This content emphasizes the critical, yet often overlooked, role of tennis racket strings in player performance and enjoyment, advocating for more frequent restringing and informed string selection based on individual needs and preferences.
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just kind of quickly about myself. Um,
so in my other life, I'm a stringer. Um,
so as as AJ was saying, so I'm I'm with
the GRSA, the Global Racket Stringers
Association. I'm a certified tour
stringer. Um, I'm also an instructor
with that organization with the US, uh,
racket stringers association. I'm a
master racketch. I'm also a
certification tester for them. Uh, a
play tester for tennis magazine, now
tennis.com. No more physical magazines
anymore. So, uh, done a bit of work over
the years too with some different
companies in terms of product
development, product validation, product
testing stuff, which has really been
fun. So, to sum that all up, racket
dork, string dork. So the title of the
pre presentations is don't get strung
along. Um mostly because I like dad
jokes. Uh but also because there's a lot
of uh maybe miss or bad information that
exists kind of in the equipment space
and the product space. Um so the goal
for us as coaches is really to help you
play better. So equipment selection is
going to be a big part of that frankly.
So, uh, I'm here today to hopefully help
arm you with some information so that
when you go back home and you go to your
stringers or if you're stringing for
yourself, um, you can maybe make some
informed decisions about what you want
to do next. And that's my my string
resume there. So, uh, most recently kind
of my main tournament and this is where
I got to meet Gary for the first time
was at Indian Wells. I've been stringing
uh, at that tournament since 2021
up until last year. I also did the ATB
event in Montreal last summer. Um this
summer I did the Challenger in Sumpter,
South Carolina. Uh and prior to that,
kind of what got me into the tournament
stringing universe was the Eddie Herur
tournaments down at IMG Academy in um
Bradenton, Florida. Uh did that for a
couple of years as well um with Prince.
So the first thing we want to start off
with is that's a pretty recognizable
face there, Coco Goff. Um a buddy of
mine was her stringer for this
tournament. Okay, so she won the singles
tournament. She made the doubles quarterfinal.
quarterfinal.
And my question to you all is how many
rackets did she string for that
tournament? Any guesses? >> 20
>> 20 >> 20
>> 20 >> 30
>> 30 >> 30
>> 30 >> 18.
>> 18.
>> How many? >> 80.
>> 80. >> 80.
>> 80.
>> Are you sure you want to go with that
high? Okay.
>> Anybody else? Any other guesses?
>> Three. Right. So this is this is why
Carla's the boss.
>> Oh my god.
>> That's pretty good.
>> She She's really good, too. If you ever
see those those containers of jelly beans,
beans,
she's great at that. All right, so 82
rackets strung,
right? So she had seven singles matches,
18 sets. I I counted all this stuff up
the other day. um four matches for
doubles, nine total sets. She also has
practice. And now something that's
really, really important is she prepared
her rackets to go three sets in each
match. So that's why we're going to see
again on this about a three per set
average. She didn't use all of them. But
point of the matter is, oops,
for one tournament, that's how many
rackets she done. Okay, she had done
>> that took how many frames?
>> Good question. That's pro that's maybe
eight to 12 would be my guess. Um,
typically when they're bringing them in,
we see them I think the most we've seen
is like eight at a time. Um, so here's
the next question.
How long will pros use a racket? You got
a couple hints there based on what Coco
does. Bless you. But what do we think?
Any guesses?
What do you think, Emily?
>> One set match.
>> One three- set match.
>> Seven games.
>> Six games. Seven games. We're getting close.
>> Can anybody tell me why it's nine games?
>> Very good. Ball change. Okay.
Okay.
So, there is an inverse relationship
between the speed of the ball and the
liveless of the strengths. When the
balls come out of the can at the very,
you know, when they're first being used,
they are at their fastest, right? As
they get played with, especially now,
they fluff up. They lose a little bit of
compression. So, they slow down
essentially. And what happens with the
strings? They start tight. As you play
with them, they start to loosen up a
little bit. So, now the ball is a little
slower, a little less lively. The
strings become a little bit more lively.
So again, that relationship is why pros
are typically switching every nine games.
games.
>> And how long frame
>> switching frames?
