Posted Specs of Tennis Racquets

[Edward Li]

In the posted racquet specs at TW, the static weight, swingweight and balance are listed for when the racquet is strung. Would it be possible to also list the unstrung values for each of these, in particular the swingweight? My reasoning follows:

In a thread titled "Posted racquet SW" from 2020, Britany mentions:

For racquets over 300 grams unstrung, we use a house poly 16 gauge that adds 17-18 grams. For racquets under 300 grams, we use a house synthetic gut 16 gauge that adds 15-16 grams.

This is useful information to have but it's not clear how much swingweight these setups add to any given racquet. I think it would be better to provide the raw value and let interested buyers make their own decisions.

Recently, I purchased a Prince ATS Tour 98 with a listed swingweight of 325. I typically use an estimate of 28-32 for added swingweight due to strings. So I figured the unstrung swingweight of the ATS Tour 98 was ~295. I was surprised to find the swingweight engraved/etched into the side of the racquet is 290 ! And when I measured the swingweight of my particular purchase, unstrung it was 289, right on spec (it was also 304g unstrung compared to the 305 etched on the side of the racquet, all within reasonable tolerance). Furthermore, after stringing with my preferred setup (which added 16g), I re-measured swingweight and got 318, again, within the range I would typically expect.

I'm not saying TW did anything wrong here and I acknowledge my range of 28-32 for added swingweight might be conservative, but I do think there wasn't enough provided information to know exactly what I was getting. That is, had I not searched for "Posted racquet SW" I wouldn't have known this at all. It certainly didn't come to mind when I was making the purchase.

If listing unstrung values of static weight, swingweight and balance is not possible, then how about listing how much "house poly 16g" adds, approximately, for different head sizes and stringing patterns? Like maybe posting tables showing:

Different tables for common headsizes (95, 98, 100, et al.)	House Poly 16g​	Synthetic Gut 16g​
16x19
16x20
18x19
18x20

I dunno, maybe this is even more work than measuring the unstrung specs? Thoughts, comments?

 

[K1Y]

Very much agree, I never understood why the they do it.

 

[TW Staff]

Hello Edward!

We are currently discussing what kinds of information/disclaimers to add to our racquet pages, including spec tolerances, unstrung factory targets and string information. Your feedback helps!

For your reference, our specs typically come from an average of 2-4 racquets. For the ATS Tour 98 we actually measured measured 9 frames. The average unstrung swingweight was 295 (inside 10pt tolerance of Prince target).

Given that swingweight can easily vary from sample to sample, you might consider contacting our racquet specialist line. They can go through all the different services that we offer, including weight customization, racquet matching, finding the closest swingweight to your target, etc.

Thanks again for your suggestions,
Jon/TW Staff