Beach Tennis Racquets

Beach Tennis is under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation. Other racquet sport variations such as Padel, POP Tennis, and Pickleball are not. Consequently, Beach Tennis is arguably the “most tennis” of these versions of the sport.

My summer fling with Beach Tennis continues this week with a discussion of the racquet. The ITF Rules of Beach Tennis provides detailed specifications for the sticks that are competition legal.

The beach tennis racket must conform to all of the requirements below:
The hitting surface, defined as the flat area of the racket head bounded by the inner edge of the rim or holes larger than 13 mm in diameter, whichever is smaller, must not exceed 30 cm in length and 26 cm in width.The racket must not exceed 50 cm in length from the butt of the handle to the tip of the racket head. The racket head must not exceed 26 cm in width.The profile distance between the two hitting surfaces (thickness) must be constant and must not exceed 38 mm.Holes greater than 13 mm in diameter must not extend over 40 mm from the rim of the racket, with the exception of holes that form part of the throat.The racket must be free from any device that may provide communication, advice or instruction of any kind, audible or visible, to a player during a match. Attached objects, protrusions and devices that are approved as Player Analysis Technology are permitted.
ITF Rules of Beach Tennis, Appendix II

A court tennis racquet is clearly outside of these specifications. In fact, the racquet is so different, that I have purchased four compliant Beach Tennis racquets for proper playtesting. There is an additional relevant ITF Case Decision that stipulates that a stringed racquet is not permitted.

Case 3: Is a player allowed to use a stringed racket? Decision: No.
ITF Rules of Beach Tennis, Rule 5 Case Decision

I have been talking about trying the sport in an attempt to enlist the participation of my friends and family. The Trophy Husband is a little disappointed that we might not be able to swing a beach vacation in the immediate future to experience the sport under the most ideal conditions. However, since I launched into this topic, I am suddenly sensitized to the vast number of beach volleyball courts in my local area that are perfectly sized for this racquet sport variation.

At this point, I have (almost) all the necessary equipment. Once I explore some of the broad strokes of the rules, we’ll be ready to play test Beach Tennis.