A stringing method to elongate the sweet spot, and reduce tension loss.

[GeoffWilliams]

This was done with an h22, total strung mass: 360g: bal. pt.: 32.5cm, with one over grip and no impact absorber.

Alu mains at 42lbs/barb wire crosses at 55lbs. The higher cross tension (Courier did this with a Sampras stick, at 60/70bls), collapses the stick somewhat, but really stretches out the sweet spot, to favor those who hit their shots farther out towards the hoop, between 4-7 crosses down from the top. Tension loss also is set back a day or two for hard hitters. Although, no string can hold up to hard hitting, forever! Not even vs team gut! (Best at tension loss for hard hitters, ie, most used by the pros....) Fed (under the guise of Wilson premium, made in the vs factory), vs/alu rough, Murray alu mains/vs team, Roddick, pht mains/vs team crosses, Djokovic, vs team mains/alu crosses, Cilic, Hewitt, Haas, etc. The uber hitters (Soderling, Delpotro, Berdych, Gulbis) all use alu full, although Tsonga uses alu rough full, not rpm blast. Some say it will damage your stick, but I have never seen it so.

Also allows restringing of the crosses, even after the mains loosen up. The biggest rap against luxilon, is that is loses tension too fast for big hitters. (Do this only if you cut them out before they break, and lock down stick before cut.) Should be kept to gut mains, which hold tens. the best.

[GeoffWilliams]

The best string job.
Although it's a very personal thing, what each of us like, a perfect string job resonates with all those who hit with it.

Vs team is the best at holding tension, feel, power, and control. Cost is too much for most of us, however! All the great masters of serve/volley used gut: Edberg, sampras, becker, Mac, Cash, etc....


The great baseliners like to use lux alu power, or Nadal's case: duralast/rpm blast now apparently. Most pros are at 350-362g in total mass. Most use silicone, the soft clear type, in the handles to absorb impacts and improve feel/control. Most string at about 60lbs, with a control oriented stick. Most don't play with string jobs long enough for the strings to loosen, yet alone break.

Tension is a very personal thing. Stiffer frames strung too low will go long on you, too high, will give you arm/shoulder pain. Example: Babs strung at 60lbs and up with stiff strings, like poly.

Spin is the best way to jam someone, with a ball that changes speed radically after the bounce, but spin set ups, can drive the ball into the net, such as barb wire full, or spin hybrids...

Syn gut is a softer type string, low cost, easy on the arm, doesn't last long tens. or durability wise...

Kevlar is durable, good spin, and hits similarly even when it loses tens, and when hybrid with alu power, can be the answer for many big spin/hitters/breakers.... Not too good for the arm for many...


Ribbon strings, such as iso speed control, head rip control, etc, have lower power, more ball friction, and are good for those who hate going long, and don't mind low power...


Even when you have the best string for your game, if strung badly, will be bad for your game. If your stick is not balanced, will not feel right. If the stick is too soft/hard for your style, will not feel right....If the tension is not in the best range for your style, will not feel right....The Davydenko method, of dropping the crosses 3-6 from the top down, will help enlarge the sweet spot for those who hit in that range, 3-6 down, but will not last long tens. main. wise...

When the mains are pinged out, sonically, from each side/to side, for the same tone, you will notice, with vs gut, the tone is matched perfectly without adjustment at all, and cheaper strings will not match tone.. When knot tens. loss is factor, the last strings will not ping out as they should: the highest pitch, but be lower in pitch than the next string over, even if that string is longer. When double pulls are made, the tens. will not be as great as if single pulls are made, but be a faster way to string due to less time pulling and setting up clamps.... The longest mains are always going to ping out lower in pitch, than any other string...That's why the ball feels more pocketed when we hit the center of the sweet spot: those strings are more powerful than any other, and will elongate more when struck cleanly...

If tens. main. is your worst issue, for cost, raising the tens. of the crosses much higher than the mains will reduce tens. loss, and elongate the sweet spot, but if done too high, will stress the frame and elongate the frames' shape a little..

Placing lead at 3 and 9, will add mass to the strings at that location, and compress the sweet spot in that location.. Adding mass at 12 like Nadal does, elongates the sweet spot and radically changes the balance and makes the stick too head heavy, affecting all shots and serves, and should be bal. with lead in the butt, as he does..

As a player, you either like stiff, or soft, poly or gut, lead or no lead, high or low ra ratings, crisp or soft, power or control, durability or feel, cost or don't care about cost, just your game... If you like a compressed sweet spot: lead at 3 and 9, and lower tens. on the crosses. If you like the strings sweet spot elongated, lead at 12 and butt cap, higher tens. on the crosses than the mains...

If you have arm trouble, lower tens., softer string, softer stick.

If you have a bullet proof arm, poly, alu power, kevlar, etc, at 60lbs or higher, in a stiff babolat frame..

For those who absolutely hate losing tens. and going long: The string job that will hold its tens. the best is a gut job, with higher tens. in the crosses, at a tens. high enough to keep the ball in the court, and the stick with best control will be one with a lower ra rating. Most all sticks will lose two-3 pts in ra after stringing...

Many of the top pros use a lower ra rating, combined with a hard string like alu power, or vs team gut/hybrid with a hard poly like alu or pht or lux....A common set up is full alu at 360g, and 60lbs of tens.! Some use a higher ra, like Nadal: non cortex apd (not the advertised cortex model), with a soft string like rpm blast (compared to alu its feel is softer.) To get the best of both worlds, you have to mix/match hard with soft, stick with string, string with stick....

Best of both worlds:

Controlled power:Vs team 17g/blackcode 18g for serve/volley/controlled power.

Spin: Ashaway kevlar 16g/alu power or alu power/barb wire 16g. (Barb wire and alu power only come in 1.25mm...)