Low, low tensions. 30lbs feels great. 20lbs pretty good, too

[v-verb]

Originally Posted by Centerforward71

Was just curious, thanks.

By the way this is for all of you herer inquiring about the low tensions. In my humble opinion and vast experience of testing with myself and other players at all levels. There is a tension range in MOST if not ALL the poly setups I have tried that are not in this LOW range that performs this way. My testing has showed me that when you start getting close to 38-40lbs you start losing these characteristics of the low tension, so to really get this experience I would start at 35 and go down from there. 40-45 lb range yiends too much power with not enough spin to control shots, you need to get into that 35 and below range to really see what we are talking about. There is alot of questions here referring to 42,45, etc etc ... this is not the low tension experience trust me. If you have two racquets I would reccomend stringing one at say 35 and one at 30 and play with those. I also liked a racquet at 25 but I what I did not like was that it seemed like dwell time was so much that oponent could seem to read direction of shot much easier. Furthermore the ball did not penetrate as well although the spin was amazing. Heed my advise since I spent ALOTTT of time and MONEY on strings to come to that conclusion. Hope this helps since I see alot of questions that are all over the place with the tension ranges.

Excellent post - thanks Centerforward71!

FWIW I had my Donnay X-Platinum 94 18 x 20 strung at 35 lbs and it still feels pretty stiff. With a 18 x 20 bed I would say 25-30 tops.

Which brings me to the point that "low tension" could vary when discussing open or tight string beds. With tight string beds needing lower tension than open beds.

Thoughts?

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by v-verb

Excellent post - thanks Centerforward71!

FWIW I had my Donnay X-Platinum 94 18 x 20 strung at 35 lbs and it still feels pretty stiff. With a 18 x 20 bed I would say 25-30 tops.

Which brings me to the point that "low tension" could vary when discussing open or tight string beds. With tight string beds needing lower tension than open beds.

Thoughts?

Thanks !! I see alot of people here tring what they think is low tension and really never getting to that sweet spot point and giving up. Look i play both hi and low, not that its for everyone but it definitely offers a completely differnet experience and for some one to never go back to the old from, and thats for various of my 4.5 and above level players..

YES AND YES on the stringbed patterns. I am testing a STEAM 99S in its normal ranges right now but will mess around with the low tensions, although it is possible that I may need to vary my theory and dwell a little higher. I have actually played it to about 45 and starts to lose the control there a bit for me. The one thing is that the string movement is significant on this racquest even with a fresh poly at that tension telling me that the string is not returning to position as the racquet is designed to do. I fear that it will get worse at the lower tensioons but Ill let you all know

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by Centerforward71

YES AND YES on the stringbed patterns. I am testing a STEAM 99S in its normal ranges right now but will mess around with the low tensions, although it is possible that I may need to vary my theory and dwell a little higher. I have actually played it to about 45 and starts to lose the control there a bit for me. The one thing is that the string movement is significant on this racquest even with a fresh poly at that tension telling me that the string is not returning to position as the racquet is designed to do. I fear that it will get worse at the lower tensioons but Ill let you all know

Please do report back as I am wondering the same thing.

The higher tensions, I would think, would case the strings to snap back into the "normal" position more easily vs. a lower tension.

But, might the higher tensions even further accelerate the string wear (notching) that this racquet already exhibits? Once the strings notch badly, this racquet does not play anywhere near the same for me. The drastic spin production drops off (which is the whole point of this frame).

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by Buford T Justice

Please do report back as I am wondering the same thing.

The higher tensions, I would think, would case the strings to snap back into the "normal" position more easily vs. a lower tension.

But, might the higher tensions even further accelerate the string wear (notching) that this racquet already exhibits? Once the strings notch badly, this racquet does not play anywhere near the same for me. The drastic spin production drops off (which is the whole point of this frame).

Cannot AGREE more with you here. I am expreiencing MORE than normal tension loss with polys that I know not to lose tension that quickly. Then string movement starts and spin and control SUFFER significantly. So far this is my only issue with this new racquet. I may have to go tighter, it does recomend 54-64 and I have not gone past 57. Ill let you know when I can test the low tensions but NOT SURE its gonna be the same with this open patter but I could be TOTALLY wrong as I was before tring low tensions....

[dave t]

I'd like to try this tension range - hoping to get some advice.

Racquet: Fischer pro #1. Various versions but all 16x20/320g unstrung.
Currently using gut/poly at 52/48 or somewhere close (cp).
I have used full poly in the past around 45-48 - never higher or lower than that.

