verheadSmash

Tennis & Apparel

When is it time to restring your racquet?

by Master Racquet Technician, Doug Maude

A question we are often asked at Overhead Smash is how do you know when it is time to restring your racquet, and how do you know you are ready for new strings?

Are you missing those close shots? Are balls flying out that used to go in? It could be time to restring your racquet. Good fresh strings are an often overlooked, but highly important component to tennis success. The strings are the only piece of equipment that actually touches the ball during play (unless of course you are one of those players who are adept at those tricky frame shots).

How do we know when it is time to restring our racquet? Strings lose tension over time, even without play, and even more important they lose their elasticity, or "springiness." This loss of elasticity leads to a loss of control, balls start to just miss and fly out. We know it is a good time to restring when you notice that you are missing the shots that you normally make. Also when you tap your racquet strings, fresh strings produce a nice "ping," while dead strings produce a dull "thud."

A good rule of thumb if you haven't noticed a change in play is to restring as many times per year as you play per week. So if you play twice a week, restring twice a year and so on. Or you can restring before each league begins to enhance your racquet's performance before competitive play, such as before Spring Mixed, Adult, Senior, Twilight and Fall Mixed.

Fresh strings are extremely important to your tennis success.