Agassi4Ever
Rookie
Help needed with string setup!
Hello everyone, I'm a new member in this forum but have been reading it for quite some time now. I must say that most of the threads are very useful and have helped me in quite a few tennis decisions that I have made. I took this opportunity to register to the forum because I need all the help I can get with my current predicament. Let me explain.
I have been playing tennis for over 11 years now but never seriously got into the sport until about 20 months ago. I was always a summertime outdoor player, mostly due to the fact that I didn't know many people who liked to play the sport. I also never joined a club because at the time I was too young to be able to afford such a commodity. However in september of 2003 I decided to take the plunge and signed up to my local tennis club. For those wondering, I live in Laval, Quebec, Canada and am a member of Tennis13 tennis club. I believe my game has improved quite substantially over the last 20 months and certainly my consistency is was up.
Now to the important stuff. As you may have noticed from my username, I really like Andre Agassi and have always tried to mimic his style of play. I have bought every Head Radical model starting with the i.radical and more than 1 copy of each. At first I did it because I liked Agassi but as I've grown older (i'm gonna be 26 btw the day afetr agassi' b-day) I've come to realize that it's better to have head light rackets for more that one reason. I've never had a problem with my rackets and they have always performed well for me. Strings however were never a real concern until I joined the tennis club. I realized that if I really wanted to improve, I had to be selective with the string that I used. That is around the time when the Luxilon BB line became very popular so of course, since Agassi switched to this string, I decided to install it on my frame as well. I opted for the BB ALU Power at 62lbs on both my i.radical frames. Looking back on it now, this may not have been a wise choice. When i bought my new LM Radical OS frames, I installed the same strings, 1 frame at 59lbs and the other at 65lbs. Now I have to say that I really liked both tensions but played mostly with the 65lb frame because I believed that I needed control over power, since I produced enough power plus the frame was said to generate quite a bit of power too. I never touch my i.radical frames (@ 62lbs) anymore and since I threw a fit and partially cracked one of my LM frames (@ 59lbs), I play primarily with a 65lbs frame now.
Recently, about 3 months ago, I started to notice a pain in my arm and shoulder. At first I didn't think it was much but it got to a point were it hurt my concentration on every single point. The pain mostly occured during my serve and on overheads. if I didn't have to serve at all, I wouldn't be having this pain as I have noticed during my lessons where I don't practice the serve. Now I've read on many threads in this forum that Luxilon strings will cause arm problems and should be avoided. What I don't understand is that I didn't have this problem until recently, the strings were great until now. I do have a theory though. My strings have not been changed in over a year and I believe this is what is causing my arm to hurt. I always thought that changing strings occured when they snap, but since I've switched to Luxilon, these strings just don't snap. I've done research on this and it seems that a string that isn't changed a few times a year becomes dead and can cause arm injuries. This is what seems to have happened to me. I feel like I can't get much pop on my serve anymore and I think this is forcing me to whip my arm more during my service motion, causing my arm and shoulder to hurt. I typically play 3 and sometimes 4 times a week so by those standards, I should be changing my strings every 3-4 months. Needless to say, I'm way overdue.
Just the other day I had my strings removed from my LM Radical and now have installed the BB Ace 18g on it. I was willing to give it a try for 2 reasons. Firstly, I have read on several threads on this forum and site and numerous sites on the web that this string from Luxilon is very different from the reat of the BB line in that it doesn't hurt the arm. On top of getting the advantages of a thinner string, something that I should have done a long time ago since I play with quite a bit of topspin, the BB Ace still offers the same durability as the rest of the BB line without (supposedly) the harshness on the arm. I'm gonna find out soon since I will hit with it for the first time tomorrow. I have also strung the racket at 58lbs instead of 65lbs to alieviate some of the pressure on the arm by creating a softer stringbed.
Now the most important part. I recently bought a Head FP Radical OS and a FP Radical Tour and I'm expecting to get them the end of next week. Here is where I need all of your help. I don't want to aggravate my arm any more and am willing to try another string on these new frames. I have several combinations in mind so please let me know what you guys think of them and if you have any of your own suggestions, please feel free to pass them along.
String suggestions:
1) Babolat VS Touch 16g string
2) Babolat VS Team 17g string
3) Babolat Tonic + Ball Feel 16g string
4) Hybrid Pro Hurricane(M)/VS+(C) string
I have bought all these strings already and the hybrid set I have it in 16g and 17g. Please tell me what you guys think would be the best setup for me. I know that natural gut is very expensive and I don't plan to be paying a fortune if they snap too often. I also plan to have all these strings at a tension of 58lbs and maybe even lower. For the hybrid set, I would appreciate any comments/experiences about different tensions for the mains and crosses. Let me give you an idea of what kind of player I am.
Left handed, rated a 4.0 player (although I believe I'm more of a 3.5+), play a very aggressive baseline game. Pretty good serve with good pace and a good 2nd serve (on most days) with a decent amount of kick on it. I play a semi-western forehand and a 2handed backhand (no surprises there since I like Agassi). I play with quite a bit of topspin and like to be the aggressor and try to dictate the points, although this sometime (often lately) leads to many errors on my part.
So there it is in a (big) nutshell. I'd really appreciate any info/feedback on this matter as it is quite important to me that my arm/shoulder pain not increase and that I continue to improve my game.
