A long time ago I had some pretty severe tennis elbow issues so I started researching racquets that might help me. I've just started playing with a ProKennex Ki5 and love it so far. Much of what I read online also said that playing with natural gut can help reduce the chance of tennis elbow as well so when I purchased a new racquet I had it strung with what most considered to be the best natural gut, Babolat VS Touch 16 gauge at 62 pounds.
It really does feel great. However, after only hitting with it for about an hour I was shocked to see just how much the inner part of the string bed was splinting up. I live in Houston, Texas where it is hot and humid and I've read that humidity can sort of be murder on natural gut strings but should I be expecting this kind of degradation this quickly on a natural gut or did I maybe just get some bad strings? I suspect I might only be able to get about 2 more outings with this string before it splints so much it breaks but that is just a guess.
Finally, while I have you string experts here let me ask one more thing. If I stick with natural gut I can tell it is really going to start costing me. The Babolat VS Touch is the most expensive stuff out there but the Babolat Tonic + is $10 less. It says on TW's web site that it is basically the same stuff as the VS with a little less gauge consistency and cosmetic blemishes (who cares if it gets the job done). If this is the case I'm curious why VS continues to be TW's most popular natural gut? I would think more people would opt for the Tonic + since it is a better value. Is it really a better value or is the VS really worth the extra $10 for some reason? Any guidance here is appreciated as well.
Thanks.
JPW
It really does feel great. However, after only hitting with it for about an hour I was shocked to see just how much the inner part of the string bed was splinting up. I live in Houston, Texas where it is hot and humid and I've read that humidity can sort of be murder on natural gut strings but should I be expecting this kind of degradation this quickly on a natural gut or did I maybe just get some bad strings? I suspect I might only be able to get about 2 more outings with this string before it splints so much it breaks but that is just a guess.
Finally, while I have you string experts here let me ask one more thing. If I stick with natural gut I can tell it is really going to start costing me. The Babolat VS Touch is the most expensive stuff out there but the Babolat Tonic + is $10 less. It says on TW's web site that it is basically the same stuff as the VS with a little less gauge consistency and cosmetic blemishes (who cares if it gets the job done). If this is the case I'm curious why VS continues to be TW's most popular natural gut? I would think more people would opt for the Tonic + since it is a better value. Is it really a better value or is the VS really worth the extra $10 for some reason? Any guidance here is appreciated as well.
Thanks.
JPW