Jon Levey answers your Gear Q&A. Email your question to tennis.comproshop@gmail.com.
I am in the market for a more elbow-friendly racquet after using a Babolat Pure Aero Rafa. Can you recommend your top picks?—Mike G.
Mike,
The Pure Aero Rafa is great for hitting with big power and spin, but not so great if you’ve got a sore elbow. It’s designed to replicate many of the traits of Rafael Nadal’s own frame. Which means it’s rather stiff in flex and limited in the way of technology and dampening features. This provides raw and unfiltered feedback, so you get good connection to the ball when it’s on the strings, but you also experience more shock when contact is off-center.
Before getting into more arm-friendly options, a public service reminder about strings. Recreational players with arm pain should refrain from using polyester strings. At least until the pain subsides. Polys are inherently stiff and can potentially do more damage to a tender joint. Whatever perceived benefits in performance are not worth the cost to the arm. At the bare minimum, use the poly in a hybrid with a soft multifilament. That will provide more cushion at contact and be kinder to the injured area.
That said, here’s an alphabetized list of some recent racquet releases from different manufacturers that don’t stray too far from the Pure Aero’s playability, but beat it in terms of comfort. It’s clearly not definitive; just the ones I have personally found to be easier on the arm while still holding their own between the lines.
