Early in your playing career, experiment with lots of rackets and sponge. Borrow rackets from other players to try out. You need to learn what’s available, and find out what feels right for you. But once you find a combination that you like, stick with it until you have a very good reason for switching. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try out new types of equipment – testing is OK, just don’t get stuck in a cycle of constantly switching your equipment, and never getting really comfortable with anything.

The two worse things you can do are 1) never to experiment much, and so never know what the possibilities are, and 2) over-experiment after you’ve found equipment that works for you.