Strings breaking puzzle

[z00]

I was socializing with an acquaintance who happens to play tennis, he is a lower 3.5 player/high 3.0.

He had a Wilson clash with poly strings medium tension that he broke the crosses in his last session, then I had him play with a vcore tour with sync gut/poly 56/52lbs. Within 20min he also broke the mains. He hits with power, but low accuracy. I gave him some tips to focus on larger margins, reduce power, gave him a Walmart Federer 107" with old 15g poly strings.
We played for 2h, strings did not break, and he improved drastically.

Any idea why is he breaking strings often? And why did he play much better with Walmart racket?

 

[LOBALOT]

Not much to go on here. What poly? What is medium tension? How old were the strings?

Likewise what string and gauges for the Vcore tour?

Same for the Fed racquet.

You may get some answers but they will be guesses at best.

 

[Dragy]

Possibility — he’s framing a lot. While hitting hard.

 

[z00]

vcore had 17g prince duraflex, wasabiX crosses.
Medium tensions as in high 40's.
Fed racket had 15g strings, may explain why they did not break.

This brings up the question, what differentiates string breakers from non string breakers? I hit hard with topspin, never break strings.

 

[ballmachineguy]

why did he play much better with Walmart racket?

I once heard, from a very wise tennis instructor, that for best results, always match the quality of your racquet with the quality of your hitting partner.

 

[Steady Eddy]

I was socializing with an acquaintance who happens to play tennis, he is a lower 3.5 player/high 3.0.

He had a Wilson clash with poly strings medium tension that he broke the crosses in his last session, then I had him play with a vcore tour with sync gut/poly 56/52lbs. Within 20min he also broke the mains. He hits with power, but low accuracy. I gave him some tips to focus on larger margins, reduce power, gave him a Walmart Federer 107" with old 15g poly strings.
We played for 2h, strings did not break, and he improved drastically.

Any idea why is he breaking strings often? And why did he play much better with Walmart racket?

Maybe he doesn't understand the essence of tennis?, which is: to be able to control the ball. Anyone, (almost), can hit the ball hard. Hitting the ball hard and not controlling it does not mean one is on a path to get anywhere in the game. You have to respect your limitations, basketball players know that it is easier to sink a lay-up than a 30 footer. The 30 footer will always be a low percentage shot. And just like anyone will occasionally hit a 30 footer, it's luck, and nothing to get excited about. Occasionally a 'slugger' will hit winner from behind the baseline, but so what? Drop shots, lobs, and consistency all depend on ball control.

Personally, I'd prefer to hit against a backboard than to hit with a wild slugger.

 

[z00]

Maybe he doesn't understand the essence of tennis?, which is: to be able to control the ball. Anyone, (almost), can hit the ball hard. Hitting the ball hard and not controlling it does not mean one is on a path to get anywhere in the game. You have to respect your limitations, basketball players know that it is easier to sink a lay-up than a 30 footer. The 30 footer will always be a low percentage shot. And just like anyone will occasionally hit a 30 footer, it's luck, and nothing to get excited about. Occasionally a 'slugger' will hit winner from behind the baseline, but so what? Drop shots, lobs, and consistency all depend on ball control.

Personally, I'd prefer to hit against a backboard than to hit with a wild slugger.

It was more of a coaching/helping session, we need more people in the sport. He listened and got much better.

I was puzzled by string breaking patterns, I never seen it happen so fast even on relatively new strings. And I was amazed what a Walmart racket can do. I think there was another thread a while back about someone playing their best tennis with a $99 prince racket.

 

[Morch Us]

I hit hard with topspin, never break strings.

It is all relative (how hard ... how much topspin).

Generally if one player breaks strings and other does not (irrespective of level), the player who breaks strings should be definitely hitting with more spin. He may also be hitting harder. In some cases the non-breaker maybe hitting harder (bit then he has to be hitting a lot flatter than the other player). Of course if the player who is breaking is a lower ranked player than the non-breaker, he may be mishitting a lot more as well, which does contribute. But still he won't be breaking strings often without spin.

