TRU PRO (formerly Tier One Sports) Black Knight / Ghostwire Hybrid Reviews

[TennisJrDad]

Thinking about trying out the Tier One Black Knight / Ghostwire Hybrid.

Can anyone here who used and/or is using this now share their experiences and thoughts on how it performs with respect to:

- Power
- Control
- Spin
- Comfort
- Tension / Playability longevity

Thanks in advance for your feedback and experiences.

 

[MaiTai]

IMO it depends on factors like Gauge, Racket, String pattern and Initial Tension.
But for BK 1.23 / GW 1.22@23 kg in my 360+ Extreme Pro and Tour i can say it's my go to setup after Hyper G Soft / Ghost Wire.
If i have to put it in numbers with my setup.

Power: 5/10
Just average Power.
Not too much like YPTP 1.20 in an open pattern 16/19 but not as low as SPPP 1.23.
I think it's just perfect and predictable.
Control: 9/10
Control-wise it's better than HGS/GW in my opinion. HGS can get erratic from time to time.
BK doesn't have that much pocketing like HGS, but it's very predictable over its lifespan.
Spin: 8.5/10
Nothing spectacular like FireWire Boost or Mayami Big Spin. But enough to play a controllable Heavy Ball Topspin Game.
Kicks and Slice Serves are also very good with this setup.
Comfort: 9/10 (in comparison to other Poly Setups. Multi and NG excluded)
In search for Comfort because of elbow issues the first Jackpot was Ghost Wire as a cross. And Black Knight works very very well with GW in the crosses.
No issues at all.
Full Bed BK in my Gravity Pro wasn't that comfortable. Ghost Wire is my go to cross from now on and it worked well with HGS too.
Tension Maintenance: 8/10 for the first 6 hours. Nothing to complain about. Nothing special.
After that, i restring so i can't tell you anything about playability or what happens after those 6 hours.

 

[TennisJrDad]

@MaiTai Thank you for the information. Hope other players using this hybrid setup chime in as well.

 

[RF_PRO_STAFF]

@taylor15

 

[taylor15]

Hybriding the GW with the BK softens it up a bit, with no real loss in spin. The power level isn't too high, a bit lower than some of the Kirschbaum strings I have played - maybe 6.5/10 for me. It's comfortable and has a great tension maintenance for the BK, for the GW it's pretty stable but I do string it at the same where most polys I string the cross a few lbs looser.

 

[TennisJrDad]

@taylor15 You are using the BK in the mains and the GW in the crosses, correct? What tension are you stringing with, I was thinking 52 lbs for BK in the mains and 54 lbs for GW in the crosses.

 

[taylor15]

@taylor15 You are using the BK in the mains and the GW in the crosses, correct? What tension are you stringing with, I was thinking 52 lbs for BK in the mains and 54 lbs for GW in the crosses.

Yep, I am stringing 48/48 in a prestige MPL. I could go 50lbs on the crosses though, and may on the next stringing

 

[TennisJrDad]

@taylor15 How does BK/GW play at lower tensions? Do you give up too much control going below 50 lbs?

 

[nov]

@taylor15 How does BK/GW play at lower tensions? Do you give up too much control going below 50 lbs?

I strung it 21/20kg in Speed Pro Auxetic. May go 20/19 next time im gonna string this setup.

 

[Tykumi]

What @MaiTai said is pretty much explained.

I feel the same and it is my current setup on my Ez98 2022. Strung at 52lbs on both mains and crosses.

More control less on power. Good comfort and durability.
Spin is up there as well.

 

[thecatch33]

IMO it depends on factors like Gauge, Racket, String pattern and Initial Tension.
But for BK 1.23 / GW 1.22@23 kg in my 360+ Extreme Pro and Tour i can say it's my go to setup after Hyper G Soft / Ghost Wire.
If i have to put it in numbers with my setup.

