What Really Happens When You Restring Your Tennis Racket?

Paul Pisani

Sep 12

3 min read

Tennis players love their rackets.

They talk about head size, weight, balance, swing weight and whether the latest model will somehow produce another five miles per hour on the serve. But there is an irony in all of this: The racket itself never touches the tennis ball.

The strings do.

And yet strings are often one of the most neglected pieces of equipment in recreational tennis.

I've coached tennis for more than 30 years, and I've seen players spend hundreds of dollars on a new racket while continuing to play with strings that have been sitting in the frame for months—or sometimes years.

They'll tell me the racket doesn't feel right anymore. Their shots are flying. They aren't getting the same spin. The ball feels dead coming off the strings.

Sometimes the racket isn't the problem at all.

It's time for a restring.

Strings Don't Have to Break to Be Finished

One of the biggest misconceptions in recreational tennis is that strings only need replacing when they break.

They don't.

From the moment a racket comes off the stringing machine, the string bed begins changing. Strings gradually lose tension and elasticity. How quickly that matters depends on the type of string, how often you play, how hard you hit and the conditions in which you play.

A competitive player hitting heavy topspin several days a week has completely different requirements from someone playing doubles twice a month.

That's why I don't particularly like one-size-fits-all rules for restringing.

Your strings should match your tennis.

Tension Changes the Personality of a Racket

Put the same string into two identical rackets at different tensions and those rackets can feel surprisingly different.

Generally, a lower tension can provide a livelier response and greater depth, while a higher tension can produce a firmer, more controlled feel. But there is no magic number that works for everybody.

That's where experimentation becomes valuable.

If you're consistently leaving balls short, struggling for depth and feeling like you're working too hard to generate pace, your setup may deserve a look.

If you're constantly launching the ball long despite sound technique, that's worth examining too.

The better question is:

"What am I trying to get from my racket?"

Polyester Isn't Automatically Better

Modern polyester strings have transformed high-level tennis. They allow aggressive players to swing extremely fast and generate tremendous spin.

That doesn't mean every recreational player needs polyester.

A developing player who doesn't generate tremendous racket-head speed may get very little benefit from a stiff polyester setup. Multifilament or synthetic-gut strings can sometimes provide a more comfortable and useful response.

Equipment should serve the player—not the other way around.

I look at strings the same way I look at technique. What works for an advanced tournament player isn't automatically appropriate for a beginner.

Pay Attention to What the Ball Is Telling You

This is probably the most important lesson.

Players become accustomed to their equipment gradually. A string bed doesn't usually feel dramatically different from Tuesday to Wednesday. The change happens slowly, and the player adapts along with it.

Then you pick up a freshly strung racket.

Suddenly the response feels cleaner.

The ball comes off the strings differently. You may feel more connected to your shots.

That's why I encourage players to pay attention not only to whether their strings are broken, but to how the racket feels and how the ball behaves.

Your equipment is giving you information.

Listen to it.