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Find The Best Tennis Racket Strings...

Tennis Racket Strings are vast! Learning the ways of the tennis racket string tension will enhance your game's

  • Power
  • Spin
  • Durability
  • Control

How many tennis racquet strings are there? Each company has up to 15 strings of which there are 7 different gauges for each!

So the pure amount of options to buy strings on the market is mind boggling! Frankly speaking, some are down right bad...

This article will select the best and good value strings and review them, but first, lets go over the some important stuff :-)

  • Types of tennis racket strings
  • Basics of Hybrids
  • Different Diameters
  • Tennis racket string tension


Types of Tennis Racquet Strings

tennis racquet strings The main three types of strings are Natural Gut, Synthetic Gut, and Polyester.

Natural Gut

Playing with these strings may put a hole through your credit card. They are the most expensive of the tennis racquet strings as they are made out of animal guts! Nevertheless, these animal guts provide a good feel and soft impact.

There is a myth that pro players only use natural gut. It is not true at all, in fact less and less people are using natural gut nowadays.

Synthetic Gut

Some people call it Nylon. It is the most common string and it comes in a variety of different designs that enhance spin, control or power. It is cheaper that natural gut but can still be expensive for the top quality brands such as Luxilon. Depending on their diameter, they are also more durable while still retaining a great feel.

Polyester

They have less feel and less power than synthetic gut or natural gut. In fact the only thing going for them is they are more durable, they can last quite a while and for the beginner this would avoid the annoying hassle of stringing!

Kevlar

They are the most durable strings. However, I wouldn't recommend them as they feel like chicken wire. It is very stiff and and prescription to tennis elbow

What about Hybrids?

Some players like to use a combination of natural gut and synthetic gut. To try get the best of both worlds, the feel of natural gut and the power and durability of synthetic.

If you do want hybrids, that can be softer on the arm, put the natural gut on the lateral strings and the synthetic gut on the vertical. The lateral strings break less than the verticals and control more of the feel.

However, don't stress to much over hybrids! There is not a big difference, it is just preference. Think about it this way, if hybrids were better, all the pros would be using them! Whereas actually very few pros use hybrids.

Diameter - Tennis Racquet Strings

tennis racquet strings The tennis strings have different thicknesses. The thickest tennis racquet strings are the
  • 1.40 millimeters (15 gauge)
  • 1.35 millimeters (16 gauge)
  • 1.30 millimeters (17 gauge)
  • 1.25 millimeters (18 gauge)
  • 1.20 millimeters (19 gauge)
A higher diameter or thickness will mean more durability and less feel and power.

Looking for more spin? Apart from whiping your Tennis Racquet with a loose wrist, which is the BEST way to gain spin. Thinner strings bite into the ball better, which also generates a little more spin.

Tennis Racket String Tension

There are two ways to measure the tennis racket string tension, Pounds and Kilograms. Typically the average tension for advanced and average players would be around 25 kilograms or 55 pounds!

Any higher means more control, any lower would mean more power! But before everybody runs off to create the most powerful racket, so that they can launch serves into the court, remember with low tensions it can sometimes be a mission just to put the ball in the court.

Want your strings to last longer? To generate spin you need racket head speed, you have to whip the racquet..

Return to Tennis Equipment from Tennis Racket Strings

Return to How to play tennis from Tennis Racket Strings



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