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The professional players of today all seem to have one thing in common, very high string tension in their badminton rackets. Virtually every medal winner has their badminton racket strung at over 30lbs tension, some as high as 36lbs. Another similar trend is in the actual rackets used, with the Armortec series being the most popular with the current best players. The Yonex Armortec rackets are all head heavy balanced, which makes them "high work" rackets, ie, they are the most difficult to use. Now whether or not these professionals are using the same spec rackets that you can buy in the shops is debatable.

The string tension is not though. All the players are going for extremely high tension. High tension gives more control. I have seen a few debates on forums about string tension and what it offers. People disagree on this subject. Some argue that low tension gives more control because the shuttle stays in contact with the strings longer. This view has been backed up by a famous ex professional player from the 70's and 80's. I totally disagree with this theory, and the science also disagrees with it. From my own personal experience, high racket string tension gives more control, period. Some of the previous posts touch on this. All the current professionals have high tension, so they must also know this. The top players have sound technique, they can generate power, they just need the extra control to harness this power, and this is where the strings come into it.

The fact that the Armortec badminton rackets are stiff adds to the control factor. However, the head heavy balance makes these racquets more cumbersome to use. I just wonder if any of the top players customize their rackets with a bit of extra weight on the handle? The Indonesians tend to have over-grips that go right up the shaft, which would make the head heavy balance become more even weighted, or even head light. I have touched on this before in previous posts, about making the perfect badminton racket for power and ease of use. I have suggested that a head heavy balanced racquet, which is then turned into a head light/even balance by adding weight to the handle will give the best possible combination of power, performance and ease of use. Perhaps the professionals do this.

Based on the information from Yonex, Lee Chong Wei also has his racket strung at between 30-33lbs, but he uses the Armortec 900P. Again, he chooses a racket with a bit of weight in the head to begin with. Remember, weight is good, it helps you to generate power. Ridiculously light weight rackets do not help you, all they do is destroy your arm, despite what their manufacturers tell you. When you find youself stuck at the back of the court, unable to get the shuttlecock on the ground, because this is what will happen when you come up against better players with good defenses, you will then realize that your shiny ultra light weight racket is useless to you. Cue the arm and shoulder injuries as you try your hardest to gain power by swinging away.

Does this mean that you should copy what the professionals do? Hell no. Head heavy badminton rackets are the worst for shoulder injuries. I guess the playing career of a pro is short, but i truly believe that they are all risking problems later on in life if they are in fact using these racquets. I also believe that the pros do customize their rackets. Another difference between the pros and the rest is that they have sound technique. They are far more effective at hitting the shuttle consistently, day after day, year after year, and so less stress is placed on their arm and shoulder muscles and joints.

I have said this before, but the only thing you should concern yourself with is you, and your game. There is no point in having high string tensions if you can't play with your racket like this. You need to find the right balance for yourself, between power and control. Everyone is different, and you may just as easily find you get all the control you need at a relatively low tension, compared to someone else who needs high tension for control.

Now here i am telling you that high tension equals more control, based on my own experience, and also from the racket science i have researched. So what? You may well find this does not apply to you. The only way to know is to experiment with different tensions, and see how you play. There are always exceptions, and one of the Olympic medalists had their racket strung at 24-26lbs, much lower than the others. This just shows that you don't have to follow the trends, and is a clear example of just how personal your tension is to you. All that matters is how you play, regardless of what equipment you use. But bear in mind that there are things you can do to make things easier on your arm and shoulder by experimenting with your badminton equipment.

Matching string gauge and tension 

In badminton, the direct contact of shuttlecocks when delivering a smash, a shooting loop or even a drop shot is the badminton string. Much of the power in a badminton shot comes from the string. Thus, it is very important to know a little on how the differences in badminton strings and its tension can affect your game. It is all about tension relating to power and control.

By adjusting the string tension, you can adjust the amount of power or control that you get from any string, thick or thin. There is coordination between these tension, power and control. Tension and power are related. So are power and control.