>> They usually change frames every season,
>> right? So they'll and they'll kind of
arguably go like about five seasons a
year. So I think Fed was getting like a
minimum of 60 rackets a year. He'd get
batches of 12,
right? So this is the main reason as we
were just saying there being the ability
to consistently control the ball is why
we're changing strings so frequently at
the pro level, right? And we're thinking
about ball control, we're thinking about
speed of shot, we're thinking about our accuracy,
accuracy,
and we're thinking about our spin. Okay,
so here's the next question. Thinking
about recreational players, how long are
we using a freshly strung racket?
>> Nine months.
>> Two years.
>> What else do we think?
>> All right. Ready for my very scientific answer?
>> How was that? Yeah. Right. So, too long.
Frankly, it's just too long. So, you are
all here investing in your games and
investing in playing better tennis, but
oftent times we're overlooking one of
your one of the most important tools,
right? As AJ said yesterday, right? It's
not necessarily the racket. The racket's
just the string holder. So, the strings
engine of your game.
So, when we think about why we're
stringing, we've got the consistency of
the playing experience, right? So, we're
thinking about what the pros are dealing
with when changing the strings out based
on the balls. Again, new balls come in,
I want a little bit more control out of
the strings, right? As the ball again
slows down, strings liven up. That
basically that relationship means my my
playing experience is going to be pretty
consistent. As soon as a new element
gets dropped in, brand new balls, okay,
that's about to change. I've got to
change the equipment to match that.
Okay. Um,
so and that's what we got up here,
right? So, basically, as soon as the
string is tensioned, regardless of
whether you hit a ball or not with it,
it's going to start to loosen up.
Typically, off the machine, strings are
going to lose about 10% of their dynamic
tension within the first 24 hours.
Again, that's not even hitting a tennis
ball. Over time, that starts to level
out, but they're still going to continue
to lose tension. Um, and again, which is
why we have to be pretty aware of when
we get our racket restrung. The second
piece is a little bit more about the
durability. So, a lot of the strings
that we're using these days have kind of
special coatings on them. Again, they're
very slick, so the strings move a little
bit better. That breaks down with wear,
especially if you're playing in gritty
conditions. So, the more you play with
strings like that, you're breaking down
the coating. you're starting to in in
excuse me, you're starting to increase
the friction between the strings and
then that's going to again not allow you
to have the best performance out of your
equipment. So reringing is big because
again we really want a more consistent
tension, more consistent string movement
and again interplay between the string
and the ball so we can make less
adjustments just to the equipment and we
can just work on adjusting to the
conditions to our opponent to the
strategies that we're trying to play.
So, moral of the story, rering more
often. Now, I know that's not a
reasonable request at times to say,
"Hey, I I'd like you to change rackets
every time you play with a new can of
balls." Right? That might be once once a
match. Um, for some of you it might be
reasonable, for some of you it might
not. But just again, be aware that if
you can stay on top of that, it's going
to ultimately be better for your game.
So why I'm here, what I'd like to share
with you, rering more often. And then
the second piece is starting to
understand what your options are when
you rering. So when we're thinking about
string selection, we've got some options
there. We've got the material, we've got
the construction, we've got the size of
the string, which we also call the
gauge, and we've got the tension. Those
are kind of the big bad boys.
And our goal is to find the balance of
playing characteristics to optimize your performance.
performance.
But that's only if you're a robot and
you don't perceive things and you don't
have opinions and you don't have likes
and dislikes. But the enjoyment of the
playing experience, I think, for
recreational players is incredibly
important. So, your perception of how
your equipment works for you, incredibly
important uh in in my eyes as a coach of
recreational players. Um, when we also
think about enjoyment of the playing
experience, what other ideas might you
have about that ide that concept? If
you're enjoying something, what is what
is your equipment probably not doing to you?
you?
>> It's probably not hurting you, right?
So, even if you don't necessarily love
the feel, as long as the equipment's
giving you a good performance and it's
not hurting you, it's not beating you
up, you're probably in good shape. I'm a
little bit picky. I like a particular
sensation when I'm playing. So, I'm
looking for something even a little bit
more specific. I think AJ is too. We
were chatting about our hybrid setups
the other day.
