Best Tennis Strings
The importance of tennis strings
The importance of a tennis string is often (mistakenly) underestimated. Tennis players often spend a lot of time and money looking for the perfect tennis racket, equipped with the latest technology, and then string it with a random (and often unsuitable) tennis string.
It is often said that you play better with good a tennis string on a bad tennis racket, than with a bad tennis string on a good tennis racket! The importance of a tennis string is best demonstrated by the fact that the string is the only material that comes in direct contact with the tennis ball! The actual playing characteristics of a tennis racket is primarily defined by the tennis string and the stringing tension!
Different types of tennis strings
You can classify tennis strings into 5 main categories:
1. Natural gut tennis strings
2. Nylon tennis strings
3. Polyester tennis strings
4. Kevlar tennis strings
5. Hybrid tennis strings
Natural gut strings provide the best ball feeling but have a short lifespan. Kevlar strings are the exact opposite: they have a long lifespan but less feeling of the ball. Nylon, polyester and hybrid strings are situated between natural gut strings and Kevlar regarding the feeling of the ball and lifespan properties. Hybrid strings have become one of the most popular selections, as they tend to mix the best qualities of different strings, to create a personal combination of strings that can help to optimise your game.
The ideal tennis string
The ideal tennis string can differ from player to player, and it depends on different criteria. The most desired characteristics in a tennis string are usually:
Long lifespan
Highly playable (in terms of control, feeling, and power)
Low price
Unfortunately, it isn't possible to quite get all three of the above characteristics in one string. The higher the lifespan, often the less comfortable the string might be because of the thickness; the most comfortable strings often drive the price up a bit; and the cheaper the string, often the lifespan and comfort level of the string decrease.
To help you decide which string is best suited to your needs and your preferred characteristics, we have created the following table, which shows the above characteristics on a scale of 1 to 10 (low to high):
