The string, not the racquet

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Sometimes it’s the string, not the racquet that you need to change. My buddy Robin Mick Bucher gave me a good example recently.

I’ve already talked a lot about how small tweaks can have a big impact in this video about not giving up on your racquet. I got a good example of that a few days ago from Robin, who struggled with his elbow. We talked about his situation during a 2-hour session where we played on three different surfaces. Now he reached out me to tell me he got his first ITF point in a tournament in Egypt, but most importantly that since he switched string, he hasn’t had any tennis elbow issues.

Robin used to use MSV Co-Focus Hex Ultra 1.30 in his HEAD Speed MP pro stock (specs in the video). MSV creates some very good strings for the price, but the Ultra version is the stiffest one, so in a stiffer racquet or to a sensitive arm, it’s not the best choice.

The string, not the racquet

It’s important to point out that Robin did try to lower his tension before he tried a new string, but it didn’t quite work for him. But as soon as he started to use HEAD Hawk, the issues were resolved. It’s not that HEAD Hawk is a soft poly. I would rather put it as “medium” in firmness, but often you don’t need to do a drastic change to get different results.

And your choice of racquet and strings is personal. My friend Karl uses the MSV Co-Focus Hex Ultra in his Donnay Pentacore 100 and he has no issues with this string at all. But the Donnay is a softer racquet, so that might play a role. Also, we’re all different and some players are more susceptible to injuries, while others are not.

Have you ever changed a string or tweaked your racquet in a way that drastically changed your results? Or at least alleviated some arm pain for example? Let me know in the comments below!