So, some of the challenges that we're
going to face, we've got our anecdotal
wisdom, right? That's always going to be
around there. We've got marketing, we've
got paid or biased reviews,
not enough uh objective information, and
not enough personal experience. So
again, part of the reason I'm here with
you all today is to help trying to share
some more objective information about
strings in particular.
The other challenge is you, no offense,
right? But everybody's different. So all
of your needs are going to be different
in terms of what you're choosing for for
your equipment. And if we're truly
fitting you well, we're taking all of
that into account
all the time, right? So very, very
rarely are we going to run into
situations where we've got players
again. So no and I are not using the
same racket. If we were using the same
racket, we're probably not using the
same string setup. We might customize it
a little bit differently, different grip
sizes. So there's going to be
preferences based on all of these things
here. I play up north, he plays down
south, right? He's mostly playing on
clay. I'm mostly playing on indoor
hardcourt. Again, it's going to be
completely different situation even if
we start with the same racket.
So here's another example of player
preferences. Anybody know these players?
Who we got up here?
>> Oh my goodness. I'm that's if that's the
first player you can pick out of those
two, I'm super impressed. Nancy, right?
Yiki Iikery, Norwegian doubles player, I
think of Finnish heritage, someone was
telling me, but plays for Norway. And
who's the uh the other player up there?
>> Manorino. Okay, what am I about to
reveal? Uh so I a couple years ago at
Indian Wells, I got to string for both
these players. Unfortunately, I didn't
get to string Manorino's lowest tension.
He went down to like 9.7 kilos. Um, but
I did get to string a couple rackets for
him. Uh, I is another story. So, she
wants uh as tight as the machine will
go, which means we had to add a
pre-stretch to that 88 pounds. She wants
it with two knots, meaning we've got to
use one length of string. Uh, with that
racket, it means you've got to do an
around the world pattern, which is a
little bit more challenging. Um, I use
safety glasses and every time I tension
the racket, I did one of these because I
wasn't sure when the thing was going to
explode. Um,
Manorino 22 pounds.
So, again, very very very different
likes. The physics of their games
probably relatively close, but very very
different uh likes in terms of how they
they choose to use their equipment.
So we've got to talk a little bit about
kind of that objective information we
mentioned before. So with our string
characteristics kind of these are kind
of the big the big primary bullet points
here. So we're looking at our power
level which is directly related to the
elasticity of the string.
We're looking at spin potential which is
partic uh potentially the shape of the
string or the coating on the string. the
durability slash slashtension
maintenance that's largely about the
material and the construction of the
string and then feel tends to be a
So when we're talking about power and
again all things being equal more
elastic strings will produce greater
ball velocity than stiffer strings.
Okay? And that simply comes down to
every time you hit a tennis ball,
there's going to be some loss of power
in the exchange between the ball and the
racket. A more elastic string is going
to lose less power at that exchange.
A uh a stiffer string is going to
actually lose a little bit more power
and actually a tighter string, a stiffer
string is going to have the ball
actually deform more than the strings.
And that's kind of what's interesting
about the polyester, the monofilaments.
At higher tensions, the ball is going to
bend more than the strings are going to bend.
When we're looking at tension,
basically, you go lower tension, it's
going to produce a softer string bed.
It's going to give you the perception of
more power, higher uh ball launch off
the string bed. It's also going to
basically uh spread out the shock of
impact. So instead of playing with a
tighter racket where you're going to
take that shock in a in a shorter window
of time by allowing the strings to bend
more, you're going to distribute that
shock over a longer period. It's going
to you're going to perceive it to be a
little bit softer. Okay. Very very
interesting. What you would see at
contact is you'd see a couple of
different things happen. You would see
the frame itself, right, actually
deform. That means that the there's
going to be a loss of uh energy when the
when the frame actually bends. You're
going to actually see the strings deform
and you're going to see the ball deform
quite a bit. Uh the ball almost like
turns to liquid. It's going to actually
wobble through the air so much. I'm
hoping my buddy
Adam Ford was about to do that for me.
So, here it is. So, we saw it at regular
speed, but here here it is at slow motion.