Thank you all for your time.
Hello everyone, I'm a new member in this forum but have been reading it for quite some time now. I must say that most of the threads are very useful and have helped me in quite a few tennis decisions that I have made. I took this opportunity to register to the forum because I need all the help I can get with my current predicament. Let me explain.
I have been playing tennis for over 11 years now but never seriously got into the sport until about 20 months ago. I was always a summertime outdoor player, mostly due to the fact that I didn't know many people who liked to play the sport. I also never joined a club because at the time I was too young to be able to afford such a commodity. However in september of 2003 I decided to take the plunge and signed up to my local tennis club. For those wondering, I live in Laval, Quebec, Canada and am a member of Tennis13 tennis club. I believe my game has improved quite substantially over the last 20 months and certainly my consistency is was up.
Now to the important stuff. As you may have noticed from my username, I really like Andre Agassi and have always tried to mimic his style of play. I have bought every Head Radical model starting with the i.radical and more than 1 copy of each. At first I did it because I liked Agassi but as I've grown older (i'm gonna be 26 btw the day afetr agassi' b-day) I've come to realize that it's better to have head light rackets for more that one reason. I've never had a problem with my rackets and they have always performed well for me. Strings however were never a real concern until I joined the tennis club. I realized that if I really wanted to improve, I had to be selective with the string that I used. That is around the time when the Luxilon BB line became very popular so of course, since Agassi switched to this string, I decided to install it on my frame as well. I opted for the BB ALU Power at 62lbs on both my i.radical frames. Looking back on it now, this may not have been a wise choice. When i bought my new LM Radical OS frames, I installed the same strings, 1 frame at 59lbs and the other at 65lbs. Now I have to say that I really liked both tensions but played mostly with the 65lb frame because I believed that I needed control over power, since I produced enough power plus the frame was said to generate quite a bit of power too. I never touch my i.radical frames (@ 62lbs) anymore and since I threw a fit and partially cracked one of my LM frames (@ 59lbs), I play primarily with a 65lbs frame now.
Recently, about 3 months ago, I started to notice a pain in my arm and shoulder. At first I didn't think it was much but it got to a point were it hurt my concentration on every single point. The pain mostly occured during my serve and on overheads. if I didn't have to serve at all, I wouldn't be having this pain as I have noticed during my lessons where I don't practice the serve. Now I've read on many threads in this forum that Luxilon strings will cause arm problems and should be avoided. What I don't understand is that I didn't have this problem until recently, the strings were great until now. I do have a theory though. My strings have not been changed in over a year and I believe this is what is causing my arm to hurt. I always thought that changing strings occured when they snap, but since I've switched to Luxilon, these strings just don't snap. I've done research on this and it seems that a string that isn't changed a few times a year becomes dead and can cause arm injuries. This is what seems to have happened to me. I feel like I can't get much pop on my serve anymore and I think this is forcing me to whip my arm more during my service motion, causing my arm and shoulder to hurt. I typically play 3 and sometimes 4 times a week so by those standards, I should be changing my strings every 3-4 months. Needless to say, I'm way overdue.
Just the other day I had my strings removed from my LM Radical and now have installed the BB Ace 18g on it. I was willing to give it a try for 2 reasons. Firstly, I have read on several threads on this forum and site and numerous sites on the web that this string from Luxilon is very different from the reat of the BB line in that it doesn't hurt the arm. On top of getting the advantages of a thinner string, something that I should have done a long time ago since I play with quite a bit of topspin, the BB Ace still offers the same durability as the rest of the BB line without (supposedly) the harshness on the arm. I'm gonna find out soon since I will hit with it for the first time tomorrow. I have also strung the racket at 58lbs instead of 65lbs to alieviate some of the pressure on the arm by creating a softer stringbed.
Now the most important part. I recently bought a Head FP Radical OS and a FP Radical Tour and I'm expecting to get them the end of next week. Here is where I need all of your help. I don't want to aggravate my arm any more and am willing to try another string on these new frames. I have several combinations in mind so please let me know what you guys think of them and if you have any of your own suggestions, please feel free to pass them along.
String suggestions:
1) Babolat VS Touch 16g string
2) Babolat VS Team 17g string
3) Babolat Tonic + Ball Feel 16g string
4) Hybrid Pro Hurricane(M)/VS+(C) string
I have bought all these strings already and the hybrid set I have it in 16g and 17g. Please tell me what you guys think would be the best setup for me. I know that natural gut is very expensive and I don't plan to be paying a fortune if they snap too often. I also plan to have all these strings at a tension of 58lbs and maybe even lower. For the hybrid set, I would appreciate any comments/experiences about different tensions for the mains and crosses. Let me give you an idea of what kind of player I am.
Left handed, rated a 4.0 player (although I believe I'm more of a 3.5+), play a very aggressive baseline game. Pretty good serve with good pace and a good 2nd serve (on most days) with a decent amount of kick on it. I play a semi-western forehand and a 2handed backhand (no surprises there since I like Agassi). I play with quite a bit of topspin and like to be the aggressor and try to dictate the points, although this sometime (often lately) leads to many errors on my part.
So there it is in a (big) nutshell. I'd really appreciate any info/feedback on this matter as it is quite important to me that my arm/shoulder pain not increase and that I continue to improve my game.
Thank you all for your time.
