FIRST

nadal isnt gunna get a grand slam anyway... hes wasting his time

But will his shoulder hurt more due to increase in weight? Also, it depends on if Nadal will be hitting more across the ball vs up and around the ball. More power if he hits across, uncertain when he hit up and or around. Will he keep the lower string tension he recently began? Questions abound.

the "eureka" aspect of this decision as expressed by nadal seems a tad disingenuous. the whole heavier racquet episode seems to beg the question: why was nadal using a light racquet in the first place? after all, it must have been a conscious choice, and one that led to a lot of success. what has changed?

I don't know this for sure, but a while back I heard from a seemingly credible source (a pro racquet stringer in nyc) that nadal is relatively unfussy and buys stock babolat racquets to which he then adds weight to bring them up to "350". if true and that was in grams, that would mean his racquets were already 12.3 + ounces - not so light.

I tried adding weight to some of my racquets, experimenting with heavier frames for more power. Hitting the ball, definitely more power due to inertia; the problem I found is racquet preparation. Not easy to ERP with a heavier racquet, especially on those quick returning awkward balls.

Ouuuuch.

Appears really incongruent. On one hand, he is taking a month off to rest his sore shoulder. On the other, he is adding weight to the stick. If he is looking for a bigger serve, the added weight will be on the head. Yes. He will ge a bigger pop off the ball if he swings that weight harder. It is not accurate to state that a lesser swing is needed to achieve more pop. The same racket head speed will require more effort.

He may be headed to a bigger serve. And many months of recovery.

He'll add more speed to his shots, but won't be able to hit the ball with as much topspin as he usually does. And that's the way he beats Fed- the topspin high to the backhand. This is all in a response to losing to Joker 6 times last year. It's not gonna help.

"he is taking a month off to rest his sore shoulder"

No. It has been incorrectly reported, but no matter how many times it gets repeated it won't make it true. He doesn't have tournaments scheduled for February, but he hasn't had tournaments scheduled for February for a couple of years already and there was no reason to expect him to add tournaments this year - it would have been very surprising if he had. The only difference this year compared to last year around the same time is that he won't play the first round tie of Davis Cup (at home on clay against Kazakhstan so I assume Spain should manage without him).

as I recall from high school physics, F = MA - force equals mass times acceleration. so with a higher mass racquet, the player could get the same force with less acceleration, or more force with the same acceleartion, etc ..

however another distant recollection from the same class is that energy cannot be created or destroyed. so if in fact there is more force from the new racquet than the old (both inert objects), the added energy must be coming from the player. which means no free lunch - to hit harder shots you have to work more.

Hey guys, first a great tennis year to you all. Nobody brings the "stability factor" as he might have felt a little bit pushed out by the flat shots of his opponents. My guess is that its more a stability seeking decision than a power one. And at 335 grams Nadal's racquet weren't that heavy to start with.

Rafa shouldn't be giving his trade secrets away.

nadal please win australian open!

It should be noted that the racket R. Nadal has been using thus far has been an Aero Pro Drive especially customized for him, as is the case with most players' rackets. So any additional weight will be added to this already cusomized frame that bears little relation to the standard racket, as it is already over 340gms I seem to recall, without this further additional customization now announced. I posted a question on his The Times blog to this effect this year and that was the succinct answer to my question (see: http://www.nadalnews.com/2011/06/21/wimbly-times-qa-1/).

Hi Justin,

(I bet you hate spelling your surname...)
I have a question that's been bugging me for a long time and nobody seems to know the answer.
It's not exactly gear/technical, but you may be able to throw some light on it:
During USO 2010, Nadal's serve was apparently significantly faster, "experts" incl. Nadal said it was a simple change of the grip.
Whatever it was, it was hugely successful.
Why did he drop it after that USO?
In his desire to beat Novak in 2012 he went for the quickest and most obvious route: improving serve, but why not go back to the USO2010 scenario, why a heavier racquet and shoulder injury?

His racket last few years has been 334 grams including strings. By that it is one of the lightest rackets on the atp tour. Average is 356 grams.

And btw Nadals racket is a stock racket, just with added leadtape. Most of the other top 50 players have customized racket that is wuite different from the racket you can buy in shops, different balance, length, stiffness of frame, stringpattern, material mix even.