This is what happens every time you hit
>> And what tension
You So, you can see again the the the
racket bends. You saw the strings again
deform and then unload
>> the balls.
>> The ball deforms a lot. This is a big
surf. This is a big surf.
But again, then you can kind of see how
the ball kind of wobbles through the air
as it it goes back into shape.
So again, that again, like we said,
that's a big big serve. That's not an
incoming forehand or a backhand where
there's incoming energy or anything. Oh,
so 142 mph serve, right? Um, so every
time you hit a tennis ball, again,
there's there's a big energy exchange
going on there. So, how the racket and
strings work to create that situation
really important. So, um, a lot of
deformation basically, we're trying to
manage that with our stringing. So, spin
potential, this one's this one's a dicey
subject a lot of the time. Um, spin is
mostly coming from your swing. So, how
your swing loads the strings is going to
have the greatest outcome on string,
excuse me, on spin, not the string.
Okay? The string can help, but it's not
going to make it. Your swing has to make
the spin. Okay?
Here's where it gets interesting.
Strings with a higher string to ball
friction produce more spin, meaning the
string grabs the ball more, right? And
then also strings with lower stringtost
string friction, which means the strings
slide against each other very nicely
tend to produce more spin as well. Okay,
so here's the next video. So here's what
happens when you're hitting spin. And
again, that's a that's a monofilament
string. Can you play it again for me,
So you can see.
Yeah. So that's just the ball got fired
across the string bed like that. But
when we're swinging, we're actually
going to make that same effect happen.
>> Yeah. That string looks like a
monofilament to me. That's totally a
guess, but that's what it looks like. So
essentially what's going to happen is I
move my racket up the back of the ball.
The main strings are going to deform
down, right? They're going to kind of
make a smile. Then they're going to
shoot back up. that shooting by back up
action, then we call it snapback. That's
going to propel the back of the ball up.
That's what's going to make the ball
spin. Okay.
So, we've got kind of four main
construction types. We're looking at
monofilaments, which are commonly
referred to as polies. So, a poly is
it's more important to kind of identify
the construction than it is the material
in that case because everything else is
about construction of the string. So, a
monofilament means one filament, one
fiber. Okay, multifilament, multiple
fibers. Okay,
we've got a synthetic gut and a natural
gut. So, those are kind of our big four
categories. The big thing with
monofilament, it's mostly polyester
copolies. There are some other
monofilament materials as well. They're
just not as as prevalent in the marketplace.
marketplace.
This is an example of head string
compass. So, this is like their string
selector. I know it's a bit hard to see.
Um, I think this was on their Instagram
page at some point, but their compass is
again, you've got a power control axis
and then you've got a spin comfort axis.
Um, so the power and control I think is
that's the most important thing to for
us to look at. How much power is the
string going to bring to the table.
So, we're going to start to dive into
some of these things. So, a a
monoilament, typically one extruded
piece of string. It's kind of produced
like you're squeezing toothpaste out of
the tube. Um they can be rounded or
shaped and again material mostly
polymers co-olymers with some additives.
The big thing here with our playing
characteristics they are not as elastic
and they're lower powered. Because
they're lower powered it means you can
swing faster and the ball doesn't hit
the back fence as much as some of the
other strings. The other big advantage
with these strings is they are very
slick against themselves. So they slide
more. They've got low stringto-string
friction which helps with spin potential.
potential.
The issue is that their tension
maintenance is not great since it's one
fiber of string. So as they basically
take that the load of contact over and
over again and just the stress of
tension, they they will drop tension
after kind of a certain number of play.
I find kind of the 15 hour mark of play
is typically where they're not really
good anymore. Okay. Um the other issues
because they're not as elastic, you're
going to take on greater shock when you
hit a tennis ball with these strings. So
again, benefit,
a little bit more control because
there's lower power, little potential uh
little extra uh spin potential. Um but
poor tension, poorer tension
maintenance, and greater shock to the body,
body,
which actually, let me go back here. So
that means here when we're looking at
spin potential, how fast does your swing
need to be to actually benefit from
these strings?
What would you say? Is a slower swing
speed going to benefit from these strings?
strings? >> No.
