I am wondering what type of racket is best for backhand overhand clears? Head Heavy, even balance, stiff, or flexible. Or is it just all in the technique and individual player's personal preference. My guess is that the stiff and flex part depends on the player, but a head heavy racket will give the backhand clear more power.
IMO the best racket type for back hand clear is a flexible heavy head racket. If you have enough power then a stiff heavy head racket is fine.
In my opinion, any racket is god for backhand clear. It's just practice and good technique that gives the player a good backhand, not the racket.
Borrow all the different types of rackets "Head Heavy, even balance, stiff, or flexible" etc, from your buddies and practice backhand clears with them. The one that feels the best for you, is THE ONE. -dave
Phandrew is correct...I would only add that you begin with a racket that is flexible and has low tension not over 18x22#....this will allow your technique to catch up...Tension is very important because your technique is not good yet so you hit off center a lot and the low tension is more forgiving...
Pursuing the discussion on this matter in this old thread. Same question as OP. I do know technique is what will always prevail. Yet I find myself having a hard time to clear to the end of the court of my opponent when I am really pushed in my own deep backhand corner or/and when doing continuous smashes defence and trying to send the shuttle back to the back court of my opponent. It's something I can do when doing drills but when playing matches, especially tournaments, I tend to finish the day not being able to send the shuttle far enough. Again no questioning that using the proper backhand technique will always be the best solution to send the shuttle back with any kind of rackets and I am working on my technique during training sessions. But as I am considering getting a new racket I was wondering if a head light racket would be easier to help me generate stronger backhand clears than a head heavy racket. I play singles but I tend to play long rallies with a somehow solid defence let's say and I like my neutral balanced rackets and was thinking of getting a head light one but I am worried about those backhand clears. Any feedback from personal experiences? Thank you. EDIT: I play 3U rackets.
What rackets exactly? Head light might be a compromise too far for only a small gain for a limited number of times. I find it easier to backhand clear with a HH racket than HL. Weight helps but only if you can apply enough force. If you don't want to sacrifice racket specs and string tension then aim for aerodynamics. A slow feeling boxy racket vs a fast feeling aerodynamic racket with the exact same specs should give you more speed plus less energy is wasted.
No specific rackets in mind just yet. I'm first trying to find the right profile for now. Well that makes sense, thanks. So I should head towards a high end racket for aerodynamics and more technologies. I'm a bit skeptic about racket technologies but I tried a K8 2 weeks ago and I was pretty impressed I admit... I only played it for a match so backhands were fine but it's another story on a whole day at tournaments so I can't really judge or sense if it would be better. Playing singles, I guess HH makes more sense even though I have a defensive profile. I do a lot of drop shots so a HH racket could help for that too.
It would be useful to know which rackets you currently have and prefer then we can probably recommend a suitable selection to try. A yonex Duora of some sort might work for you as it will be even balance, has an aero side for backhands and boxy side for forehand.
I own Lining MP UC5000, TK770, & AVP. Going both forehand or backhand, i find it easier to push the shuttle far & high with TK770 than AVP. The heaviest of all 3, 99gr while AVP is 94gr & less head heavy. Sometimes if im getting carried away & forgot to hold some power, i end up pushing the bird out. But compare AVP with Ln UC5000, UC5000 is easier as its mid flex & 96gr. But it is me, a muscle man. My hand not fast but strong enough for swinging heavy racket. Other might have different physical attribute which might be able to generate more power with lighter or less head heavy racket, so cant say for sure.
That's totally true and I should have precise it. My main rackets for the last 2 seasons were a pair of duora 55 strung at 11.5 kg with BG80. Even balance, medium flex and 4U. I liked playing with those until one of my club throw an old Yonex Omega 5 from 2010 in the trash. It's slightly HL, medium flex and 3U. I cleaned it up, strung it with BG80 at 11.5kgs and I just upped my game from a good notch thanks to this racket. It's not a good quality racket but somehow I play better with it. I have more impact and I am more precise. I was basically looking for a second racket in 3U with the same profile or slightly different (I was thinking may be more HL at first). I can do proper backhand clears during drills. But it's never the same in matches or worse during long tournament days. I know more strength and stamina (and of course better technique) will help more than a racket since I position myself later and later to the shuttle after few matches but I basically wanted to relaunch the thread to know if a certain racket profile would help for backhand clears.
Well that's some good input, thank you! So again HH rackets seems to help a bit. Not much Singles players using HL rackets anyway. I guess there is a reason...
Yah, at least slightly head heavy 3U (>38.0g dry head weight) and not too stiff shaft. This last factor is more important imho... for the whipping effect. Perhaps 3U AX77, VT70, TK7000S. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk