The pros have long known the benefits of playing with hybrid strings. Now it’s your turn.
At the ATP’s season-ending championships in Shanghai last November, there was one thing that every player—in both singles and doubles—had in common. Sure, each wanted to go home holding the champion’s hardware, but from an equipment standpoint all the players strung their racquets with a hybrid. That’s according to Roman Prokes, of RPNY Tennis, and TENNIS Magazine’s gear advisor, whose company provided the stringing services at the event. “Every single one of them,” says Prokes, who regularly strings racquets for the top players. “It was pretty amazing.”
What’s a hybrid? It’s two different types of strings combined in one string bed. The most common type used at the pro level is a strong, resilient string in the mains (the strings that go up and down) and natural gut, or a soft synthetic, in the crosses. Using a durable, hard-to-break string in the mains makes sense since they’re typically the first ones to snap. But many durable strings, such as polyesters, are stiff and provide a harsh feel. So putting gut or a multifilament (the more fibers, the softer the string) in the crosses adds some forgiveness.
Players are essentially cherry-picking the best qualities from both types of strings. And what the pros do, the rest of us follow.
“There’s no doubt that using hybrids is increasingly noticeable at the consumer level,” says David Bone, executive director of the U.S. Racquet Stringers Association and a TENNIS advisor. This increase in consumer demand has prompted many string manufacturers to prepackage hybrids. Instead of having to buy full sets of two different strings and then cutting them in half, companies are putting half a set of both an endurance and performance string in one package, making things simpler for stringers and players. Due to their higher inherent stiffness, Bone recommends stringing polyesters a few pounds looser than the gut or multifilament to balance out the string bed.
Since cost is not an issue for top professionals, it’s not the durability of polyesters that appeals to them, but rather the way they play. “If the polyesters became illegal as of tomorrow, the drop in play would be shocking,” Prokes says. Polyester lets you “swing as hard as you want and still have control.” Luxilon strings in particular, which are not a polyester but do have properties similar to one, are hugely popular on the tours, and many players use them exclusively. But the stiffness of the strings can be limiting for those who prefer to play with more touch. Take the world’s best, Roger Federer. He uses natural gut in his mains, and Luxilon Alu Power Rough in his crosses. Realizing that he’s not a bad player to emulate, Wilson (which owns Luxilon) is putting out a new string, Champions Choice, that contains half-sets of Federer’s preferred strings. Since Federer switches racquets at every ball change during a match, there’s little risk of him breaking strings, so putting gut in the mains is not an issue. “It does hurt durability,” says Prokes, who’s noticing more of his customers following Federer’s lead. “But as far as feel it’s phenomenal.”
Bone calls this combination the “comfort hybrid” and thinks that the recreational player would be wise to adopt it, especially since today’s gut strings have gotten stronger thanks to protective coating. “Using highly durable strings doesn’t make that much sense because the average player doesn’t break a lot of strings,” Bone says. “I recommend putting gut in the mains, and any nylon string in the crosses.” This setup gives the user a playable yet durable string job that’s easy on the arm without incurring the cost of a full set of an expensive gut string.
!Hybrid PowerHYBRID POWER
An increasing number of recreational players are taking a cue from the pro game and experimenting with two different strings in their racquets. This is called a hybrid, and recognizing its growing popularity, string manufacturers are producing their own prepackaged versions. Here are several to consider.
Babolat Custom hybrids
Contains: Half set of VS natural gut Half set of Pro Hurricane polyester
Gamma Zo Sweet
Contains: TNT2 multifi lament, Zo Power polyester
Head Intellistring
Contains: Rip Power multifilament, Rip Feel multifilament
Klip Pro Doubles X-Plosive 17
Contains: Natural gut, K-Boom polyester
Pacific Poly Gut
Contains: Pacific ToughGut, PolyForce polyester
Prince Synthetic Gut Poly Blend
Contains: Synthetic Gut Durafl ex, Tournament Poly
Wilson Champions Choice
Contains: Wilson natural gut, Luxilon Alu Power Rough
Yonex Tough Brid 125
Contains: Multifilament, polyester