Pop (mph)
The ball speed a paddle produces on a short punch stroke, the kind used in hands battles at the kitchen.
Pop is measured like power but with a short, compact stroke instead of a full swing. It reflects how much energy the paddle returns on its own, with little help from the player, which is what counts in a fast exchange at the net.
Pop and power do not fully overlap: a paddle can be a strong driver and only average on pop, or the reverse. Thinner cores average slightly more pop in our data.
What the numbers look like
Across the 523 of 812 paddles in our database with a measured value.
- Lowest
- 32.4 mph
- 10th pct
- 34.8 mph
- Median
- 36.2 mph
- Average
- 36.1 mph
- 90th pct
- 37.2 mph
- Highest
- 39.3 mph
32.4 mphEach bar is one tenth of the range; the tallest holds 147 paddles39.3 mph
Average pop by core thickness
| 16mm and thicker | 215 paddles | 36.0 mph |
| 14mm and thinner | 117 paddles | 36.4 mph |
| 15mm | 32 paddles | 36.1 mph |
Highest pop (mph)
Lowest pop (mph)
- Gentle Booms Sports GBS-001 11mm32.4 mph
- Selkirk SLK Halo Power XL 13mm32.4 mph
- PCKL Pro 16 16mm32.8 mph
- Selkirk Luxx Control Air S232.9 mph
- PCKL Pro 13 13mm33.0 mph
Rankings that use this spec
Related terms
Let the numbers pick for you
The quiz weighs every spec on this page against your play style and ranks all 812 paddles.