>> No.
>> No. Because that slower swing speed is
not going to create enough of a bending
effect on the main strings to get what
we're trying to get out of them. Okay.
Um the other issue here is a slower
string speed is going to need more power
or less power typically.
probably need more, right? So, this
again very low powered string. So, a
slower swing speed is not going to
really benefit from this kind of string
that much.
Opposite end of the spectrum in terms of
power is your natural gut.
Intestine.
>> Noah definitely knows this.
>> Intestine. Yeah. Right. So, it's
intestine. Okay. So, very naturally
flexible fiber. Uh, it's round. There's
usually some kind of coating on there.
Uh, highly powered, pretty decent spin
potential because of the coating. Um,
this is the best tension maintenance out
of all of the strings up here. It holds
tension the best. It creeps the least.
Uh, and lesser shock. So, before uh pros
started playing with monofilaments, this
was the main string that the pros pros
were all using.
And here's the synthetic version of gut.
It's a multifilament, multiple fibers.
So that construction is trying to mirror
natural gut as closely as possible.
Okay. So again, similar playing characteristics,
characteristics,
uh, highly elastic, higher powered, some
spin potential. It depends on the
string, it depends on the coating. Okay.
Um, better tension maintenance and much
less shock. So slower swing speed, this
is going to be more appropriate. Natural
And finally, synthetic gut. This was
kind of the big string of like the the
80s and and 90s. This is starting to
kind of die away a little bit because
it's it's a great multi-purpose string.
Um, but unfortunately, it doesn't do
anything as well as the other strengths,
right? So, if I want more control and
more spin, I'm going to go monofilament.
If I want a little bit more comfort, I'm
going to go natural gut or I'm going to
go multifilament. So, this is going a
little bit the way of the dinosaur. Um, however,
however,
price point and the value on this string
tends to be very very good. So, if
you've again, if you're not super super
picky, um, not not a bad place to go. I
would go with a little higher end than
the standard synthetic gut. Um, it's
kind of go to a mid-tier. You can find a
So, when we're looking at how we
actually apply some of these some of
these ideas, the goal is to balance the
power of the string bed against the
power of your swing and the power of
your racket. So, what does your swing
bring to the table? What does your
racket bring to the table? I've got to
balance that out with how we put the
string and choose the string and string
the string.
My preference is that you all play with
the most elastic string setup that you
can control. It's typically going to
give you the most bang for your buck in
terms of your ability to use your
equipment well and it typically is going
to be the most friendly on your body.
When we're thinking elastic, again,
we're talking about more elastic
material and construction. We're
thinking about thinner gauges because
those tend to be more elastic than
thicker gauges of the same string and
lower tensions. We're thinking more like
And again, as we said, the spin
potential piece, uh, if you can't
benefit with your swing speed, typically
I recommend staying away from the
monofilament. It's just not going to
give you the playing characteristics
that you're looking for unless you're
using a really, really powerful racket
or a really, really soft and comfortable
racket. One of the few exceptions I
think is like a Wilson Clash or even
some of the new Yanx Ezones. They tend
to build in a little bit more dampening
technology. So those rackets tend to
make playing with a full poly a bit more comfortable.
comfortable.
So here are your options with your
string selection. Are you going to do
the same string through the whole string
bed or are you going to split it up and
do two different string setups? AJ and I
are doing hybrids. He's doing gut in the
mains, poly and the crosses.
monofilament in the crosses. I do the
the reverse. I like my shaped poly in
the mains and I like a smooth
multifilament in the crosses. In the
peak of the summer, I'm breaking this
once or twice a week and that's okay
because by the time I break it, it needs
to be replaced anyways. So, I don't mind
that. We can also think about our
tension. Same all around. Or again, we
can have a differential between the
crosses and the mains. We can do that
based on different strings or we can do
that with the same strings. Okay.
And finally, this is this is a big pet
peeve of us tournament stringers, the
timing. A lot of pros are having their
racket strung the day of their match. We
call them string in the mornings.
The problem with a string in the morning
is how volatile is the tension of the
racket when it comes off of the machine.
