Are you a tennis coach? Do you struggle to coach properly with your current racquet? Here are my thoughts on racquets for coaching.
If you are a coach, you are likely an advanced tennis player (well I hope so!) and you might use a racquet that is heavier than average. But you are probably coaching kids/juniors/amateurs that are less good than you and you will not get a very heavy ball back. This is why I would recommend using a lighter, more powerful racquets for coaching. Because you need a racquet that can generate good depth with little effort.
There is also the element of spending long days on the tennis court. A heavy, control-oriented racquet will take its toll after a long day of coaching various players, so a lighter, easier racquet to use, is to be recommended. You will likely not need the precision of your normal racquet anyway since your focus will mostly be on getting the ball back to your student. And they should also be getting a ball that they can handle, not one that is heavy, fast and difficult to control.
Can you play with different racquets?
So can you use one racquet for coaching and one playing matches and training? Yes, you can. You just need to adapt a little bit and get accustomed to the two different racquets. Learning how to play with a lighter, more powerful racquet can be beneficial also in matches when you get tired or tight and need a bit of extra help with free power. So it is not only useful for coaching, but also for your own game.
Maybe you are already using a lighter, more powerful racquet as a match racquet. Well, then you are probably fine as it is. But many players use more control-oriented and heavy racquets (I fall into this category) and they will be quite frustrating to use when you are hitting with weaker players or giving lessons. That is why learning to play with two different racquets is the way to go in my opinion.
(I tend to use a racquet like the HEAD LM Radical Tour for match play and a Babolat Soft Drive for coaching).
What do you think about this theory? Does it make sense to you? Please comment below.
1 comment
Hi Jonas!
For me the Wilson Blade 98 18×20 2013 works fine as a “coach” racket. Decent comfort (i use a hybrid of medium stiff poly in mains with multifilament in crosses), not to heavy and above all, pin-point precision. It lacks a bit in spin-production maybe, but I prefer the precision over spin.