What happens to tennis racquet strings over time?
Professional players restring every day. Recreational players restring anywhere from 1-2 times a year, every three or four times they play, to once a decade, or in some cases waiting until the strings break.
Now, admittedly, most of our customers at Midwest Sports aren't professional tennis players. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a page from the pros restring your racquet from time- to-time. Here's why:
The more and more you play with your string, tension goes down and string response (aka resilience-the string’s ability to stretch and snap back) diminishes.
As your tension decreases you actually may increase power but lose control and accuracy. This leads to the ball going longer and wider as your strings loosen. Your shots can become more unpredictable and you can’t figure out what technical flaw has emerged in your swing, leading to players messing with a technically sound swing when it's actually their string accounting for their mishits.
How does this impact the player?
As strings lose tension, you may feel that the racquet is “going dead,” “getting mushy” or “losing its punch.” It’s not that simple, since the ball may be going faster and farther. But what is happening is you have lost the crisp feel and resilience you have become accustomed to. Crisp can mean more vibration, but these vibrations translate to feel. The only sensations of striking a ball that your hand feels are shock and vibration. This is your feedback mechanism. When the feel is the same every time, your response is to groove the stroke; when it is different, you respond by continually adapting and adjusting your stroke.
When should you restring?
We've gone through why you should restring your racquet, but it still may be hard to know when to restring.
Your strings break - duh!
You can see noticeable wear and tear on your string - look for fraying and deep grooves or notching (especially in the main/vertical strings) developing on your racquet.
Your racquet feels "dead" - a lack of pop in the racquet can be a telltale sign of the need to replace strings.
You hear a funny sound on impact - almost like a "THUD"
The ball starts flying off your racquet despite a normal swing
You can’t remember the last time you restrung (if ever.)
The racquet was purchased pre-strung and has been used for 6 months.
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