Beginner vs. Intermediate
vs. Advanced Racquets
Beginner vs. Intermediate vs. Advanced Racquets
As a player’s skills improve and their game evolves, so do the demands of their equipment. That’s why you’ll often find tennis racquets categorized into one of these buckets: beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
The goal is to help players at various levels of the game select the best racquet for their needs. However, if you’re new to the game or don’t spend countless hours geeking out on gear like I do, it might not be clear what differentiates each racquet type. After all, if you want to become an expert tennis player, wouldn’t it make sense to use an advanced racquet?
To help clarify, I’ll discuss and compare how racquets differ by skill level, highlight the specs and attributes that define them, and share why following these rough guidelines is useful.
Beginner
Like any sport, tennis requires players to develop fundamental skills and techniques to play the game effectively. Even if you’re skilled in another sport, the basic mechanics, movement patterns, and body positioning won’t directly translate; they take time to develop.
The top racquet brands recognize the challenge players face when first getting started, so they develop gear with distinct characteristics to aid in the process and make learning how to play easier and more fun.
The following characteristics make beginner racquets more powerful, spin-friendly, and easier to use, helping to flatten the learning curve.
- Lightweight
- Larger head sizes
- Open string patterns
- Stiff, thicker beams
- Head heavy balance
- Lower cost materials
If any of this terminology has you scratching your head, my article on racquet specs explains them in detail.
Lightweight
At first, new players lack the coordination to execute shots such as forehands, serves, and volleys. Therefore, lighter, easier-to-maneuver racquets can facilitate the development of these motor skills.
Larger Head Sizes
The larger a racquet’s head size, the more power it generates due to the enhanced trampoline effect, where the ball sinks deeper into the strings and rebounds faster, increasing its velocity.
Early on, beginners tend to lack power. Their strokes are shorter or more compact, and their technique is underdeveloped, making it more challenging to hit deep and play the entire length of a court.
Larger head sizes help to compensate. As an added benefit, the larger the head size, the more surface area is available for the strings, providing beginners with a larger target when swinging to hit the ball.
Open String Patterns
All racquets have a set of vertical (main) and horizontal (cross) strings. For example, a 16×19 string pattern refers to a racquet with 16 mains and 19 crosses. The fewer the number of strings, the more open the string pattern. Open string patterns have more space between them, which helps grip the ball as it brushes against them, increasing spin potential.
Players primarily generate spin through racquet head speed and technique, including the optimal grip. Assuming the correct grip, the faster a player swings, the more spin they’ll be able to produce.
Once again, mastering these takes time, so an open string pattern can enhance spin and make it easier for beginners to generate. An open string pattern also supports power by reducing stringbed stiffness, allowing the ball to sink further and rebound faster.
Stiff, Thicker Beams
The beam refers to the outer edge of a racquet’s frame. Thicker beams increase rigidity, resulting in a stiffer racquet. Rather than absorb energy, these frames deflect it, increasing power.
Head Heavy Balance
Since beginner racquets tend to be lighter, they often distribute more weight towards the top, also known as head heavy.
This balance serves two purposes. It increases power, much like a hammer applies force with more weight at the top, and enhances stability by maintaining added control swinging through the ball.
Lower Cost Materials
Brands recognize that new participants aren’t usually ready to spend $200+ on a performance model when first trying out the sport.
So, they consciously choose to design many of these frames with low-cost materials and basic construction methods, which helps reduce the price of beginner racquets and barriers to entry.
Intermediate
With enough practice, players lock in the fundamental technique and skills required to rally consistently, hit with pace, target specific locations on the court, and play competitively.
This transition happens slowly, and there are plenty of milestones in between, but as players acquire these skills, what they require from their racquet to continue their development and perform their best evolves.
The following characteristics make intermediate racquets ideal for enhancing player skills and furthering development.
- Mid-range weight
- Mid-size heads
- Open string patterns
- Moderate stiffness and beams
- Head light balance
- Premium materials
Mid-range weight
As a player’s skills improve, so do their peers. Stroke and ball speeds increase at the intermediate level, so extra weight provides added stability to help the racquet remain steady and controlled through contact.
