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How we score and rate products

Six criteria, each calculated from specifications we have checked against a published source, each weighted the same way for every product in a category. The formula for each one is below, with the figures it uses and the direction of each effect — the same specification always produces the same score, and there is no editorial thumb on the scale.

This page is still being written

Editorial pages are content rows, edited in the admin — so this one fills in without a deploy.

The six criteria and their weights

Power Weight 20%
Free depth on a short swing — how hard the ball leaves the string bed for a given effort. Rises with head size and frame stiffness, a little with weight, and falls as the string bed gets denser.
Calculated from: Head size · stiffness · weight · pattern
Control Weight 20%
How closely the ball follows the aim. The mirror of power on head size and stiffness: a smaller head, a denser pattern, more mass and a softer layup all hold the line better.
Calculated from: Head size · pattern · weight · stiffness
Comfort Weight 15%
Shock reaching the wrist and elbow. Calculated from the frame’s stiffness (RA), the one figure that measures it, with weight and head size adjusting the result. A racquet with no RA figure on file carries no comfort score at all.
Calculated from: Stiffness (RA) · weight · head size
Spin Weight 15%
Bite off the string bed. Rises as the pattern opens up and the head grows, and as the frame gets easier to swing fast — a head-light balance and a lower swing weight.
Calculated from: Pattern · head size · balance · swing weight
Stability Weight 15%
Head hold against incoming pace. Rises with unstrung weight, a head-heavier balance and swing weight where we hold the figure.
Calculated from: Weight · balance · swing weight
Manoeuvrability Weight 15%
Speed through preparation and recovery — the mirror of stability, from the same three figures. Every gram and every millimetre of head-heavy balance costs a little here and buys a little there; that trade is the whole point of the pair.
Calculated from: Weight · balance · swing weight

How the arithmetic works

Each criterion starts from a reference frame — 100 in², 300 g unstrung, balance 32.0 cm, a 16×19 pattern, RA 65, swing weight 320 — which scores 8.4 on all six. Every figure a racquet differs by moves the score up or down by a fixed amount, in the direction listed above, and the result is held between 6.0 and 9.8.

String-bed density is mains × crosses, so a 16×19 is 304 and an 18×20 is 360 — one number for how tightly the bed is packed, which is what the control and spin criteria actually turn on.

The overall score is the weighted mean of the criteria on file. At least 5 of the six are needed before any overall score is published, and the weights of those present are rescaled to 100% — a frame with no stiffness figure is scored on the five that are real, and its page says so. Every criterion on a product page prints the figures it was calculated from. Model version 1.0.

What the overall number means

9.2 – 10.0 Class-leading Best in its category on at least two criteria, with no criterion below 8.
8.6 – 9.1 Strong Clearly good at a defined job; a reader who fits that job will not be disappointed.
8.0 – 8.5 Solid Does everything competently without leading anywhere.
Below 7.9 Modest A specific weakness that a buyer should know about before spending.
What is not in the score

Price is never scored — a cheap frame is not a better frame, and the price sits beside the score so you can weigh it yourself. Paint, packaging and brand history carry no points. A product whose specification is too thin to calculate from carries no overall score at all.

Every number here starts as a measurement. How those measurements are taken is set out separately.

The methodology →

Last updated 25 Sep 2026.