Tennis ?

gojeta25: Tennis ?
If your tennis racket has a dampener (shock absorber) will that affect your game? I know it will cause a mis hit if the ball touches it but is there any other effect? I know that it makes your arm feel less vibrations but are there any other positive or negative effects of one? Why doesn’t Federer use one? Will using 2 dampeners on one racket affect my game play any differently besides having less vibrations?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Jason G
I play with a Head Ti-56. I got a dampener but do not use it. I feel that lighter rackets do not need them. Federer has an absorber built in to his racket and 2 will screw up your game.

Answer by lefty321
This turns out to be a more complex topic than I ever imagined. I know I don’t use them as it changes the way the racket feels to me and almost none of the touring pros use them as they don’t want anything to interfere with the connection of the ball-racket-hand.
As it turns out, the little gizmos aren’t shock absorbers after all. They reduce vibration of the strings, not the racket frame or handle. Most of the effect is psychological in that if you don’t here the “ping” sound, you feel less. Below is a lengthy discussion(somewhat amusing)on the myth of the “shock absorber”.
The bottom line is Federer doesn’t use them because he wants to hear the ball striking his racket. You could use 2 if you really want, but it wouldn’t do more than 1 does-reduce the sound from the strings.

Answer by ???
I don’t know. Maybe it makes the racket heavier.

Answer by Aglu19
Lefty 321 absolutey has no idea what he is talking about. Providing you with a link to some chat is no proof at all. I mean, you can just put one on and see that you don’t get any power reduction, you don’t get any spin reduction, all u get is less viration in your fingers. I used to play without one but once my racquet loses some tension, my fingers would start hurting so bad every time i hit the ball that I couldn’t even hold the racquet. So I put a shock dampener and, trust me, it didn’t affect my game at all. Also, I don’t know if lefty ever watches pros play, but i certainly do see them having shock dampeners on their racquets very often.

Answer by ian k
its honestly just feel. it makes the raquet feel tighter, but it depends on what you like and what feels good to you.
one recomendation, dont base your game, what you buy, how you modify your equipment based on other people and what they use. try it out and use what your comfy with.

Answer by Eric C
shock absorber is design for, of course, reduce the shock produced by impact. it should not make you “miss hit”, with or without dampener definitely feel different. my brother cannot play without it, i cannot play with it. not everybody need one that’s why federer don’t use it. depends on what kind of feel you like on impact.
one dampener is good, no need for two.
there is no positive or negative effects, some people believe it is easier on the arm to play with one.

Answer by [email protected]
Lefty is correct. They will only dampen string vibrations which is basically the sound of ball contact. The do NOTHING ELSE!