Looking for the best squash rackets in 2021? You’ve come to the right place.
We’ve compiled a list of the best squash rackets currently available to buy in 2021. From teardrops to traditional, head light to head heavy, power to control and everything in-between, there’s a racket in this list for everyone.
These rackets were all available to purchase at the end of 2020. We may see some new rackets announced throughout 2021, though it’s to be expected that brands will have had to place their plans on hold due to Coronavirus. Fingers crossed we’ll see some new frames hit the shelves this year – we’ll be sure to update this article as and when they are announced.
P.s – It’s worth taking the word ‘best’ with a pinch of salt. No one racket is ‘better‘ than another – it all comes down to your personal preference. To help you on your way, we’ve grouped each of the rackets below based on their main attributes – power, manoeuvrability, control and budget. There’s plenty more rackets available on the market, and as ever, try before you buy! (where possible).
Before buying a racket – here’s a few pointers
First time choosing a ‘proper’ squash racket? (i.e not from the sale-shelves at Sports Direct) – It’s worth reading our how to choose a squash racket guide. It contains some really useful information on how weight, balance and shape affect the way a racket feels and plays.
I’d also strongly suggest reading into why you should never pay attention to a racket’s advertised weight. Read our article ‘What is swing weight, and why should you care?‘ to find our more.
Best squash rackets in 2021 for all-round usability
Looking for a racket that offers a little bit of everything? With a blend of power, control, and manoeuvrability, these may be the rackets for you.
Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft
Used by a plentiful number of the world’s top players including Mohamed ElShorbagy, this racket is one of the most popular rackets on the market. These rackets are relatively light weight and evenly balanced, suiting them to almost every style of play.
Their stiff frame and dense stringing pattern offers plenty of feedback on your shots, however this does lead to a fairly ‘unforgiving’ feel when you hit the ball off-centre. Tecnifibre also offer a version with a thinner grip (the Airshaft 125NS), which was our favourite racket in the Carboflex line-up.
Read our review of the full Tecnifibre Carboflex Airshaft range
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Head Graphene 360 Speed 120 Slimbody
Head’s slim-framed teardrop shaped racket is one of the easiest rackets we found to ‘pick up and play’ with. It’s light weight, slight head-heavy balance helped to put a lovely weight behind shots. With its all black paintwork, it looks the business too.
It has a less dense stringing pattern and slightly more flexible frame than the Tecnifibre Carboflex, giving a more comfortable, forgiving feel and easier access to power. We found this racket is a joy to use in all four corners of the court.
Read our full review of the Head Graphene 360 Speed 120 Slimbody
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Head Graphene 360+ Radical 120 Slimbody
Playing very similarly to its teardrop shaped sibling, again this racket was wonderfully easy to pick up and play with. Offering a little more control, this racket plays very accurately and has a brilliant feel. The traditional head-shape means power is sacrificed a little bit, though the increase in accuracy feels worth it.
On a more personal note, this was my favourite racket from all the squash rackets I tested in 2020. It now has a permanent home in my squash bag.
Read our review of the full Head Radical range
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Dunlop Hyperfibre Revelation Pro Lite
The Hyperfibre Revelation Pro lite is a brilliant all-round racket from Dunlop. It’s based on Ali Farag’s racket (below), but has a lighter weight and a head-light balance. This racket is therefore well suited to a much wider variety of players.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Best squash rackets in 2021 for power
First things first – squash isn’t all about power. However, having a racket that delivers power with ease can without doubt give you some advantages.
With a more head-heavy balance, these rackets can help you to play much more consistent shots. This is because the racket will be doing the majority of the work for you. However, these rackets often have a little more weight behind them, so you’ll lose out on manoeuvrability in the process.
Tecnifibre Dynergy APX
Tecnifibre designed their Dynergy APX rackets with one thing in mind – power and comfort. These rackets do just that. Of all the Tecnifibre rackets currently on sale, we found this one the easiest to use. We were pleasantly surprised with how manoeuvrable these rackets felt, while still offering a startling amount of power.
