Tennis Strings for Beginners: What to Use, What Tension, and How Often to Restring

Most club players spend more time thinking about which racquet to buy than they ever spend thinking about what is inside it. And yet the string is the only part of the setup that actually touches the ball. Get it right — right type, right tension, changed at the right time — and you are extracting everything your racquet can offer. Get it wrong, and you are playing with a handicap you might not even be aware of.

Three questions come up constantly once players start paying attention to their strings. What should I put in? At what tension? And when do I change it? They sound like three separate decisions, but they are actually connected — the type of string you choose determines the tension you should start at, and both of those affect how quickly the setup goes dead. This guide answers all three, in order, so that by the end you have a clear picture of the full decision.

First: What Type of String Should You Actually Be Using?

The honest answer for most club players is: probably not what you are currently playing. The default string that comes in a new racquet from a big-box sports shop is usually the cheapest synthetic gut the manufacturer could source, strung at a factory tension that suits nobody in particular. And when club players go to a stringer for the first time and ask what string to use, they often get put straight onto a polyester because "that is what the pros play." Neither of these outcomes serves most players well.

Here is how the main string types actually break down:

Synthetic Gut

The most underrated starting point in tennis. Synthetic gut is a nylon monofilament — simple construction, low cost, surprisingly good all-round feel. It is soft enough to be comfortable, lively enough to give you power and depth without your own pace, and durable enough to last a few months of regular club play. It is not exciting and it will not give you the spin production of a shaped poly, but for a beginner or recreational player who hits two or three times a week and does not break strings, it is a perfectly legitimate string that does not need to be rushed past. Think of it as a solid foundation.

Multifilament

The upgrade from synthetic gut that most arm-conscious players should be considering. Where synthetic gut is a single nylon filament, a multifilament is constructed from hundreds of thin fibres bonded together — which gives it a softer, more elastic feel that is noticeably more comfortable on the arm and more forgiving on off-centre hits. Strings like Tecnifibre X-One Biphase and Head Velocity MLT sit at the top of this category and genuinely compete with natural gut on comfort. If your arm is at all sensitive, or if you find synthetic gut starting to feel a bit dead and boardy, multifilament is the natural next step. Players managing tennis elbow who still want to compete should be on a multifilament or natural gut, not a poly — the tennis elbow guide covers this in more detail.

Polyester (Co-Poly)

The dominant string type at the competitive and advanced club level — and the most misunderstood at recreational level. Co-poly strings offer exceptional control, spin potential, and durability, and are genuinely the right choice for players who generate good swing speed, hit with intention, and restring regularly. They are not right for players who string once a year, play twice a week at a social level, and want a comfortable, forgiving setup. The performance benefits of poly require a certain level of swing speed to activate — if you are not generating enough pace and spin to properly compress the string on contact, a poly just feels stiff and unenthusiastic. Put into context: if you find yourself struggling for depth even when you swing properly, the string is probably not helping you. A soft multi or synthetic gut will give you more from less effort.

The soft poly category — strings like Solinco Confidential Soft — sits in a useful middle ground: more arm-friendly than standard poly, more control than a multi. Worth considering if you are an intermediate player who wants to transition toward poly character without the full harshness of a firm co-poly.

Natural Gut

The best string that exists for feel, comfort, and tension maintenance. Natural gut is expensive — a set costs several times more than a quality synthetic — but it holds tension longer than any other string type, is the most arm-friendly option available, and has a playability that more than a century of alternatives have not managed to replicate at the top end. For players with arm issues, it is worth the cost. For competitive players, pairing it in a hybrid (gut mains, poly crosses, or poly mains, gut crosses) gives performance that neither string delivers alone. Not essential for beginners, but worth knowing exists as an option.

The short version: Start with synthetic gut or multifilament. Move to poly when your swing speed and technique justify it — typically when you are hitting consistently enough that you need more control rather than more power. Do not go straight onto a stiff co-poly because someone told you it is what the pros use.

String Tension — What It Actually Does and Why the Simple Explanation Is Only Half the Story

The standard explanation of string tension is this: higher tension gives more control; lower tension gives more power. This is true, and it is a good starting point. But it is missing enough context that players who rely on it alone often end up at the wrong tension for their setup.

