Volkl Cyclone Tour and TRU PRO (formerly Tier One Sports) Black Knight - best co-polys for sensitive elbows

[socallefty]

@g4driver and @socallefty - thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience. I am one of those who got GE from playing with dead poly because of lack of education. I can now tell when my elbow is not happy. NG is the most comfortable string for me but I have trouble with control which is why I like to cross it with poly. After being unable to play for almost a year, I invested in an alpha ghost 2 so that I can restring as often as needed. VS Touch is expensive though so I am trying to prolong its life as much as possible
If VCT 16g is not going to hurt me, I’m willing to try it and switch to it even if I have to string every couple of weeks. For now, I will use the 6 half sets of VS touch with GW 17g (just got a discounted reel at the famous auction site although I would’ve preferred 16g). I will also try it with HGS since I have a set

It is a joy to play with gut/poly hybrids or poly when you play at a decent level - you can win a lot of matches with the extra spin and control that affects not only groundstrokes, but also serves and returns. As long as you listen to your arm/elbow/wrist when they tell you they are feeling discomfort and restring, you will be fine. Never try to get extra hours out of your poly string job once your body tells you to stop. All the best on court!

 

[blai212]

i found black knight to be a bit underpowered and mushy (vague in feel). Felt like I had to overswing sometimes to get ample pace on the ball at times and other times I had no idea where the ball would land. I’ve also found VCT 16g full bed a bit boardy in my VCP97 310 but I think that’s because I prefer thinner stringbeds so therefore I use thin copoly cross like SPPP. @g4driver Do you experience the shapedness of VCT near sweetspot becoming smooth after about 7-8 hrs? For that reason, I like other shaped poly mains that retain their sharpness such as SPPP hextreme which is on the crisp side. Xperience is one of my new favorite strings that provides a soft rubbery feel that I absolutely love. I suspect that is a big reason why it won 2018 string of the year.

 

[g4driver]

@g4driver Do you experience the shapedness of VCT near sweetspot becoming smooth after about 7-8 hrs? For that reason, I like other shaped poly mains that retain their sharpness such as SPPP hextreme which is on the crisp side. Xperience is one of my new favorite strings that provides a soft rubbery feel that I absolutely love. I suspect that is a big reason why it won 2018 string of the year.

I have never noticed that at all. Never used Xperience.

I have multiple clients who use a string that nobody else uses. When I find these situations, I tell them. "if you want a reel, I can get a better price for you, but I have no interest in stocking a string only you use, because when a player like you switches strings, I am stuck with strings I can't sell. " The player can bring these one-off strings to me by the pack or the reel, but I would never recommend a stringer to stock one string for one client. If the client switches strings, the stringer eats the loss. There are hundreds and hundreds of strings on the market. Stringer and shops have to tailor their inventory to their clientele.

 

[Wheelz]

Xperience is pretty good. I like it and I like VCT 16 but you have to string it lower.

 

[loosegroove]

i found black knight to be a bit underpowered and mushy (vague in feel). Felt like I had to overswing sometimes to get ample pace on the ball at times and other times I had no idea where the ball would land. I’ve also found VCT 16g full bed a bit boardy in my VCP97 310 but I think that’s because I prefer thinner stringbeds so therefore I use thin copoly cross like SPPP. @g4driver Do you experience the shapedness of VCT near sweetspot becoming smooth after about 7-8 hrs? For that reason, I like other shaped poly mains that retain their sharpness such as SPPP hextreme which is on the crisp side. Xperience is one of my new favorite strings that provides a soft rubbery feel that I absolutely love. I suspect that is a big reason why it won 2018 string of the year.

Experience 1.23 broke super quick on me and didn't feel nearly as comfy as VCT, though it seems many people like it and think it's arm friendly.

 

[Wheelz]

I did xperience @43 And I do VCT 16@53 maybe why I found that it had good feel, pocketing, comfort and control. I thought it was a good mix of that.

 

[Devil_dog]

perhaps the first time ive seen the babolat feel described in a positive light ...

Babolat and feel? Excuse my chuckling...

Haha. What I mean is the distinct sensation that comes from hitting with Babolats. Yes, it’s a stiff frame but there’s a difference with them as opposed to other frames I’ve played. That’s all that I was getting at.

 

[Crashbaby]

Babolat and feel? Excuse my chuckling...

I know Babolats and the Pure Drive are famous around here for their lack of feel. I’m not a fan either, but you look at an incredible feel player like Dustin Brown and the amazing tennis he produced with his Pure Drive when he was using it. So maybe feel is not something contained within the stick, It’s just a matter of knowing the stick through time spent with it.

 

[Casper777]

Also check out Polyfibre strings... apart from Panthera and tour models, most of them are VERY soft and spin friendly.
Even Panthera at 120 is quite soft

 

[blai212]

Also check out Polyfibre strings... apart from Panthera and tour models, most of them are VERY soft and spin friendly.
Even Panthera at 120 is quite soft

Ive tried black venom rough 1.25 which is supposedly a better version of rpm rough but it dies SUPER quick. Polyfibre strings might be soft but die rather quick

 

[blai212]

Experience 1.23 broke super quick on me and didn't feel nearly as comfy as VCT, though it seems many people like it and think it's arm friendly.

I did hybrid with Xperience 1.24/tour hex 1.23 38/36.5 lbs in my pure strike 98 and although it didn’t break, it became too mushy with too much of a trampoline effect so I had to cut it out. Tour hex has good tension maintenance/playability duration so i’m pretty sure it was the xperience. SPPPhex 1.20/xperience 1.18 is an awesome combo in my denser vcp97 310 and I absolutely love it.