Precision meets pressure inside the Australian Open stringing room

Whether its by perfecting tensions, handling last-minute requests, or dealing with quirky player preferences, stringers at a major tournament play a vital and unsung role.

At the Australian Open in 2025, for the 10th consecutive year, Yonex is responsible to staff and run the stringing room. Just like the tournament, the team has an international flavor, comprised of 22 stringers from 13 different countries. On busy days early in the tournament, they will churn out more than 500 racquets.

While some players may have their own off-site stringing service, but the large majority of entrants use the tournament's official stringers. Typically, each player is assigned a particular stringer and stringing machine as long as they’re in the draw. That way the player knows there is no variance in the process.

Almost every inch of real estate in the windowless stringing room is accounted for by stringing machines, string, frames, and the stringers themselves. It’s a little cramped, mostly masculine, and, especially during the first few days of the tournament, incredibly hectic.

Here are a few takeaways:

Day 2 was the busiest day of the tournament with 616 racquets strung. That’s essentially one racquet strung every other minute. Some small pro shops don’t reach that volume in a year.

9 is the high number of racquets a player has taken to the court to start a match.

The Wilson Blade is the most used frame. Second place goes to the Yonex EZONE.

Luxilon ALU Power is the top choice in strings, either in full bed or blended with natural gut. Yonex PolyTour Pro is next in popularity.

Adrian Mannarino uses the lowest tension at around 22 lbs, or 10 kilos. Tensions are generally dropping across the board, but the Frenchman is in a class by himself. His string bed rivals a lacrosse stick.

On the other end of the spectrum sits Ulrikke Eikeri. The Norwegian doubles specialist has her racquets strung at 85 lbs, nearly 40 kilos. Keep in mind that she strings that high with Luxilon 4G string—a stiff poly—which must make contact outside the sweet spot (unimaginably) dead.

Eikeri has become something of a legend in pro stringing rooms. Instead of a specific number, she has been known to ask for the machine’s maximum possible tension. A stringer told me that he passes on her at tournaments because he’s afraid her request will break his machine. Another said that when he strings for her, he uses safety goggles.

At a tournament a few years ago, Eikeri was returning serve and made contact with the ball towards the tip of her frame. A string snapped and actually caught the ball in the string bed. Check out the video evidence below:

But the most demanding stringing request arguably belongs to Matthew Ebden.

The three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and former world No. 1 requests that the stringer actually deform his racquet. He wants the fastening clamps at 6 and 12 o’clock of the racquet head to be tightened to the point that the face stretches slightly: only a few millimeters, but enough to make the profile more oval. When the strings are installed, they keep the new shape in place. Not enough stretch, or too much, and Ebden will require a new string job.

No matter the request, these stringers are up to the task.