Looking after your child's tennis racket: heat, grips, strings and a spare

A junior racket doesn't need much care, but it does need the right habits. These are the five I teach every family. None of them take more than a minute, and they keep the racket playing the way it did on the first day.

1. Keep it out of a hot car

A car parked in the sun gets far hotter inside than the air outside. That heat is hard on a racket. The strings lose tension faster in heat.

The simple habit: the racket bag comes inside with your child. If it has to stay in the car for a while, keep it out of the sun, not on the back shelf or in a hot trunk.

2. Change the overgrip when it's slippery

Most players wrap a thin, tacky overgrip over the handle. It wears out long before the racket does. When it looks shiny, feels slippery or starts to tear, change it.

Why it matters: a slippery handle makes a child squeeze the racket harder to stop it twisting. Squeezing makes the arm tight, and a tight arm swings late. A fresh overgrip costs little and takes a couple of minutes to put on. Show your child how to do it once and it becomes their job.

3. Restring on a simple rule

Strings lose tension over time, even when the racket sits in the bag and nobody plays. Old strings feel dead: the ball comes off them with less control and less power, and a child often starts swinging harder to make up for it.

My rule of thumb for families: restring as many times a year as your child plays each week. Tennis Warehouse gives the same rule in its stringing guide. If they play twice a week, restring about twice a year. If they play four times a week, about four times a year. It's a guide, not a law. Restring sooner if a string breaks or the strings feel dead.

How to tell the strings have gone dead, even without a break: the ball flies longer than it used to, the strings feel flat or hard, and they slide out of place and don't snap back. Strings that look fuzzy or have notches where they cross are close to breaking.

4. Protect the frame

The top of the racket takes the most knocks: scraping along the court when a child reaches for a low ball, hitting the fence, dropping on the ground. Most rackets have a plastic bumper around the top to protect the frame. When the bumper wears through, a stringer can replace it.

Some players also add head tape, a thin protective strip over the top of the frame. It's optional, and it adds a little weight, so on a light junior racket I'd only add it if the frame is getting chipped.

When to carry a spare depends on the level. A beginner playing lessons only needs one racket. Once your child plays matches, and especially once they start breaking strings, bring a second racket of the same model and length, so a break in the middle of a match costs nothing.

Two more habits protect the frame: keep the racket in its cover or a bag, and never throw it. A thrown racket can crack, and our lesson on the unwritten rules of tennis says it plainly: never throw your racket.

5. Carry a spare

When your child plays matches, a spare racket in the bag matters. Strings break in the middle of a match, and a player without a spare has nothing to play with. Matches don't wait for a restring.

The spare doesn't need to be new. An older racket of the same size works. What matters is the length: the spare should be the same size as the main racket, so it feels the same in the hand.

Questions parents ask

How do I know the strings need replacing?

When a string breaks, it's time. Before that, the signs are strings that move out of place and stay there, a dull sound off the strings, and a ball that flies without control. If your child plays every week and the strings are many months old, they have probably lost a lot of their tension, even if they look fine.

Can I leave the racket in the car between practices?

Not in hot weather, and not in the sun. Heat speeds up string tension loss. Bring the bag inside.

How often should we change the overgrip?

When it's shiny, slippery or torn. For a child who plays a couple of times a week, that's often every few weeks. Sweaty hands wear it out faster.

Does my child really need a second racket?

For lessons, no. For matches and tournaments, yes: strings break, and a spare of the same size keeps your child playing.