The racket isn’t the reason you can’t hit a backhand. You’d miss with the pro’s too.

Blaming the gear is comforting because gear can be fixed with money, and skill only responds to a slower, duller kind of payment. There is a real difference between equipment that holds you back and equipment you are hoping will do the work for you. The second kind of thinking follows people through every hobby they pick up, always one purchase away from being good.

Give what you already own a month of honest repetition before upgrading anything. Count the reps rather than the results. If you are still stuck after that with the work genuinely done, go look at gear.