String Review: Solinco

Written by: Staff on 10th August 2012

String Review: Solinco |

I’ve been using Solinco strings for years now and I wanted to share my professional experience with you in a little review of their string products. I was a collegiate player now turned traveling player/coach. I watch a lot of tennis, I play a lot of tennis, and I string A LOT of rackets. What makes Solinco so good? Playability, durability, and spin potential. I like to think I’ve attained a certain level of expertise in this sport and when I want to hit a certain shot, I expect it to go there. I’ve tried every single Solinco string and I haven’t had an issue in terms of controlling the ball – I miss a ton of balls (I’d like to see you do better!), but they all go in the general area (height and depth) where I want the ball to go.

Playability also has a sub-category called “pop”. When a string feels like it has a lot of pop on the ball, you feel like you can blast shots over and over again. Well, most of today’s tennis is played with people trying to blast the ball, but I like to block, chip, or bounce the ball off my strings to create different shots and increase my opponent’s movement with change of pace/direction. I can manage all of this with a number of the Solinco strings, not all, but some. (If you’re wondering, Solinco tailors certain strings to fit certain players, so naturally not all of their strings are going to work for me – The ones that do are TourBite, Revolution, and Outlast). Part of “pop” is string tension. If you string poly at 30 kilos or 70 pounds, I know a good doctor that does arm replacements. Contrastly, I watched Flavio Cipolla absolutely crush American hopeful Jack Sock 6-1, 6-3 at the 2012 Farmers Classic live and we strung Cipolla’s racket with poly at around 17 or 18kg. I’ve personally experimented with lowering my tension and raising it which givesg me a better feel for the ball when I need it. Just the fact that you can mix up the tensions with these strings is an advantage because some strings on the market can only be strung loose or tight! What about holding tension? Most polys lose tension within 24hrs of stringing. Thanks to the guys at Westwood Sporting Goods, I know how to string properly and can honestly say that I’ve gone days on the practice court without having to worry about changing sticks because of tension loss. I just grip and rip and don’t have to worry about cutting out my strings before they’re broken.

I’ve been using the 17 gauge strings because they offer a little less air resistance and I get a little more pop off the stringbed. This stuff lasts me days and sometimes weeks depending on weather/court conditions. Any poly that can do that is durable in my book, especially when I’ve tested them close to 4 hours everyday. If you’re careful while stringing it, meaning you aren’t burning the string against itself while pulling the cross strings, you get a full-fledged string that can withstand the test of time and thousands of my huge groundstrokes (Okay maybe I don’t hit that huge, but you get the idea). Lastly, TourBite offers the most spin-friendly string out on the market, rivaling and beating Babolat’s squishy RPM. I’m shying away from TourBite lately after using reels for months because I’ve been generating too much loft and spin with it, leaving me helpless sometimes against stronger flatter players. I like a solid feel poly, and if anything is too geometrically sided, I don’t feel I’m contacting the ball but rather grazing or glancing over it. Don’t get me wrong, Revolution, Outlast, and Barbwire can generate good amounts of spin, but they also vary between how much too. Solinco can appeal to you in all of these ways but if you’re not convinced, do a price comparison between Solinco and other high-quality polyester strings on the market. Come back to me when you have questions about where and how to stencil your new Solinco strings