As we said before,
>> very it's going to lose 10% in the first
24 hours. So when the pros are getting
these string in the morning rackets,
they are seeing huge decrease in tension
over the course of their match. If they
get it strung the day before, it's going
to be a little bit more equalized. So
their playing experience is going to be
So again, just for time, o, I went a
little fast and I apologize, but I
wanted to make sure we got we got this
stuff in. Know your game and your likes
and dislikes. If you've got questions
about kind of what's going to be
appropriate for you, talk to your
coaches. The coaches here are
phenomenal. They're going to give you
probably pretty good feedback in terms
of what you can start to look for with
your string selection.
You start with your power level in my
opinion and then you kind of build out
from there. Um, so again, primarily I
want to find I want to dial in how much
power do I want out of the string? And
then I'll go what am I looking for in
terms of feel, in terms of spin, in
terms of durability.
When you're testing, you keep the
variables as similar as possible. Change
one thing at a time. So right now I've
got 17 gauge links tour in my mains.
I've got 16 gauge uh velocity MLT in my
crosses. If I'm going to change
anything, I'm going to use the same
tension, right? If I'm going to keep the
strings same and I'm going to change the
tension, maybe I'm going to change the
tension of one, the mains or the
crosses, but I'm going to keep
everything as consistent as I can. I'm
not going to change the tension, the
string setup, all of that stuff, uh, all
at once. It's too hard to know where the
changes are going.
Do your best to play with it in a
realistic scenario. So, again, this is
really, really true, not just in terms
of strings, but in terms of your
rackets. So, if you're trying rackets
out, get them strung the way you like
them strung. That way, you can kind of
test head-to-head as opposed to making a
guess what it is that you actually like
and then make adjustments and try it again.
again.
So, again, I'm sorry to rush, but thank
you very much. What I'd like to do,
don't clap. It's not worth it. What I'd
like to do is actually I've got some
couple different sets of string here.
I'm just going to pass these around. So
this black string is a multifilament.
This is head velocity MLT. You can start
to just kind of feel the differences,
right? This back row, I'm actually going
to give you two. So this is Lynx Tour,
right? So this is a shaped monofilament.
And I'm also going to give you a round
monofilament. 16 gauge versus 19 gauge.
So a thicker versus a thinner. Just so
you can see round versus shaped and 16
versus uh 19. And finally, this last set
of string I've got in here in my hands.
This what came in your goodie bags. This
is head links touch. This is an
interesting string. It's if you look in
the middle of it, it's got a core. So,
this is a co-extruded string, meaning
there's two basic strings on this one
string. It's a hybrid string. So, it's
designed to perform like a poly
multi-hybrid, but in one string.
>> This I think is 16. So, when we're
thinking 16 again, it's not super. Yeah,
this is 16. Um,
the goal of this string is actually to
equalize the tension loss. So, when you
use two two different kinds of strings,
two two different constructions, they're
going to lose tension at different
rates. This helps to equalize that a
little bit by making it one string. So,
just go ahead and pass that around.
>> Does that typically come always in a 16
or they have seven?
>> They've got a 17 in that as well. Um, so
to answer Carla's qu Yeah, don't even
worry about that. That was split into
two sets, but that's just another
monofilament. It's not super important.
Um, to answer caller's question, does
anybody know what a set of gut runs for
these days?
>> A lot.
>> 60 bucks.
>> But if you can if you can buy like
tennis warehouse 60 bucks. Okay. So, I
don't know what anybody other stringers
labor cost is. I charge 25 or so. You're
up to if you do full gut, it's 85 bucks.
So, it's a pretty big expense. It's
gonna again give you the creme de la
creme of the playing experience, but it
might not be worthwhile in terms of
value for your dollar. To Carla's point,
I actually I play with a a multi- setup,
a poly multi setup myself, a mono multi-
setup myself. I have only played with
others people's rackets. I've never used
it myself. Um I I find it's just not
worth it. and I'm breaking my multi at a
fast enough rate that I'm not going to
invest that much money into it. It's not
worth it. I I'm gonna manage a lot of
the softness and the elasticity with a
good high quality multifilament
stringing it at the appropriate tension.
That could have been a stringer issue.
That could have been a shanking issue.
