Des O’Reilly is a professional UKRSA stringer. He has many years experience stringing and looking after rackets.
Contact Des 07941572115 with any stringing questions.
To get your racket restrung
- Drop your racket into the bar at the club.
- Normal turnaround is 24 hours.
- Other services inc over/under grip replacement, racket deep clean, grommet replacement and more.
Tennis:
- Gamma Synthetic Gut £25.
- Wilson Sensation Synthetic Gut £28.
- Yonex Poly Tour Pro £28.
Squash/Racketball:
- Prince Lightning xx 17 £28.
* We can use your own string if you like with a £20 charge.
* We can order any string from out supplier and have your racket done in 48 hours
Strings degrade with or without use and can cause you discomfort and injury if they’re not fit for purpose. To give you some guidance, our professional stringer, Des O’Reilly, has put together some handy tips and information that you’ll find useful.
Are you a breaker or saver?
There are two types of player, string savers or breakers.
String Savers….. Most Club Players and Juniors do not break their strings. They can play with the same strings for years. However, degraded strings are the biggest cause of wrist, elbow and shoulder injuries in tennis. Many of these injuries can be avoided or cured by restringing your racket with a soft string. On top of that over a couple of months the tension drops, string snap back reduces to nothing causing players to adapt their strokes.
String Breakers…. Need a more durable string which will reduce how often they break.
When do I replace them?
Restringing every 6 months will result in a springy string bed. This increases playability and will reduce shock and vibration transferred to your arm which reduces injury. More often is better.
Which strings suit my game?
An ideal string is playable, comfortable and springy, and durable.
Luckily, string savers don’t need durable strings and can enjoy the playable version; a soft string that snaps back quickly upon ball impact gives the most playability ie Head FXP
Juniors and Club Players should never use polyseter strings.
String breakers need more durable strings to reduce breakages. Unfortunately there is a trade off, the more durable a string, the less playable it becomes. One option is to get a thicker gauge of your favourite synthetic string another option is hybrid strings.
Generally this means putting a polyester or Kevlar string in the mains and a softer string in the crosses. This gives string durability that normally breaks with comfortable strings running the other way. A racket strung totally in polyester can feel very hard and transmits a lot of vibration through your racket.
Keep in mind how long it took to choose your perfect racket. Try different strings to find what works for you. Roger Federer puts soft string in his mains and polyester in his crosses, that’s the reverse of general opinion but it seems to work for him!
What tension should I use?
In its most basic form, lower tension allows more power whereas higher tension gives greater control. Most rackets have a tension range written on them but if you’re not sure, a good bet is the middle point.
If in doubt . . .
Every 6 months get your racket restrung with a soft string at a medium tension.
If your racket requires re-stringing contact Des, our Tennis Head Coach and he’ll arrange it. 24 hours is all it takes!
