First time I'm seeing it below 10 kg

I wanted to tag Matthieu to ask his thoughts, but I see he is banned

It has been below 10kg before.

What is Adrian Mannarino Doing? | Racquet Magazine

racquetmag.com

Mannarino reportedly had his sticks strung at a hilarious 19 lbs for the Delray Open earlier this year.

19 lbs = 8.6 kg

 

It has been below 10kg before.

What is Adrian Mannarino Doing? | Racquet Magazine

racquetmag.com

19 lbs = 8.6 kg

Bombshell: Mannarino has UPPED his string tension

In practice it's probably the same since you usually string your rackets higher when you play indoors

Crazy that the closest to him at this tournament is Tiafoe at 19 kg

 

Baffled by the tighter crosses compared to mains combo by some. E.g. Shelton. AFAIK the traditional way/thinking has been to string the crosses at a slightly lower tension than the mains. To balance out the tension on the shorter crosses compared to longer mains and to allow for more movement and snapback. I have seen this other way suggested somewhere before, but I don't grasp what for / what the thinking behind it is.

Ben Shelton's String Setup

The Ben Shelton string setup keeps changing and here are all the details you need to know.

tennisnerd.net

Shelton’s string tension

Shelton’s tensions are fairly high, which makes sense. The last tension sheet I saw had 57 lbs mains and 54 lbs crosses. The idea of having a lower tension in the crosses is to allow the strings to move more and create a better snapback effect. Snapback is when you allow the strings to move back into place, and the more friction-free they can do that, the better the spin potential. At least, that’s the thinking behind it. Tennis gear is not a perfect science (well, what is a perfect science, really) and there are a lot of theories and opinions floating around.

^---- Going by this (from last year) he has actually turned his setup completely around, going with tighter crosses now.

edit. This is with an all poly hybrid. Of course the chosen strings also affect it. Even in an all poly hybrid, but even more so in a gut/poly hybrid, where AFAIK due to its characteristics (softer by nature/default) you'd string the gut tighter than a poly. See any gut/poly (whichever way) hybrid on that list, and you'll either see the gut strung tighter or both the same. Never the gut looser.

 

Baffled by the tighter crosses compared to mains combo by some. E.g. Shelton. AFAIK the traditional way has been to string the crosses at a slightly lower tension than the mains. To balance out the tension on the shorter crosses compared to longer mains and to allow for more movement and snapback. I have seen this other way suggested somewhere before, but I don't grasp what for / what the thinking behind it is.

Ben Shelton's String Setup

The Ben Shelton string setup keeps changing and here are all the details you need to know.

tennisnerd.net

^---- Going by this (from last year) he has actually turned his setup completely around, going with tighter crosses now.

edit. This is with an all poly hybrid. Of course the chosen strings also affect it. Even in an all poly hybrid, but even more so in a gut/poly hybrid, where AFAIK due to its characteristics (softer by nature/default) you'd string the gut tighter than a poly. See any gut/poly (whichever way) hybrid on that list, and you'll either see the gut strung tighter or both the same. Never the gut looser.

It's a whole science, I've never gotten that deep into it myself since you don't want to turn into a mad scientist constantly experimenting with different setups for a 0.1% improvement which isn't worth it as an amateur. I just know the string and tension that suit me and that's it

Still even as an amateur you shouldn't go cheap on strings since those strings that have a cracking sound and move after every shot really are the worst and decrease your accuracy

Like these:

 

Thank god it was way too high before

 

Shelton is pretty high , considering he uses polyster on both

 

I recall Djokovic may be even higher. Have to check...

edit. Ah, but he uses a natural gut / poly combo. Tension was high yes (59 lbs x 56 lbs) but entirely different since not full poly.

 

good news is if his knees doesn't give out he can play well into his 40 like this and be around top 50 which is remarkable
he deserve a cult following shame no one is giving him more looks
in a sense he is playing more pure tennis than anyone else

 

Two years ago I watched him practice at Rosmalen and I was the only one watching...

Incredible to watch him that up close of course, his flick of the wrist action is insane

 

I wonder if he could even play anymore with a normal 25kg stringed racket.

 

Impressive how he can serve the ball into the court with that string tension.

 

Such a beautiful outlier.

 

Don't overthink it

Find what works and stick with it

Uncle Toni made Rafa play with random racquets and strings in his young days to force him to be able to adapt

 

Uncle Toni made Rafa play with random racquets and strings in his young days to force him to be able to adapt

Is it why he then never changed anything with his racquet at all since 15 yo, other than paintjob? (At least so I ve read somewhere)

 

Luxillon Alu Power is a pretty similar string to Babolat RPM Blast, right? If so, this is really low, I used to string RPM Blast at 52. Once strung at 47 and found very loose.

Mannarino.

 

Lestienne at 20.8kg!
However i did hear fed saying he would drop his tension half a pound when the weather was different

 

That's a good post, especially the photo with the players' tensions of choice. Always wanted to see some info like that. Funny to see Albot and Atmane go for the exact same tension as I do as a 190 cm / 110 kg+ guy 😀 Maybe I'll have to switch things up a little bit but at the amateur level it doesn't really mean much. Plus once you have a racket stringed, the first time you play with it , tension drops right away and we don't restring for months sometimes...

 

All of this discussion over the tension, the strings......yet the guy keeps winning, to a point. He's playing the best of his career at this rather advanced age for tennis, so he's doing something right.

 

Some thoughts from Tennisnerd on the photo/table in OP

 

Tennisnerd is one of the most knowlegible people for racket/strings

 

I string at 70kg.

 

Lower string tension is better for keeping racquets in storage

 

Manarinno lost

Thats what happens when you havent played any matches 😄

 

maybe it’s a French thing?

I read somewhere Gasquet strings pretty low as well