Mid-size Heads
At this stage, players will begin to generate their own pace through sound technique, so the amount they require from their racquet diminishes, and the importance of accuracy becomes more crucial.
Reducing the size of a racquet’s head provides a more optimal balance between power and control, helping a player develop further, relying more on their skill than the racquet’s raw power.
Open String Patterns
If you keep the same open string pattern, such as 16×19, but shrink the head size, the space between the strings decreases.
This change slightly reduces grip for spin and rebound for power, but intermediate players compensate with faster swing speeds, which provide more nuanced control over these two attributes.
Swinging the pendulum too far with a closed or tighter string pattern has the potential to frustrate intermediate players who are actively working to refine their technique for greater consistency.
Moderate Stiffness & Beams
Once again, intermediate players will be looking to strike a balance between power and control, so moving to a racquet that’s less stiff with mid-range beam thickness will help enhance precision.
Added benefits can include improved feedback, a more predictable response, and less shock and vibration for more comfort.
Head Light Balance
As a racquet’s weight increases, manufacturers must adjust its distribution further toward the handle; otherwise, the racquet will become unwieldy. Since intermediate racquets feature more weight than beginner models, they tend to shift it away from the head, resulting in a head light balance to help maintain adequate maneuverability.
Premium Materials
Manufacturers use higher-quality materials and complex construction methods, which are more labor-intensive, to enhance performance and provide a finer-tuned hitting experience.
These added costs and substantial marketing budgets to sell premium models result in a more expensive product, which gets passed on to the player. As a result, intermediate racquets are more costly.
Ultimately, players who have developed to this stage will have committed substantial time to the sport, so they’ll be more willing to invest more heavily in their gear to perform their best.
Advanced
Players who dedicate years to their craft will compete at increasingly high levels, with their development extending beyond the court and a greater emphasis on physical conditioning and strength.
At this stage, players perfect their technique, allowing them to generate significant power on demand while emphasizing the precision necessary to execute thoughtful strategies and patterns for optimal performance.
The following racquet characteristics enable advanced players to hone their skills while giving them finer-grain control that they can dictate through their deep experience and rock-solid technique.
- Heavier weight
- Smaller head sizes
- Tighter string patterns
- Lower stiffness and beams
- Head light balance
- Premium materials
- Customization
Heavier Weight
Like moving from beginner to intermediate racquets, advanced players who upgrade their frames often look for more weight. That’s because their opponents will be hitting harder, so adding weight will once again provide another layer of stability.
Depending on a player’s unique needs, this change could involve a new, heavier racquet or adding weight to their existing frame.
Smaller Head Sizes
Most highly skilled tennis players will top out at 100 in² (645 cm²) for their racquet’s head size, with many dropping down a few inches. The goal of moving to a smaller head size is to enhance control.
These days, the 97 and 98 in² (626, 632 cm²) are increasingly popular among this group as they increase control without sacrificing the power necessary to remain offensive and hit through or past their opponent.
However, plenty of players, including the pros, still use 100 in² head sizes, especially when their game revolves around aggressive baseline play, which demands sufficient power and spin.
Tighter String Patterns
Advanced players who move from a 100 in² head size to a 98 in² while maintaining a 16×19 setup decrease the space between their strings, resulting in a tighter string bed – a natural side effect. However, many advanced players also transition to a closed 18×20 string pattern.
In both cases, reducing the space between the strings increases string bed stiffness, which reduces rebound for less power and lowers the ball’s flight path or shot trajectory, giving a greater sense of control.
While it’s still common to find players competing at the highest level with a 100 in² and a 16×19 string pattern, you’ll see more and more advanced players opting for tighter string patterns.
Less Stiff & Thinner Beams
Through experience, advanced players become more attuned to the feel of their racquets, with many reaching for more flexible options with thinner beams. These softer, more forging models provide a degree of connectedness with the ball for a more responsive feel, subsequently enhancing their ability to control it. They’re also less powerful.
Although the general trend for advanced players will be towards added flexibility in their frames, it’s not a hard and fast rule. Plenty who prefer to play with maximum power and spin will still use stiffer, highly dynamic frames; ultimately, it’s a personal preference.