 

[Morch Us]

why did he play much better with Walmart racket?

Possibly he got into a grove by then (it was possibly towards the end of the hitting).
Possibly he is mishitting less often because of the above + larger head size.

 

[Morch Us]

Hitting the ball hard and not controlling it does not mean one is on a path to get anywhere in the game.

Why you think so?

Infact he may not be playing to win. His focus is probably to get some adrenalin going by hitting hard. (Of course I feel for the partner, but some may not care picking up balls from next court as long as they are winning. So this could be a win-win for both).

Have you ever tried doing boxing using punch bag after a stressful day at work?

 

[LuckyR]

There's two reasons for breaking strings early. One is hitting with extreme force (almost non-existant in Rec) and hitting with extreme spin, which is the Modern game.

 

[ChaelAZ]

He hits with power, but low accuracy.

Off center near the frame puts all the impact on those with little flex like you get in centering shots.

 

[z00]

His shots when they land don't have extreme spin (average spiral trajectory over the net), so that eliminates spin. It's extreme force, as he said he loves playing tennis and hitting hard.

 

[Morch Us]

His shots when they land don't have extreme spin (average spiral trajectory over the net), so that eliminates spin. It's extreme force, as he said he loves playing tennis and hitting hard.

something does not make sense from the descriptions you are giving. This is one of those cases where even a 20second video values a lot more than 2 pages of written description.

 

[z00]

I'll see if I can get a video.

 

[nyta2]

I was socializing with an acquaintance who happens to play tennis, he is a lower 3.5 player/high 3.0.

He had a Wilson clash with poly strings medium tension that he broke the crosses in his last session, then I had him play with a vcore tour with sync gut/poly 56/52lbs. Within 20min he also broke the mains. He hits with power, but low accuracy. I gave him some tips to focus on larger margins, reduce power, gave him a Walmart Federer 107" with old 15g poly strings.
We played for 2h, strings did not break, and he improved drastically.

Any idea why is he breaking strings often? And why did he play much better with Walmart racket?

impossible to say... so many variables...
* where are the strings breaking
* how old is old? (strings)
* were the strings notched already/
* how hard is he hitting
* how much topspin is he applying
* strings left "outside" (eg. cooking in the heat, or freezing in the cold)
* what technique does he have (cross strings breaking is unusual, but i've seen unusual technique as well)
* what types of strings (were they also old (in terms of last time it was strung), but also because it was sitting in a stringer's "shop" for a long time... i have some reels/sets i've had for decades... eg. kirschbaum...)
* what racquet (eg. flex, spacing/pattern, face size, etc...)
* who strung it/how was it strung? (as a new stringer 30y ago, i've notched/nicked the f* out of strings )

i break new strings every 10h or so, but will break more rapidly if just coop drilling/bashing... more slowly if just playig dubs and/or playing an s&v/c&c style of game

i've met some beasts of an athlete that absolutely crush the ball when we're hitting cooperatively (even though they are only 3.5 - their serve sucks, their bh sucks, no net game, etc... but they can bash the f* out of their fh... 2x bigger than me)

 

[sureshs]

Two in a row seems like a pattern, but it could just have been chance. Maybe he won't break strings for the next 5 years.

 

[nyta2]

vcore tour with sync gut/poly 56/52lbs. Within 20min he also broke the mains.

if syn gut is the mains... i'd break a fresh job in about an hour or less of coop practice...

 

[z00]

if syn gut is the mains... i'd break a fresh job in about an hour or less of coop practice...

What's your NTRP rating? It's normal with advanced players, but not beginners/intermediates.

 

[Steady Eddy]

Why you think so?

Infact he may not be playing to win. His focus is probably to get some adrenalin going by hitting hard. (Of course I feel for the partner, but some may not care picking up balls from next court as long as they are winning. So this could be a win-win for both).

Have you ever tried doing boxing using punch bag after a stressful day at work?

No, but I've taken a bucket of balls out on the court to practice hard, flat, serves, (sometimes I'll get in a grove and hit ten-in-a-row in!).