Many recreational tennis players think nothing of spending $200 or more on a tennis racquet, but when asked what strings they want will reply, “just put in anything you have”. Or, “whatever you think is best”. While most players understand the importance of selecting a racquet that matches their style of play and ability, fewer realize the importance of string type and tension. This is not surprising given the huge selection of string types and materials. The United States Racquet Stringers Association in its October 2007 report listed the performance characteristics of more than 600 strings by 31 manufacturers. In this article I will provide some information on string types and describe a process you can use to select the best string for your racquet and style of play.
You might be wondering whether a good starting point would be to use the string used by professional tennis players. In a fall 2006 article in the Racquet Sports Industry magazine, Jeff Rothstein described his experiences stringing racquets for the pros at that year’s Wimbedon. According to his article the statistics on the breakdown of strings was as follows:
- Natural Gut - 10% of racquets strung
- Hybrids - 25% of racquets strung - most common was poly mains with gut crosses
- Poly based monofilaments - 55%
Considering both Hybrids and pure Polyester variations, polyester strings accounted for 80% of all racquets strung. Brands such as Luxilon’s Big Bangers and Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour were the most common varieties of polyester strings. Natural Gut strings are considered optimal for playability (power and control) and if cost were no option this string might be used by more players. However, at more than $30 a set (plus stringing cost) and considering that they can not get wet, Natural Gut is not a good choice for recreational tennis players.
So it seems that polyester strings are the overwhelming favorite amongst pro players. As we discuss below, however this may not be the best option for recreational players unless they can generate the types of racquet head speed and power that pros do. The following factors should be taken into account when selecting your next set of strings.
- Your current string
- The racquet
- Your style of play (power vs control)
- How much you like your current strings or what you would like to change **
Many recreational players do not know the type of strings they are playing with. This may be due to their indifference as to what string was used or it may be due to the length of time since the racquet was strung. This may also be compounded by the fact that most pro shops or retailers do not have public records that players can access to track their strings. Keeping track of your stringing history is an important part of understanding what string types you have tried and what new strings you want to explore. There are sites like My Tennis Page (tennis captain software) where you can track your stringing information.
Your racquet and style of play determine how much power you need to generate from your strings versus how much you generate in your own swing. Heavy hitters who generate their own power need a stiffer string to prevent the ball from pocketing too deeply in the strings and to minimize breakage. Players who need or wish to generate more power from their strings will select a softer string.
String stiffness is measured in lbs/in which describes the amount of force needed to deflect the strings on impact. Although there is a degree of overlap in the stiffness of the various materials, in general the softer strings will be multifilaments of nylon construction followed by nylon solid core, polyester and Kevlar. I will cover string types and construction in a later post. Stiffness ranges from 135 lbs/in at the low end (polyolefin and nylon) to 350 bls/in at the high end for polyesters. Natural gut, by contrast, has a stiffness of 80-130 lbs/in. Another option is Kevlar which has typical stiffnesses of 450-950+ lbs/in. Kevlar is generally an option only if all other options have been exhausted and no other option has given you the durability you need. These strings are so stiff that you should only use them for the mains, crosses should be strung with a softer string.
All other things being equal (cost, durability, etc) the following rules of thumb generally apply:
- Thinner strings will provide more power and produce greater spin
- Racquets with a denser string pattern will generate less power and spin
- Softer strings generate more power and spin than stiffer ones
- Softer strings generate less vibration on the arm (if tennis elbow is a problem)
- Thicker gauge strings will tend to be stiffer than thinner gauges
Your string choice and style of play need to complement each other. The stiffness of your strings combined with how hard you strike the ball will determine how deeply the ball seats into the string bed (pocket). A ball that does not pocket deeply enough or too deeply negatively impacts both spin and ball control.
Before making a string switch you should factor in how long its been since your last stringing. In a future post I will write about how often you should have a racquet restrung, but for now lets consider how stringing frequency comes into play when choosing new strings. All strings begin to lose tension from the moment they are strung and in the first 24 hours can lose 10-15% or more of the reference tension. Although the rate of decline lessens over time, strings continue to lose tension over their lifetime. If you only restring when you break a string you may be restringing once or twice a year. This means that you are playing on strings that bear little resemblence to their original playing characteristics. You should keep a log and record your impressions of the strings within the first few weeks of stringing. When you do decide to restring you can refer back to these notes before choosing a new string type. Pay attention to whether the strings feel overtly mushy or stiff.
If your current strings feel mushy or the ball seems to fly off the racquet and sail long, you may want to select a stiffer string. If your strings feel harsh and your arm, especially the elbow or back of the hand, is sore after playing you might try a softer string. If you are breaking strings too often you might first try a thicker gauge of the same string. Many strings will have similar stiffness regardless of the thickness, however some brands are stiffer in the thicker gauges. In this case you would need to move to a softer string in a thicker gauge if you want the overall stiffness to remain the same. In addition to durability, you may notice that your strings (which feel good after stringing) become mushy too quickly. They may not break right away but some strings lose tension more quickly than others and if you need to string infrequently you may have to select another brand of string.
If you experience tennis elbow you might want to read my post on surviving Tennis Elbow before making a switch to your strings.