Unlike it’s Carboflex sibling, this racket also felt really forgiving. This means if you miss-hit the ball, you won’t be punished for it quite as badly. For club-level players, this racket is heavily underrated and one you should absolutely consider.
Read our full review of the Tecnifibre Dynergy APX range
Read our head-to-head comparison between the Tecnifibre Dynergy and Carboflex rackets
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Dunlop Hyperfibre XT Revelation Pro
This is one of the most unique rackets on the market today. Why? When Dunlop sponsored Ali Farag, he tried out all their frames and custom balances, eventually settling on a light-weight, yet aggressively head-heavy racket. Manufacturers often ‘dampen’ their specifications when taking a racket to mass-market, however Dunlop decided to sell Ali’s racket exactly as he likes it.
This is one of the most head heavy rackets on the market. I found it a strange experience using this racket for the first time, though once I became accustomed to it, I found myself consistently hitting my shots with a near-perfect weight to the back of the court.
Read our full review of the Dunlop Hyperfibre XT Revelation Pro
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Dunlop Sonic Core Evolution
This racket is famously used by British former World #1 Nick Matthew. In 2020, Dunlop introduced a new ‘Sonic Core’ technology within the frame of these rackets, using the same foam material as Adidas Boost trainers.
Given this racket’s hybrid shape, there was a temptation to place this racket in the ‘all round’ category, however the thing that struck me when using this racket was the bonkers amount of power I was able to generate when using it. The ball made a ‘different’ noise when coming off the front wall.
Read our full review of the Dunlop Sonic Core Evolution range
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Head Graphene 360 Speed 135
This is the most powerful racket in Head’s arsenal. With a thicker frame and heavier overall weight, if you like the feel of head rackets and want the most powerful possible option, this is the one for you.
The upshot of this racket (as with most head rackets in 2021), is it can be either strung in a normal style, or in a ‘fan’ style (pictured). This means that if you want more control in your shots, you can ask your stringer to use that pattern instead.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Best squash rackets in 2021 for manoeuvrability
Having a light, manoeuvrable racket can open up a whole host of creative opportunities for attacking players. These rackets will allow you to use a shorter swing, meaning you can take the ball earlier/on the volley. More advanced players also can use the light weight of the racket to add deception to their swing. However, for lesser advanced players, you may struggle to generate power, and your consistency may suffer.
Dunlop Hyperfibre XT Revelation 125
This is far and away the lightest feeling racket Dunlop currently offer. The revelation 125 is a lightweight racket with an extra head-light balance, giving a real featherweight feel in practice. Its larger head size gives also the racket a fairly forgiving feel and helps the racket generate power, even with its ultra-light swing weight.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Ashaway Powerkill 110SL
This is one of the lightest rackets on the market today. The ‘SL’ at the end of its name actually stands for ‘Super Light’. When you add grips, bumpers and strings, this racket ends up weighing just 135 grams – an incredible feat from Ashaway, given most lightweight rackets actually tend to weigh in the mid-140s. It’s a safe shout that this is one of the lightest feeling rackets money can buy.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Eye Rackets V.Lite 115
Used by none-other than the Kiwi ‘Superman’ Paul Coll, this is one of the lightest racket offerings from Eye Rackets.
One of the things that sets Eye apart from other racket brands, is their omission of the bumper strip – arguing that it’s not actually necessary and does very little to help rackets’ durability. This gives their rackets a really head-light balance, producing some of the most manoeuvrable frames on the market.
Purchase: PDHSports
Best squash rackets in 2021 for control
These rackets are primarily designed to achieve one thing – accuracy. They’re almost always ‘traditional’ shaped squash rackets with smaller sized heads. As well as this, they tend to have fairly ‘dense’ stringing patterns. This results in a little less power, but should really help with accuracy, especially when taking the ball in short.
Head Graphene 360+ Radical 135
This racket from head features a 460cm head size, one of the smallest available on the market today. It’s rather weighty – I measured it at 166 grams all in, however this resulted in a racket I found helped me to play very accurate, well weighted shots.
Less advanced players may struggle to use this racket in comparison with some of the larger head sizes available. However, last year Head brought out a new version of the 135 which has an elongated head shape – called the 135x. You can read all about it in our full review of the 2020 Head Radical squash racket range.