Playing with a higher tension racket

If you applied more tension on your string, you will have a stiffer string bed. With a stiffer string bed, you will get a good control feeling as the shuttlecock bounces off the string bed instantly once in contact with the string, allowing players to control his game and adjusted its placing instantly. racket strung at high tension using thin string tends to build up speed on your drive shot and counter attack. Don’t misunderstood control as merely defense. Control is the ability to hit hard and placed the shuttle to where you want it to be. Please take note that If you strung your racket with the same high tension using a thicker string and a thinner string, you will feel that the thinner string is tighter and therefore less power when compare with the thicker string. Thinner string tends to loss its tension faster as compare with thicker string, thus thinner string is not advisable to string with tension that is too low.

In Malaysia, thinner strings like the micro-filament synthetic string are normally used to string high- tension racket.  Players knew that tension would lose out certain percentage after playing for a week or two, so to get the best out of a thin string; the tension should be increased by certain percentage higher.

 With higher tension on thick string, that is stretching the string closed to its elastic limits- the shuttle would not be able to reach your opponent with high speed when you smash with normal strength, as the string bed are so stiff and lack of flexibility and elasticity to help you delivered the power. Thus, you need to use more strength on your smashes and believe me with more strength and high tension, you will be able to score points on your smashes unless you don’t have the strength to play a high tension racket. With higher tension on thinner string, you would be able to get some elasticity but not the durability.  In another word; if your racket was over tension and is beyond your physical ability to handle it, the best way is to slightly reduce the string tension. Do not reduce your string tension drastically, reduce it a pound or two at a time so that you can still maintain your control as well as increased your power.

Alternatively, you can string your racket with a higher elasticity strings that naturally has more power. Natural guts and micro-filament synthetic strings would be a good choice.

Either you string it with the same tension to get more power, or slightly increased the tension to a pound to get more control at the same time, more power.

I think you would like to consider the fact before restringing your racket that high-tension string tends to snap easier than lower tension string because stretching the string beyond its elastic limits would definitely loses its durability. And even with tremendous improvements in string technology, It is inevitable to avoid the fact that a thinner string tends to snap faster than thicker string. And if you are not those serious players who would
restring your racket frequently, try a thicker string and of course it is no harm trying a thinner string once in awhile to see if it snaps like what you expected.

Playing with a lower tension string

If you applied lower tension on your string, you will have a more bouncy string bed. With a bouncy string bed, you will get a good feeling as the shuttlecock stays in the string bed for a longer period before bounces off the string bed once in contact with the string, allowing players to adjust its powerful smash instantly. Upon impact, shuttlecock would landed deeper on a thinner gauge string, thus providing better power control and thinner gauge string also helps in minimizing air resistance enabling players to speed up for more power. racket strung at reasonably lower tension using thin string tends to build up power on smashes and baseline chopping. The term feeling means even though you hit the shuttle very softly or performing a drop shot, you are still able to place the shuttle to where you want it to be. Power would mean even if you smash using your normal strength, the shuttle were able to reach your opponent in high speed.

With lower string tension on a thinner string, that is stretching the string to reasonable elastic limits- there are more elasticity on the string and more rooms for string stretching resulting in a more bouncy feeling on the string bed upon impact. With the help of a bouncier string bed, the shuttle would be able to reach your opponent with high speed when you smash with normal strength, as the string bed have excellent flexibility and elasticity to help you delivered the power. But unfortunately, unlike thicker string that was able to hold its tension longer, thinner string, especially micro-filament strings tends to loss out its tension faster.

Unfortunately, It was also because of this bouncy characteristic; player would sometime find it difficult to adjust and control its stroke when delivering shooting loop and tends to send the shuttle away from court. Thus, you need to adjust your strength on your stroke and believe me you would be able to adapt to it quite well after practicing for some time.

Alternatively, to get a better control, the best way is to slightly increase the string tension. Do not increase your string tension drastically, increased it a pound or two at a time so that you can still maintain your control as well as increased your power. Take note that lower string tension on a thicker string might not provide you the elasticity needed as thick string tends to be less elastic though more durable.

