Racquet Information One thing nearly everyone in tennis can agree on today is the level of confusion found in the racquet business. Many players are interested in the pros equipment and their string of choice and tension. Others are stringers themselves looking for answers about how to improve their skills. With this in mind the following material is provided in an effort to clear up some of the confusion. One of the most difficult tasks of a tennis player is finding the perfect racquet. If you ask 10 people to give a recommendation, you're likely to get 10 different answers. Here at Racquet Sports Services we feel that there's far too much confusion in the marketplace today in terms of racquets. With that in mind, we're going to start off by giving you a list of definitions for various racquet materials. This can be used in conjunction with our Racquet Related Definitions page. Our hope is that this will be a quick and easy guide for you to refer to during your research. With a better understanding of these terms you should be able to make an informed decision when selecting the characteristics that best fit your playing style when selecting a racquet. You'll find that these terms are fairly standard within the industry and vary little much from source to source. Construction Materials-Racquets In today's marketplace there are several materials used in racquet construction. However, you'll find that in many cases, a combination of these materials is often used. These materials are: * Composite Materials - we'll explain this one first since the term "composite" appears often in conjunction with other terms used in the industry. Composite frames are just as they imply-a racquet made from more than one material. This will consist of an epoxy resin reinforced with graphite, fiberglass, titanium, or other materials. * Aluminum - the least expensive material to use. Advantages include low cost & low maintenance. These racquets tend to be pretty sturdy, meaning they can take a good whack on the court and not break. However a good thump on the court and your oval racquet now looks more like an egg! * Ceramic - Prince was one of the first to use this material but over the years its popularity has waned. Ceramic was used mostly in composite frames mixed with graphite. It helped enhance the stiffness of a racquet but it was too heavy and brittle, thus it's used very little today. * Fiberglass - as with ceramic, fiberglass is used primarily in composite frames too. Because fiberglass is so flexible it was rarely used as the sole material in racquet construction. * Graphite - Graphite is still the most popular material used in the construction of tennis racquets. There's low, intermediate, high, and ultra-high modulus graphite. * Titanium - very similar to graphite because of it's high stiffness-to-weight ratio, titanium was THE buzzword in racquet construction not long ago. Many consumers were confused in thinking titanium was used to lighten the racquet. In truth, graphite is actually lighter than titanium. The trick is mixing the two and the final outcome will depend mostly on the orientation of the fibers during construction. * Hyper Carbon - this material bears mentioning because of its major impact in the Wilson line in recent years. Wilson actually worked with NASA in its efforts to secure the rights to use this material in racquets. Wilson states that this material is 4 times stiffer, 4 times stronger, and 65% lighter than graphite or titanium. The result is a material that's more powerful, more maneuverable, and more durable to use in the construction of a tennis racquet. In many applications, Wilson will use 5 layers of graphite overlaid with 2 layers of Hyper Carbon to achieve the final product.