The Demo Dilemma

In Praise of Balance and Swingweight

About every 15-18 months I like to demo some new tennis racquets. The four that I just returned to Tennis Warehouse (TW) were two from Prince and two from Yonex.

The thing that irks me a bit is that when I first started demoing racquets perhaps 7-8 years ago from TW, they were all strung with a quality multifilament (high end nylon) like Tecnifibre NRG2 and they were strung at mid-point + 2 lbs. Today you get them and you are lucky if you can even identify 2 of the 4 strings. Forget about tension, there is no way of knowing because a lot of tennis-techies will cut out the existing strings and restring them with their favorite string at a tension they generally like to play.

And as most of us already know, string composition, from gut to nylon to polyester, varies the feel greatly. Coupled with that, increasing or decreasing string tension can result in power and control for your style if strung correctly.

So about the only thing you can demo when trying out a new racquet is the FEEL while swinging, volleying and serving. For instance, I found I could hit groundstrokes fine with the Prince XO3 but the swingweight and balance prevented me from serving well, especially when it came to a kickserve. Furthermore, demoing a racquet when you are fresh at the start of a hitting session often feels different when you are tired after 90+ minutes. The swingweight is more obvious to you when you are tired than when you are fresh.

The size of the sweetspot and the power/control ratio can always be tweaked later when stringing for your preferences but if it it doesn't feel good-- balance and weightwise-- then no amounts of stringing and restringing are going to make it feel better. Of course there are those among us who use lead tape at various places to alter the playing characteristics, and I was one of those briefly 7 or so years ago, but that is a slippery slope-- always tweaking it, never satisfied.

To summarize, don't flip out and say that one racquet has too much or too little power when trying out a new stick. The stringing can greatly influence power level and control but you can correctly evaluate the balance and swingweight even before you hit a ball, just by going through the various strokes you will be playing in a match. That should be your primary guide in selecting a new racquet.

And since we're on the subject of STRINGING...

I have been stringing for maybe 5 to 6 years. I would guess I am coming up on 100 racquets already on two different machines. Of the approximate 100 racquets, I have strung my own maybe 60-70 times and the others for kids on the tennis team that I no longer coach.

Currently I string two types of nylon in my own racquet. My current hybrid consists of Tecnifibre NRG2 in the mains (the vertical strings) and Prince Synthetic Gut with Duraflex (or PSGD for those "in the know") in the crosses- horizontal strings. I also string the shorter cross strings 2 lbs softer since the shorter the string the less elastic it is.

Anyhow, I say all this because as I was demoing some new racquets from Tennis Warehouse I received 4 racquets and 2 of the four I could not identify what the strings were. It got me to thinking about these phantom strings and I decided that I would rather have unknown strings at the proper tension rather than my favorite strings strung too tight or too loose. In other words, the TENSION IS MORE IMPORTANT than the string but of course you can have the best of both worlds by having your favorite string AT the correct tension for your game, and the season (see post immediately before this one).

When I moved out here from MN in '96, I was a casual (and weak) 4.0 player. My Head racquet was probably 28mm thick (beam) meaning at over an inch it was stiff and powerful. The trouble was I could never control the darn thing. So I cut out perfectly good strings and had it restrung at the stringers suggestion 4 lbs tighter. It was just cheap synthetic gut but do you know what? All of a sudden the "suck" racquet was now a much easier, much more controllable tool. Of course I overdid it later when I had it strung 4 lbs tighter again, learning that there is a happy medium and finding a good balance between power and control.

So what's the lesson? Pay attention to your tension and even write it down. I do EVERYTIME I restring and keep that paper with my tennis gear so I can reflect on it each time I need to restring and make small adjustments or keep it just "as is". There is nothing worse than playing with a racquet that is strung too tight-- it has the sweetspot of a penny. Conversely, a racquet strung much too loose and it will be great for overheads (at the net) and not much else since you won't be able to place your power with any accuracy.