Our guide to compare the best tennis strings, one of the most overlooked aspects of tennis, but a fundamental part of the game. Performance-wise tennis strings have a great impact, but only if you know how your strings affect your game. We put this guide together to help you compare the best tennis strings, evaluating which strings are best for power, control and spin and which gauge or tension provide competitive advantages. Here’s a quick summary comparing tennis strings with more detail below:
- Polyester Strings – Best for spin and control, if you generate your own power.
- Synthetic Gut – Best for beginners & recreational players
- Natural Gut – Most coveted string – if it’s your price range, go for it!
- Multifilament – Best for power, if you have control.
Polyester Strings
Mainly used by advanced to pro-level players, polyester tennis strings offer a lot of durability, spin, and control. The combination of these three factors gives the advantage to strong players, as they are able to generate a lot of their own power, without having to worry too much about overhitting, since Polyester strings offer a lot of spin & control. While these may be the string of choice for many pros’ on the ATP Tour, the only downside to this is since they offer so much control, they are slightly on the stiffer side, as they help reduce the ‘sponginess’ factor of the strings.
Takeaways: Best for advanced players who can generate their own power.
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Synthetic Gut
If you’re a beginner, intermediate, or perhaps just a recreational player, then Synthetic Tennis strings might be for you. Offering an all-around solid string, it’s one of the most common string in new rackets off the shelf. While not used by advanced players, it is a string that is cheap and gets the job done if you’re only looking to play once a month. Made from nylon, it is usually made from a single filament, providing a string that is light on the wallet.
Takeaways: Best for beginners & recreational players
Natural Gut
Yes, as the name suggests, Natural Tennis guts are actually made of guts. Dating back to the early 1800s, Natural Gut has a very historic past. Made previously from sheep gut, currently, it is being made from cow intestine. While it certainly has some very strong advantages such as it being extremely soft on the arm, maintaining its tension throughout its play, and some overall good feel. The drawback lies in the fact that it is extremely expensive, perhaps the most in the market. Since it is made from natural materials, there is no doubt that the price point reflects that too.
Takeaways: If you can afford it, then go for it!
Multifilament (Nylon)
While we talked about the benefits of natural gut above, the downsides of it were its price point. Well, what if we told you there is something similar to that, but cheaper? Multifilament strings resemble natural gut in the way that they are soft, maintain tension, all-round great playability. While the synthetic fibers offer some serious power, this means that they also lose control. But that’s pretty much the biggest downside there is. Overalls, more benefits than drawbacks here!
Takeaways: A great Tennis string for those that want power, but can control the ball.
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Compare the Best Tennis Strings
Choosing the best tennis strings is almost like choosing an engine for your car, it’s one of the most, if not most important aspects of the vehicle. Now there are a variety of engines in the market, but you’d want to choose the best one right? Right. Just like that, there are hundreds of strings available in the market, ranging from a variety of materials. There are cheap strings, and there are expensive strings. There are strings made from polyester, there are strings made from natural gut, and there are strings made from synthetic gut, but here begs the question, which one is the right one for you?
So there you have it, a brief summary of tennis strings, their uses, and why there are so important. These tennis strings each have their pros and cons, it depends on the type of player you are and your ultimate requirements. If you’re a tennis lover and just love being out on the court without too much focus on being super competitive and spending hours and hours on the court, then Synthetic gut is probably a better option for you. However, if you’re an advanced tennis player who takes his game seriously, from having the best tennis bags to the best tennis shoes, then perhaps Polyester strings are a much more suitable option. A lot of it dials down to personal preference, style, budget and so forth.
While we spoke a lot about how to choose tennis strings, there are many other factors that play a part in this, which we’ll get into in another blog post. But these could range from string gauge and why they are important, down to when is the appropriate time to get your strings restrung. These are other factors that matter in the ultimate deciding factors in choosing your string, getting the most out of it, and ultimately improving your tennis game.
Article by BreakpointLondon, a unique concept exploring and integrating fashion & tennis.
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