Racket is always one of the most important tools in badminton sport, simply because a shuttle and a racket are the most basic elements for playing badminton. But more important thing about a racket is that it’s the tool that you have to use all the time, and it’s the only tool that you can control to perform a shot in badminton.
The myth
The more expensive the racket is, the better the racket is? I’m not sure about that. If there is a perfect answer, then it definitely is “A perfect racket is the racket that matches your needs (or suitable for you).” As an answer, it’s perfect, but it’s not helpful. Because it comes with a super difficult question: Do I really know what I need?
I guess there is one thing for sure that I can say about rackets. The more advanced the rackets (Pro or Tour) are, the more “It’s YOU who have to adapt to the rackets”. The more intermediate the rackets are, the more “The rackets adapt to your skill level”. Why? Pro rackets’ performance is based on perfect timing and perfect sense of distance. Without perfect skills, Pro rackets can’t help you. However, intermediate rackets give more tolerance to timing and distance and deviation, and therefore allow you to do a good shot without perfect skills.
Here comes a small but brutal reminding. When you are thinking about your needs for a racket, there is one need that no one wants to mention: Satisfaction of EGO. So I can be the brutal person to ask you this question: Are you choosing a racket to compensate your skills or to satisfy your ego?
OK, beside the myth, in term of choosing a racket, there are indeed some concrete ways to choose a “suitable” racket than the price tags.
Head Light or Heavy
One thing is the gravity center of the racket. If the gravity center is closer to the racket head, then it’s called Head Heavy. If the gravity center is closer to the grip, then it’s Head Light. If the gravity center is not closer to either racket head or grip, then it’s Balanced.
It’s a clear trade-off.
Head Heavy gives you more swing power: more power for smash and clear, but reduce swing speed: slower in drive or agile racket reactions.
Then as you can easily understand: Head Light gives you faster swing speed but lower in swing power.
If you enjoy being the back court player in doubles, or you enjoy doing lots of smashes, then YOUR racket is HEAD HEAVY racket.
If you enjoy being the net players in doubles, or you enjoy fast racket manipulations or drives, then HEAD LIGHT is YOURS.
If you don’t know which one you like (or you want to be perfect in both, like me), then choose the BALANCED racket.
By the way, Yonex has been making this easy to distinguish in their racket branding. Nanoflare is basically Head Light racket. ArcSaber is basically Balanced. Astrox is basically Head Heavy.
Oh! There is one more thing maybe worth mentioning. Head Light racket is more fragile in racket crush. I used to use Nanoflare, but they really got broken so quickly and easily in racket crushes. The racket frame is designed to be lighter and thinner, so probably this is the reason the racket frame is not that strong. Now I use ArcSaber. At least it has survived 3 racket crushes already.
Stiff or Flexible
The stiffness of a racket means the stiffness of the racket shaft. This is quite similar to the tension of the string.
In a word, the more skilled you are, the higher stiffness is better for you. The less skilled you are, the more flexible is better for you.
Stiffness is usually marked in 3 types: Stiff, Medium Flexible, Flexible.
A racket with a flexible shaft means when you swing a racket, the racket deform a bit more. The deformation of the racket shaft helps more to deliver the power through the racket to the shuttle. However, because the shaft deforms more, the precision and control is a bit lower.
When it’s a stiff racket, the racket shaft deforms very little when you swing the racket, so the power is more difficult to be delivered from your arm to the shuttle. And this is why a stiff racket is more suitable for advanced players. When you can control the timing and distance much better, when you can always hit the sweet spot on the racket face, you can still deliver enough power from your arm to the shuttle even with a stiff racket. But for a less-experienced player (or older player, like me), it’s not impossible, just much more difficult. It would be more practical not to expect that you can generate good power with a stiff racket.
Maybe this is relevant to one part of the myth we mentioned above. Those Pro rackets are basically made for advanced players with more stiff shaft. But if you are not an advanced player, it’s very difficult to deliver your power with such a stiff racket. Then as a result, you, as a less-experienced player (or old player, like me), without a perfect timing, without a perfect sense of distance, with a stiff racket that is difficult to deliver power, how could you even expect you to perform better with a PRO racket?
Weight
One badminton racket is weighted basically from 70g to 95g. Most popular rackets are about 82 to 88g.
A bit similar to the concept of Head Heavy vs Head Light. A heavier racket can bring you more power with a slower speed. A lighter racket brings you more speed with less power. A simple trade-off.
There is a U-scale when we talk about the weight of a badminton racket.
- 1U is 95g+ Extremely heavy
- 2U is 90-94g Very heavy
- 3U is 85-89g Medium – heavy
- 4U is 80-84g Medium – light
- 5U is 75-79g Light
- 6U is 70-74g Very Light
- 7U/8U is Below 70g Ultra Light
Grip Size
There is also grip size that you can have a look, but 90% of adult rackets in the market is G5, so basically not many option to choose anyway. 5% rackets are G4, 5% rackets are G3 and 5% rackets are G6. I don’t see any rackets have G1 or G2 in the market.
- G1 (Extra Large – ~95mm): Very large hands.
- G2 (Large – ~92mm): Large hands.
- G3 (Medium – ~89mm): Average sized hands.
- G4 (Small – ~86mm): Standard size for many brands (common in Europe).
- G5 (Extra Small – ~83mm): Standard size (common in Asia).
- G6 (Smallest – ~80mm): Very small hands, often used by competitive players preferring thin grips.
Color & Design
Of course! No need to say that the color and design is the most important thing to consider when choose a racket. You have to use the racket whenever you play badminton. The racket comes into your sight in every second in playing badminton. A color you like and a design that shines your eyes is for sure very important.
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