Introducing the one-hole padel racket!

The new HEAD Extreme One 2023 has shaken up the world of padel racket design and pushed the sport’s regulations to the limit. Our Spanish padel expert, Joaqín Serna, gives you all the details and asks whether the revolutionary weapon lives up to the hype.

The most eye-catching aspect of this racket, as you may have noticed, is that it has only one hole. The reason? Purely aesthetic, because in terms of playability there are few differences compared to standard padel rackets with multiple holes.

With its design, HEAD has complied to the limit of padel regulations, which state that the minimum number of holes that a racket must have is one (there is no maximum). As if that wasn’t enough, in this model the hole is 9mm in diameter, the minimum established by the regulations (the maximum is 13 mm).

What confounded my expectations is that the design doesn’t mean the racket is heavier than normal – in fact, quite the opposite.

The HEAD Extreme One 2023 has a total weight of 345 grams, which becomes 350 grams if you add a grip to the handle. This light weight helps to avoid strain on the arm and also to adapt to the modern style of play, which is much faster and dynamic than it was decades ago, when the average length of points was longer.

But the fact that it is lightweight does not make it more susceptible to a shorter lifespan. As you have probably already experienced, most of the time when a standard racket breaks, it is because of cracks that start forming and end up in the holes, which makes it impossible to hit the ball with that part of the surface without the shot coming out flawed.

In this case, with no holes, the HEAD team has managed to make the new model twice as durable as a standard racket. The secret to explain this resistance is that it has no perforations and is made of 12K technology carbon fibre, tested in the company’s air tunnels.

However, this disruptive design also has drawbacks that come to the fore when trying to apply spin and power.

With conventional rackets, the player is able to generate more or less spin from the movement of the arm and the multiple holes in the racket. In this case, the HEAD Extreme One 2023 has a rough surface that helps, but in certain shots such as the drop shot or the dormilona it’s not enough to leave the opponent lying on the ground.

In terms of power, despite being a racket with a hard feel, its lightness means that players have to prioritise technique when it comes to making successful shots such as smashes or víboras. The racket is capable of providing a good point of acceleration to the ball but not as much as a standard diamond-shaped head.

In this sense, the HEAD Extreme One 2023 is made for intermediate amateur players who are characterised by a style of play based on control.

This racket allows for good defensive ability at the back of the court and good volleys close to the net, so it is recommended for use by drive players who have a more defensive role in the team. Its current price is around £250.

With this daring product, the renowned brand from the racket world has brought back a design that was launched by Dropshot in 2015 but did not prove very successful.

Be sure to check out The Padel Paper‘s guide to buying a padel racket which helps you choose the model that best suits your physical condition and style of play, so you can continue improving your level in this wonderful sport.