What String Tension Should You Use in Badminton?

Ask three players at club night what tension they string at and you will get anything from 18 lbs to 28 lbs, usually delivered with total confidence. Tension is personal, but it is not mysterious. It is simply how hard the strings are pulled when your racket is strung, measured in pounds, and it changes three things you can actually feel: how much free power you get, how precise the racket feels, and how long the strings last.

Lower tension gives most players more power

This is the part that surprises people. A looser string bed stretches more when the shuttle lands, then snaps back and throws it out again. Stringers call it the trampoline effect. At lower tension the sweet spot is bigger too, so off-centre hits still come out with decent depth.

A tighter bed deforms less, so you have to supply the racket head speed yourself. If your swing is fast enough, the reward is a crisper, faster response and much better feedback on touch shots. If it is not, high tension just makes the racket feel dead and your clears land short.

So the real question is not how good you are. It is how fast you swing.

Sensible starting ranges

These are the ranges most stringers suggest, and they line up with what works at club level:

• New or casual players: 17 to 20 lbs. Maximum forgiveness and easy depth on clears while you build technique.
• Regular club players: 20 to 24 lbs. The middle ground where most people end up. Enough bite for control without giving up free power.
• Advanced players with fast swings: 24 lbs and up. More precision and a livelier feel off the string bed, but only if you generate the racket head speed to use it.

Professionals string far higher again, but they are hitting with exceptional swing speed on freshly strung rackets. Copying a pro's tension is the most common way club players end up with a racket that feels like a plank.

One hard limit: most rackets have a recommended tension range printed on the shaft or inside the throat. Stay inside it. Going above stresses the frame and will usually void the warranty.

What tension does to string life

The tighter a string is pulled, the closer it sits to its breaking point. String at 26 lbs and every off-centre hit near the frame is working on an already stretched string, so breaks come sooner. The same string at 19 lbs will usually live noticeably longer.

Tension also drops on its own. Every string bed loses some tension from the moment it comes off the machine, whether you play or not, which is why a restring feels different after a few weeks even without a break. A string with good tension retention holds its playing character longer between restrings.

Gauge matters here too. A thicker 0.70mm string such as Yonex BG-65 Ti has more material in it, so it handles higher tensions and hard hitting better than thin repulsion strings do.

Signs your current tension is wrong for you

• Probably too tight: clears landing short even with a full swing, a dead or boardy feel, strings snapping often. Some players also find a bed that is too firm for them can leave the forearm or shoulder feeling tired after games.
• Probably too loose: a mushy, vague feel, drops and net shots floating on you, strings sliding around, shots flying long when you press.

If either list sounds familiar, move a couple of pounds in the other direction at your next restring and reassess.

A simple way to settle on your number

1. Start at 20 lbs if you are unsure, or 22 lbs if you are a regular player with a reasonably quick swing.
2. Change one thing at a time. If you switch string and tension together, you will not know which change you are feeling.
3. Adjust in 1 to 2 lb steps and write down what you used. String plus tension in a phone note beats guessing every time.

Tension only holds if the string does

A precise number on the stringing machine means little if the string sheds tension quickly. Yonex BG-65 Ti at £7.29 is the workhorse choice here: a durable 0.70mm gauge with a firm, controlled feel and excellent tension retention, supplied as a 10m set that does one racket. It is the string to pick when you want the tension you asked for to still be there weeks later.

For other feels and gauges, browse the full badminton strings range and match the string to the tension you have chosen.

Related reading: How Often Should You Restring a Badminton Racket? and Thin vs Thick Badminton Strings: Does Gauge Actually Matter?