Roughness
Padel racket roughness key takeaways
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- Two types of rough surfaces on padel rackets: sandblasted and 3D (molded)
- Sandblasted surfaces are very grippy, but wear away quickly
- 3D surfaces last longer and are more expensive to produce
What is the roughness of padel rackets?
"Rugoso" in Spanish, roughness refers to the application of a rough surface on a padel racket's face in order to assist the player in generating spin on their shots.
A few manufacturers began experimenting with various techniques of roughness a few years ago, and now essentially every brand offers some form of roughness on a portion of their premium rackets.
Forms of roughness
There are two main forms of roughness:
- the sandblasted form, which is strong in the beginning, but wears away somewhat quickly
- 3D roughness, which is more expensive, but increasingly adopted by padel racket brands because it is long-lasting
A few well-received offerings for roughness technology are Starvie's Full Plane Effect System, Varlion's SLICE system (on for example the Bourne Summum Prisma Airflow), and the Adidas Adipower line's Spin Blade system.
FAQs
3D roughness lasts longer than sandblasted roughness.
3D roughness is printed onto the racket by the mold. So each mold needs to be designed with the roughness design. Then the racket materials needs to be set perfectly so the roughness is imprinted on the carbon fiber. This process has requires more time and specialization than the spraying of sandblasted roughness, so it is more expensive.