4u Rackets in singles

Lots of pros use 4u in singles aswell as 3u, only ever seen head heavy 4u rackets in singles though amongst the pros but im sure plenty of social players use 4u of all racket types especially as most of us play a mix of singles and doubles im guessing most people will stick to a racket that does both rather than switch and change all the time.
Its just about what you feel comfortable playing with. For me i like the solid feel of a 3u racket especially for overhead shots i just feel like i control the shuttle better when hitting with a 3u, not sure why.

 

3U or 4U is just a personal preference i think. If you are able to wield 3U, why go for 4U unless ofcourse you prefer more speed & 4U give you significant improvement.

Simple math for easy explaination.
3U, power 10, speed 6
4U, power 6, speed 10
This one is just preference. You want more speed or power.

3U, power 10, speed 6
4U, power 8, speed 7
The speed bonus is just insignificant compare to power loss. So why bother 4U.

3U, power 8, speed 9
4U, power 9, speed 10
This can happen if 3U struggle you with its heaviness as your muscle not quite capable to wield it. But having 4U give you better power & also speed, so 4U to go.

As for me, my 1st badminton racket is very old Yonex racket & its U weight. So im used to heavy stuff & today i use 3U head heavy racket. Going for lower weight kinda feel abit ackward to me as it feel like im holding nothing.

 

Don't find the difference between 83g and 87g so important. You can get more power from a 83g head-heavy racket than a head-light 87g racket. In singles you have more time, so the tendency is to use somewhat heavier rackets than in doubles.

 

The only singles pros i know that use 4u rackets are the ones who rely on a lot of wristy techniques like taufik. And they usually use head heavy or even balance 4u. If youre more arm based swing like momota or pretty much the vast majority of singles players, those guys tend to use heavy rackets because it results in more effortless overhead swings as long as theyre strong enough for the racket. But of course if you just prefer 4u rackets for singles who’s going to stop you

 

Momota might not be the best example, since he’s using 4U

 

I think momota is using 3UG6 Astrox 99

 

i dunno what weight momota uses, but even 4u astrox 99 has 90kg swight weight, which is higher than most 3u's. I wouldn't consider 4u ax99 or zf2 doubles rackets, they should both be considered in the "heavy" class. I'm guessing the OP is asking about 4u's that are are more in the typical 4u swing weights, like 86kg or below

 

I think momota use 4U Ax99, theres a post from misterkeen ig showing it
Also ginting used to use 4U 88D, and Lee Zii Jia also use TK BXR (Only available in 5U & 4U)
Srikanth Kidambi even use Tectonic 7 (4U 295mm)
OOT a bit and theres a lot of womens single player use 4U (NF700) + some double player that can smash very hard also use NF700 (SSJae who used to play singles & WCLin)
But again, we should take into consideration sometimes pro do get a painted racket
So i personally think we shouldnt follow our ego to buy a racket because what the average or pros use unless you are a big fan of them

 

I saw a youtube video where a pro stringer restring kento momota racket and he stated its 3ug6 in the comment but whatever. Its not relevant in this thread.

 

Jan O Jorgensen used 4ug4 vt80etn few years back