Tennis Racquet Customization

Despite the enormous selection of tennis racquets designed to service many different types of players, often you will find that in order to get a stick that is absolutely, spot-on perfect for your stroke, you might need to make a few adjustments. Often times you can transform a racquet that you like fairly well into your wonder-weapon with just a few simple tweaks. We'll show you how.

For most simple tennis racquet adjustments you will just need some lead tape which you can pick up from our accessories section . One of the best things about using lead tape is that all of your tweaking is totally reversible. If you don't like the results, just peel off the tape.

Let's discuss what you can achieve with lead weights. By increasing the weight of the racquet, lead tape increases the amount of power the frame will yield. Also, depending on where you where you place the tape, you can change the location and dimensions of the racquet's sweet spot to better suit your swing. This will reduce vibration and the frame won't twist as much when you miss the sweet spot.

Additionally, when you add weight to the tennis racquet, you will change its swing weight. The further away from the handle you place the weights the more the swing weight will increase. This can be a double-edged sword. As the swing weight increases, the frame will become more powerful, but it will also become more difficult to generate racquet-head speed. No matter what you do, make sure to keep the racquet balanced evenly on both sides of the frame and on both sides of the string bed.

Here are the basic locations to place the tape.

12 O'Clock

Get ready for a power surge. If you are having difficult hitting the ball deep on the tennis court this could be your solution. Enough weight will turn your pea shooter into a bazooka, but watch out, you'll be sacrificing maneuverability, which could spell disaster for your volleys. Also, the sweet spot will shift towards the top of the frame.

10 O'Clock and 2 O'Clock

If you are looking to make your tennis racquet more stable, especially on balls hit near the top of the frame, this adjustment should do the trick. By stretching the sweet spot towards the upper edges of the frame the weight will allow the racquet to stay firm in your hands even when you don't make contact in the center of the string bed. Expect a slight increase in power and a considerable drop off in maneuverability.

3 O'Clock and 9 O'Clock

Other than the increase in swing weight, it's all upside for this tennis racquet lead tape configuration. You'll have more power and a substantially wider sweet spot.

6 O'Clock

Expect greater stability with a just a smidgen more power and a slight sacrifice in racquet maneuverability. If you tend to make contact close to the throat of the racquet, this will pull the sweet spot down towards that area.

Handle

Net rushers rejoice! By adding a little weight at the tennis racquet handle you might just find the extra help you need to put that devastating touch on your volleys. Best of all, there will be no change in swing weight or maneuverability.

How to Add Lead Tape

Lead tape comes in 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch widths. 1/4-inch tape weighs 1/4 of a gram per inch of tape, while 1/2 -inch tape weighs, you guessed it, 1/2 of a gram per inch of tape. Isn't that convenient?

In general, you don't want to cut strips that are longer than six inches, but you can layer the strips for more weight. 1/4-inch tape fits will between grommets on the inside of the frame, while you have to punch holes in the 1/2-inch tape. Also, there are tapes designed to fit around grommets, such as our Unique Sports Power Strips. Each of these strips weighs three grams.