Lucien Laverdure Sport - Spécialiste des sports de raquettes de tennis

Squash Racquet

Finding a suitable racquet

In addition to your personal preferences, and to make browsing and purchasing easier, we recommend that you consider one essential aspect of your playing style: your stroke speed.

If your stroke speed is:

LOW: speed build-up is insufficent. You’re probably looking for more POWER.

MEDIUM: speed build-up is good. You’re probably looking for better CONTROL.

HIGH : speed build-up is excellent. You’re probably looking for more ACCURACY and better FEEL.

Take a look at the following three animations. The table below determines what you need to look for (less than average, average or better than average power) depending on your stroke, and provides a Lucien Laverdure rating for every racquet sold on-line.

Typing speed

Your power

Raquet sought to give

Rating Lucien Laverdue

You build some strength
acceleration at impact

Slow

Less than average

Maximum power
Maximum

LL5
LL4

You build a good acceleration
force of the impact

Medium

Power
Medium power

LL3
LL2

You build a very good
acceleration force of the impact

Fast

More than average

Control
Maximum Control

LL1
LL0

Head size

The oversize heads offer an ideally large hitting area, and are thus more forgiving of off-centre shots, especially if they are teardrop shaped. Traditionally smaller head size provides more ball control and precision.

Weight and balance

The heavier the racquet, the less vibration it transmits to the arm. Racquets with a balance point towards the GRIP provide better HANDLING and FEELING. Racquets with a balance point towards the HEAD offer additional POWER but are more difficult to control.

Stringing

You should never overlook stringing. After all, one hits the shuttlecock with the strings, not the racquet. There are two main stringing characteristics: gauge and tension.

Gauge

Lower gauge: Although they provide less feeling, THICKER strings last LONGER. Beginners, who usually want stringing durability, should therefore avoid high-gauge stringing.

Higher gauge: THINNER strings are FRAGILE, but they provide more FEELING and greater repulsion power. Thicker string is represented by a lower gauge, while thinner string is represented by higher gauge.

Tension

Higher tension: Basically, HIGHER string tension provides more CONTROL and less power.

Lower tension: Conversely, because of its ability to strech and create a «trampoline effect» (or resilience), LOWER string tension gives more POWER, but less control.

Experienced players usually prefer low-gauge string, and high-tension stringing