Summer is the time to tinker! Part 2: Strings

PART 2 – Stringing At Wrigley’s Tennis, we pride ourselves on outstanding stringing. Service is what separates one retail store from another – especially when everyone sells the same popular tennis gear. Stringing is crucially important to your game. Tension is control. The tighter your strings are, the more control you will have to keep shots in the court. This couldn’t be more evident than on the Pro Tour, where players like Roger Federer have 10-12 racquets strung before each match, and switch to a freshly strung frame after every 7 games. This level of racquet preparation is overkill for the recreational player, but fresh string and good string tension is beneficial at all levels. We recommend restringing as many times per year as you play per week and at least every 8 weeks if you use polyester monofilament strings. Not all string jobs are created equal. Experience, equipment and execution makes for great stringing. At Wrigley’s Tennis, when it comes to racquets we have seen it all and have the experience to properly string any racquet. Racquets are inspected for cracks and grommet issues and are strung at proper tensions following the manufacturer’s recommended patterns and specifications. Equipment matters. At Wrigley’s Tennis, we regularly replace our machines and currently use an electronic machine from Yonex Japan that is in our opinion the finest machine available worldwide. Used on the Pro Tour and the official machine of the Olympic Games and the Australian Open, your stringing will be accurate and consistent every time. We have also had the opportunity to work with and learn from the Yonex Stringing Team and bring these experiences back for you. Starting methods, weaving methods, knot-tying, and stringing techniques all contribute to accurate and consistent stringing. Beware of the hobbyist stringer. While there are many great stringers out there, we receive a lot of customer frames that are strung improperly by amateurs. From mis-weaves, wrong patterns, inconsistent tensions or very low tensions. In the worst case scenarios – the frame is broken or crushed during stringing. Also, string selection with a hobbyist stringer is usually limited to a couple choices and we see customer racquets belonging to recreational players with strings that are more suited for a high school or junior tournament player. Get your racquet tested, anytime, for free. – At Wrigley’s Tennis, we have a state-of-the-art racquet diagnostic center from Babolat that can test the string bed stiffness of your frame. Different from “reference tension” which is the tension that each string is pulled by the stringing machine, string bed stiffness measures the energy in the string across the entire string bed, taking into account the string type and string pattern. It is commonly recommended to restring when the number has fallen 20% or more. We store this number every time your racquet is strung and have data for the past 20+ years. We currently stock over 200 strings from all of your favorite brands and will continue to bring in the latest and greatest the industry has to offer. If you don’t see something that you are looking for, please ask! Have fun out there this summer!