Archive for: string

What is it Like to be a Stringer at a Grand Slam or Roland Garros

Here is a quick look inside the stringers world at a Grand Slam event. At Roland Garros and other Grand Slam events stringers have to do at the very least 38 racquets per day and they all need to be perfect.

String Test Review: Titan Natural Gut 17

One of the things I’ve been searching for lately is a lower-priced, but still high-quality, natural gut string.  Babolat is by far the most popular, but with installed prices creeping up on $65, some resistance is being generated.  So, my quest has led me to Australian-made Titan Natural Gut; I’ve decided to try the 17g version.

This string is much less expensive than almost any other gut I’ve come across, and I anticipate an installed “street price” in the $40 range, a guess I had to revise upward later (see Stringing).  It’s available in 15, 16 and 17 gauge versions.

Specs

This is a true 17 gauge string, measuring 1.18mm in diameter, and the 39’6″ length should string most anything this side of 125 sq. in.  I had a problem with my testing in one respect:  to assign a power potential, I normally test the string’s elongation at 60 and 70#, but Titan failed (broke) twice while pulling at 70.  Obviously, don’t string it at a high tension, especially in 2 pieces, as it won’t take the load.  So, I had to make an adjustment.

I checked the elongation at 50#, getting 10.6%, and then at 60, receiving a reading of 20.3%, showing me that this string will have a nice power potential when installed.  The knot strength is poor, as most gut is, failing long before 60#.

Stringing

I strung Titan 17 in a Gamma Tour 330X at 43# for playtesting on a Babolat Star 5 machine.

This is where I’d have to make a concession on pricing, as it took forever to install this stuff:  the coating was so thin as to be almost nonexistent, and it was a real labor to weave, pull and straighten the cross strings.  The dragging sound it made while doing so was most disconcerting, and I half-expected a string to snap from the effort.  The  issue, though, came after the frame left the machine.

It took almost as long to finish straightening the strings as it did to install them, which is disatrous to final tension, as the strings will loosen the more you have to adjust them, affecting both string bed stiffness and tension maintenance.

You could wax the heck out of the mains before starting the crosses, but then you’ll have to remove that wax from the finished racquet and from your clamps before moving on to other frames, both of which will also use up valuable shop time.  I think this extra effort will add $10-15 to the cost of the job for me, making VS not too much more expensive.

The Tour 330X strung at 43# returned a DT reading of 29 on the Beers ert300 Tenniscomputer, and a string bed stiffness reading of 36 on the Babolat RDC.  After 24 hours, the DT had dropped to 26 (an 11.5% drop), and SBS had declined 12.5% to 32.  I feel the string straightening issue contributed mightily to this, but Titan may just not be as good as the gut I’m used to, as well.

In Play

The power potential was there, just as I thought, with shots whizzing right off the strings, and the classic, soft gut feel was there, as well.  What I didn’t like was how the strings refused to even remotely realign themselves, forcing me to take countless amounts of time between points and on changeovers to attempt it.  The lack of coating made it impossible to put the strings back in place, no matter how I tried; this became most frustrating, to the point where I finally gave up.

Fine Points

This problem brought up another one:  the strings were showing noticeable fraying after 2 hours of play.  I know it’s a 17 gauge gut, but this is unacceptable from the perspective of a player, stringer or consumer.  I’m not a player who uses extreme amounts of spin, and have used other thin-gauge guts for many more hours than this without such a problem.

I had no choice but to give up on Titan Natural Gut, as it was killing me to deal with the string alignment problem.  Before removing it, I checked the string bed again, and came up with a final DT of 26, and an SBS of 29, exactly where they were after the first 24 hours.  Of course, it received very little use, so I wasn’t surprised to see the readings be very close.

Conclusion

The bottom line on Titan Natural Gut is this:  it plays fine, but the time needed to install it and straighten the strings means much of its price advantage would be gone in a shop environment:  time is money here, and the owner has to factor that time into his final price.  If you’re stringing at home, you may have all the time in the world to sit around and straighten them, but the frustration will get to you, eventually.

What you’ll have left are gut strings that, while they play well, will leave you tearing your hair out as you try to keep them in place, and will also have you examining the cost/benefit ratio as it frays prematurely.  If the folks at Titan could develop a coating that is even somewhat noticeable, many of these problems would go away, and I think stringers and players alike would pay up a few bucks for it.  Until then, I recommend you do what I’m going to do:  stay away.  Titan Natural Gut will not be on my shelf.

String Test Review: Gamma Zo Verve 17

Zo Verve is the latest in Gamma’s Zo series of co-polymer strings, and is designed for stronger hitters looking for controlled power with added spin.  As of this writing, it is only available in 1.25mm (17 gauge in Gamma’s opinion).

Specs

Besides the 1.25 gauge (I actually measured it at 1.27), Zo Verve has an elongation of 5.21% at 60#, and the same at 70# tension .   The lack of extra stretch at a higher load tells me that the power potential of this string will be minimal (see In Play for details).  The set length was 40′, as advertised, and the 2-tone maroon and black color scheme is pretty cool, even if it doesn’t match your racquet.  The edges are quite sharp to the hand; we’ll see how that affects stringing ease.

