4 ms·

Poly definitely changed the game in many ways, but not as much when it comes to fast serves. Even strung in the 40lb range, poly strings generate much less powe

by Encosia 11y ago

Poly definitely changed the game in many ways, but not as much when it comes to fast serves. Even strung in the 40lb range, poly strings generate much less power than gut. You'll find that most of the big servers still use gut in the crosses (and they'd probably use all gut if they could just hit serves and no groundstrokes).

geoka9 11y ago
The idea is that because of the poly in the mains you can generally string your racket at a lower tension (including the gut in the crosses), which increases power (without the gripping poly you couldn't use low tensions because the ball would fly on you on anything but the first serve).
- Encosia 11y ago
  The advantage of poly isn't that it grips, but that it's elastic enough to deform and snap back quickly. The old idea of string having 'bite' has been mostly disproven with the advent of high speed video to show what's really happening in the fraction of a second during impact. Those geometric extrusion strings are more marketing than anything else (and shred your stringer's fingers). I play with full poly at 48#, but have experimented with gut hybrids and full gut at times. Even comparing 48# poly to 60# gut, the gut is like a rocket launcher compared to the poly. The amount of power it generates, at any tension, is unreal. You can hit huge flat serves with it, but the lack of spin isn't worth the extra pace.
  - geoka9 11y ago
    > The advantage of poly isn't that it grips, but that it's elastic enough to deform and snap back quickly. Sure, I should've put "gripping" in quotes - what I meant is the top spin potential, not the actual physics behind it. > Even comparing 48# poly to 60# gut, the gut is like a rocket launcher compared to the poly. How about 60# full gut vs 50# hybrid (gut in the crosses)? Would the former still be a lot more powerful than the latter?
    - Encosia 11y ago
      > How about 60# full gut vs 50# hybrid (gut in the crosses)? Would the former still be a lot more powerful than the latter? The hybrid setups I tested were usually in the ballpark of 46-48# poly mains with 50-52# gut crosses. My experience was that the hybrid setups were (obviously) more powerful than full poly, but still very noticeably less powerful than full gut at any tension. Without poly's spin/control, the full gut setups were a big disadvantage from the baseline, but I could hit some amazing (for me) first serves. I didn't experiment too much though because I was breaking every gut hybrid I tried in a few hours, which got expensive quick.

by Encosia 11y ago

geoka9 11y ago

The idea is that because of the poly in the mains you can generally string your racket at a lower tension (including the gut in the crosses), which increases power (without the gripping poly you couldn't use low tensions because the ball would fly on you on anything but the first serve).

Encosia 11y ago
The advantage of poly isn't that it grips, but that it's elastic enough to deform and snap back quickly. The old idea of string having 'bite' has been mostly disproven with the advent of high speed video to show what's really happening in the fraction of a second during impact. Those geometric extrusion strings are more marketing than anything else (and shred your stringer's fingers). I play with full poly at 48#, but have experimented with gut hybrids and full gut at times. Even comparing 48# poly to 60# gut, the gut is like a rocket launcher compared to the poly. The amount of power it generates, at any tension, is unreal. You can hit huge flat serves with it, but the lack of spin isn't worth the extra pace.
- geoka9 11y ago
  > The advantage of poly isn't that it grips, but that it's elastic enough to deform and snap back quickly. Sure, I should've put "gripping" in quotes - what I meant is the top spin potential, not the actual physics behind it. > Even comparing 48# poly to 60# gut, the gut is like a rocket launcher compared to the poly. How about 60# full gut vs 50# hybrid (gut in the crosses)? Would the former still be a lot more powerful than the latter?
  - Encosia 11y ago
    > How about 60# full gut vs 50# hybrid (gut in the crosses)? Would the former still be a lot more powerful than the latter? The hybrid setups I tested were usually in the ballpark of 46-48# poly mains with 50-52# gut crosses. My experience was that the hybrid setups were (obviously) more powerful than full poly, but still very noticeably less powerful than full gut at any tension. Without poly's spin/control, the full gut setups were a big disadvantage from the baseline, but I could hit some amazing (for me) first serves. I didn't experiment too much though because I was breaking every gut hybrid I tried in a few hours, which got expensive quick.