I actually have never owned or played with a regular length racket, all the rackets I own are long so I chose long, but I can't say which is better, I play about 90% of the time singles so I'm guessing that extra reach and power is good for singles. Although the length only adds more power to long swings and short rackets (or choke grip) provide more power for short swings.
I prefer the long one, but I don't mind playing with the shorter one. In fact since at the moment my backup racket is regular length, i start to get use to switching different length and adjust quickly.
yeah, i think 675mm is just about right, probably because i'm so used to using the MP and AT series nowadays. i've tried a SOTX which was 680mm, that felt weird.
The first time I tried a long racquet is when the Isometric Swing Power 900 was released (I bought some SX versions), and I didn't really like it so switched back to normal length racquets for a few years. I've just bought some NS8000s so I'm back to long racquets again, maybe it's just in my head but they feel more clumsy to me, my smash defence and general ability to manoeuvre the racquet quickly seems to be adversely affected by long racquets...maybe I've made the wrong choice Whilst I was at my parents' I found an old racquet that I used to love using - Carlton Powerflo KR, I probably haven't picked it up for over 10 years but just swinging it around it felt so good, really quick, super stiff and nicely balanced. Maybe I should get it strung and see how it plays, trouble is I don't thing anyone makes racquets like it anymore. Even better would be if I could find a racquet the same as my all-time favourite, the Powerflo GR, it was the first racquet I had that was really mine (rather than borrowing my parents' Ruccanors), maybe it's nostalgia playing tricks on me but that racquet was awesome!
my Black Knight V85 is 68 cm long and I just love the extra length, its a hammer holding it down at the bottom of the grip, but turns into a super maneuverable smash digger when holding it near the cone most ppl who try my racket hate it cuz they are always confused by its balance
There are two types of lengths that have an impact on performance. One is the total length, the other is the shaft length/total length ratio. Almost all finished racquets come in fixed length and fixed shaft length. AOTBE a longer shaft will give more power and is the length (speaking about shaft length here) mainly suitable for singles. A long shaft as used in a singles racquet should not have too long a total length (max. 675mm). A doubles racquet will have a shorter shaft but can have a total length of 675mm or a max of 680mm. Irrespective of the shaft length that can be seen on the racquet, the actual shaft length for both singles and doubles racquets are the same. The best racquet is one in which you can vary both the shaft length on its own or both the shaft length and the total length.
haha wow i never really measured the length of my racket but i guess it doesn't really matter since i choke up to the cone
So are all ARMOTEC OR MUSCLE POWER rackets long? I am confused. I thought only victor made long rackets.
yeah, all the ATs and MPs are the 'long' versions. the cab 20 and cab 21 are good examples of the 'regular' versions, about 1cm shorter.
wow didnt know that all ATs and MPs are long ... i kept thinking they were normal length becos not stated lol maybe thats why I adjusted so well from Ti-10 long lol ^^
it takes sometime to get used to a longer racket. the bird always seem to miss the head by a few cm(s), or hit the shaft and drops to the ground..
