when choosing a racquet, should a person choose one that augments their strengths or complements their weaknesses? for example, if a person is an aggresive/power player, should he/she get a racquet that adds additional power and strength, or should he/she get a racquet that may lack power (b/c he's already got lots of power) but has extra control and defence?
its all about comfort/feel, etc imo. if a person is a power player, they will be it with practically any racket they choose. the racket they choose is the one they feel most comfortable with. i have seen players could smash harder with a NS9K than with a AT700 before. the reason they chose the NS9K is because it felt better to them.
If a player is good at attacking, he/she should strengthens that aspect instead of covering the weakness. Like you would want double the attack rather than having some attack and some defense. Because if you choose a racquet that will cover up your defense but weakens your attack, you actually lost that bit attack, making you less threatening on court.
Attacking is the best defense ; so I would go for a racket which can further promotes my strength and style of playing. If you are an attack-minded player, you wouldn't like to be in situation where you need to win the game by ball placement or getting point by solid defending and force the opponent to make errors. You would be continuously terrorising the opponent with attacks in every possible angles. As such, most of the time, you will need the racket to go along with your playing style.
I think it depends. If a player is way superior in 1, and extremely lacking in another, then complement makes sense. If a player is only slightly better in one than the other, then make the good to be better gives him/her the upper edge. Overall, it really depends on the player. Also, there's a lot of racket does not go either extreme. If you have a way to use it, it may actually benefit on both.
I think it really does depend on the players choice. Some people who are attacking players , still don't enjoy playing with the Armrotec 700. Just choose a racket you like and that helps your game. You don't need to be TO technical about it.
if certain part is your weakness, then you should train up that area. For example, if you are poor in defence, having a defensive racket will not improve your defence. Same for attack, if your smashes are poor, having a attacking racket will not improve your smash. So IMHO, I feel a racket will improve your weakness unless you are a very complete player, which means even your weakness is your strength in a average player's eye. Having said that, If you are a complete player, then i would go for a racket that suit my style. so if i'm a attacking player, i will buy an attacking racket, if a more control player, i would go for a control racket, this is to make sure the selling point of my racket is fully utilise.
I agree with whiteink; I'm not quite sure I believe a racket on it's own can make up for a player's weaknesses. Just like in any other trade/sport/ etc. etc. I wouldn't hand my younger brother a box of Prismacolors in the hopes that he might draw better, crayolas more than suit his technical skills. On the other hand, if he showed a proficiency in color blending,perhaps I would. Tools can only do so much tohelp improve your skills. Better to use them to complment your strengths than gamble on magically improving your weaknesses.
