If you are a tennis beginner and want to understand the role that a dampener plays in your racquet, you have come to the right place. Below is an exhaustive guide around everything related to a tennis racquet dampener.
Let’s start with the most basic question.
What is a Tennis Dampener?
A tennis vibration dampener is a piece of rubber, usually silicon, that is placed in the strings of a tennis racquet, usually near the throat of the racket. The throat of the racquet is just above the handle.
Tennis Dampeners are Also Known As
- Vibration dampeners
- Absorbers
- Worms
- Damps
- Shock Absorbers
- Doughnuts
Why is a Tennis Dampener Needed?
The tennis dampener is used to stop vibrations that take place once you have hit the ball, especially if you hit it very hard. It is little like a shock-absorber and it is most often used to protect, not the tennis racquet, but the tennis player from the vibrations, or shocks, which can be damaging to a player’s wrist.
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Should You Get a Tennis Dampener?
A tennis dampener is not an expensive item and so the answer to this question would be, why not?
If a tennis dampener is going to prevent wrist injury, then yes, of course your tennis racquet should have one. It’s a small item, an easy to use item, and a very useful one at that.
If you are a beginner player, you are probably not smashing the ball around too hard. If you are a strong player, then yes, you probably are hitting the ball quite hard. And even if you are a beginner player but have weak wrists, a dampener can only be helpful.
How Does a Dampener Work on a Tennis Racquet?
Dampeners don’t change the tension of the string, but they do stop the vibrations of the strings.
Your game of tennis is not going to be changed in any way by having a dampener on your racquet, but your sound may be a little different – a little muffled – and the vibrations after hitting a ball are definitely lessened.
A dampener works a bit like a shock absorber, the dampener takes the shock after hitting a ball, rather than your wrist or arm taking the shock.
Does It Feel Any Different When You Use a Tennis Tacquet Dampener?
Players get used to having tennis dampeners on their racquets pretty quickly and, almost instantly, it feels normal.
The rubber can dull the sound of the ball, so you may not hear the wallop of the ball as much, but it is a small decrease and this is pretty much the only difference you will hear.
The wallop, or ping as some like to call it, is certainly not problematic, using or not using a dampener, it is just a sound after all, but some players prefer having less audio.
As far as feel goes, the dampener is used to stop vibrations from shooting into your wrist or arm.
Not all players feel this, just by the way, it is only when the ball is hit very hard and if the player has a weak wrist / arm. Dampeners are thought to be used to prevent any kind of injury. They are not used to cure injury!
Do Tennis Vibration Dampeners Really Prevent Injury?
The jury is out! So many professional players use tennis dampeners to dull the vibrations so they must be good for something, right. They definitely lessen the vibrations so yes, they work.
What they do not do is cure an injury and we know that players still get wrist / arm / shoulder injuries while playing tennis. A dampener lessens the risk.
Most professional tennis players are strong and fit; they exercise, they work out, they have extremely strict fitness tennis programs.
They also know they are at risk of injury, wrists, arms, elbows and shoulders, because of the nature of tennis. Legs, knees, ankles are also at risk, also because of the nature of the game. If a dampener can help with wrist, arm, shoulder strength, then it makes sense to use it.
Professional use dampeners as an ‘added extra’, in the hope of preventing injury.
Tennis Elbow and Tennis Dampeners
Tennis elbow can be a horrible and painful injury. Dampeners may help, again the jury is out if they definitely help, and the best thing to prevent tennis elbow, or to cure it, is fitness, strength and exercise.
If you do have tennis elbow, physiotherapy is recommended. You can get tennis elbow from a number of things, not just tennis. The vibration dampener merely eases the vibration that comes off the racquet.
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Most Tennis Dampeners Are Built Into the Racquet
Today, almost all tennis racquet manufacturers, build a dampening property or anti-vibration property, into the frame of the racquet. It is often not visible.
If you are adding your own tennis vibration dampener, there are rules according to the USTA rules of tennis. Here they are:
A tennis dampener can only be fitted
- At the top of the racquet, although room is limited.
- At the left or right to the frame, which can be illogical.
- Near the throat of the racquet, underneath the first cross string.