So, if he's hitting a little high on the
string bed, his his uh his racket
patterns a little bit more open. So when
you miss it in the wrong spots, they're
create there's more stress in those
certain locations and they'll shank a
little bit more or break a little more.
You should be cutting it out and
reringing it, not waiting for a
monofilament to break because it's going
to take a long time to break. It's going
to be way past due.
>> So I like that you're cutting it out
before. Great question. So it depends on
how much you want to experiment. If
you're willing to kind of take the
plunge, I I say go at two pound
increments. If you're trying to work
your way lower, every time you get it
rerung, drop it by a pound. All right?
So, if I string mine at 50 all around,
next time I string it, all right, 49 all
around. Next time I string it, 48 all
around. The reality is by the time I'm
reringing it again, the last time I
played with it, it's dropped. Right? So,
I'm going I'm going 50 and then it's
dropping. And now I'm going 49, now it's
dropping. Now, I'm going 48 and it's
dropping. So again, I'm just kind of
testing the waters over time to see what
I can get away with. It depends on your
playing environment. If you need to
change rackets, again, if you're in a
really hot humid environment and your
grip's getting slick, you're changing
rackets for that reason, get both
rackets strung at the same time, right?
And then every time you change them out,
get them done at the same time. If you
play pretty consistently with one racket
all the time, you're not switching out.
I would say play with one until it's
kind of start to get a little bit soft
on you and then rering the other. Use
that one as your backup and then when
this starts to go, string the first one
again. So that's that's how I look at it
in terms of getting the value out of
reringing your rackets in that sequence.
But essentially what we're looking for
is we're looking for the consistency of
product. That is the most important
thing. A stringer's job is to deliver
the same product time and time and time
again. So, if you're getting a
consistent product that you like,
your stringer is is a good stringer in
that regard. If you don't know what
you're getting into, attention to
detail, I think, is kind of the the
telltale sign of of a quality stringer.
So, if I get my racket, not that I'm
biased about my stringering or anything,
but what you're going to notice, and now
I've played with this a bit, obviously,
but what you're going to notice,
what can you tell me about how those
strings look?
right there.
>> Okay. Yeah. And that's what I wanted you
to see. These things are pretty darn
straight. So, ideally, your string
should come from your stringer looking
very close to this. I will say this,
some rackets I saw you've got a speed
over here, Jack. Right. Those grommet
barrels are a little offset. So, rackets
like that, rackets like the blade,
there's a little bit of a stagger to the
grommets. they're going to be a little
harder to get perfectly straight. The
goal is to kind of get it as close as
you can. So, that's a telltale sign. The
other telltale sign, are the knots, are
we tying consistent knot? They're hard
to see because they're black on black
here, but are they consistent tail
lengths the same? Right? Are they tight?
Are they starting to come undone? And
again, I apologize because these are a
little hard to see. We're right in here.
But again, you're going to see very very
consistent product across the board
here. Um, and that's uh
those are I think the two telltale signs
about attention to detail. So, here are
the knots here. Two of two of the four,
but again, consistent same not coming
undone, right? No pun intended. Um, but
ultimately, that's really what you're
you're primarily looking for,
consistency of of the playing
experience. Again, other questions.
That's tough because it's all about kind
of units of measurement. So, when you
get your racket strung at say like 50
lbs like I do, that's a reference
tension, meaning that's what we set the
machine to. It doesn't actually pull to
50 lbs in terms of producing 50 lbs in
the string bed for a number of different
reasons. So, once the strings are in the
racket, we use a tool called the ERT,
and that gives us a dynamic tension
reading. Not every stringer has these. I
don't really use it that much anymore.
It's it's a $300 piece of equipment. So,
um, again, it's not something I take out
all the time for that reason. Uh, but
you can start to use something like
that. Some of your stringers are going
to take a measurement right off of the
machine. They're going to tell you,
"Okay, it's it's at 38, DT of 38, and
then you're going to play with it. You
bring it back to your stringer. They
measure it again. Okay, it's at a DT of
32. It's time to string again." Um, I
find about 15 hours of play I'm going to
notice in terms of how the ball comes
off the strings. That's where I notice
it. And for me, that's kind of the main
the main measure, not not necessarily
the numbers. Okay. Again, I had to rush.
