Guides 39 pieces

Guides & explainers.

How tennis gear actually works — string mechanics, racquet specs, tension behaviour, hybrid logic. Plain-English explainers, no marketing copy.

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001
Customization ·9 min · July 2026

Player Racquet Specifications: Why the Pro's Frame Isn't the One on the Shelf

The racquet Roger Federer sold you was never the racquet Roger Federer played. That is not a scandal.

002
Babolat ·5 min · July 2026

Babolat Pure Drive Gen 11 Wimbledon Edition: Same 300 Grams, Prettier Paint — and How to Store the Thing

The number that matters is 300 grams. That is the unstrung weight Babolat lists for the standard Pure Drive Gen 11, and it is the exact same figure the company publishes for the Wimbledon edition of…

003
Conditioning ·5 min · July 2026

Tennis Fitness: How We Came to Believe a Racquet Sport Was Serious Conditioning — and Whether the Evidence Holds

Somewhere in the last decade, "tennis adds years to your life" hardened from a research finding into a piece of folk wisdom.

004
Comparison ·6 min · July 2026

Tennis Fitness vs. Running vs. the Gym: Which Actually Conditions You Better?

Nobody doubts that a treadmill counts as exercise. The doubt lives elsewhere: can a sport people play for laughs on Sunday mornings deliver the kind of conditioning that running programs and gym…

005
Overgrips ·4 min · July 2026

Overgrip Review: Does Easy Installation Actually Predict a Better Grip?

There is a piece of received wisdom that circulates in stringing rooms and forum threads alike: if an overgrip wraps on smoothly — good stretch, forgiving backing, no puckering at the bevels — that…

006
Community ·5 min · July 2026

Founder Credibility and the Tennis Community: What a "Certified Expert" Badge Actually Buys You

There are, by the USRSA's own accounting, only a few thousand people who hold the Master Racquet Technician certification worldwide.

007
Grips ·9 min · July 2026

The Serve Is a Shot: How Tennis Came to Treat It Differently, and What the Evidence Actually Says

The serve is the only stroke in tennis you begin from a standstill, on your own terms, with the ball in your own hand. No one hits it to you.

008
Injury ·9 min · July 2026

Wrist Exercises for Tennis: What Actually Loads the Tissue That Gets Sore

Most players who complain about their wrist have a forearm problem wearing a wrist costume. The joint aches, sure — the discomfort is real and it lands right at the base of the thumb or across the…

009
Rules ·6 min · July 2026

Tennis Faults Aren't Your Problem — The Second Serve Is

Here is a claim that sounds wrong: the fault is not the thing costing you the match. A single serve landing in the net or long is worth nothing on its own. It is neutral.

010
Tennis Elbow ·5 min · July 2026

Tennis Elbow Treatment: Counterforce Braces vs. Compression Sleeves, Compared

Walk into any pharmacy or sporting-goods aisle with a sore elbow and you will find two products sitting inches apart, both promising relief, both aimed at the same problem, and both built on entirely…

011
Rules ·6 min · June 2026

Three Serves, One Toss: What the Rules and the Technique Actually Let You Do

You have stood at the baseline, down a break point, and asked yourself some version of this: what am I actually allowed to do here, and which serve gives me the best odds?

012
WTA ·9 min · June 2026

The Diamond Racquet and the Crystal Cup: How Luxury Tennis Equipment Became a Trophy Worth More Than the House

There is a tennis racquet you are not allowed to hit a ball with. It is set with more than 1,700 diamonds, it was valued at roughly $1.3 million, and for a few years in the early 2000s it sat in a…