As an older player (64) I resist the current wisdom that racket technology has improved. It may have improved for, or even created the extreme top spin - high racket head speed game that is taught today. But for the more traditional style of player, there are few rackets made for us any more. I played with the Wilson Pro-Staff 6.0 95 for years. When it was discontinued I searched for a racket with the similar stats and playing characteristics and settled on the Tecnifibre TFight 335. Now that it has been discontinued I am searching again. What did these rackets offer me? Comfort, control, and lack of injury. I tried lighter-100 inch frames as I got older, but I'll gladly sacrifice power for the comfort and control of a more traditional frame.

Justin,

Here is a story about Nadal's racquet weight...What does it mean? Does it make sense?

"Babolat, who regularly support professional players and respond to their precise needs, told us that rather than focussing on the overall weight of the racket, they have fine-tuned Nadal’s racket swing weight by seven points to make it more head heavy and provide extra punch through the air."

http://www.tennishead.net/tennis-gear/whatshot/1190552/nadal_opts_for_added_oomph_with_racket.html

Nadal already or used to hit topspin winners at like 110 mph or higher. I don't think his groundstrokes will increase in speed. His ability to flick winners on passing shots might suffer.

Although a heavier racket will reduce "tennis elbow" injuries, there is no way it will be easier on his shoulder (try swinging a MUCH heavier racket repeatedly, to see the effect).

I suspect that Nadal is coming up with a new excuse for what we will see is a new faster serve at the Australian Open 2012. It won't be a heavier racket that gives him his new speed, it will be something Dr. Cotorro has for him (just ask Raonic, who uses the same Dr.).

"Why did he drop it after that USO?"

It's not just the serve that was working really well, his whole game was. When the serve is faster, the ball also comes back faster, and that doesn't suit his game generally, unless it's really, really on. Also, he got shoulder problems for the first time (that I've heard) after that, so there maybe was a connection to that serve.

"In his desire to beat Novak in 2012 he went for the quickest and most obvious route: improving serve, but why not go back to the USO2010 scenario, why a heavier racquet and shoulder injury?"

First of all, it's not all about Novak, and Rafa is constantly trying to improve his game and it wasn't at its best last year, so something had to be done anyway. (They already wanted to change the racquet weight after Wimbledon since there was a longish break there, but since Rafa was injured and couldn't practise anyway, they had to postpone it. Now they are pretty much in the same situation, since he couldn't practise much during the off season either, but oh well... can't just keep putting it off.) Second, I don't know if it's the most obvious, but it certainly isn't the quickest route for him to improve his serve, he's been working on it all his career. Third, the slightly heavier racquet head isn't just for the serve, but to get more winners more easily. And fourth, the heavier racquet isn't the cause of the shoulder injury, he got that before the change.

(And those who think it's "much heavier" - it isn't.)

Hi Justin,
The latest is that Nadal added 3 grams to the racquet head. That sounds pretty minimal to me. Your thoughts?

This is much ado about nothing. Players tweak their rackets weight from time to time to get different performance characteristics. And, in general - heavier is better for power, control and health. I would guess the total weight difference is just a few grams. I believe Murray and Federer have changed weight a few grams in their careers without it making a big news story. The biggest mistake rec players make is playing with a racket that is too light. Also, I think the racket manufacturers are missing the boat as there seems to be trend that new models have lower swing weight.

He said THREE Grams!!!! Three!!! GRAMS to the TOP
It does not make the racket heavy!!! Or make injuries...COMON GUYS

Of course, I fully agree that a heavier racket is more powerful than a lighter one. ( E=MC² as we all know !)

However, I doubt that adding 20 g is that significant.

My understanding of the question is that powerful rackets are the one which frames are the biggest. The restitution of energy by the strings is then magnified.

This is the reason why every coach ( even on this site ) recommends the stubborn Roger Federer to change for a bigger frame.

d, your comments regarding F=MA are right on, but an additional point is angular momentum. If you watch slow-motion serves of virtually all professionals, you'll see the racket is at about 90 degrees to the forearm until the arm is almost straight. This method, which utilizes angular momentum when the racket (and hand) rotates at the wrist, allows for the most racket head speed with the least amount of physical effort. It's the same basic principle as used in a golf club or baseball bat swing.