Question About Play Life of Strings on Racketpedia – Real Hours or Active Play Time?

DMaragna

New User
Hey everyone,

I’ve been looking into the string life recommendations over on Racketpedia, and I noticed they often mention something like "12 hours of play life" for certain strings. My question is: are those 12 hours based on total time on court, or do they refer specifically to active playing time (actual hitting)?

For example, according to a recent study I read, only about 20-30% of an hour of tennis is spent in actual rallies, with the rest being rest between points and changeovers. So, if I play for an hour, does that mean the strings would only wear for around 12-18 minutes of that time?

Would appreciate any insights you guys might have!

Thanks!
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
The sites say court time, but I tell my clients to divide the sessions they play by 1/2 or 1/3 to come up with a reasonable estimate of ball hitting time. Also tell them to track hours. The harder hitters don’t need to do this cuz they will break their strings like clockwork, eg 12-16 hours of court time. Nylon users don’t need to worry.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
If I play singles only, my poly goes dead or breaks faster than if I play a mix of singles and doubles. So adjust the life time of poly to be slightly lower and restring faster if you play only singles.
 

EggSalad

Hall of Fame
So take the court time and apply a factor of .40 then if you’re playing doubles apply another factor of .75.

If it’s sunny, apply factor of .95 or if cloudy 1.10.
 
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