Problem: Strings Tension and Mains

DarkXBlazer

New User
Hello TW,

I have been experimenting with a lot of strings recently.. My main racket as of now is the Babolat Pure Storm Tour GT 2009, in stock form, no weight modifications.. My original string is a full bed of Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour 17 at 55-58.

However, recently I have decided to experiment, a little with strings and string tensions.. I began by trying the ever-so-popular Gut/Poly hybrid. I had my racket strung with Babolat VS Black Gut 16 in the mains at 61 and my usual Pro Hurricane Tour 17 in the crosses at 56. At first this felt very strange (considering I had never played with anything besides full poly up until then); however after a few days (not sure if tension dropped any), I really adapted to the feel, and the string job felt really nice, especially on groundstrokes (SW forehand, and 2H backhand), as I felt as I had so much power and all that good stuff..

However, the problem is the slice: This is the stroke that saves me when I am lazy, or when I'm in desperate situations. With my full poly setup, no matter how hard I sliced, it would always be well-in, with a high margin for error. With this new Gut/Poly setup, when I slice, the ball really springs off and flies, almost always sailing long. Very aggravating.

Today, I had my second racket strung with my old Pro Hurricane Tour 17 in the mains at 52 and some random wilson multi at 56. Even with this foreign setup, my slices felt so good as normal, as I felt very comfortable and "at home" with this setup, when I sliced. Of course, with other groundstrokes, the feel is clearly lacking from the stringjob with natural gut, and I obviously had less power.

So, my question to you incredibly knowledge people is: At this point, what should I do? I really enjoy most of what I'm getting from this Gut/Poly build, but the slices are really feeling strange, unnatural, and wild. Would stringing at a higher tension tame this power? What will I lose? What should I try?

I have tried changing my motion and all, but it just all seems very unnatural. The slice, particularly the backhand slice, is one of my most natural strokes. Yet, when I do it with this setup, it almost never fails to sail long.

What should I do? If you have any questions, I'll try to respond to them as soon as possible.

As always, thanks in advance!
 

fortun8son

Hall of Fame
Go with what feels right to you. Everyone is different.
You can endlessly test different combinations and never settle in to just play.
One of our chronic testers recently admitted that his game is still at 4.0-4.5 even though his gear is 7.0!
 

BigT

Professional
Thanks for your question.:)

You must decide what is more important for your game.

The mains are the dominant contributors to how the strings play.
So, if spin/slice- go with poly mains. If power- go with gut mains.

You can always cross with what you want to complement the mains with.
 

DarkXBlazer

New User
Yes, I understand.. but my problem is that my slice is so largely affected by these strings. I love everything else about this string, but I just can't get my slice to the right feel..

I wouldn't mind shaving off some of that extreme power to make my slice feel a bit more "at home", as it does with the poly.. How would I go about achieving this though? Would I alter the tension? Or would I change the strings completely? Go back to poly? How would I best accommodate these needs (directed at those who have extreme amounts of experience with testing different strings).

The reason I ask here and not just keep testing endlessly as you guys have suggested is because this VS gut can get quite expensive, and I'm not rich enough to cut them out after one session to try again.. So, I hope posting here will help get me pointed in the right direction..

Would you guys or anyone else have any more specific recommendations?

Thanks.
 
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fortun8son

Hall of Fame
PHT is not the best choice as a cross with gut.
You can try CoFocus, Silverstring or SPPP.
Many have had success with these crosses.
 

travlerajm

Talk Tennis Guru
The slice is different than driving groundstrokes because it is more of a punch or block, similar to a volley. When you hit a topspin drive, most of the momentum of the impact is in the racquet. But with a slice, that is not the case. The slice is also different from a volley because a ball that has bounced will have typically have a lot more topspin on in when it hits your strings due the friction of the court. So most of the ball's energy will be in spin most of the time.

Why does this matter? It matters because soft stringbeds suck in shots against soft high rpm incoming shots unless you swing the racquet fast. Why?

Because the softer the stringbed, the more the stringbed deflects upon impact. The more it deflects, the longer the moment arm of the torque that the ball exerts on the racquet. And long moment arm multiplied by high incoming rpm = very high torque on the racquet. This makes the racquet very unstable on impact.

This problem of soft stringbeds tends to be noticed most on slices.

A full poly job, especially when freshly strung, will be quite stiff. This makes it much better for hitting slices against balls that just bounced and picked up spin from the court friction. As the poly softens up and lose tension, it will lose the stiffness that gives it the control.

The stiffer the stringbed, the more control you will have on these types of shots. The tradeoff is of course less power. You can counter the problem by stringing a gut hybrid much tighter - but then you will lose some of the feel and power that you enjoyed.
 
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fgs

Hall of Fame
"no matter how hard i sliced" makes me think that you are putting a little bit too much swing into those slices, which obviously with a stiffer stringbed would still be within the court. try going for a little bit more touch on those shots and i think you will experience that less is more.
 

DarkXBlazer

New User
I see. Thanks for explaining that part.

So, in order to change this, is there a motion change, intensity I hold the racket, or technical issue I could fix to better control this slice? Also, if I were to raise the tension even more, how much do you suggest I raise it to? I'm at 61(gut)/56(PHT17) at the moment.
 

fgs

Hall of Fame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=_YE-k1QwZfg

watch the motion of the hitting arm - he basically stops when the right hand is in line with the chest line. don't misinterpret the fact that the hand is basically pointing towards the side of the court, because this comes from the shoulder turn and the recovery after the shot, i.e. preparation to hit the next ball.

usually a lot of players tend to overhit with the hitting arm and go beyond the shoulder line. not only does this impart sidespin (instead of underspin) but you also tend to lose control due to the sideswing.

try this out before upping the tension. with poly, no matter if hybrid or not, i'm really not a friend of tensions in the upper 50s and above. of course, as with everything in life it is to each his own, but in the long term i don't think it is advisable.
 
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