g4driver
Legend
The player breaks the Hyper G Mains of a Hyper G 1.30mm/1.25mm Head Hawk set up in his Ai 98 in 12 hours, he now has a serious elbow injury and wants to keep playing but you can't use "poly" or Kelvar.
Can you find him a solution with these restrictions: 1) the setup lasts at least 10 hours 2) does not hurt his elbow 3) no poly/kevlar 4) reasonable cost ($15 a frame for strings max, but the lower the better)
Background: I've been stringing for a high-level 4.5 player who bounces between 5.0 and 4.5. He's a doctor in his mid-40s. He hits a lot of spin compared to teammates and players at his level, and breaks strings faster than any player I have met, due to his spin. He had been using Hyper G 1.30mm/Head Hawk 1.25mm for two years in his Yonex Ai98 frames without any issue. He broke the 1.30mm Hyper G every 12 hours or 6th outing on a tennis court. For 2+ years, I have strung two to three frames a month for him. This past winter he played in a singles ladders vs other 4.5/5.0 guys and his elbow now needs surgery. This isn't just TE, but rather an injury that will require surgery. "Torn common insertion of the flexor tendon on the medial epicondyle. Golfer's elbow is inflammation of this location. I went past inflammation and tore it." His orthopedic surgeon (also a 4.5 player in his mid-40s) told him he won't do more damage by hitting but to simply pick a string setup that doesn't hurt his elbow until surgery. I happen to string for both of these doctors and they both break strings rather quickly. The player with the injury wants to wait until after his 17-year-old son graduates High School to have surgery, so he can hit with his son during the son's last HS year.
Stop reading and think about what would you do as this guy's stringer. Here's the process I went through.
Thought Process and Failed Attempts: So I tried: a) Prince Premiere Control (PPC) 1.40mm / Head Velocity 1.30mm. He broke that in less than 8 hours. b) Full bed of Tecnifibre HDX Tour. The stringbed locks, then snap. c) Gut/Poly. Easy right? Not so quick. 1.35mm Touch Tonic/1.25mm Revolve crosses, but the Revolve crosses bothered him. He didn't break the gut he just said too stiff. And that's when the "No Poly/Kelvar" request came in. d) 1.35mm HDX Tour/ 1.30mm Velocity. Getting closer but 1.30mm Velocity is the weak link and not available in 1.35mm in the US. I went through string combos left and right. Nothing seemed to work. There are very few strings that aren't poly that last more than 10 hours for him even in 1.35mm or 1.40mm gauge like Prince Premiere Control. I couldn't seem to solve this puzzle
Kobayashi Maru? A problem with no solution. Perhaps. So I schooled of James T. Kirk's putt and cheated. How? with Isospeed Cream and Yonex Poly Tour Air crosses. Why those two strings? Because they aren't true "polys". The are elastomer infused polys, and perhaps he wouldn't feel the poly in them. So what is elastomer? A fancy name for rubber.
www.sciencedirect.com
www.isospeed.com
www.yonex.com
Eureka Moment: When he told me he liked the Touch Tonic /YPTA that was my big break. While gut/poly works for many players including myself for a long time, it didn't work for more than 10-12 hours for a heavy string-breaker even using YPTA or Cream and it's an expensive setup.
Next issue: Pricing: Babolat Touch Tonic 1.35mm is $36 a pack. Yonex Poly Tour Air is $15 a pack. Isospeed Cream is $7 a pack. Naturally, he liked the YPTA more.
Per pack that's $25.50 for a Gut/YPTA setup that lasting him 12 hours max. With labor that's $40.5 a frame for a normal client. He isn't a normal client. He's my best client. My most frequent customer. Even if I get Klip Legend at $30 a pack or Babolt Touch Tonic at $26 a pack, it still expensive. Even with Cream at $7 a pack or YPTA crosses off of reels with the crosses at $2.50 each, the strings are $15.50 a frame. $30.50 per frame strung and he breaks two a month min.
My solution: Enter Tecnifibre and their poly infused multis of HDX Tour replaced by HDMX and now their new string Triax. HDX Tour. It's got a natural color it comes in 1.35mm but it never came in a reel and it was replaced by HDMX. It did come in 20 pack boxes and I bought four boxes of it. HDMX comes in 1.35mm and it comes in reels which is great for crosses if you hate tosses 3.5' of string in the trash from a half pack. It only comes in day-glow yellow, but hope it will come in a natural color soon. The only way to make these setups affordable is through reels when the strings are on sale. I got the price of the strings down to slightly less than $9 a frame. ( $6.50 for the mains and $2.50 for the crosses)
1.35mm HDX Tour or 1.35mm HDMX, or 1.33mm/1.38mm Triax in the mains with YPTA or Cream crosses. He's playtesting three Ai98s with YPTA crosses all strung at 54M/52X with those three Tecnifibre Strings in the mains. He's picking on of those soon. If he picks HDX Tour, he'll have about 5 years worth of HDX Tour. Hopefully, by then HDMX will be available in natural. There are very few strings on the market like Tecnifibre multi/poly fusions, of Triax and HDMX. NXT Control is one, but it doesn't come in 1.35mm reels that I have found. The combo of two different fused strings is a solution I have found that he is happy with. He never cared if the main string was gut or a Tecnifibre option and he has no issue generating spin and neither string hurt his elbow. He is now going to see if he has a preference for mains.
