Roughness
- Two types of rough surfaces on padel rackets: sandblasted and 3D (molded)
- Sandblasted surfaces are very grippy, but wear away quickly
- 3D surfaces last longer and are more expensive to produce
"Rugoso" in Spanish, roughness refers to the application of a rough surface on a padel racket's face in order to assist the player in generating spin on their shots.
A few manufacturers began experimenting with various techniques of roughness a few years ago, and now essentially every brand offers some form of roughness on a portion of their premium rackets.
Forms of roughness
There are two main forms of roughness:
- the sandblasted form, which is strong in the beginning, but wears away somewhat quickly
- 3D roughness, which is more expensive, but increasingly adopted by padel racket brands because it is long-lasting
A few well-received offerings for roughness technology are Starvie's Full Plane Effect System, Varlion's SLICE system (on for example the Bourne Summum Prisma Airflow), and the Adidas Adipower line's Spin Blade system.