WHOOP and racket sports: padel, tennis, squash

Why rackets are a case apart

Running asks little of the wrist. A racket sport asks a great deal: the stroke starts at the wrist, the grip tightens with every hit, and the shock of the ball travels up the forearm. For a sensor that needs stable contact, it is the worst of the ordinary scenarios.

Which arm

If you wear your WHOOP on your dominant arm you get all of it at once: the flexion, the grip, the vibration. Moving the band to the non-dominant arm solves most of the problem. It is the first adjustment to try, and it costs nothing.

Give the app a few days: each wrist has its own shape, and the first nights after switching sides can look odd.

Half a notch tighter

A band that shifts with every stroke produces choppy data. Tighten half a notch from your usual setting for the duration of the match, and loosen afterwards. A sliding clip makes that instant; a notched band will often leave you between two positions.

Move up rather than tighten

If tightening is not enough, move the band up the forearm. The skin there is less mobile, and above all the band leaves the zone that the racket grip works. See: where to wear your WHOOP.

Outdoor padel, clay, sweat

Clay dust works into a pale weave and does not always come out entirely. For playing outdoors regularly, a mid or dark shade saves you chasing stains.

After the match: rinse in clean water, dry flat. A band left damp in a racket bag until the next day is a band that will smell in two weeks. See: why a band starts to smell.

And the charm?

A charm clipped onto the strap holds perfectly through a match — it sits flat against the weave, not proud of it. We make a padel one and a tennis one, which is exactly the sort of detail a doubles partner notices.

On court

The CoreKnit Graphite mesh takes two hours of padel and dries before the car. The padel charm and the tennis ball sit flat and catch on nothing.

For a deciding third set there is also the "No Risk No Story" band. The white weave picks up clay, so keep it for indoor courts or glass-walled padel — but from the other side of the net, the line reads perfectly well.