What should I practice with a wooden racquet?

Spoderblitz

New User
A couple of days ago, I asked my coach if practicing with a wooden racquet will give me any benefits. He eventually said that using it to practice your groundstrokes should be avoided due to the fact that the racquet is not designed for a topspin fh/bh. Is there any other way that I can practice with it without damaging my techniques?
Also, is it alright to shadow swing it as well?
 
You can hit with it 87 times. You will cause an irreversible change on the 88th time. On the 88th time you will go back in time to the 60s, when wood reigned.
 
Just because it wasn't designed for topspin strokes, doesn't mean it's bad for them. (Borg did extremely well and modern players can also do well with it if they're fine with the flex draining a ton of their power.)

There's no reason to practice with anything other than your match racket. You want the racket to feel like an extension of your arm and allow you to do whatever you want with the ball. It also allows you to keep your expectations of what you can do with the ball in check. If you switch rackets, you end up with a vague range. When you stick with a racket, you know pretty specifically what you can and can't do and won't be tempted to push beyond that.
 
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