I don't have tennis-related elbow/shoulder issues but I like my setup comfy and don't want to cause any damage at this point.

I was thinking of starting at around 36 lbs. sound ok?
Originally was going to do 42 or something but earlier posts suggested diving right in. I would go lower but I don't want the initial tension drop to leave me too low. Also, do you guys like shaped or smooth polys for the low tension setups?

Thanks - looking forward to giving this a shot.

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by Centerforward71

Cannot AGREE more with you here. I am expreiencing MORE than normal tension loss with polys that I know not to lose tension that quickly. Then string movement starts and spin and control SUFFER significantly. So far this is my only issue with this new racquet. I may have to go tighter, it does recomend 54-64 and I have not gone past 57. Ill let you know when I can test the low tensions but NOT SURE its gonna be the same with this open patter but I could be TOTALLY wrong as I was before tring low tensions....

Center-

I am trying out the top of the range (64 lb) tonight (hopefully) and will see how it plays. But, it will likely take a number of hours of play to tell if higher is better (i.e. until I start to see string movement and severe notching).

After trying the top of the range, if string life still reeks Ill probably go way down (upper 40's?) just to see if that helps.

If it doesnt, Ill give up and just go with a cheaper poly and restring often. Hello Klipper USA and Golden Set! I guess we are going to be good friends.....

[Fuji]

Originally Posted by Buford T Justice

Center-

I am trying out the top of the range (64 lb) tonight (hopefully) and will see how it plays. But, it will likely take a number of hours of play to tell if higher is better (i.e. until I start to see string movement and severe notching).

After trying the top of the range, if string life still reeks Ill probably go way down (upper 40's?) just to see if that helps.

If it doesnt, Ill give up and just go with a cheaper poly and restring often. Hello Klipper USA and Golden Set! I guess we are going to be good friends.....

Just know that poly above 60lbs is really tough on the arms. I've seen a couple guys I know get pretty serious wrist and elbow injuries from stringing poly at 60+lbs over the period of a few months. Not trying to scare you or anything, just giving you a heads up!

-Fuji

[yourmailman]

I had one of my previous racquets strung at 70# with Prince Beast poly. It was really tough on my arm. I cut it out after two matches.

The mid to high 40s didn't really do a whole lot for me. However, I did see a significant difference when I started getting below 40#. When I got down to 30#, I saw a dramatic difference in performance.

Gotta run as I am off to try my natural gut setup in my league tonight.

Will report back later.

[Buford T Justice]

Originally Posted by Fuji

Just know that poly above 60lbs is really tough on the arms. I've seen a couple guys I know get pretty serious wrist and elbow injuries from stringing poly at 60+lbs over the period of a few months. Not trying to scare you or anything, just giving you a heads up!

-Fuji

Yes.....I dont take your advice lightly. No doubt I dont particularly like poly strung tightly. It seems that on these racquets, the higher tensions arent "acting" as high as they would otherwise (if that makes any sense).

Ill just try it this time as an experiment and see what happens. If the strings decline in ~5 hours like they did before, then Ill know that the higher tension isnt really worth it.

As an aside.......I know a guy (pretty darn good player too), that strings his racquets at 74 with KEVLAR! I couldnt believe it. He said hes done it for years....no arm problems. As far as tennis goes.....I think he must be one of those infamous "1%'ers"....LOL. Or perhaps even a "0.1%'er"!

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by dave t

I'd like to try this tension range - hoping to get some advice.

Racquet: Fischer pro #1. Various versions but all 16x20/320g unstrung.
Currently using gut/poly at 52/48 or somewhere close (cp).
I have used full poly in the past around 45-48 - never higher or lower than that.

I don't have tennis-related elbow/shoulder issues but I like my setup comfy and don't want to cause any damage at this point.

I was thinking of starting at around 36 lbs. sound ok?
Originally was going to do 42 or something but earlier posts suggested diving right in. I would go lower but I don't want the initial tension drop to leave me too low. Also, do you guys like shaped or smooth polys for the low tension setups?

Thanks - looking forward to giving this a shot.

36 is good start. Don't be afraid to try starting at 32-30 or so

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by Buford T Justice

Center-

I am trying out the top of the range (64 lb) tonight (hopefully) and will see how it plays. But, it will likely take a number of hours of play to tell if higher is better (i.e. until I start to see string movement and severe notching).

