Padel gear glossary

Where the weight sits along the racket, measured from the handle. Head-heavy rackets swing with more force behind the ball — more power, more strain on the arm. Handle-heavy rackets reset faster for the next shot — more control.

The factory grip fixed under the overgrip. Rarely replaced on its own — most players just add or swap the overgrip on top of it.

The thread count in the woven carbon fibre used for the face. A higher K number is a thicker, more visible weave — it is not automatically stiffer or better; stiffness comes from the resin and layup, not the weave count alone.

The foam layer inside the racket face. Soft EVA flexes on impact and is gentler on the arm. Hard EVA (often labelled “high density”) returns more energy but transmits more shock — most of our arm-strain complaints trace back to a hard core.

A sole pattern of angled, V-shaped grooves, built for grip when changing direction on sanded artificial turf — the standard padel court surface.

A multidirectional tread pattern rather than a single grain. Slightly less directional grip than herringbone, but more forgiving on hard or mixed courts.

The overgrip is a thin, tacky wrap over the base grip. It is a consumable, not a spec — most players replace it every few sessions once it stops absorbing sweat.

Balls filled with compressed gas for a consistent bounce. They start losing pressure the moment the tube is opened — expect a noticeable drop in bounce after a few sessions.

A sealed canister that restores pressure to opened ball tubes between sessions, extending how long a set of balls stays playable.

The outline of the racket face: round (control, largest sweet spot), teardrop (balanced), or diamond (power, sweet spot shifted toward the tip).

The texture etched or printed into the face. Rougher surfaces grip the ball longer on contact, adding spin — at some cost to raw power.

The area of the face that returns the most energy with the least vibration. Larger on round shapes and softer cores; smaller and set higher on diamond shapes.

Unstrung racket weight, usually 350–375g for adults. Every 5g up adds swing force and arm fatigue; every 5g down makes the racket quicker to reset on defence.