The Best Racket Sports

If you want to start playing any racket sport, in this article, we'll tell you which ones are the best for your health and, of course, which ones are the most fun!
The Best Racket Sports

Last update: 09 November, 2019

While it’s true that any sport is good for your health, racket sports are especially beneficial as they provide an essential fun component to keep you motivated. Therefore, we’ll review the best racket sports in the following article. Go out and play!

Racket sports are very popular and, with the arrival of good weather, represent one of the best options to get in shape. In fact, these disciplines allow us to strengthen our arms when hitting the ball and also tone our legs while we run.

Racket sports include popular disciplines, such as tennis, ping-pong, badminton, or squash. All of them help develop coordination and motor skills in addition to activating all of the muscles in the body.

As if that weren’t enough, one study says that racket sports are the most effective in reducing the risk of mortality. So, if you’re looking for physical activities that allow you to have fun while offering 100 percent of your abilities, racket sports can be an excellent option.

Which are the best racket sports?

1. Tennis

Without a doubt, tennis is the most prestigious, popular, and practiced racket sport by people from all over the world. In fact, tennis is a discipline in which you compete on an individual level or by teams of up to two players.

The ball must stay in play and can only bounce once before the opponent returns it over the net. Moreover, you can play tennis indoors or outdoors and on different surfaces; synthetic, clay, or grass.

Tennis is one of the most prestigious sports in the world.

2. Best racket sports: table tennis

It’s an indoor sport, also known as ping pong. The matches can be singles or doubles, while the rackets and balls that the game requires are much smaller and lighter than in tennis.

The winner of the game is the first player to win three or four rounds, depending on the type of match. A round is played up to 11 points, with a difference of two or more points. The server changes every two points; if both players reach 10 points, the server changes at each point.

3. Badminton

Badminton is a type of racket sport that we can play individually or in teams of two. A badminton game consists of winning two of three games, just as in tennis.

In the classic format, only the side that serves can score, and a team needs 15 points to win. Besides that, badminton is an extremely fast sport, which allows you to burn many calories.

You can burn many calories playing badminton.

4. Squash: one of the best racket sports

Unlike the previous sports, squash is a sport that doesn’t require the use of a net. If you really want to test the state of your heart, squash is an excellent option.

Squash is a type of racket sport that’s played inside a closed court. The court is rectangular in shape and divided into two halves, front and rear, using a horizontal marker line.

After the first serve, players alternate turns to return the ball to the front wall. The ball can bounce on the ground only once before returning it.

Squash will get your heart pumping.

5. Paddle

Lastly, paddle tennis is basically a mix between squash and tennis. People usually play doubles on a court that’s about half the size of the standard tennis court.

This court has walls on all sides, which add a very important component of the game. The result is a faster game that depends on reaction time. The rackets that are used are solid and without ropes.

Paddle uses a normal tennis ball, but with a little less pressure. As in tennis, this little ball can bounce on the floor only once. The serve must be done directly, but the scoring rules are the same as the ones used in tennis.

Paddle is played in a court with walls on all sides.

As you’ve seen, racket sports attract a wide and heterogeneous audience through their accessibility and worldwide practice. As if that weren’t enough, there are many racket sports that are ideal for staying fit and toning your muscles

Whichever one you choose, you should know that all racket sports have one thing in common: they require good physical condition and good hand-eye coordination. What are you waiting for to choose your favorite?


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


    • Pluim, B. M., & Staal, J. B. (2009). Tennis. In The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine: An IOC Medical Commission Publication, Epidemiology of Injury in Olympic Sports (pp. 277–293). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444316872.ch21
    • Fernandez, J., Mendez-Villanueva, A., & Pluim, B. M. (2006, May). Intensity of tennis match play. British Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2005.023168
    • Phomsoupha, M., & Laffaye, G. (2015, April 1). The Science of Badminton: Game Characteristics, Anthropometry, Physiology, Visual Fitness and Biomechanics. Sports Medicine. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-014-0287-2
    • Priego, J. I., Melis, J. O., Llana-Belloch, S., Pérezsoriano, P., García, J. C. G., & Almenara, M. S. (2013). Padel: A Quantitative study of the shots and movements in the high-performance. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 8(4), 925–931. https://doi.org/10.4100/jhse.2013.84.04

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.