Irvin,
I did three bottom crosses instead of five because I wanted a bigger "hitting area." And it just looks better to me. I could go four bottoms, but five would seem to limit the hitting area.
Just bouncing a ball on the strings it becomes apparent that this string pattern creates an artificial "sweet spot." The tighter "supporting strings" are still playable but also act as a "frame" for the center hitting area.
I haven't read exactly how the "sweet spot"/center of percussion (COP) test are conducted but I expect that they use a stingbed with one known tension and that will allow the COPs to be determined for the racquet. (I have The Physics and Technology of Tennis by the bed).
I believe that this string pattern creates a visible and useful sweet spot that is created by the strings. (This assumes a tighter tension in the outer strings). The cool thing here is that this opens up more possibilities for what can be done with the strings.
BTW: the team colors idea is a good one, however the black string does give the invisible string look.
|