The Classic Dilemma

Okay, summer is here - I think we established that factoid in the last post.  And yesterday I am playing with my friend who can't seem to put most of his shots in.  Today he's off by a lot,  maybe 6 feet on most of his shots.  We sit and talk.  I look at his strings.  They are all over the place and of course since I strung it myself in April, I can only blame myself.  But he says both his racquets are strung way too loose and he has no control.  He does use an oversized racquet.  I think it's 27.75 inches and 110+ head size so with a 28mm beam, power is no problem.  He wanted it strung at the low end because to string higher he has arm pain.  The classic dilemma.  We talked for a bit and I mentioned that the better strings, the multifilaments, while costing a lot more, have more power AND better control.  They seem to "pocket" the ball.

There is another solution however.  Switch to a more flexible racquet.  His beam of 28+mm tells me that he has stiffness to spare.  And since the racquet is really big too, that may translate into a lighter than good for your arm sub 11 ounces.

This is a site I have referred many people to.  http://racquetresearch.com/ . It starts off a bit technical but then explains in fairly basic layman terms why a heavy racquet is good and so is a flexible one compared to stiff.  It's worth a read.  If you have a sore arm problem, it may thank you.