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfPNROxLgss

 

[Fuji]

I've surprisingly never broken a frame, but my rackets get heavily abused from tarp throws and aerial acrobatics. :razz:

-Fuji

 

[Sparky]

Dude,

I hope you did it correctly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfPNROxLgss

Ahhh. Those guys are just a bunch of hacks. Just two posers. You wanna see it done right, you need to watch an ATP Pro in action.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kS68T6ptA

 

[Shroud]

Its the kinetic chain Sparky. Pros are just better tapping into that and creating racket head speed

 

[Sparky]

Its the kinetic chain Sparky. Pros are just better tapping into that and creating racket head speed

Shroud, Don't confuse me with that kinetic chain stuff. I'm still working on a basic unit turn.

LOL. He's definitely a professional, 4 in 32 seconds.

 

[Irvin]

I have broken two rackets. Both were St Vincent ProStaffs. Both were broken while hitting second serves and the frame slipped Out of my hand and went straight down into the court. The first one was two days old and on a chance I took it back to the store where I bought it and it was replaced. The second was a couple of years old as I recall.

 

[KYHacker]

Marcos Baghdatis. Best ever.

 

[jersey34tennis]

when i was a newcomer to tennis i broke 3 or 4 head tis6 or 7's because i used to string them at 75 and swing for the fences. they would consistently crack just below the throat or around them. sports authority kept replacing them for free. finally i asked why its a good frame for me and they said it's light. eventually the tennis guy gave me a wilson triad 4.0 100 and it didn't break. i then went to heavier frames. never intentionally broke one. one day i will after winning a 3rd set tiebreaker. or not

 

[Rock Strongo]

The amount of racquets I've broken... I can't count but it's probably around 30. And before anyone asks, yes. I do have (or had) big anger issues.

 

[movdqa]

I've broken many racquets but those were back in the 1970 and 1980s when racquets weren't anywhere near as strong as they are today. I broke a few steel racquets in the throat where the welds are just by hitting. Some wooden racquets were notorious for breaking around 2:00 and 8:00.

My Aluminum racquets were basically indestructible. I still have them and they are still fine to play with even being over 30 years old.

I've had a few cracks in graphite racquets from just playing - those were the ceramic wide-bodies. I haven't broken anything in Graphite outside a few playing cracks.

 

[Dan Z]

I've only broken three (pure storm tour, vcore 100s and my beloved rds002 tour) and in exactly the same manner - letting the racquet fly out of my hand after serving. quite embarrassing and rather costly!
since using yonex supergrap I've not had this problem (touch wood).

 

[RNEast]

Marcos Baghdatis. Best ever.

They showed a clip of Marcos breaking all those racquets on "Inside Edition" with Deborah Norville. When they returned from the footage, she replied, "Good luck finding a racquet sponsor."

I've always thought that was a great line coming from a TV host.

 

[Power Player]

I smashed a brand new dunlop 200 4d on an overhead smash. Racquet just flew out of my hand and it cracked in the throat. It was very depressing. Probably some of the best looking sticks I have ever owned.

 

[kaiser]

I have broken two rackets. Both were St Vincent ProStaffs. Both were broken while hitting second serves and the frame slipped Out of my hand and went straight down into the court. The first one was two days old and on a chance I took it back to the store where I bought it and it was replaced. The second was a couple of years old as I recall.

This is exactly how I broke both of my Yonex Super RD Tour 95s some 10 years ago... Very depressing because I couldn't find new SRDs anymore to replace them. Went down a size in grip (5 to 4) with my later rackets (Wilson HPS 6.1 95 and now Dunlop 4D200 Tour), and it hasn't happened to me since (touch wood...).

 

[movdqa]

Were these with leather grips? It's kind of hard to imagine racquets slipping if you keep your overgrips fresh.

 

[dman72]

I broke one of my 3 NXG's trying to hit an overhead on a moonball at my club. There are basketball hoops behind a few of the courts, and I was far enough back, jumped into my overhead, and just clipped the bottom of the backboard. Dented the frame badly at 10 o'clock.

Having never intentionally broken a frame (too cheap), I decided to take this opportunity to see what it feels like. I smashed it full on alla Safin.

I did not enjoy getting little pieces of graphite slicing into my hand.