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.