I got some credit to give to this
presentation. One of my good good
friends uh has strung at three of the
four slams, a bunch of other big
tournaments. His name is Mike Stevens.
He's in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So, if
you're ever out there, you can look him
up. String Sensation. If you've ever
ordered a Wilson from or or excuse me,
if you've or ever ordered a strung
racket from wilson.com, Mike strung it
for you. Okay. Um, so that was his stats
with with Coco. I asked him about any
questions with this presentation. I
said, "Is there anything you'd like me
to share with the players?" And he said,
"Don't get into stringing."
But again, it depends. Like if you're a
nerd like me, I started learning when I
was 12 and I started stringing for
myself when I was 13. Um, I love it. Uh,
it's meditative for me. I love to mess
around with the equipment. So, if you're
really if you're a gear head, I think
it's worth the investment. Find a, you
know, $1,000 machine and you're you're
good to go. If you're psycho like me,
you're going to spend a little bit more
money on the machine, a Wilson Bayard, I
think retails around 6,000 7,000 bucks.
Um, you're going to make that investment
if you're really, really, really into
it. Um, but that way you've got ultimate
control, right? So you can say, "I tried
these two strings. I didn't like them.
Cut them out. Do them again for your
next match or your next practice." So
you really have to be pretty invested.
But Mike's Mike's recommendation was
don't do it. Don't do it. Good question.
So when we're looking at two pieces, if
we're stringing with one one particular
string for the whole racket, most
stringers now are going to string two
pieces. Meaning they're going to cut the
string in half if it comes in a set like
that. And they're going to do all of the
main strings first, tie two knots, and
then they're going to do the cross
strings. Oh, my cross strings a little
high there. Right? They're going to do
the cross strings top to bottom, right?
And then they're going to tie two knots.
If you're stringing one piece, you're
using one length of string and you're
doing all of that and you're only tying
two knots because you've only got two ends.
ends.
Theoretically, every time you tie a
knot, you're going to lose a little bit
of tension. Now, string, good stringers
do things to help mitigate that loss,
but all things being equal. Two knots
will give you tighter strings than four
knots. All things being equal. Um, but
again, ultimately, it's not about what's
tighter. It's about consistency of the
product, right? So, again, I might have
I like to pull a little extra tension on
the last strings before I tie them off
to make make sure I take care of that
issue. Somebody else might not do that,
but you might like how that feels versus
what I do. So, it's all about again
ultimately what you like. That's what
makes this the challenge because it's I
can tell you all about the science and
the physics, but it comes down to what
you actually like for your own game.
>> I think most two or four knots. So, one
piece or two piece. I'm usually going to
I think four knots kind of has become
the standard. It's it's easier to manage
shorter lengths of string. I think it's
harder to screw it up. It also depends
on your rack in terms of how you would
achieve that. Sometimes you got to do a
more challenging pattern with only one
length of string. And some some
stringers aren't as good at that
particular pattern. So, four knots makes
it a little bit easier. You really have
to stress a frame for it to break down.
So, you got to be using it a lot and
reringing it a lot. Delpotro famously
had issues with his racket because he
really felt he wasn't changing them out.
He was using the same rackets. So, he's
stringing them over and over and over
again again every match multiple times.
He's hitting a ton of balls, 100 mile
per hour forehands. So, the rackets
starting to break down a little bit.
When they tried to give him new rackets,
they didn't feel the same. Even though
they they were the exact same recipe, he
had broken them down so specifically, he
couldn't find his way back to a new
version of that. Um and it really became
a big problem for him. Um for most of
us, we're not creating that much stress
for the racket. A lot of the rack a lot
of rackets are going to last you for a
very very long time. The only really
reason you need to change, your game
changes, you get better, you get worse,
right? Uh or you got injured and maybe
you can't move as well or a new one
looks better, right? I want a prettier
racket, right? So for me, that's why I
got this one. I was pretty, right? Um,
so again, oftentimes you can probably
play with the same racket for for a
pretty long time before you actually
need to replace despite what everybody
else will tell you. I like to be that contrarian.
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