One for the tennis players here. After an extremely long layoff from playing, I've started hitting a few tennis balls again and am really enjoying it / learning how the game has evolved over the last few decades. I'll maybe endulge myself with a new racket at some point, but I'm doing okay currently with my old Prince graphite racket. It was a high-end racket in its day, and still plays pretty well, but the strings are old and I'll probably get a restring quite soon.
Now, older rackets seem to have had higher tensions back in the day, and mine is specified at between 60 and 75lbs. I hear that newer rackets tend to be 48-52lbs on average these days, and wondered if I should keep to the original tension or ask for something a little more contemporary. I know there's a lot of factors you can think about (frame stiffness, playing style, etc), but I'd be really interested in anyones experiences with old frames/new strings.
I would recommend between 40lbs - 50lbs and stick with some relatively cheap synthetic gut. I enjoy using my classic older frames and can’t really gel with the newer frames which don’t have the same feel as my ‘vintage’ Head Prestige sticks ;-) and also don’t forget to stretch!
You'll be fine with your old Prince racket until you decide you want to buy something more modern. Anything from the 1990s onwards (eg Prince Longbody Michael Chang) with a midplus head is pretty similar to a modern racket anyway despite what the manufacturers want you to believe. Strings have moved on though and a lower tension will help avoid tennis elbow if you end up with a stiffer string like a polyester. For playability, I'd definitely get the racket restrung straight away rather than play with something that has been in the frame for years. I usually get talked into whatever the stringer is recommending.
I played with Radicals in the 1990s. My first racket when I came back to the sport was a Pure Aero with a co-poly string. Could definitely feel a huge difference in the racket stiffness!
Last edited by Christian; 8th September 2022 at 00:08.
I would say to get the stringing down before you start to play again. I had my racket restrung recently, asked for much the same tension and feel as the original, and it took months for me to get used to the new setup. The gf was even beating me, not a pleasant experience.
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Thanks for all the input - much appreciated. I'm very fond of my Prince Graphtech-DB and will get it restrung (I did ask my coach about restringing it, but the frame is older than he is, and his default answer was "buy a new racket"). I did get it restrung a couple of decades ago with "Prince Endurance" strings - I got incredible spin on the ball for a few months, and then it gradually tailed off. Even 20 years on, it still seems to be holding up okay - I guess stringing it at 65lbs all those years ago means that it's probably only down to about 50lbs today! I'm curious to try an up-to-date string, but I'm currently trying to convert from my traditional lower/flatter shots to a more modern top spin based game. I'll probably stick with the current set up until I break a string (won't be long considering how hard my coach hits).
40lbs? That thing will be a catapult!Originally Posted by barty9
Do you suffer from tennis elbow at all? Do you have problems generating your own power? If no, I'd go with mid to high 50s. I play with a prostaff 6.1 classic at 60lbs with full poly.
When I got back into tennis , I really enjoyed the newer rackets with more open string patterns - these generated a lot more spin for me. For strings, I always preferred a multi filament - the last one I used was X-One Biphase which was excellent. For something like £10 more than the others, I felt like it gave so much better feel, accuracy as well as power, it was a no-brainer. Re tension, I always just went for the mid point of the recommended range for the racket which worked well for me.
How did you guess! Also aches and pains in both wrists but I put that down to playing for years on hard courts and some bad genetics :-)
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