www.tennis-warehouse.com
For a cheaper solution for anyone with TE, Prince Premiere Control / Isospeed Cream might work for you, but PPC isn't as durable as the Tecnifibre poly infused multis
www.tennis-warehouse.com
Having hit with Wilson Natural Gut (the made in France version) / Head Hawk for years in previous frames, it is a great setup and lasted a long time. I've used 1.30mm Lux and 1.35mm Babolat Touch Tonic gut mains in my own frames with Wilson Revolve, Tier One Ghostwire, YPTA, Cream, and Head Hawk crosses. One poster asked why not just use Gut/Poly if he breaks in 12 hours? Cost and performance. The performance of these Tecnifibre poly infused multis with YPTA hits as soft as Gut/YPTA to my arm and to the guy who started me down this rabbit hole to begin with. Honestly, I don't feel the difference between the Natural Gut /YPTA vs HDMX or HDX Tour /YPTA. I could hit with either setup, as can the 4.5 player with the elbow pain. The player doesn't notice any remarkable benefit of the Natural Gut over the Tecnifibre options.
Something to consider: Perhaps I could see how he feels if I swap the setup to put YPTA in the mains and move the Tecnifibre strings in the crosses. I've already broken the no-poly rule, but then again are YTPA and Cream really polys or simply half polys? I will get there, but for now, I have a solution.
Final Thoughts: Plenty of people swear by Gut/Poly, and I have no doubt that is the best setup for many players. But for the money, the Tecnifibre/YPTA combos do amazingly well, particularly if you have a sensitive elbow. In 10+ years of stringing, this was the most challenging request I have had. Not rocket science like one guy wrote, but also not an easy riddle with all the limitations and the frequency of string breakage. I read so many posts from new posters asking about string setups and many mention they are using poly strings even with elbow pain, whether it in the mains or as a cross. Just hope these type players realize there are options other than traditional polys that offer elbow comfort. I'm not getting into the issue of low-level players using poly. That's a different subject entirely. Hope others with TE or elbow injuries find this information useful. Not a perfect solution and I am sure there are better ones out. If you have something you know works for a player that breaks strings this quickly, please share the setup.
edited for spelling and grammatical mistakes. $11.66 a month for a paid Grammarly account is a bit too steep for me as a tennis hack.
Can you find him a solution with these restrictions: 1) the setup lasts at least 10 hours 2) does not hurt his elbow 3) no poly/kevlar 4) reasonable cost ($15 a frame for strings max, but the lower the better)
Background: I've been stringing for a high-level 4.5 player who bounces between 5.0 and 4.5. He's a doctor in his mid-40s. He hits a lot of spin compared to teammates and players at his level, and breaks strings faster than any player I have met, due to his spin. He had been using Hyper G 1.30mm/Head Hawk 1.25mm for two years in his Yonex Ai98 frames without any issue. He broke the 1.30mm Hyper G every 12 hours or 6th outing on a tennis court. For 2+ years, I have strung two to three frames a month for him. This past winter he played in a singles ladders vs other 4.5/5.0 guys and his elbow now needs surgery. This isn't just TE, but rather an injury that will require surgery. "Torn common insertion of the flexor tendon on the medial epicondyle. Golfer's elbow is inflammation of this location. I went past inflammation and tore it." His orthopedic surgeon (also a 4.5 player in his mid-40s) told him he won't do more damage by hitting but to simply pick a string setup that doesn't hurt his elbow until surgery. I happen to string for both of these doctors and they both break strings rather quickly. The player with the injury wants to wait until after his 17-year-old son graduates High School to have surgery, so he can hit with his son during the son's last HS year.
Stop reading and think about what would you do as this guy's stringer. Here's the process I went through.
Thought Process and Failed Attempts: So I tried: a) Prince Premiere Control (PPC) 1.40mm / Head Velocity 1.30mm. He broke that in less than 8 hours. b) Full bed of Tecnifibre HDX Tour. The stringbed locks, then snap. c) Gut/Poly. Easy right? Not so quick. 1.35mm Touch Tonic/1.25mm Revolve crosses, but the Revolve crosses bothered him. He didn't break the gut he just said too stiff. And that's when the "No Poly/Kelvar" request came in. d) 1.35mm HDX Tour/ 1.30mm Velocity. Getting closer but 1.30mm Velocity is the weak link and not available in 1.35mm in the US. I went through string combos left and right. Nothing seemed to work. There are very few strings that aren't poly that last more than 10 hours for him even in 1.35mm or 1.40mm gauge like Prince Premiere Control. I couldn't seem to solve this puzzle
Kobayashi Maru? A problem with no solution. Perhaps. So I schooled of James T. Kirk's putt and cheated. How? with Isospeed Cream and Yonex Poly Tour Air crosses. Why those two strings? Because they aren't true "polys". The are elastomer infused polys, and perhaps he wouldn't feel the poly in them. So what is elastomer? A fancy name for rubber.
