Babolat Pure Control Tour strings.

Anyone have any suggestions for an arm friendly control string for a Babolat PCT? Am looking at purchasing and have the chance to choose buy pre-strung.

Currently using a Radical Youtek IG MP strung with a Prince poly (think it's tournament) and Technifibre red code at 57lbs but have been developing a bit of pain in my elbow and wrist. After playtesting the Babolat it felt a lot crisper and controlled.

The Technifibre x-one biphase looks good.

57 is high for poly. You might wanna try dropping tension first and seeing if that helps out the pain. Gut/poly is a great option in any frame if you don't break strings too much.

AHJS said:

57 is high for poly. You might wanna try dropping tension first and seeing if that helps out the pain. Gut/poly is a great option in any frame if you don't break strings too much.

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Thanks for the reply. I'm not a frequent string-breaker and have always wanted to string with natural gut or a gut/poly hybrid. Will give it a go first before making my mind up about the Babolat.

DarlesChickens said:

Thanks for the reply. I'm not a frequent string-breaker and have always wanted to string with natural gut or a gut/poly hybrid. Will give it a go first before making my mind up about the Babolat.

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If you are not a frequent string breaker, I think Gut/poly should work wonderfully. Go check out the Gut/poly thread created by SpinToWin and see which poly cross you think would suit you best. Best of luck!

Try Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 at 55 mains and 50-52 crosses.

Don't have gut strung in a new racquet. The grommets haven't been seated into the frame and you won't have a good, consistent result. Instead choose a very cheap or a free string and have it strung at the top of the racquet's tension range. On the second string job, feel free to spend on some nice strings.

Muppet said:

Don't have gut strung in a new racquet. The grommets haven't been seated into the frame and you won't have a good, consistent result. Instead choose a very cheap or a free string and have it strung at the top of the racquet's tension range. On the second string job, feel free to spend on some nice strings.

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Agree, I notice also that the tension isn't quite right on the first stringing, or the first time after the grommets are changed. Wouldn't use gut first time.

Gut with poly works well for that racquet, have used gut with rpm in crosses, and gut with other ploys also.

Gut main with poly cross works well for me too with PCT and i have sensitive elbow. I started out with full poly and the power was a little low and so was the comfort /feel. Gut poly fixed that.

Gut should play very well in this frame, as it's very low powered and will benefit from the extra pop. I demoed it with a poly/syngut hybrid and was leaving a lot of cleanly hit balls short in the net, so if that's what you go with, string it low.

I have to agree with the above posters. Drop your tension and try either a softer poly or gut mains with polyester crosses. The PCT is lighter, both in mass and swingweight, and thus lower powered than it's predecessors. Instead or messing with matching 5 racquets, I've just learned to adjust to the characteristics of the new one. For reference, I was stringing full polyester between 50 and 54 in my heavier Pure Storm Tour GTs and am now stringing between 48 and 52 in the Pure Control Tours. There's plenty of control there, so you shouldn't have to worry about the ball sailing too often. Definitely keep the gut a little higher (2-4 pounds) than the poly because when the poly dies, you'll probably lose a little bit of control, at least in my experience. I'm a very strong believer that you should string as low as possible without sacrificing control, and the PCT is a great frame when you do that.

I am currently using Pro Line ll 17 Mains and 17L Crosses in it at 51 and it plays great. I find it comfortable, but due to the pain currently in your elbow and wrist, you may want to hybrid a poly with a Multi or as mentioned by others natural gut. I find the PCT somewhat unique in that it plays pretty crisp for a flexible racquet. I'm sure there are other flexible racquets that play crisp as well and this is certainly one of them.