Based on its wholesale price, I think you can expect an installed "street price" between $32-40, depending on your dealer.  This puts Zo Verve in the price range of Babolat’s quite popular RPM Blast string, and Luxilon’s M2 series.  What it doesn’t do is differentiate in publicized feel:  Blast and M2 are advertised as softer strings, while Zo Verve is promoted as a hard-hitter’s string, implying just the opposite.

Stringing Zo Verve

I strung Zo Verve in 2 different racquets with 2 different tensions.  First, I strung it in my Wilson HTour 95 test racquet at a reference tension of 55#, and received a DT reading of 40 on the ERT300 Tenniscomputer, and a string bed stiffness reading of 65 (quite stiff) on the Babolat RDC.  After 24 hours of no play, the readings were 37 and 62, respectively, showing a tension loss of 7.5 and 4.6%, respectively, quite good for poly-based strings (by contrast, Luxilon ALU lost approximately 8%, and RPM Blast showed a similar loss).  At the end of 1 week of no play, Verve showed no additional tension loss, meaning to me that it will play at a consistent level for a noticeable time.  The next stringing was with in a Gamma Tour 330X frame, at a reference tension of 41# (all stringing is done on a babolat Star 5 machine), yielding a DT of 35 and an SBS of 46; after 24 hours, these had dropped ot 32 and 41, respectively.

Stringing Verve was not as hard as I had imagined, as the shape wasn’t a hindrance on weaving, except to be sure it didn’t twist, something I find necessary on all profiled strings.  It was a little stiff on weaving, but it didn’t slow me up much, and tying knots tightly was not a major issue.  With a little extra straightening, the racquet was ready to go, so I don’t think you need to allocate more than a couple of extra minute’s time to installing it.  Now, on to the good stuff:  playing with the string.

Zo Verve in Play

Gamma’s definition of Zo Verve as a hard-hitter’s string was right on, as it took a real strong swipe to generate any power at all.  The lack of resilience I noted in initial testing proved accurate, as I felt as if Iwas hitting with a board.  My normal swing sent the ball nowhere, and spin didn’t seem to take unless I really cut loose.

As my playing time wore on, I actually had to do just the opposite of the string’s intent, and open up the face of the racquet to hit flat or slice shots to get the ballto travel the length of the court.  Even after doing this, I still felt like I had no real power, and the racquet twisted mightily in my hand on mishits, and actually almost flew out of it on one shot.  I’ve not normally had this problem with poly strings, even the stiffest Kirschbaum models.  ZoVerve managed to reduce my racquet’s sweet spot size due to its lack of response.

I found I could actually volley fine with it, as long as the hits were pure, but it gave me no help when I was extended at net.  Ditto for serves and overheads, and groundstrokes were a labor no matter how I hit them.

Fine Points

You’d suspect comfort to be lacking on a string this stiff, and you’d be right:  my elbow and shoulder really knew they’d had a workout by the time I was done with this string.  Movement was minimal, but I’m not sure if it was due to the string’s design or its lack of response (perhaps a stronger hitter could make it move; I don’t know).

I had no notching when I was finished with Verve, but tension loss was noticeable, going down to a DT of 28 from the original 35 (a 20% loss in just over a week).  I had hoped I’d pick up some length on my shots as it loosened, but it was dead all the way.

Conclusion

Gamma Zo Verve is a very stiff and unforgiving string that is going to have a small market:  very hard-hitting players with young arms that can tolerate its lack of forgiveness.  It would be advisable to reduce tension 2-5# over normal polys to bring back some of the loss of length you’ll undoubtedly see, and to replace it regularly as it goes even more dead than when installed, something the price point will make hard on the wallet.

Wilson Launch Four New Strings for 2011

Wilson are about to introduce four unique new string offerings for 2011:

The Best Tennis Stores Online

These days there are so many online tennis stores, but which ones are actually worth using? I thought I would put together a great list of the best online tennis stores.

Tennis Warehouse – Tennis Warehouse is the official partner of ATP and WTA tours. Tennis Warehouse has to be one of the most professional tennis stores online with a huge variety of brands and equipment available.

Midwest Sports – Midwest Sports is a USA based online store that has really been growing over the last 6 months. Midwest has the majority of the leading brands as well as some of the newest on the market like Boris Beckers tennis range. The site is very simple to use and is completely verified.

PWP – PWP claims to be Europe’s number one racket specialist. The site itself has a great design and is very simple to use. Unlike the previous two stores PWP doesn’t just do tennis, they also do table tennis, racketball and more. PWP is based in the UK and they also have five actual stores based in the UK.

Tennis Plaza – Tennis Plaza is another USA based store that is completely verified and as well as accepting credit cards they also accept payments via paypal. Tennis Plaza is the official racket retailer of the Sony Ericsson WTA tour, as well as having a partnership with USTA Florida. In terms of the site itself they have a great range and offer some amazing discounts.