Power: 5/10
Just average Power.
Not too much like YPTP 1.20 in an open pattern 16/19 but not as low as SPPP 1.23.
I think it's just perfect and predictable.
Control: 9/10
Control-wise it's better than HGS/GW in my opinion. HGS can get erratic from time to time.
BK doesn't have that much pocketing like HGS, but it's very predictable over its lifespan.
Spin: 8.5/10
Nothing spectacular like FireWire Boost or Mayami Big Spin. But enough to play a controllable Heavy Ball Topspin Game.
Kicks and Slice Serves are also very good with this setup.
Comfort: 9/10 (in comparison to other Poly Setups. Multi and NG excluded)
In search for Comfort because of elbow issues the first Jackpot was Ghost Wire as a cross. And Black Knight works very very well with GW in the crosses.
No issues at all.
Full Bed BK in my Gravity Pro wasn't that comfortable. Ghost Wire is my go to cross from now on and it worked well with HGS too.
Tension Maintenance: 8/10 for the first 6 hours. Nothing to complain about. Nothing special.
After that, i restring so i can't tell you anything about playability or what happens after those 6 hours.

How is comfort for you with BK/GW if comparing it directly to Firewire Boost? Is it noticeably softer?

 

[einca13]

I am a big fan of Ghostwire as a cross and have used it in all my poly hybrids. My main setup is Hyper G Soft/Ghostwire @ 45/43 in a weighted up 360+ Extreme Tour. 5.0 heavy topspin baseliner.

I decided to finally try Black Knight as a main with GW. I dropped the tension to 44/42. Even at that tension my first hitting session felt pretty bad. No pocketing, boardy, no feel etc.. I didn’t see what all the fuss was about and was about to cut them out. But remember reading about the break-in period and decided to give it one more hit. The stringbed was completely different. It pocketed, the feel was very good and control was excellent. Like a totally different string. The third hit was just as good, but started to lose tension a little bit. I usually break or cut poly around the 6 hour mark anyway.

DT meter ratings were 31 off the stringer, 30 after 24 hours, 28 after first hit. 27 after 2nd and 26 after the third.

Will I switch, probably not. BK/GW after the break-in played slightly better than the HGS/GW setup, but not sure I want to endure the crappy first session out every time when my usual setup plays nice from the beginning. Any suggestions on how to better manage the break-in I am all ears.

 

[forzamr_b]

I am a big fan of Ghostwire as a cross and have used it in all my poly hybrids. My main setup is Hyper G Soft/Ghostwire @ 45/43 in a weighted up 360+ Extreme Tour. 5.0 heavy topspin baseliner.

I decided to finally try Black Knight as a main with GW. I dropped the tension to 44/42. Even at that tension my first hitting session felt pretty bad. No pocketing, boardy, no feel etc.. I didn’t see what all the fuss was about and was about to cut them out. But remember reading about the break-in period and decided to give it one more hit. The stringbed was completely different. It pocketed, the feel was very good and control was excellent. Like a totally different string. The third hit was just as good, but started to lose tension a little bit. I usually break or cut poly around the 6 hour mark anyway.

DT meter ratings were 31 off the stringer, 30 after 24 hours, 28 after first hit. 27 after 2nd and 26 after the third.

Will I switch, probably not. BK/GW after the break-in played slightly better than the HGS/GW setup, but not sure I want to endure the crappy first session out every time when my usual setup plays nice from the beginning. Any suggestions on how to better manage the break-in I am all ears.

Personally, I haven’t found BK/GW needing a break-in period. In fact, the lack of a break-in period was one of the pluses for me. I was coming from full bed Confidential, which definitely had a break-in period. I haven’t tried Hyper G Soft / GW before, but have tried full bed Hyper G Soft and it is a much softer string with much poorer tension maintenance. I’m guessing the boardiness is due to BK/GW being a much stiffer setup and BK really holds tension well so you don’t see as great a tension drop off the stringer as other polys. I would suggest dropping the tension by a couple of pounds and see if the first hit is closer to your 2nd/3rd hit from your first attempt.