Head Light Balance
For heavier advanced racquets, the balance shifts further to the handle to maintain adequate maneuverability. As a result, many of these models will feature more dramatic head light balance.
Once again, there’s plenty of variability here among the world’s best players, but this general trend is common.
Premium Materials
There’s not much difference in materials between intermediate and advanced racquets. In both cases, manufacturers rely on the highest-quality materials to optimize performance, recognizing that these players will pay top dollar to perform their best.
Customization
Although customization can occur at all levels of the game to fit a player with the best racquet for their needs, it’s increasingly common for advanced players to tune their racquets specifically for their game.
In some cases, this may happen with the support of an experienced racquet technician. However, many players are happy to tackle basic customizations such as changing their grip size or adding weight.
Despite the wide range of models that a company might provide for a given racquet, they can’t account for every player’s exact needs, so it’s natural for players to experiment. By aligning their racquet’s specs with the nuances of their game, many players can achieve better performance.
A Side-by-Side Comparison
Here’s a quick recap of the different characteristics you can expect from beginner, intermediate, and advanced racquets.
| Attribute | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced |
| Weight | Lightweight | Mid-Range | Heavier |
| Head Size | Larger | Mid-Sized | Smaller |
| String Pattern | Open | Open | Tighter |
| Stiffness/Beam | Stiff, Thicker | Moderate | Less Stiff, Thinner |
| Balance | Head Heavy | Head Light | Head Light |
| Materials | Low Cost | Premium | Premium |
| Customization | Rare | Limited | Frequent |
Ultimately, these are rough guidelines. There’s a lot of grey area and crossover between stages, which I’ll explore further in the next section.
Crossover
As helpful as organizing racquets or their attributes by skill level can be, you’ll likely notice a lot of grey areas. More specifically, not all racquets fit perfectly into each bucket, and many players will opt to use racquets with characteristics that fall outside of their skill level.
For example, beginners might purchase racquets with intermediate attributes, while many advanced players continue using an “intermediate” frame or may customize one to better suit their needs, and that’s okay.
Consider the following 2022 models of EZONE racquets:
| Spec | EZONE 98 | EZONE 98 Tour |
| Head Size | 98 in² (632 cm²) | 98 in² (632 cm²) |
| Length | 27 in (69 cm) | 27 in (69 cm) |
| Strung Weight | 11.4 oz (323 g) | 11.7 oz (332 g) |
| Balance | 6 pts HL (32.49 cm) | 4 pts HL (32.99 cm) |
| Swingweight | 314 | 332 |
| Stiffness | 65 | 64 |
| Beam Width | 23.5 mm / 24.5 mm / 19.5 mm | 23.5 mm / 24.5 mm / 19.5 mm |
| String Pattern | 16×19 | 16×19 |
| Recommended Tension | 45-60 pounds | 45-60 pounds |
| Materials | 2G-NAMD Speed / HM Graphite | 2G-NAMD Speed / HM Graphite |
Each racquet offers similar specs, but the Tour model has 9 grams of extra weight, is slightly more flexible (RA rating of 65 vs. 64), and balances more weight toward the handle.
Both racquets can work well for intermediate and advanced players. However, the EZONE Tour’s specs will generally skew toward an advanced player’s preferences.
The goal of qualifying racquets by skill level is simply to encourage players to use frames that enhance their performance and development while allowing them to have the most fun on the court. That’s it.
Ultimately, it’s a personal preference. The most important thing is that players recognize the pitfalls of jumping too far ahead or not upgrading as their skills develop, which can stunt growth. I see this happen most frequently with newer players who buy the model their favorite player uses, which ends up being cumbersome and challenging to handle, making learning how to play much more difficult than it needs to be.
Regardless of your stage, I hope what I’ve shared provides some practical insight into the differences between beginner, intermediate, and advanced racquets so that you can find a frame you’ll love.
Home > Gear > Racquets > Beginner vs. Intermediate vs. Advanced
5-Point Friday
A brief recap of the five most interesting things I’m enjoying or thinking about in tennis.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!