Roger Federer gives fans one big piece of advice about buying a new tennis racket

Roger Federer has launched his first RF-branded racket with Wilson and has given fans some tips on what they need to look out for when they pick the most important piece of tennis equipment.

In 2022, Federer began collaborating with Wilson’s innovation team to create a racket for his remaining time on tour. The main goals were to increase racket head speed and maintain his versatile style against heavy baseliners while retaining a familiar Wilson racket feel.

Despite retiring that year, Roger and Wilson utilized these insights to develop the RF 01, devoting countless hours to testing and reviewing the designs to create the most premium-performance tennis racket line.

This collaboration will keep Roger actively involved in tennis, partnering with Wilson to continue growing the sport, with the RF 01 being the first line in this signature collection.

“Having spent my whole career playing with Wilson rackets, I’m excited about the new RF Collection that we’ve created together,” said Federer as he launched the racket.

“I’m honoured that Wilson is continuing my legacy by further innovating the game I love, and I hope the collection inspires the stars of today as much as I was inspired the first time that I picked up a Wilson racket.”

Now Federer has opened up about his new RF Wilson frame, as he gave his army of fans around the world some hints about the process behind the launch in an interview with the Tennis Channel.

“Having the RF logo on the racket shows you that this is very serious for me,” said Federer.

“It’s a big honour for me to have an RF franchise at Wilson. I’ve been with them for so, so long, ever since I played my first tournament at eight years old it was a Wilson racket and I’ve never played another tournament with another, with another brand.

“So for me to carry on the journey together with Wilson, now with my own initials and my brand is incredible.

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“I’ve wanted to work on a new racket in while rehabbing, you know, and for my comeback, we were looking at, what else could we add to to the racket? What could it be? And we were going through all the whole process. And then, of course, my career ended.

“Then my mind had to shift as well. Okay. Well, who cares about me right now? This is about, really purely about a racket, also for, you know, future junior players, other pro players, but also recreational players.

“So I try to blend all my knowledge that I had over the last, whatever, 30 years into this racket.

“I also really wanted to always try a lighter frame because I’ve always been on the spectrum of quite a much a little bit of a heavier frame, which has been more difficult for people to play with.

“So it’s been a great process, and I’m very happy with the end result, to be honest. In case you haven’t seen it yet, here it is.”

Federer went on to give his fans some advice about rackets, as he suggested a regular change may benefit your game at whatever level you play at.

“Well, number one, you go to feel excited about picking up a racket,” he added.

“I would love to see is that maybe, you know, tennis players or tennis fans change rackets a little bit more frequently.

“Usually they play with one racket and then he buys another one, maybe five years or 10 years later. And I feel with shoes, watches or cars or whatever it may be, whatever you’re collecting, you have a tendency to add more to it.

“In tennis, maybe we have done, haven’t done a good enough job to actually explain that if you play too long with a racket, the flex point gets so all over the show.

“So even if you then buy a new racket, the same one, it’s going to feel completely different. It’s going to feel much stiffer. And that’s why I hope that through this story and my racket, you’re gonna feel like, you know what, I actually should buy maybe a racket once a year, twice a year, or every other year.

“There’s so many cool frames out there, rackets that go out and actually test it, put the time into it and have fun with it. You know, like in other sports, maybe you do as well.”

Federer also spoke about his children playing with Wilson rackets and confirmed he is still regularly taking to the court, even though his competitive days are over.