 

[einca13]

Personally, I haven’t found BK/GW needing a break-in period. In fact, the lack of a break-in period was one of the pluses for me. I was coming from full bed Confidential, which definitely had a break-in period. I haven’t tried Hyper G Soft / GW before, but have tried full bed Hyper G Soft and it is a much softer string with much poorer tension maintenance. I’m guessing the boardiness is due to BK/GW being a much stiffer setup and BK really holds tension well so you don’t see as great a tension drop off the stringer as other polys. I would suggest dropping the tension by a couple of pounds and see if the first hit is closer to your 2nd/3rd hit from your first attempt.

Actually I have found HGS/GW holds tension pretty well. Based on my DT meter data both combos are pretty similar with the BK/GW slightly better over 3 hitting sessions. I will drop a little more tension on BK/GW hybrid and see if it helps.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[SF_45er]

Personally, I haven’t found BK/GW needing a break-in period. In fact, the lack of a break-in period was one of the pluses for me. I was coming from full bed Confidential, which definitely had a break-in period. I haven’t tried Hyper G Soft / GW before, but have tried full bed Hyper G Soft and it is a much softer string with much poorer tension maintenance. I’m guessing the boardiness is due to BK/GW being a much stiffer setup and BK really holds tension well so you don’t see as great a tension drop off the stringer as other polys. I would suggest dropping the tension by a couple of pounds and see if the first hit is closer to your 2nd/3rd hit from your first attempt.

Im curious why you switched from Confidential to BK/GW and how it's been? Context: I liked Confidential 16L but it caused some pain (and HGS was actually worse for me strangely). Playing with Gut/GW at the moment but want to keep trying polys now and then. Firewire/GW isn't too bad but Ive heard BK/GW is closer to Confidential and also softer. Curious what your experience was!

 

[forzamr_b]

Im curious why you switched from Confidential to BK/GW and how it's been? Context: I liked Confidential 16L but it caused some pain (and HGS was actually worse for me strangely). Playing with Gut/GW at the moment but want to keep trying polys now and then. Firewire/GW isn't too bad but Ive heard BK/GW is closer to Confidential and also softer. Curious what your experience was!

I didn’t like how confidential played in the first 0-2 hrs and also didn’t like how its characteristics change over the lifespan of the string. But my switch was more to do with pull factors from BK/GW, namely:

• Predictability/consistency. Too date still the best string for directional control. Even better than the few round polys that I’ve tried.
• Tension maintenance. Especially for low gauges. I play 1.17/1.18 and I can get 15-20 hrs. Full bed HGS gave me 8-11 hrs?
• Pretty much plays the same over its lifespan. Just very gradual loss of ball bite as the string gets rounded.

However, after trying Max Power/GW, and Gut/GW hybrids… I’ve been tempted to switch for the better responsiveness and feel. I almost switched to gut/1.27GW but the GW went dead too fast and I had control issues by the 20hr mark which made the setup sufficiently cost beneficial.

1.25 Max power/1.18 GW 9n the other hand was surprisingly durable and I’m up to 20hrs+ so far. I usually play thinner gauges for poly and usually get 10-12hrs before I lose snapback or the tension loss leads to the trampoline effect. For this setup up, I’ve loss more than 15% in tension which is usually when the trampoline effect kicks in for polys for me. But so far, still very playable with decent snapback. Guess the stiffness and thicker gauge makes a significant difference. Only downside is I tend to get some shoulder soreness using this setup (even when strings were fresh). My next string job is going to be 1.30 gut/ 1.25 Max power as I’ve been impressed with max power in mains but looking for more comfort. Just waiting for the Max power/GW to go dead so I can get the racket restrung!

 

[SF_45er]

I didn’t like how confidential played in the first 0-2 hrs and also didn’t like how its characteristics change over the lifespan of the string. But my switch was more to do with pull factors from BK/GW, namely:

• Predictability/consistency. Too date still the best string for directional control. Even better than the few round polys that I’ve tried.
• Tension maintenance. Especially for low gauges. I play 1.17/1.18 and I can get 15-20 hrs. Full bed HGS gave me 8-11 hrs?
• Pretty much plays the same over its lifespan. Just very gradual loss of ball bite as the string gets rounded.

