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Copy-cat racquet matching

Q: A friend of mine had his cousin visit from out of town, and because my friend doesn’t play tennis, he asked if I would hit with his cousin. His cousin was really good, and I noticed that he had lead tape on his racquet. He let me hit with his racquet, and I really liked the way it felt. I looked where he put the lead tape, and copied it on my racquet the next day. Even with the identical amount and placement of lead tape, my racquet feels completely different from his. Why does the lead tape feel so much better on his racquet than it does on mine?

A: There’s no “one size fits all” amount of lead tape that works on every racquet. If your racquet is a different make and/or model, only by sheer luck would copying someone else’s modifications work the same way on your racquet. If the two racquets are the same make and model, there can still be large variances, depending on grip size, manufacturing tolerances, replacement and overgrip selection, string, tension, etc.

In order to match racquets the way you are trying to do it, you need to know the weight, balance, and swingweight of each racquet, and then you’ll need to use the on-line tools at RacquetTECH.com to calculate where to apply the lead tape. Keep in mind that not every racquet can be matched to every other racquet, but if your racquet can be matched to the other racquet, merely copying the placement of lead tape you see on the other racquet is virtually guaranteed to result in failure.

From the August 2007 issue
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