Padel rackets: How to find the right padel racket for beginners

As with tennis, the most important piece of equipment for your padel experience is the padel racket. If you look around in the shops or in the big online stores, the huge selection will probably overwhelm you at first. In addition to pure padel brands such as Bullpadel, there are also padel rackets from all renowned tennis brands, even adidas produces high-quality padel rackets, even if they don't currently have any tennis rackets in their range.

When you go to the padel court for the first time, you will of course rent a racket. But if you are as infected by the sport as many beginners are, buying your own racket is highly recommended. There are just a few important parameters to get you started. We want to explain them clearly here and give you important tips on how to find the right padel racket.

Tennis players know the "triad" of racket selection: Size of the hitting surface, racket weight and balance. Here are the facts for your choice.
Padel rackets are up to 46 centimetres long, up to 38 millimetres thick and weigh between 340 and 390 grams.

The hitting surface is perforated because, unlike a tennis racket, there is no stringing. The air holes minimize air resistance when swinging. The hitting surface is usually smooth, but there are also textured surfaces. The hard shell of the padel racket contains a high-tech foam that virtually accelerates the ball out of the surface, but then immediately returns to its original volume.

The handle is shorter than that of a tennis racket because two-handed strokes are rare in padel.

1. The basics

2. Hitting surface and sweet spots

As with tennis rackets, the size of the hitting surface is also an important criterion for padel rackets. The larger it is, the more forgiving it is. This is due to the so-called sweet spot, i.e. the area that is most likely to hit the ball. The larger the hitting surface of your padel racket, the larger the sweet spot - and therefore the more likely you are to hit the ball cleanly.

Manufacturers generally offer three club head variants. These are round racket heads, teardrop-shaped racket heads and finally the diamond shape for extra power. As a beginner, you are therefore in the right place with a padel racket that corresponds to the round shape. The sweet spot is large, and even if you don't hit balls perfectly in the middle of the racket, the ball won't fly anywhere uncontrollably.

3. The balance

Here again, the introduction to tennis: the balance point is an important criterion for tennis rackets, which also has a limited effect on the padel racket. A heavier racket head in tennis means that the swing is accelerated from bottom to top, which helps to achieve more topspin (forward rotation of the ball). However, this is irrelevant in padel due to the lack of strings, which claw into the ball on impact.

With padel rackets, the balance describes whether the racket is comfortable and easy to play or requires a lot of effort. As a general rule, grip-heavy rackets, where the racket weight is oriented more towards the grip, are easier and quicker to maneuver. Top-heavy clubs are more suitable for experienced players with strong hitting arms who want to convert their swing into speed.

Racquets with a balance point of less than 265mm are considered grip-heavy. A neutral balance point is around 270mm and rackets with a balance point of over 275mm tend to be top-heavy.

How much should I spend on a padel racket as a beginner?

There are many padel rackets in the upper price ranges of over 200 euros. Padel rackets are made from high-quality materials such as carbon and fiberglass, which are difficult to process. The more sophisticated your game, the more you will feel the differences in terms of material composition.

To get started, however, it is sufficient to consider the racket shape, balance point and weight of your racket. We have many rackets from experienced manufacturers in our range that meet these criteria perfectly for beginners and start at just €39.95.

Here you can find selected padel rackets for beginners at the top price of €39.95

Awarded & safe
Your trust is our priority!

Padel-Point.com has high quality standards. Parts like data privacy, costs and payments, delivery conditions, returns and customer service are checked regularly.

  • 30 days money-back guarantee
  • Fast delivery
  • Best-price-guarantee
  • SSL encryption
  • Data privacy