However, after trying Max Power/GW, and Gut/GW hybrids… I’ve been tempted to switch for the better responsiveness and feel. I almost switched to gut/1.27GW but the GW went dead too fast and I had control issues by the 20hr mark which made the setup sufficiently cost beneficial.

1.25 Max power/1.18 GW 9n the other hand was surprisingly durable and I’m up to 20hrs+ so far. I usually play thinner gauges for poly and usually get 10-12hrs before I lose snapback or the tension loss leads to the trampoline effect. For this setup up, I’ve loss more than 15% in tension which is usually when the trampoline effect kicks in for polys for me. But so far, still very playable with decent snapback. Guess the stiffness and thicker gauge makes a significant difference. Only downside is I tend to get some shoulder soreness using this setup (even when strings were fresh). My next string job is going to be 1.30 gut/ 1.25 Max power as I’ve been impressed with max power in mains but looking for more comfort. Just waiting for the Max power/GW to go dead so I can get the racket restrung!

Sounds like we're trying similar setups. I tried Lux/MP, VS/MP, VS/GW, Wilson/GW. Liked VS/GW best so far (just started using Wilson/GW - great so far 5 hours). Lasted 18, 30 and 33 hours respectively. On the VS/MP that lasted 30, the poly felt like it lost its elasticity a bit towards the end. Didn't have that feeling with GW (so kind of the opposite of your experience??). Anyway, I'll try Hawk 1.30 as a cross next (happen to have some). But pretty happy with GW 1.27 in this setup.

On the poly side -- given how long gut hybrid lasts me, poly would need to last 22 hours to break even for me (which seems a stretch). So the main reason to keep experiment with a few soft polys is in case I perform better. Arm pain is definitely a limiting factor. Even Firewire/GW 17g causes some pain (though I generally like how it plays - though unclear if I like it more than Gut hybrid - just different strengths/weaknesses). So I will try only full poly setups that are known to be softer (BK/GW, VCT?GW). May try lower gauge based on your experience.

 

[einca13]

Sounds like we're trying similar setups. I tried Lux/MP, VS/MP, VS/GW, Wilson/GW. Liked VS/GW best so far (just started using Wilson/GW - great so far 5 hours). Lasted 18, 30 and 33 hours respectively. On the VS/MP that lasted 30, the poly felt like it lost its elasticity a bit towards the end. Didn't have that feeling with GW (so kind of the opposite of your experience??). Anyway, I'll try Hawk 1.30 as a cross next (happen to have some). But pretty happy with GW 1.27 in this setup.

On the poly side -- given how long gut hybrid lasts me, poly would need to last 22 hours to break even for me (which seems a stretch). So the main reason to keep experiment with a few soft polys is in case I perform better. Arm pain is definitely a limiting factor. Even Firewire/GW 17g causes some pain (though I generally like how it plays - though unclear if I like it more than Gut hybrid - just different strengths/weaknesses). So I will try only full poly setups that are known to be softer (BK/GW, VCT?GW). May try lower gauge based on your experience.

I have been down the gut/poly road as well and switched to full poly. I liked gut/poly but it had no durability for me as I would snap the gut in 5 hours. Nothing will replace natural gut, but comfortable full poly setups I have found are the following all strung around 45/43 with the exception of VCT.

Cyclone Tour/GW - 1.30/1.22. Only use the 1.30 VCT as the others don’t hold tension. It is very comfortable so don’t fear the gauge. String a few pounds higher.
Hyper G Soft/GW - 1.25/1.22
Oehms ALU Pearl Rough/ GW - 1.25/1.22
Gamma Moto Soft/GW - 1.25/1.22
Grapplesnake Alpha/GW - 1.25/1.22

Per my earlier post on this thread I found Black Knight/GW very boardy for the first 1-2 hours and then opens up beautifully. But the first session was pretty bad. I am going to try and string lower to see if it helps. So beware.

 

[Sontheim]

What tension in Mains and crosses would you suggest for

Black knight 18 1,18
Ghostwire 19 1,10

Thin Cross tighter?

