J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
OK TWers, the time has come, for the long awaited and much ballyhooed J011yroger guide to strings. Please read, discuss and feel free to ask questions. All I ask is that you keep it respectful, and thoughtful.
Firstly, we begin with a disclaimer.
This guide is my opinion, entirely. It is based strictly upon my opinions observations and feelings. I have no scientific experimentation, proof, or other support for the statements that I make. I have not tried every string on the planet, nor do I intend to.
Strings are an extremely important thing to pay attention to. As much effort as you put into finding a racquet, you should put an equal amount into the strings, because if all goes as planned, the strings are the only thing that touches the ball. You spent $200 on your racquet, why scrimp and put some jive string in it?
Now a rundown of the basic string types.
Tournament Nylon. The cheapest, most basic, junk string on the planet. Suitable for absolute beginners who can't tell at all the difference in strings, tensions, whatever. Also for the most frugal of all tennis players.
Synthetic Gut. The go-to string for 80% of all tennis players. Made of nylon (Not to be confused with tournament nylon) syn-gut is cheap, plays fairly well for a short time, and is very common. Highly reccomended to most players 3.5 and lower. Prince Synthetic Gut is the most popular string, but several other companies make good quality fine playing syn-guts. If you are a string breaker, syn-gut is not very durable and if you are a hard hitter you may find it to get soft rather quickly aswell. If you are just starting out experimenting with strings, the first thing you do is get a basic syn gut installed, and use that as your starting point to determine where you go from there, what you want more or less of. You may just find that the syn-gut suits you just fine, and end up staying with it for the rest of your tennis playing days.
Multifiliments. The next step up from Syn-Guts. Multis hold tension better, are more powerful, are soft and easy on the arm/joints. If you find that your syn-gut stringjob is getting gooey before it is breaking, if you want a bit more feel, or if you want a bit more zip or bite on your ball, then a nice multi would be the next thing to try. Multis are more expensive, and generally they are not terribly durable.
Natural Gut. The golden standard for strings since the days of old. Natural Gut, especially the top tier brands, is the standard against which all strings are judged. They are the most powerful strings, they hold tension the best, bite hard, and are fairly durable. The downside is that gut is expensive, and that it doesn't like humidity. If you play gut, make sure you have a backup frame with a synthetic string in case the weather gets bad. If you are a serious player, try it, splurge on a full gut stringjob to see what it is like. For 95% of the tennis playing population, gut is the best string, for your arm, your health, and your game. Very few people play it due to the cost, but it plays so well for a long time, that it is actually a pretty cost effective solution for non string breakers.
Polyester All the rage, what the pros use. What 95% of the tennis playing population should NOT be using. Poly is a stiff, durable string, that if you have sufficient batspeed will allow you to generate wicked spin. Newer polys (Called Co-Polys) are softer and hold tension better than older polys, but poly strings in general are still stiff, harsh, and don't hold tension well at all. If you don't have the racquet head speed to make these strings bend, then you would be best suited trying something else. Polyester strings are only good for a very short amount of time before they "Go Dead" and stop working their magic. After Poly goes dead, it is about the worst string on the planet. This happens long before the strings break. Generally poly stringbeds do not need to have the strings straightened out because they slide back after every hit. If you see that your poly stringbed needs straightening, then it is VERY DEAD and needs to be re-strung ASAP. Poly is not at all good or reccomended to anyone with arm issues or injuries. If your arm starts hurting, try something else.
Kevlar The ultimate in durability. Kevlar is highly abrasion resistant, and is usually strung up in hybrid form with a synthetic cross string. It is a dead low powered string, with terrific bite. Most people who formerly used Kevlar have switched to Polyester, but there are still some holdouts. Reccomended if you have no arm troubles, and nothing else lasts you long enough.
String Gague
Now that you know which string you are looking at, the next thing to choose is gague. Strings come in gagues from 15-20. 15, 19, and 20 are very rare. The average string gagues run from 15L to 18, the vast majority of people play 16 or 17. The higher the number the thinner the string. The L after a number if seen signifies light. That can be considered 1/2 of a gague. So 16L is thinner than 16 but thicker than 17.
The thinner the string, the more bite you get on a ball, generating more topspin with the same stroke. For some people this will allow them to swing harder and keep the ball in play, for others it will result in them hitting too much topspin and not having enough carry on their ball, otherwise known as not having enough penetration, or not piercing the court. You want your ball forcing your opponent back, not landing and sitting up for him to hit.
Thinner strings allow you to better feel what is going on with the ball, but are less durable than thicker ones.
I reccomend determining your acceptable durability/string life range (How often you are willing to restring) and playing the thinnest string that you can which meets your criteria for durability. If you are not breaking 16, try 17, not breaking 17 try 18. If you find that your ball is landing short with the thinner gague string, first try to reclaim your depth by string tension before reverting back to your old thicker gague string.
