Professional players love the spin and control they get from polyester-based tennis strings. Stiff in nature, the polyester strings allow pros to control all the power they generate on big strokes by deadening the response of the racquet.

With professional players flocking to polyester strings over the past decade, their popularity at the amateur levels also soared. But what is best for the world's elite might not bring the best performance to those of us playing at clubs, parks and public courts. Amateurs rarely hit with the same amount of power as professional players. Even on the occasions we generate big power, we don't do it with the consistency of the pros. With that in mind a softer and more forgiving string offers many benefits for beginning through intermediate level players.

Multifilaments such as Tecnifibre's NRG2 provide more power and a much softer response than stiff polyester strings. The result is more comfort at impact and less fatigue over the course of a match.

“String choice is very important for a beginning or amateur player,” said Dave Dorsey, US National Sales Manager of Tecnifibre. “Many amateur players have issues with the mechanics of their swing, they struggle to generate necessary power and they are playing with lighter-weight, larger head size racquets. Polyurethane (PU) Multifilament string is going to provide many benefits to counteract these issues.”

To understand the differences in string types we turned to Tennis Warehouse University professor Crawford Lindsey. “There's one single property of a string that tells you everything you need to know about power and comfort compared to other strings. That property is stiffness. The stiffer the string, the less power and more shock, period,” Lindsey said.

Softer strings allow the stringbed of your racquet to deflect more easily and that opens up the sweetspot. Not only do you get more power on your best shots, but you also get better comfort and power on mishits.

Multifilaments are composed of hundreds or thousands of ultra pliable, elbow-friendly fibers and are bundled together with flexible resins like PU. These filaments are used to replicate the flex and response found in the muscular fibers of natural gut strings.

“PU multifilament string, first and foremost, provides a higher degree of shock absorption at ball impact,” Dorsey said. “When you combine less-than-stellar mechanics with a lighter-weight, larger head size racquet, vibration and shock become a real problem. Polyester monofilament string only compounds the problem of shock. Over a one-and-a-half hour match, a PU multifilament string will absorb more shock and generate 22 percent less fatigue than a polyester string.”

At Tennis Warehouse we do not recommend using a polyester based monofilament string for racquets with a strung weight of less than 11 ounces (311 grams). Lighter racquets can greatly benefit from softer strings such as multifilaments since the racquet is not heavy enough to absorb as much shock.

“A softer string takes in and gives back more energy,” Lindsey said. “A softer string is more comfortable because it uses less force over a longer dwell time to rebound the ball. However, since a stiffer string has less power, a player may be able to swing harder, hitting the ball faster. But there's a big price to pay for that extra speed – more energy input and even larger impact shock.”

Multifilament strings also tend to be much better at holding tension. You should find a more consistent response over the course of the string's life with it in your racquet compared to polyester strings. With polyester strings we recommend restringing your racquet with a fresh set of string every three to four weeks to get the best playability.

More frequent restringing is even better with polyester monofilaments due to their increased tension loss. On the tour players are using fresh strings for every match with some players switching to fresh strings at every ball change. Obviously this is not cost effective for amateur players, but if you are using polyester strings restringing once a month will get you the best performance from the stringbed.

With a multifilament, players can generally restring in a year as many times as they play in a week. For instance, if you play four times a week, plan on restringing four times a year for the best performance

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<2016년말기준 각 선수의 라켓 및 스트링종류>

Nicolas Almagro Volkl Super G10 Mid 320                                                                     

Luxilon Big Banger Original

Kevin Anderson Srixon Revo 2.0 Tour                                                                                 

Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 49lbs

Tomas Berdych Head Graphene XT Instinct MP
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 55lbs

Belinda Bencic Yonex Ezone DR 100
Yonex Poly Tour HS 125

Simone Bolleli Babolat Aero Storm
Babolat RPM Team 61/58lbs

Eugenie Bouchard Babolat Pure Aero
Babolat RPM Blast 49lbs

Bob Bryan Prince Tour 95
Prince Natural Gut/Prince Beast XP 56/52lbs

Mike Bryan Prince Tour 95
Prince Natural Gut/Prince Beast XP 54/51lbs

Dominika Cibulkova Babolat Pure Drive
Luxilon Big Banger AluPower/Babolat VS Team 46/44lbs

Marin Cilic Head Graphene XT Instinct MP
Babolat VS Team/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 61lbs

Kim Clijsters Babolat Pure Drive Team
Babolat VS Touch 58lbs

Borna Coric Yonex VCore Tour F 97
Yonex Poly Tour Spin

Juan Martin del Potro Wilson [K] Six.One 95
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 62lbs

Novak Djokovic Head Graphene XT Speed Pro 18×20
Babolat VS Team Natural Gut/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough 59/56lbs