Normally doughter plays 22kg/21 kg with multi in crosses 19/16 Racket

 

[dhdriver]

Hi,

I usually use a hybrid set up of BK 1.18 and GW 1.22 strung between 44lbs to 47 lbs. I had them in my Technifibre TF 40 18x20 and T-Fight 305 ISO. I had similar experiences for both.

Power
There was a decent amount of power but nothing uncontrollable. It had more power than my preferred BK 1.23 full bed but it was not too much.

Control
Control felt good. I felt that it made my normal setup of BK full bed feel more lively but still had great control.

Spin
I am a big spin hitter. The spin was not too far away from my BK full bed. If anything, I may have found a little bit more spin since the GW was sliding a bit over the BK.

Comfort
I thought the set up was pretty comfortable. I never had break in issues with either BK full bed or BK/GW hybrid. They felt comfortable. I usually string sub-50 as well and that helps with comfort.

Tension / Playability longevity
I feel that I got a pretty good amount of playability with this hybrid. The stringbed probably starts launching on me around the 10 hour mark or so. But it felt pretty similar throughout the life of the hybrid. I string for myself so I typically start restringing my racquets when they are launching or just feel dead.

It's a hybrid I prefer to use with my closed string racquets. I've been using BK 1.23 full on my Speed MPs recently and enjoying that a lot. No break in period. I think the hybrid would have to be strung a bit higher for me to be able to control the power of the strings combined with the Speed MP.

 

[USPTARF97]

Played with BK full bed a couple of reels and after switching to Tour Status it is definitely much better touch around the net, more power off the ground and serve. Have a reel of BK still and going to cross with GW. BK full bed is excellent but definitely muted.
There is a break in period for me with full bed BK. . Normally string a few frames before I go play in an event and one BK set up needs about three hours to settle the way I like it. After that it is good another 8hrs. Striing at 47 in H22 16x19. Went lower on the tension and didn’t care for it.
Looking for a set up that I can play right off the stringer and it looks like hybrid BK/ GW is the way to go.

 

[einca13]

Played with BK full bed a couple of reels and after switching to Tour Status it is definitely much better touch around the net, more power off the ground and serve. Have a reel of BK still and going to cross with GW. BK full bed is excellent but definitely muted.
There is a break in period for me with full bed BK. . Normally string a few frames before I go play in an event and one BK set up needs about three hours to settle the way I like it. After that it is good another 8hrs. Strijg at 47 in H22 16x19. Went lower on the tension and didn’t care for it.
Looking for a set up that I can play right off the stringer and it looks like hybrid BK/ GW is the way to go.

I have been playing BK/GW 1.23/1.22 in a Blade 98 for awhile. There is still a break-in period, which seems to be 45-60 minutes for me. i cross every poly I use with GW and BK is the only one that has this boardy break-in period. BK is a great string and play so so consistent, unfortunately it has this one drawback IMO.

 

[USPTARF97]

I have been playing BK/GW 1.23/1.22 in a Blade 98 for awhile. There is still a break-in period, which seems to be 45-60 minutes for me. i cross every poly I use with GW and BK is the only one that has this boardy break-in period. BK is a great string and play so so consistent, unfortunately it has this one drawback IMO.

Thanks! For sure, it’s about 3hrs break in full bed with BK.

 

[VanDerVaart23]

Is there a recommendation to fight break in periods by dropping the tension until you don't get that break in period or feel it to the minimum time?

 

[USPTARF97]

Is there a recommendation to fight break in periods by dropping the tension until you don't get that break in period or feel it to the minimum time?

Lay it on a towel. Stand on it with one foot, flip it over, stand on it.

 

[VanDerVaart23]

Lay it on a towel. Stand on it with one foot, flip it over, stand on it.

Lol

 

[USPTARF97]

Lol

Can’t tell you how many girls I have worked with on the ITF/ challenger circuit that do just that. Right off the stringer a number of them don’t care for it regardless of the string. They are more accustomed to playing with string set ups that have some time on them than right off the stringer.