String tensionPowerControlDurability  FeelVibration Lower Increase Decrease Increase Increase Decrease Higher Decrease Increase Decrease Decrease Increase

Different weather condition affected string tension

Badminton strings are sensitive to changes in temperature and very much affected by climates in different region of the world. In Malaysia and other South East Asia countries, the weather is rather warm and humid, thus the tension of strings tends loose out more rapidly though more durable comparing with strings played in cold and dry weather. Traditionally, most of the players in these regions prefer high tension stringing up to 24 lbs on thin micro-filament synthetic string.

Badminton strings is rather brittle in cold and dry countries Europe, United State and Canada. Thus, rackets are sting at a very much lower tension, recommended mostly around 18lbs to get an equivalent amount of control and power while still maintain its durability

Different material in shuttlecock affected string tension

In Malaysia and other Asian Countries, feather shuttlecock is mostly used for all levels of game. The favorite speed for a shuttle used in these regions is either 76 grains (slower) for a smaller hall or 77 grains (Faster) for a larger hall. As feather shuttlecocks are more flexible and weight around 5grams to 6grams, it didn’t create any strong impact on badminton strings, resulting in more durable strings on these regions. Thus, the best resilience thin string is the favorite choice for players in these regions.

Traditionally, in Europe, United State and Canada, plastic shuttlecock had become the favorite shuttlecock used by players. Due to its plastic nature, the shuttlecock tends to be less flexible and created a hard impact on badminton string, thus causing more string to snap. A thicker string strung at lower tension would be able to solve the “snapping” problem but player should maintain at least a certain amount of tension to balance the control and power needed for a good badminton match.

Article was quoted from prospeed.com.my

This is one of the most common questions that badminton players will ask. Well, after playing badminton for many years and reading badminton rackets feedback, I recommend there are several areas you may need to know before buying a racket.

-        Brands
There are many badminton brands available to choose, such as Yang Yang, Yonex, Wilson, Victor, Carlton, Head, Li-Ning etc. Among all the brands, Yonex is the most well established brand among international badminton communities. Yonex badminton rackets are generally more expensive than others. Good quality comes with good price as it is in most cases. Other brands are  almost as good as Yonex but with lower price.

-        Weight
The power of badminton rackets does not solely depend on the weight. It is not heavier the rackets are, more power they could generate. Don't forget who is the one swinging the rackets. Use the following formula to understand more of the power generated from a racket.
[racket head speed x racket head weight = power]
To obtain the optimum power, you need to be able to generate maximum racket head speed with a given weight of racket. How to generate optimum racket head speed depends on your muscles and correct techniques which are covered in other posts of this website.
Yonex has a very good system in indicating the weights of rackets they manufactured. 2U <90g, 3U 85-90g, 4U<85g. 3U rackets are the most popular ones as they could generate optimum level of power. 2Us are heavier with less racket head speed and 4Us are lighter faster but with less mass.

-        Weight distribution of racket
There are three kinds of badminton rackets available, head-light, even-balanced and head-heavy. Generally head-heavy rackets are more powerful than head-light racket. But they are offset by the slower racket head speed. Most players would use head-heavy rackets for singles, and head-light or even-balance rackets for doubles. Even-balance rackets are good for both doubles and singles. My personal preference is ArcSaber 10, which is being used by Taufik and Pete Gade. Fast Smasher Tan Boon Heong is currently using NanoSpeed 9900 and Ti 10 (purple). His strength and techniques are good enough for him to generate tremedous speed by using even head-light Ti 10.
Here is a rough guide. Balance point from handle without string or overgrip.
Head-light 295m.

-        strings
Professionals use string tensions stronger than 26lbs as high strings tends to have better control and power and also they don’t need to pay for the rackets and strings. Amateur players should be fine with tensions between 23-26lbs.

-        Grips
Grip size comes in three types, G3 G4 and G5. G3 is larger than G4 and G5. Most rackets sold in Europe have G3 grip size. You have more choices in Asian markets. G4 is ideal as you can increase the grip size by adding your favourite type of grips without taking the orginal grips off.
Finding a suitable racket is really individual. You need to feel it is the right racket for your style, e.g. your physical build and your way of swinging the racket.

 

Article was quoted from xbadmintontricks.com