The Basic Principle

Higher tension makes the string bed firmer and less elastic. The ball compresses the strings less at contact, spends less time on the strings, and bounces off more directly. The result is more control — the ball goes where you direct it — and less power, because the string is not returning energy back into the shot. Lower tension does the opposite: more string movement, more dwell time, more energy returned, more power. Beginners and recreational players tend to benefit from lower tensions because the extra power helps achieve depth without requiring full swing speed.

What Changes This Equation

The string type matters enormously. A firm polyester at 50 lbs plays very differently from a natural gut at 50 lbs. The poly is stiffer in its compound, so the tension and the material stiffness compound each other. The gut is elastic by nature, so even at the same tension it has more give and feel. This is why switching from synthetic gut to polyester at the same tension feels like a dramatic step up in stiffness — the string itself is stiffer, and then the tension adds on top of that. The standard guidance when switching to poly is to drop your tension by around 10% from whatever you played at on your previous string. If you were at 56 lbs on nylon, start your poly at around 50–51 lbs. The string change alone accounts for the control increase; you do not need the tension increase on top of it.

Your frame's stiffness (RA) changes the feel of any tension. A stiff frame (RA 65+) does not flex much at contact, so the string does all the work of absorbing impact. At the same tension, a stiff frame makes a string feel significantly firmer than a flexible frame (RA 58–62), which contributes its own flex and dampening. If you are in a stiff frame and finding your strings harsh, dropping tension is usually more effective than changing string type — and cheaper to test.

The string pattern of your racquet affects how tension plays. Open patterns (16x19, 16x20) have more space between strings, so they move more freely at any given tension. Dense patterns (18x20) restrict movement. Players in open-pattern frames often need to string a bit higher than they might expect because the pattern is already adding power and movement. Dense-pattern players can often string lower without losing control.

A Practical Starting Point

Your racquet has a recommended tension range printed on the throat — usually something like 50–60 lbs. Start somewhere in the middle of that range on your first restring. Hit with it for at least two sessions before making judgements — the string needs time to settle and you need time to calibrate to a new setup. If shots are consistently going long without changing your swing, tension is probably too low. If the stringbed feels harsh or you are finding it hard to generate depth, tension is too high. Move in 2-lb increments rather than dramatic jumps. For polyester, lean toward the lower half of your racquet's recommended range from the start.

How Often Should You Restring — And How Do You Know When It's Time?

The rule of thumb that gets repeated everywhere is this: restring as many times per year as you play per week. Play three times a week, restring three times a year — roughly every four months. It is a decent approximation for recreational players on multifilament or synthetic gut. For polyester players, it is far too conservative.

Why Poly Players Need to Restring More Often

Polyester strings lose tension the moment they come off the stringing machine. In the first 24 hours after stringing, a poly can drop 10–15% of its initial tension — a string pulled at 52 lbs might be playing at around 46 lbs within a day. This initial drop is normal and expected, which is why experienced poly players often have their strings pulled slightly higher than their target tension to account for it. The string then continues a slower decline over the following sessions.

The important number is not tension loss, though — it is elasticity loss. The co-polymer compound that gives poly its spin response and crisp feel gradually fatigues with use. After roughly 15–20 hours of hitting, the string has lost enough of its elastic character that it is no longer performing the way it did when fresh. The strings have not necessarily broken. They look fine. But the performance has degraded significantly — less spin, less control, more of a dead, unresponsive feel. Playing on dead poly strings is not just a performance issue; dead poly transmits more shock to the arm because the string is no longer absorbing impact the way a fresh set does.

A more realistic restringing schedule for a committed poly player: every four to eight weeks, or every 15–20 hours of hitting, whichever comes first. Players who restring every week or two at the competitive level are not being obsessive — they are keeping the string in its performance window. For a club player on poly who hits twice a week, that means approximately every six to eight weeks rather than every four months.

Multifilament and Natural Gut Hold Up Better

Multifilaments do not fatigue the same way poly does. The multi-fibre construction maintains its elastic character longer, and the feel and arm-friendliness hold up across a longer playability window. A quality multifilament on a recreational player hitting two or three times a week can reasonably last two to four months before performance drops noticeably. Natural gut goes even longer — it is the best tension-holder of all string types and maintains its feel well past what most synthetics manage.