The only spot that makes sense is the last one, near the throat of the racquet. Although a dampener is tiny and light, it should still be in the centre, not to the left or right.
Different Types of Vibration Dampeners
There are actually a wide range of vibration dampeners on the market.
Button Dampeners
These are circular in shape, or you do get square dampeners and some of the button dampeners are in the shape of the brand’s logo.
The button dampener is easy to fit, usually done by the same person who strings your tennis racquet and can be removed and replaced at the same time as a single string. A few of the popular button dampeners include:
- The Head Djokovic dampener.
- Dunlop’s Spider dampener
- The Sampras Tourna dampener.
Button dampeners are not foolproof, but then, neither are strings. Button dampeners can fly off if a player mishits a ball badly.
The dampener is held by two of the main tennis strings near the throat of the racquet. They are small so if the do fly off, you may not find it easily.
Have a spare or two in your tennis bag. It’s called a button dampener because it looks like a button!
Worm Dampeners
Unlike the button dampener, which is usually round, the worm dampener is long and thin. It is woven into a few strings, has more contact with the string bed than the button dampener, and therefore dampens the sound effects more.
It’s more foolproof, or fail proof than the button, and once it is in, usually stays in. You can change your dampener when you change your strings. A few of the popular worm dampeners include:
- The Gamma Shockbuster
- Head Smartsorb
DIY Dampeners, AKA Elastic Bands
A lot of players make their own vibration dampeners using elastic bands. The thicker the band, the better the shock absorption!
Andre Agassi, always a colourful player on court, used a rubber band and if he can do it, so can you! Agassi says he did not like the way the rubber dampeners felt on his racquet and preferred his own style!
Which Tennis Dampeners Do Tennis Professionals Use?
This might be a misleading heading because not all professional players use dampeners on their racquets.
Roger Federer does not use a damper and neither does Serena Williams. Saying that, they both use brilliant tennis racquets and Federer has power pads on his racquets, dulling the thuds or the wallops or the pings. If you are a beginner or an intermediate tennis player, here’s the best tennis racquet dampeners you can look to buy.
- Aliassime – Babolat Custom Damp
- Berrettini – Head Xtra Damp
- Djokovic – Head Djokovic Dampener
- Fognini- Pete Sampras Tourna Vibration Dampener
- Garin – Luxilon Legacy Vibration Dampener
- Khachanov – Kimony QuakeBuster
- Medvedev – Technifibre Vibra ClipClip ATP Vibration Dampener
- Monfils – Luxilon Legacy Dampener
- Nadal – Babolat Custom amp.
- Rublev – Pete Sampras Tourna Vibration Dampener
- Wawrinka – Yonex Vibration Dampener
- Zverev – Head Zverev Dampener
This does change from time to time, in the same way that players change their racquets, they also change the brand of tennis dampener that they use / do not use.
Dampeners are personal. They are also inexpensive so you can make the choice if you want to try one or not.
Note that a tennis dampener is not suddenly going to make you play like a professional tennis player. It is definitely not going to make you a better tennis player. It is going to dampen the vibrations off the string. It may help prevent injury.
It may help you if you have weak wrists. It is going to lessen the sound of the tennis ball thud, wallop or ping.
Which is maybe what we should have called this article in the first place, especially because many players do not mind the thud, wallop or ping sound of a ball.
If you are tempted to try out a tennis vibration dampener, a few recommended products include:
- Babolat Custom Dampener
- Gamma Shockbuster II Vibration Dampener
- Gamma Shockbuster Dampener (worm)
- Luxilon Legacy Dampener
- Pete Sampras Tourna Vibration Dampener (The doughnut)
- Tecnifibre Vibra Clip ATP Vibration Dampener
- Tennis Express Flag Tennis Dampener
- Tennis Express Superhero Tennis Dampener
- Tourna Pete Sampras Vibration Dampener
- Volkl Equalizer Vibration Dampener (worm)
- Wilson Green Bay Packers Dampener
- Wilson Pro Feel Dampener
- Wilson Shock Trap Dampener (worm)
Take a look at this video, giving you all the information you need on a tennis racquet dampener. It’s an item you can choose to have, it is not a necessity.
Now, dampener or not, get out there and play and have fun!