Read our review of the full Head Radical range
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Dunlop Sonic Core Pro 130
Following the trend of smaller head sizes, this offering from dunlop has a 470cm head. It also has a very dense stringing pattern for the head size at 14×18. It’s a little lighter than the head racket above, weighing almost 10g less when put on the scales.
We found this racket isn’t the most suited to beginner players – it can be quite unforgiving and tough to generate power. However, Elite 135 from the same range offers a larger head size and less dense stringing pattern, which we found far easier to adapt to using.
Read our full review of the Dunlop Sonic Elite, Pro and Ultimate rackets
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Tecnifibre Suprem CurV
Used by up-and-coming superstar Mostafa Asal, while offering the benefits of a ‘control’ focused racket, we also found this to deliver ample power too. If you’re a fan of the feel of Tecnifibre rackets, but would prefer a little more control than the Carboflex, these could be the rackets for you.
The 125 was our favourite weight of all the Tecnifibre Suprem rackets we tested – it felt far more solid than the 130 and the 135 and was a real joy to use.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Ashaway Powerkill 120ZX
For just £80, you can pick up the Ashaway Powerkill 120ZX. This arguably offers the most control out of all the rackets currently on sale, with a lightweight frame and ultra-dense 16×19 stringing pattern, it’s clear what this racket aims to do.
It’s lightweight, it’s manoeuvrable, and is designed for players looking for razor-sharp accuracy. Many players have compared this racket to the far more expensive Harrow rackets, which are now also very hard to find in UK stores. As a bonus, it comes pre-strung in Ashaway’s brilliant Supernick ZX strings. Paul from PDHSports absolutely loved this racket in testing too – watch their video review here.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Best squash rackets in 2021 for a tight budget
Don’t be fooled – you don’t need to spend big bucks to get a good squash racket. The higher cost of ‘premium’ rackets helps to cover overhead costs such as sponsorship deals, marketing and so on. The below rackets are wallet friendly and still deliver the goods when it comes to the squash court.
Tecnifibre Carboflex 125 Heritage Edition
The modern-great squash racket, the Tecnifibre Carboflex changed the game when it came to squash racket design, and helped lift Tecnifibre off the ground in the world of squash.
Originally released in 2012, Tecnifibre re-badged this racket in 2018 as the ‘heritage’ edition, and it continues to sell like hot-cakes. Considering this racket used to cost well over £100, the fact it’s now just over £60 is a bargain.
However, this racket is definitely suited towards more advanced players. It has a fairly unforgiving feel which tends to punish miss-hit shots. It’s definitely a racket you have to ‘warm up’ to, though over time once you do figure out how to use it, it’s hard to turn back.
Read our full review of the Tecnifibre Carboflex Heritage 125
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Karakal Raw 120
This racket has a very similar design to the Carboflex, but costs just £45. The Karakal Raw 120 delivers the goods without breaking the bank. You might even consider picking up a second – a very wise choice to cover you against mid-match string breakages.
Though we’ve only had a couple of quick hits with this racket, our first impressions were that it felt a fair bit more forgiving than the Tecnifibre, so may also be more suited to less advanced players.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
Wilson Hyper Hammer 120
With a colour scheme exclusive to PDHSports, this racket delivers a ridiculous amount of value-for-money. If you’re just starting out in squash, or simply want to keep your spend as little as possible, you’re getting a lot of racket for not a lot of money.
It’s lightweight, with a head heavy balance and a forgiving feel – if you’re new to squash, it’s a brilliant racket to get you off-the-ground.
Purchase: Amazon UK | PDHSports
And that’s it for our list of the best squash rackets in 2021
We’ve done our best to list the best squash rackets in 2021 for every kind of squash player. However, it’s worth remembering there’s more squash rackets out there!
As we mentioned at the start of this article, no one squash racket is ‘better’ than another. It’s simply a case of finding the racket you prefer. If you can try a racket before buying, it’s always worth it.
What’s your favourite squash racket? Let us know in the comments below. We’ll keep this article updated throughout 2021 as new rackets hit the shelves.
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