To be continued...
Firstly, we begin with a disclaimer.
This guide is my opinion, entirely. It is based strictly upon my opinions observations and feelings. I have no scientific experimentation, proof, or other support for the statements that I make. I have not tried every string on the planet, nor do I intend to.
Strings are an extremely important thing to pay attention to. As much effort as you put into finding a racquet, you should put an equal amount into the strings, because if all goes as planned, the strings are the only thing that touches the ball. You spent $200 on your racquet, why scrimp and put some jive string in it?
Now a rundown of the basic string types.
Tournament Nylon. The cheapest, most basic, junk string on the planet. Suitable for absolute beginners who can't tell at all the difference in strings, tensions, whatever. Also for the most frugal of all tennis players.
Synthetic Gut. The go-to string for 80% of all tennis players. Made of nylon (Not to be confused with tournament nylon) syn-gut is cheap, plays fairly well for a short time, and is very common. Highly reccomended to most players 3.5 and lower. Prince Synthetic Gut is the most popular string, but several other companies make good quality fine playing syn-guts. If you are a string breaker, syn-gut is not very durable and if you are a hard hitter you may find it to get soft rather quickly aswell. If you are just starting out experimenting with strings, the first thing you do is get a basic syn gut installed, and use that as your starting point to determine where you go from there, what you want more or less of. You may just find that the syn-gut suits you just fine, and end up staying with it for the rest of your tennis playing days.
Multifiliments. The next step up from Syn-Guts. Multis hold tension better, are more powerful, are soft and easy on the arm/joints. If you find that your syn-gut stringjob is getting gooey before it is breaking, if you want a bit more feel, or if you want a bit more zip or bite on your ball, then a nice multi would be the next thing to try. Multis are more expensive, and generally they are not terribly durable.
Natural Gut. The golden standard for strings since the days of old. Natural Gut, especially the top tier brands, is the standard against which all strings are judged. They are the most powerful strings, they hold tension the best, bite hard, and are fairly durable. The downside is that gut is expensive, and that it doesn't like humidity. If you play gut, make sure you have a backup frame with a synthetic string in case the weather gets bad. If you are a serious player, try it, splurge on a full gut stringjob to see what it is like. For 95% of the tennis playing population, gut is the best string, for your arm, your health, and your game. Very few people play it due to the cost, but it plays so well for a long time, that it is actually a pretty cost effective solution for non string breakers.
Polyester All the rage, what the pros use. What 95% of the tennis playing population should NOT be using. Poly is a stiff, durable string, that if you have sufficient batspeed will allow you to generate wicked spin. Newer polys (Called Co-Polys) are softer and hold tension better than older polys, but poly strings in general are still stiff, harsh, and don't hold tension well at all. If you don't have the racquet head speed to make these strings bend, then you would be best suited trying something else. Polyester strings are only good for a very short amount of time before they "Go Dead" and stop working their magic. After Poly goes dead, it is about the worst string on the planet. This happens long before the strings break. Generally poly stringbeds do not need to have the strings straightened out because they slide back after every hit. If you see that your poly stringbed needs straightening, then it is VERY DEAD and needs to be re-strung ASAP. Poly is not at all good or reccomended to anyone with arm issues or injuries. If your arm starts hurting, try something else.
Kevlar The ultimate in durability. Kevlar is highly abrasion resistant, and is usually strung up in hybrid form with a synthetic cross string. It is a dead low powered string, with terrific bite. Most people who formerly used Kevlar have switched to Polyester, but there are still some holdouts. Reccomended if you have no arm troubles, and nothing else lasts you long enough.
String Gague
Now that you know which string you are looking at, the next thing to choose is gague. Strings come in gagues from 15-20. 15, 19, and 20 are very rare. The average string gagues run from 15L to 18, the vast majority of people play 16 or 17. The higher the number the thinner the string. The L after a number if seen signifies light. That can be considered 1/2 of a gague. So 16L is thinner than 16 but thicker than 17.
The thinner the string, the more bite you get on a ball, generating more topspin with the same stroke. For some people this will allow them to swing harder and keep the ball in play, for others it will result in them hitting too much topspin and not having enough carry on their ball, otherwise known as not having enough penetration, or not piercing the court. You want your ball forcing your opponent back, not landing and sitting up for him to hit.
Thinner strings allow you to better feel what is going on with the ball, but are less durable than thicker ones.
I reccomend determining your acceptable durability/string life range (How often you are willing to restring) and playing the thinnest string that you can which meets your criteria for durability. If you are not breaking 16, try 17, not breaking 17 try 18. If you find that your ball is landing short with the thinner gague string, first try to reclaim your depth by string tension before reverting back to your old thicker gague string.
To be continued...
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