Cold courts, same tension, shorter balls

October nights make the ball heavier and the stringbed firmer. If your forehand lands two feet shorter than it did in August, check your strings before you blame your swing.

Tennis Warehouse’s fall checklist suggests dropping tension “maybe three or four pounds” for cold courts to get ball speed and launch back. Master Racquet Technician Drew Sunderlin, speaking to Tennis.com, suggests about two pounds lower in winter, and says it’s easier on the arm too. Tennis Warehouse University’s temperature tests agree that strings play firmer cold and softer hot. They also found that heating a string after it’s been strung (think hot car trunk) caused 30 to 76 percent more tension loss than room temperature, depending on the string. So don’t store frames in the car, in any season.

Poly versus multi: TW’s starting point is about 2 lbs below the middle of the frame’s printed range for poly, and the middle for multifilament or gut. If you’re dropping from five sessions a week to one this winter, USRSA stringer Richard Lucas suggests a hybrid or a softer string over full poly. That’s where a multi like X-One Biphase or a gut cross earns its keep.

When to restring: the USRSA says to replace strings once they’ve lost 25 to 30 percent of their original tension, broken or not, and at least twice a year. Poly hides this better than anything because it rarely breaks. Restring before the first indoor league night, not after the third loss.

Sources: TW Fall & Winter Gear Checklist · TWU, Effect of Temperature on String Tension · TW, How to Choose String Tension · Tennis.com, Combat Cold · USRSA, Choosing a Racquet Stringer