Pro String Set-Ups
If it's good enough for Roger Federer it must be good enough for me, right? Not necessarily. Not only do the best players in the world have their strings set up to suit their racquet and individual style of play, they will nearly always be playing with a fresh restring every time they hit the court. Back in reality land, this will rarely be the case, us mere mortals need to take some lessons from the pro's on finding the right set up for our racquets but also take into account factors such as cost, durability and tension loss.
Here are the strings the world’s top tennis players are using in their tennis racquets together with the rackets they’re using and the tensions they most commonly string at. These tensions are known as ‘Reference Tensions’, and are the tensions the pros will hit with when they arrive at a tournament. Having seen how the racket feels at the Reference Tension they’ll then, if necessary, take the tension up or down a couple of pounds at a time until the get the feel they’re looking for. Things such as court surface, temperature, altitude, as well as their next opponent, will all contribute to any change required, but everything will start from the Reference Tension.
Where two tensions are shown the first is the tension of the main strings, and the second is the tension of the cross strings.
Where hybrid stringing is shown, the first named string is used for the main strings, and the second named is used for the cross strings. For example, Roger Federer uses Wilson Natural Gut for his main strings, and Luxilon ALU Power Rough for his cross strings, whereas Andy Murray uses Luxilon ALU Power for his main strings, and Babolat VS Touch for his cross strings.