Customize your racquet so that it better suits your game. There are several ways a racquet can be customized to play better for you.

Why customize a racquet?

There are several reasons why you may wish to modify your existing racquet:

• Match the specs on multiple racquets
• Add weight to increase power and stability, or adjust the swingweight and/or balance
• Increase the size of the handle
• Change the grip profile of a handle
• Change the grommets to replace broken holes and/or add weight to the head

Every pro player, or serious club player will have multiple, similar racquets. This allows you to hit with consistency and always have a backup if and when you break a string. When you play with multiple racquets that are the same make and model, it is advantageous to ensure that they are all similar in weight, balance and grip-size. Even the same racquets from the factory will have minor variances in these specifications. This is where customizing your racquets to get consistent specifications can really help your game.

Customizing a racquet can be a great way to improve the racquet you already know and love. Strong players may benefit from increasing the weight of the racquet by placing lead tape in the head, throat and handle areas of the racquet. This may help with stability, plow-through, and swingweight. Adding weight can also affect the balance of the racquet, so if you prefer a more head-light racquet, you can add weight to the handle and throat areas.

A handle that is too small for your hand will cause you to over-grip the racquet too tightly trying to hang on to it. This is a leading factor in developing wrist, forearm and tennis elbow conditions. To thicken a handle, you can simply put another grip or over-wrap over it, or go right back to the frame and put a larger pallet on it. Heat-shrink sleeves can also be used to thicken a grip.

Similarly, if you already have too many layers of grip on your handle, and/or it’s too big, there are ways to reduce this also.