After trying the top of the range, if string life still reeks Ill probably go way down (upper 40's?) just to see if that helps.

If it doesnt, Ill give up and just go with a cheaper poly and restring often. Hello Klipper USA and Golden Set! I guess we are going to be good friends.....

Ditto. Gonna try 62 or so. Then 42 maybe lower depends on how I feel

[yourmailman]

Played my match tonight with my natural gut strings. They are definitely a little livelier than the other combos. Overall, I liked it pretty well. I lost, but was very competitive. Lots less string movement than the syn-gut (as I expected), but I was surprised at how much less.

This will be my weapon of choice in doubles tomorrow night. I may go with it in my tournament this weekend if it grows on me a little more.

[yourmailman]

Okay, I love the natural gut at 30#. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't since it is so much more expensive.

Last night was my first time playing with it and I wasn't quite dialed in with it yet. Tonight was amazing. I was able to rip several down the middle so hard that the other team could only watch. And my returns were going right back to the server with lots of topspin. It caused them some problems.

It took a few games to get my lob dialed in, but once I did, they were landing within a foot of the baseline to right on it. The shots I hit with backspin were very nice as well.

My serve seems to have lost a little of the pop I was getting with the syn-gut, but my placement is much better. It could be that I was being a little extra cautious. The nice thing was I had zero double faults.

The string movement is still very minimal compared to the syn-gut, which is nice. That is my only real complaint about the syn-gut setup.

Tomorrow evening is the first round of the tournament and I am actually excited to try the natural gut there.

Extreme low tension rules!

[v-verb]

Great report! Apologies if I missed it but what type of gut, gauge and tension are you using? Aha 30 lbs but the rest?

Edit - ok I read the previous page - Klip 18 ga. I have to try that once I can string better

[yourmailman]

Originally Posted by v-verb

Great report! Apologies if I missed it but what type of gut, gauge and tension are you using? Aha 30 lbs but the rest?

Edit - ok I read the previous page - Klip 18 ga. I have to try that once I can string better

V-Verb,

This was my first time stringing with natural gut. To me, it wasn't any more difficult than any of the other strings. I pulled each length twice, as I have heard that's a good practice with gut. Only added about 10 minutes to my stringing time.

I have found that I like 18 gauge, and that is almost exclusively what I stock. The Klip was the only natural gut I saw.

[v-verb]

Thanks Yourmailman!

Can't wait to try it. Will order some Klip 18 soon

Cheers

[LeeD]

Do string tensions as low as 30 still work with fast strokes and long swings?

[scotus]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Do string tensions as low as 30 still work with fast strokes and long swings?

It's a matter of preference, but yes, it works for fast & long swings. Even some ATP pros use tensions this low.

I am loving the ultra-low tension for the winter. I doubt I could stay in this range come spring, though.

[yourmailman]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Do string tensions as low as 30 still work with fast strokes and long swings?

I would have to say yes. My strokes are fairly fast. I have found that I have shortened my swing a little since I don't need as much energy to get the ball to go where I want it to.

I would say try it out. If you don't like it (and not everybody will), go back to the tension you are comfortable with. I tried it, and I happen to love it. Since I switched to the extremely low tension, I frequently hear how much my game has improved in a short time. Plus there are the people who don't say anything, but are now losing to me instead of beating me.

Is it strictly the low tension? Probably not all by itself. As I said earlier, it has changed my style of play a bit. I don't get nearly as tired because I expend less energy to get the same results I was getting at the higher tensions. And maybe part of it is mental. I believe I can make better shots now, and have the confidence to try. I also feel I have just a bit more time when I get to a ball because I don't have to wind up as much. I can still send the ball back at a pretty good clip, even if all I do is make contact (the pocketing is great).

So try it, you may like it. And don't just go down into the mid 40's. Go at least 35# or below. Judge your play and experiment until you find what is best for you. But by all means try it. You could be pleasantly surprised!

[evanjj]

yourmailman, you are a star.

I have Babolat Gut in the mains and Luxilon Rough in the crosses. I had them strung at 49/47 during the winter (in Australia) and in December I went lower to 48/45 for the summer, but am finding in the hot weather the balls are flying longer over the baseline.
You think I should go with my current string setup to the low 30s?? Will I keep a ball in?
Love to hear your opinion

PS...I should say, I was thinking of going tighter to keep the ball in, maybe 55/52...until I read your posts!