Y1 CX1 Padel Racket (2025)

A round head puts the sweet spot in the middle of the face, roughly where a beginner tends to hit the ball anyway. A head-light balance keeps the weight towards your hand, so the racket gets into position quickly at the net and doesn't drag on the wrist through a long evening. Padel Shack's listing describes exactly that: control-oriented, quick to manoeuvre, a low balance point for easy handling.

Y1's naming makes it easy to place. The C in CX is the round mould, and the 1 means a fibreglass face rather than carbon. The CX3 moves the same shape to a 3K carbon face, and the CX12 to 12K.

The face is fibreglass, which flexes on impact and gives a softer, more forgiving contact than carbon. Behind it sits what Y1 calls AirSpring EVA; the listing labels it "10-13 AirSpring EVA foam" without saying what the numbers mean, so we won't guess. Around both, the frame is 100% carbon in a double-tube build, which Y1 says is there for structural stiffness.

The textured Texture Control face, the OptiFlow hole pattern and a perforated VibraControl grip come from the same parts bin as Y1's dearer rackets. Weight is listed at 355 to 375g, with 365g as the nominal figure.

Round, low-balanced and fibreglass-faced describes a lot of good first rackets. These are the closest alternatives we stock, from our control padel rackets and beginner ranges.

Complete beginners, players returning after a long break, and anyone who prefers to win points with placement rather than pace. It fits naturally with our best padel rackets for beginners. If you'd like a slightly livelier shape from the same brand, the RX1 puts a similar fibreglass and AirSpring EVA build into a teardrop.

New players catch the floor with the frame more than they'd like, so a padel racket protector pays for itself. Put an overgrip from our padel grip range over the perforated grip once it starts to feel slick.

A tube of padel balls, padel shoes made for sand-filled turf and a simple padel bag complete the kit; Y1 also sells a matching racket cover. For a fuller explanation of shapes and balance, read our guide on how to choose a padel racket.