Padel rackets

Feel. When the brand gives it in words, we turn it into a number: "soft" is 2 and "medium-hard" 6.5.

adidas does not give the feel of each racket, but it ranks its cores and faces from hardest to softest. We turn that order into a number: the core sets the base (EVA High Memory 7, EVA Soft Energy 5, EVA Soft Performance 3) and the face moves it (Carbon Aluminized 2 to 1 or 24K +1.5; 15K to 18K +1; Carbon 3K or 6K 0; flax −0.5; glass fibre −1). If the face is not in that ranking, the racket has no feel.

Power. We add up what the brand says, each with its weight: style counts half (control, all-round, power); shape three tenths (round, teardrop, diamond); balance two tenths (low, medium, high). When the brand publishes its own power and control scores, they count as much as everything else together. Weight counts a little: heavier leans to power. It runs from 1 to 9, not 0 to 10, because no category makes a racket all power. When a brand says little, the racket stays near the middle.