Do racquets go "soft" overtime?

[tennistim]

Hello again everyone! I recently read some articles on a few websites that say a tennis racquet, overtime, goes "soft", and recommend replacement on average every two years. Would you agree with that? Does one type of frame last longer than another? What should I be looking for to know when it's time for replacement, as this can get pretty costly? I have a few of the same racquets that I purchased at the same time a few years ago; one I use as my primary, one for a backup, and another strung at different tension and used depending on the playing condition. Thank you all in advance for your responses.

[Ripper]

What, supposedly, happens is that the bond in between the fibers of the structural material starts to break down, meaning that the raquet should flex more and have less power. I could kind of see this start happening after lots and lots of use. However, changing raquets every 2 years due to this is something the raquet companies would really love us to believe, lol. You'd have to use a raquet really hard everyday, for hours each time, to notice any difference in it's playability after only 2 years.

[sovertennis]

Tim--
I've always figured that two years on a frame would be the best I could hope for, given that I frequently scrape the head on the court, restring frequently and, on occassion, the racket finds itself airborne and heading for a hard landing.

Why do you use one frame more than the others? I think you'd getter longer life and better consistency if you alternated your use of the frames.

[Hawkeye2]

Hi,

I don't know if there's any scientific research for this problem, but as a rule of thumb it's said that racket frames have lost most of their former playability when you have restrung them about 50 times.

The stress form restringing exceeds all usual stress a racket experiences during "normal" tennis play (without throwing etc.).

Bye

[squashguy]

racket laminate lifetimes may also depend on temperature and stress on the racquet.

High temperatures, like in the trunk of your car on a 100 degree day, and the stress of the string tension on the racquet, might add to racquet degradation. I know this is true for squash racquets, but tennis racquets are generally stronger.

[Xclay]

I've been told 3 years is about the average life span of a racket. It depends on the user, amount of stringing, and if the person using the racket abused it by banging it of the ground etc. The constant smacking of the ball slowly deteriorates the playability of it so I replace mine after 3 years. My last rackets (wilson hyper prostaff 6.1) I had for 3 years and they played really poorly close to 3 years cause I used them quite frequently. I play about 3-4 times a week so 3 years is a good length to have them for.