Elastomer - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
www.sciencedirect.com
Cream
POLYTOUR AIR 125
· Arm-friendly and shock-absorbing from HR-Elastomer for effortless power · For players with slow-to-medium swing speeds looking for a comfortable string
www.yonex.com
Eureka Moment: When he told me he liked the Touch Tonic /YPTA that was my big break. While gut/poly works for many players including myself for a long time, it didn't work for more than 10-12 hours for a heavy string-breaker even using YPTA or Cream and it's an expensive setup.
Next issue: Pricing: Babolat Touch Tonic 1.35mm is $36 a pack. Yonex Poly Tour Air is $15 a pack. Isospeed Cream is $7 a pack. Naturally, he liked the YPTA more.
Per pack that's $25.50 for a Gut/YPTA setup that lasting him 12 hours max. With labor that's $40.5 a frame for a normal client. He isn't a normal client. He's my best client. My most frequent customer. Even if I get Klip Legend at $30 a pack or Babolt Touch Tonic at $26 a pack, it still expensive. Even with Cream at $7 a pack or YPTA crosses off of reels with the crosses at $2.50 each, the strings are $15.50 a frame. $30.50 per frame strung and he breaks two a month min.My solution: Enter Tecnifibre and their poly infused multis of HDX Tour replaced by HDMX and now their new string Triax. HDX Tour. It's got a natural color it comes in 1.35mm but it never came in a reel and it was replaced by HDMX. It did come in 20 pack boxes and I bought four boxes of it. HDMX comes in 1.35mm and it comes in reels which is great for crosses if you hate tosses 3.5' of string in the trash from a half pack. It only comes in day-glow yellow, but hope it will come in a natural color soon. The only way to make these setups affordable is through reels when the strings are on sale. I got the price of the strings down to slightly less than $9 a frame. ( $6.50 for the mains and $2.50 for the crosses)
1.35mm HDX Tour or 1.35mm HDMX, or 1.33mm/1.38mm Triax in the mains with YPTA or Cream crosses. He's playtesting three Ai98s with YPTA crosses all strung at 54M/52X with those three Tecnifibre Strings in the mains. He's picking on of those soon. If he picks HDX Tour, he'll have about 5 years worth of HDX Tour. Hopefully, by then HDMX will be available in natural. There are very few strings on the market like Tecnifibre multi/poly fusions, of Triax and HDMX. NXT Control is one, but it doesn't come in 1.35mm reels that I have found. The combo of two different fused strings is a solution I have found that he is happy with. He never cared if the main string was gut or a Tecnifibre option and he has no issue generating spin and neither string hurt his elbow. He is now going to see if he has a preference for mains.
Tecnifibre - Hybrid 3D | Tennis Warehouse
www.tennis-warehouse.com
For a cheaper solution for anyone with TE, Prince Premiere Control / Isospeed Cream might work for you, but PPC isn't as durable as the Tecnifibre poly infused multis
Prince Premier Control 15L/1.38 String Reel - 660'
www.tennis-warehouse.com
Having hit with Wilson Natural Gut (the made in France version) / Head Hawk for years in previous frames, it is a great setup and lasted a long time. I've used 1.30mm Lux and 1.35mm Babolat Touch Tonic gut mains in my own frames with Wilson Revolve, Tier One Ghostwire, YPTA, Cream, and Head Hawk crosses. One poster asked why not just use Gut/Poly if he breaks in 12 hours? Cost and performance. The performance of these Tecnifibre poly infused multis with YPTA hits as soft as Gut/YPTA to my arm and to the guy who started me down this rabbit hole to begin with. Honestly, I don't feel the difference between the Natural Gut /YPTA vs HDMX or HDX Tour /YPTA. I could hit with either setup, as can the 4.5 player with the elbow pain. The player doesn't notice any remarkable benefit of the Natural Gut over the Tecnifibre options.
Something to consider: Perhaps I could see how he feels if I swap the setup to put YPTA in the mains and move the Tecnifibre strings in the crosses. I've already broken the no-poly rule, but then again are YTPA and Cream really polys or simply half polys? I will get there, but for now, I have a solution.
Final Thoughts: Plenty of people swear by Gut/Poly, and I have no doubt that is the best setup for many players. But for the money, the Tecnifibre/YPTA combos do amazingly well, particularly if you have a sensitive elbow. In 10+ years of stringing, this was the most challenging request I have had. Not rocket science like one guy wrote, but also not an easy riddle with all the limitations and the frequency of string breakage. I read so many posts from new posters asking about string setups and many mention they are using poly strings even with elbow pain, whether it in the mains or as a cross. Just hope these type players realize there are options other than traditional polys that offer elbow comfort. I'm not getting into the issue of low-level players using poly. That's a different subject entirely. Hope others with TE or elbow injuries find this information useful. Not a perfect solution and I am sure there are better ones out. If you have something you know works for a player that breaks strings this quickly, please share the setup.
edited for spelling and grammatical mistakes. $11.66 a month for a paid Grammarly account is a bit too steep for me as a tennis hack.
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