Strings, strings and more strings.

Hi folks,

I hope everyone had a great holiday season filled with good friends, food and of course lots of TENNIS. Anyways, one of my new years resolutions (besides dropping 4% in bodyfat, eating better, cross-training more) was to write in my blog at least twice a week. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this one going.

Recently, there's been quite alot of buzz in my tennis circles about strings so I've decided to dedicate this post on strings and how to get the most out of them. My hope is that this may help players realize the importance of choice of string, gauge and tension and how it may influence they way they strike the ball.

The way I like to look at strings is they are like the tires on your car. You may drive a Ferrari but it your tires are bald or flat or both you aren't getting optimum performance out of your car or in this case your racquet. I see strings as the 3rd most important peice of tennis gear you possess (1st in your shoes, 2nd is your racquet). So lets explore and see what type of string might be the best for you.

Let's start off with materials or types of string. I like to catergorize them into 5 main types.

NYLON
These strings are what you find in most racquets that come prestrung in stores. They are tough as nails (you can think of it as really thick fishing line) and resistant to wear and tension loss. The caveat is as tough as they are against wear, they are also very tough on the arm not to mention low on feel. Most kids are fine with nylon and they are easy on the pocket book (usually the least expensive). If your son or daughter is a competitive junoir that goes through strings like no tomorrow, these are the strings for you.

SYNTHETIC GUT
Though there are some who will argue that anything that isn't gut is a 'synthetic gut' technically. This type of string type has in recently years become it's own genre. It's a mid-range string cost wise usually consisting of multifilaments (more then one type of material weaved together) to simulate the feeling of natural gut strings but have higher resiliency to wear and tension loss. One of the most popular Syn. Guts is Prince Synthetic Gut Duraflex. It was so popular back in the day that some pros (ie. Michael Chang)
continued to play with it instead of natural gut. This string offers a nice lively string bed with mid-range feel and durability. It's a good choice for those players who want a good quality string but don't want to pay through the roof. They are usually a little pricier then nylon but better for your game and your arm.

SPECIALIST MULTIFILAMENTS
Now here's where it gets kinda of hairy. Now I mentioned before that syn. gut was a multifilament string. However it's not the only multifilament string. There's a myriad of multi's that don't fall into the syn. gut genre. This is where a ton of string companies spend thousands of man hours trying to weave different materials together in different patterns to make a uber-duper playing string. I can't begin to tell you the amount of different compounds they use but to help catergorize them these strings usually fall into 4 different genres, Power strings, Control strings, Comfort strings and Spin strings.


Power Strings - These strings are more elastic thus returning more energy into the ball once it's struck wit the racquet. The downside of these strings is they string bed is less predictable thus you lose some control. I'd recommend these strings if you are the power-baseliner type or counter-punching type.

Control - These strings are stiffer and absorbent thus the ball tends to stay longer on the string bed thus giving you more feeling and control with the ball. Unlike springier power strings, you will have to generate slightly faster racquet head speed to get the same depth you would with power strings. These strings are better for all court style or serve and volleying types.

Comfort - These strings are meant to absorb shock of the uncoming ball. Unlike control strings these are softer and meant distribute the initial impact along the stringbed before it reaches your arm. Players with tendinitis in the arm or shoulder will appreciate these strings because it will allow them to play longer without discomfort. They usually have moderate amounts of control and power.

Spin - Some like to also call these control strings but I like to put them into thier own catergory. These strings and textured with uneven surface allowing the strings to dig deeper into the ball and impart more spin. If your a big topspiner or a slice-doctor you'll appreciate the extra bite you'll get from these strings. However, be forewarned, the more spin you impart the more your strings will move and saw into each other. These strings are partically known for thier durability.


POLYESTER
A recent addition to the string market, these strings are made of the same material as cheap T-shirts however they are nothing but 'cheap' and are only 2nd to Natural Gut in terms of expense. Made popular by Luxilon, this string is a very hard, stiff string with the consistency of hard plastic. They are so stiff infact that most manufacturers recommend stringing these 4-10pnds lower then your regular strings. Due to thier very stiff playability these strings are ultimate in biting into the ball and imparting spin. Polyester also provides good power due to the springy nature of the material while the stiff stringbed offers good control as well. While this may sound like the ultimate string there are a few caveats. Polyester is very hard on the arm, if you have any arm/wrist problems I don't recommend them, some player refer to it as 'Piano Wire' and with good reason. Durability is also an issue with polyester, depending on your style of play, the elasticity of the strings can last anywhere from 3-4 hours of hitting to 25 hours of hitting. At that point however the strings will feel like your hitting the ball with a damp dish towel (or T-shirt pardon the pun). The tricky thing is that the strings will look perfectly fine from the outside due to it's hard/plasticky nature. You will have to cut them out at that point and kiss your $50+ goodbye.

NATURAL GUT
Like it's name refers, everything about Natural gut is well 'Natural'. Originally create out of cow intestines and later sheep, it is still considered the pinnacle of power, control and comfort. It was originally developed by Pierre Babolat in 1875 and his string, VS gut, is still very popular with todays pros. However, because the process in which it's manufactured it's still the most expensive string on the market. Moreover, due to it's organic nature it's highly suspectable to wear, humidity and it's a bitch to string (don't ever kink natural gut). If you've never played with natural gut, I recommend you trying it once before you shuffle off the mortal coil. However, I then promplty suggest forgetting about the wild 'Last Tango in Paris' experience you had with it and go back your regular string. It's a delight to play with but it's just too expensive for it's durability.

So that's it for this blog. Next blog I will talk about string gauge, tension, string patterns, restringing and hybrids.