Alexandr Dolgololov Wilson Pro Staff 95S
Luxilon 4G/Wilson Natural Gut 62/59.5lbs

Sara Errani Babolat Pure Drive                                                                                               Babolat Pro Hurricane 45/44lbs

Roger Federer Wilson Pro Staff RF97 Autograph
Wilson Natural Gut/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough 48.5/45lbs

David Ferrer Babolat Pure Drive
Luxilon Big Banger Original 51lbs

Fabio Fognini Babolat Pure Drive
Babolat RPM Blast 59.5/55lbs

Richard Gasquet Head Graphene XT Extreme Pro
Luxilon Big Banger Original 58lbs

Ernests Gulbis Wilson Burn 100
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 66/64lbs

Simona Halep Wilson Burn 100
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 55/53lbs

Daniela Hantuchova Prince Textreme Tour 100
Babolat VS Touch 58lbs

Lleyton Hewitt Yonex RDiS 100
Babolat VS Team/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 56lbs

Martina Hingis Yonex Ezone DR100
Yonex Poly Tour Pro 125/Babolat VS Team 49/44lbs

John Isner Prince Textreme Warrior 100
Tecnifibre Pro RedCode 62lbs

Ana Ivanovic Yonex Ezone DR98
Wilson Natural Gut/Solinco Tour Bite 53/51lbs

Jelena Jankovic Prince LS Red 105
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power/Babolat VS Touch 57/55lbs

Angelique Kerber Yonex VCore Si 100
Babolat VS Team/Yonex Poly Tour Fire

Johanna Konta Babolat Pure Aero
Babolat VS Touch (Black)/Babolat RPM Blast

Petra Kvitova Wilson Pro Staff 97
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 57/53lbs

Nick Kyrgios Yonex Ezone DR 98 Blue
Yonex Poly Tour Pro 125 53lbs

Sabine Lisicki Yonex VCore Tour F
Yonex Poly Tour Spin/Prince Natural Gut 50lbs

Michael Llodra Wilson Juice Pro BLX
Wilson Natural Gut

Feliciano Lopez Wilson Ultra 100
Luxilon Alu Power/Babolat VS Team 51/46lbs

Paul-Henri Mathieu Wilson Blade 98
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 62lbs

Gaël Monfils Prince Wilson Blade 98
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 57/55lbs

Garbine Muguruza Babolat Pure Drive
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 60lbs

Andy Murray Head Graphene XT Radical Pro
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power/Babolat VS Touch 62lbs

Li Na Babolat Pure Drive GT
Babolat Pro Hurricane/Babolat Xcel 55lbs

Rafael Nadal Babolat Pure Aero Play
Babolat RPM Blast 55lbs

David Nalbandian Yonex VCore 98D
Luxilon Big Banger Original 64lbs

Kei Nishikori Wilson Burn 100
Luxilon 4G/Wilson Natural Gut 49/51lbs

Flavia Pennetta Wilson Blade 98 Pink BLX
Wilson Natural Gut 63lbs

Agnieska Radwanska Babolat Pure Drive Lite                                                              

Babolat RPM Blast/Babolat VS Team

Milos Raonic Wilson Blade 98 18/20
Luxilon 4G 44/46lbs

Tommy Robredo Dunlop 4D 300
Luxilon Big Banger Original 52lbs

Laura Robson Wilson Blade 98                                                                                         

Luxilon Big Banger TiMo/Wilson Natural Gut

Andreas Seppi Pro Kennex Kinetic 5G                                                                                      Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power

Maria Sharapova Head Graphene XT Instinct MP
Babolat VS Team/Babolat RPM Blast 62lbs

Robin Soderling Head YouTek IG Radical MP
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 56lbs

Radek Stepanek Head Graphene XT Speed Pro
Pacific Tournament Pro Natural Gut 55/53lbs

Samantha Stosur Babolat Pure Storm
Babolat RPM Blast 49lbs

Janko Tipsarevic Tecnifibre T-Fight 325 VO2 Max
Tecnifibre Razor Code 57/55lbs

Bernard Tomic Head Graphene XT Radical Pro
Babolat VS Team/Head Sonic Pro 53lbs

Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga Babolat Pure Aero
Babolat VS Team/Babolat RPM Blast 59.5lbs

Stanislas Wawrinka Yonex VCore Duel G                                                                                  Babolat RPM Blast

Heather Watson Babolat Pure Strike
Dunlop Black Widow

Serena Williams Wilson Blade 104
Wilson Natural Gut/Luxilon 4G 66lbs

Venus Williams Wilson Blade 104
Wilson Natural Gut/Luxilon 4G 66lbs

Caroline Wozniacki Babolat Pure Aero
Babolat RPM Dual/Babolat VS Touch Natural Gut 54lbs