Tennis Strings Explained
Strings are just as important to your game as your tennis racquet. Strings are vital to how a racquet plays and performs. It's the only thing that actually makes contact with the ball. But learning about string and picking the right one can be daunting with the huge variety to choose from. We're here to help. Hopefully this article will provide you a clearer picture about "the engine" in your racquet.
Each type of Tennis string will provide different benefits to your tennis game. Restringing your racquet can provide a different feel on contact, increase spin and power production and can even decrease your chances of hitting the balls long or into the net.
There are 4 main categories that modern strings will fall under
Synthetic Gut
This is the cheapest option of tennis strings that you can purchase, it is typically manufactured from nylon and offers good playability for its price.
Pros: Economically Priced
Cons: Average overall performance and is not extraordinary in any catergory
Recommended For: Beginners and non-string breakers
Multifillaments
Multfillaments offers great playability that will be similar to natural gut and are made from hundreds of tiny fibers wound together. They typically range from $10 - $30 and offers decent power, feel and forgiveness.
Pros: Very good playability, soft on the arm, good tension maintenance, a wide range of price points and is the closest thing to natural gut.
Cons: Less control oriented, certain multi-filaments can feel "mushy". Some big hitters might find they lack durability.
Recommended For: Beginners to Advanced level players
Natural Gut
Made from Cow Intestines, natural gut is the cream of the crop in terms of playability, feel and comfort. They hold their tension the most and absorb the most amount of shock from the ball (great for players with arm problems). However they are the most expensive.
Pros: Optimum playability, holds tension the best, easy on the arm, playability remains consistence even at a higher tension and has a premium feel.
Cons: High Priced and can break if they get wet from the rain or from damp balls.
Recommended For: Intermediate to advanced level players
Polyesters
In the last 10-15 years, polyesters have completely taken over the market and the majority of the Pro Tour. They are a stiffer string that offers faster swings plently of control and spin. Typically if you are player who does not need power and comfort from their strings and do not have arm issues then polyesters are the way to go.
Pros: Durable, lots of spin and lots of control
Cons: Low powered (for some players), harsher on the arm and loses tension faster.
Recommended For: Intermediate to advanced level players
Tension and Guages
Tension is referring to how tight the strings are strung in the racquet. Each racquet will have a specific tension range that the manufacturer recommends you string within, usually around 50-60 pounds. In general, the higher the tension, the more control you will attain and the lower the tension, the more power. Typically, a player that generate their own power will string with a higher tension and vice versa for a beginner. If you don't know what tension to string with, we recommend you choose the middle tension and then you can make adjustments from there. Need more power? Go down 2-3 pounds next time.
Gauges are essentially the thickness of a string. The higher the gauge, the thinner the string. In general, thinner string will provide more power and spin while thicker strings provide more control and durability.The problem with gauges however, is that there is not a standardized and universal chart. A 16 gauge for one company might be a 16L (L stands for 'light', which basically means it's halfway between 2 gauges, think of a 16L as a 16.5) for another. Which is why we recommend referencing the actual millimeter sizing.
When to Restring
Contrary to popular belief, breaking a string isn't the only time you should re-string your racquet. For the casual recreational player, a good rule of thumb to follow is to re-string as many times in a year as you play in a week. For example, if you play 5 times a week, then you should re-string at least 5 times a year. But if you use polyester string, then we would recommend stringing more often. You might see in some of our string reviews that we mention that the string has "bagged out." That is when a string has lost most of its tension and therefore, lost most of its playability; which includes power, control and feel.
