The business of racquets is tennis’ big secret, so who is supplying the top players with their armour?

Fits and kicks have owned conversations at this AO, but have we forgotten about tennis’ most necessary weapon? CALLUM DICK analyses who is owning the ‘secret’ racquet market.

The tennis racquet racket is highly lucrative and just like the clothing caper, competition at the top can be fierce.

At every level of tennis the one requirement is a racquet and in the battle for the hearts and minds of millions around the world, putting your brand in the hand of the world’s best makes a big difference.

So with what weapons are the top tennis players going into battle with this summer?

Among the 64 seeded players at this year’s Australian Open it is a four-way race between Wilson (23), Yonex (16), Head (11) and Babolat (8) for brand supremacy.

To borrow a line from Harry Potter, it really is a case of the wand choosing the wizard.

Jannik Sinner has stuck with the Head Speed MP for years. Picture: Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

Men’s world No.1 Jannik Sinner swears by the Head Speed MP. It has been the Italian’s go-to gadget for a number of years and one he is in no hurry to give up given his recent success.

For a cool AUD$350 anyone can add the Head Speed MP to their bag – but is the off-the-shelf option the same one that took Sinner to two major titles in 2024?

The short answer is no.

This time last year, legendary commentator Jim Courier caught Sinner in his trap with a hilarious on-court interview that proved not all was as it seemed on the surface.

“It’s gotta be the racquet. It’s like with Michael Jordan it was the shoes, with you it’s the racquet, right?” Courier joked following Sinner’s third round win over Sebastian Baez.

After taking hold of Sinner’s trusty tennis tool, Courier then asked: “Is this a normal racquet? If I went and bought this off the shelf, would this be the one I’d get, or do you customise it?”

With a grin, Sinner returned serve: “Secrets, guys”.

For Sinner the secret is in the polyester strings. While most players on tour will set their string tension to between 23 and 25kg, he prefers 28kg.

Generally, the higher the tension the more control a player has – at the cost of some power and comfort.

But in Sinner’s case, he is able to generate so much power through his hips and racquet head speed that he is happy to sacrifice some pace in the name of pinpoint placement.

Players will often also use lead tape to make their racquet heavier and change its profile. Sinner adds some to the middle of his racquet for “a little bit of stability” as he told Courier. Others might put tape near the top to add more weight and power to their shot or closer to the neck for further stability.

Rocket science? No, it’s racquet science. And the customisations hardly stop there.

Brands are often known for their flagship racquets but each has its various lines that cater to precision, power and somewhere in-between.

While Sinner sacrifices power for precision, his greatest rival, world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, prefers the Babolat Pure Aero to turn the dial on his topspin to 11.

The super Spaniard, like Rafael Nadal before him, prefers the Pure Aero over Babolat’s other premium model, Pure Drive, for the extra wrist control it provides, allowing him to whip balls down opponents’ throats before they know what has hit them.

Now that Nadal has retired, Alcaraz is the premiere clay court specialist and his topspin heavy game is further enabled by his hand-picked racquet.

The French manufacturer put an exclusivity contract in front of Alcaraz when he was just 10 years old and in 2023, he extended his partnership to the end of 2030.

Big business.

Yonex was the weapon of choice for Australian tennis great Lleyton Hewitt and it is currently preferred by six of the top men’s players and 10 of the top-32 women.

The Japanese brand uses a unique square head instead of the traditional circular shape which it claims offers a larger ‘sweet spot’ for players.

Aryna Sabalenka is the face of Wilson. Picture: David GRAY / AFP

This year’s Australian Open finalist Madison Keys says she owes much of her recent success to swapping to Yonex.

She feels the new racquet has made her feel more comfortable on court and limited the risk of a shoulder injury, which has hampered her in the past.

Among the armchair experts Yonex is also considered the leader in quality control, with minimal variance in its off-the-shelf models.

But Wilson remains the pre-eminent choice for tour players and particularly in the women’s space, with 14 of the 32 seeds at this year’s Australian Open preferring the American manufacturer.

The face of Wilson is women’s world No.1 and back-to-back Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who endorses the Wilson Blade 98 – the most popular line of racquets in professional tennis.

Where Sabalenka separates herself from some of her peers is the string pattern she uses – an 18x20 as opposed to the more common 16x19.

It is the same string pattern preferred by Novak Djokovic – who rocks with the Head Speed MP, like Sinner – and helps flatten out the ground strokes for players who like to go all-out-attack, which as we have come to know is Sabalenka’s modus operandi.

The outlier among the top tennis stars is world No.2 Iga Swiatek, who is one of only two female seeds – the other Danielle Collins – to prefer Tecnifibre over the more traditional racquet brands.

When Swiatek first signed with the French manufacturer in 2021 she landed her own custom line of racquets, aptly named the Tecnifibre Tempo IGA 298.

The Pole has since moved to the updated T-Fight 300 – also used by men’s world No.5 Daniil Medvedev – adding more weight to her groundstrokes as she grew stronger and more confident in extended rallies.

At the end of 2023, Tecnifibre brass flew to Swiatek’s training base in Warsaw to work hand-in-hand with the five-time grand slam champion on the best frame to unlock her potent potential.

The proof has been in the pudding so far this year, with Swiatek romping into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open dropping just 11 total games in her first four matches before falling in the semis, ironically to Yonex’s Keys in an early contender for match of the year.

Originally published as The business of racquets is tennis’ big secret, so who is supplying the top players with their armour?