One common question I get that is not always so easy to answer is: How often should I restring my tennis racquet?
Some players hit hard and with lots of top spin. That means they put a lot of strain on the string and might need to restring every time they play or at least every week. So more than just finding out how often to restring your tennis racket, it might be smart to get your own stringing machine and learn how to string.
If you don’t hit hard or with a lot of spin, you can use a multifilament or gut string and it will likely break at some point. This gives you a natural time of restringing.
Many players use a polyester for months on end. This is not ideal. Polyesters won’t break easily, but they lose their elasticity and go “dead”. Meaning that they don’t give you the properties of control and spin that they should. This dead response can also result in a stiffer string bed, which can lead to arm issues.
How Often to Restring Tennis Racket?
Learning how to string is a great thing!
I generally recommend every tennis player to learn how to string to cut costs and be able to experiment. But if that’s not feasible, I’d recommend re-stringing polyesters every 2 months if you play 2 times a week for 2 hours. This means 4 hours a week, 16 hours a month, 32 hours for 2 months. If you can do it every month – even better.
It’s generally a good idea to buy a reel of strings so you save money on re-stringing. If you have three of the same racquet you can make sure you always have a fresh string bed for your tennis session. Believe me, it’s worth it.
If you use multifilament or some form of gut string, you can play with it until it breaks or you feel like it’s mushy and you’ve lost control. The gut string will last the longest, but cost the most. For multifilaments or guts, I’d recommend going for a thicker gauge of at least 1.30.
