Swingweight, Balance and Twistweight Explained
Updated 5 July 2026 · 6 min read
When you customise a racket, four numbers describe how it plays: static weight, balance, swingweight and twistweight. Static weight is obvious. The other three confuse a lot of players, so here is what each one means and how lead tape changes it.
Static weight
The simplest number: how heavy the racket is at rest, measured in grams. More static weight generally means more power and stability but more effort to swing. But static weight alone does not tell you how a racket feels in motion — that is what the other numbers are for.
Balance
Balance is where the racket balances along its length, usually given in centimetres from the butt or in "points" head-light or head-heavy. A head-light racket carries its mass towards the handle and feels quick and manoeuvrable; a head-heavy racket feels more powerful but slower to swing. Adding weight to the hoop moves balance head-heavy; adding it to the handle moves it head-light.
Swingweight
Swingweight is how heavy the racket feels while you swing it — its resistance to being rotated around an axis near the handle. It is the single best predictor of power and stability, and of how tiring a racket is to play with. Weight far from the axis (near the tip) raises swingweight a lot; weight near the handle barely raises it. This is why tip weight feels so different from handle weight even though both add the same grams.
Twistweight
Twistweight is the racket's resistance to twisting in your hand on off-centre hits — its stability side to side. Higher twistweight means a more forgiving, larger effective sweet spot. Only weight placed away from the long axis of the racket (the 3 and 9 o'clock sides) raises twistweight; weight on the centreline does not.
How they move together
These numbers are linked. Add weight at 12 o'clock and you raise static weight, swingweight and head-heaviness at once. Add it at 3 and 9 and you raise twistweight and swingweight while leaving balance roughly alone. Add it in the handle and you raise static weight while making the racket more head-light. The Racket Smith tool shows all four numbers update live as you place weight, so you can see the trade-offs instead of guessing.