Who Plays With A Lighter Racquet And Why?
Roger Federer Wilson Pro Staff RF 97 vs. Andy Murray Head Graphene XT Radical Pro
Murray: 345g
Federer: 364g
Tennis racquets are very particular things for players, especially when it comes to the pros. Not only do they have access to frames that few of us will ever see, but they also have dedicated experts that make sure everything is absolutely perfect before they ever step on the court with a racquet. In the case of the Roger Federer and Andy Murray, those experts are Ron Yu and Nate Ferguson of Priority One.
The most recent information regarding the racquets of these two players is interesting in that it shows that Murray’s racquet weighs in at 345g, which is on the lighter side at only 12.16 ounces. On the other hand, Federer’s smaller frame weighs 364g, or 12.84 ounces, which is significantly heavier. Even more interesting is the fact that despite the static weight of the frames being different, the two play fairly similar swing weights at this point in time.
There was a time when Murray actually used one of the highest swing weights on the tour, but a major wrist injury in 2007 has caused him to make a necessary change in the sake of preserving his wrist. While both players are using frames that have swing weights in the fairly typical area around 350 kg*cm2, Murray’s racquet is balanced more towards the head.
So why would these two players use frames with similar swing weights, and yet very different static weights? The best answer lies in habit and the difference in their style of play. The reason that Murray used to play with such a high swing weight was in order to generate more power despite his relatively short backswing. As power is related to the momentum of a racquet since Murray has a shorter and slower swing than Federer, in order to achieve the same level of power, the racquet needed to behave as if it were heavier.
Due to the wrist injury, Murray has since lowered both the static and swing weights of his frames, dropping into the fairly typical range for professionals. So this is one reason it is important to realize that static weight does not mean much when it comes to the playability of a frame, but the weight distribution is much more important.
With this in mind, we here at the Tennis Express Academy delve deeper into the inner workings of not only the equipment but also the human body in order to find ways of maximizing your potential.