The practical implication: if you move from synthetic gut to polyester and keep the same restringing schedule (once or twice a year), you will spend most of your time playing on dead strings that are not delivering the spin and control benefits you switched for — and that are putting more load on your arm than a fresh set would. The cost of restringing more often is the hidden cost of choosing poly that most beginners are not told about.

Signs Your Strings Are Actually Dead

Not everyone tracks hours meticulously. Here are the reliable signals that a restring is overdue:

• Shots floating long without changing your swing. The most common sign — loss of tension means the string is returning more energy and the ball is going further than expected.
• Loss of spin.** On poly especially — if topspin groundstrokes are sitting up higher than usual or kick serves are not biting, the string has likely lost its edge character.
• Strings moving and not snapping back. If the strings shift during play and stay noticeably out of alignment between points, the friction coating has worn off and snapback is compromised.
• Visible notching at the crosses. Deep grooves where the mains and crosses intersect mean the string has been grinding against itself and is close to breaking — and the elasticity at those points is already gone.
• Increased arm discomfort. Dead poly in particular transmits more shock. If your arm starts speaking up and nothing else has changed, check when you last restrung.

How the Three Decisions Connect

String type, tension, and restringing frequency are not independent choices. A player on natural gut at 55 lbs who restrings twice a year has a very different experience to a player on poly at 55 lbs on the same schedule — the gut player still has a functional setup; the poly player is playing on something that gave up its best performance months ago. The string type determines how quickly tension drops, which determines how often you need to restring to stay in the performance window. And the tension you start at affects how much runway you have before the string feels dead.

The simplest version of this: if you are on poly, restring more often than you think you need to. If you are on multifilament, your window is more forgiving. If you are not sure what type you are on, ask your stringer — they will know from looking at it. And if you are a beginner who has been told to go straight onto a stiff poly, it is worth a conversation about whether that is actually the right choice for where your game is right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best string for a beginner tennis player?

Synthetic gut or multifilament. Both are softer and more forgiving than polyester, easier on the arm, and give you more depth and power without requiring a fast swing to activate them. Tecnifibre NRG2, Head Velocity MLT, and Head Synthetic Gut are solid starting points available at most price points. Avoid jumping straight to a stiff co-poly until your technique and swing speed justify it.

Does higher or lower string tension give more power?

Lower tension gives more power. A looser string bed deflects more at contact, spends more time in contact with the ball, and returns more energy into the shot. Higher tension gives more control — the ball spends less time on the strings and bounces off more directly. Beginners and players who struggle for depth typically benefit from sitting at the lower half of their racquet's recommended tension range.

How often should I restring my tennis racquet?

The rule of thumb — restring as many times per year as you play per week — works reasonably well for multifilament and synthetic gut players. For polyester players it is too conservative: poly loses its performance character after roughly 15–20 hours of hitting and should be restrung every four to eight weeks for players hitting two or three times per week. Playing on dead poly for months is one of the most common and least recognised reasons club players plateau.

How do I know when my tennis strings are dead?

Key signs: shots floating longer than usual without changing your swing, noticeable loss of spin on topspin groundstrokes, strings shifting and not snapping back between points, visible notching at the crosses, or increased arm discomfort. If any of these appear and your strings are more than a couple of months old, a restring is almost certainly overdue.

Should I use polyester strings as a beginner?

In most cases, no — not as a starting point. Poly delivers its benefits to players who generate enough swing speed to compress the string properly and who restring frequently enough to stay in the performance window. Most beginners lack both, which means they end up with a setup that is stiff, arm-unfriendly, and not actually giving the spin and control benefits that make poly worth playing. Start on synthetic gut or multifilament, develop your technique, and move to poly when the time is right.

What tension should I use for polyester strings?

Drop approximately 10% from whatever you were playing at on your previous synthetic string — so if you played synthetic gut at 56 lbs, start your poly at around 50–51 lbs. The stiffness of the poly compound already provides more control than your previous string; you do not need the tension increase on top of it. Most poly players find their sweet spot between 45–54 lbs depending on their frame and playing style.

The full range of string types — from synthetic gut and multifilaments like Head Velocity MLT through to soft polys and natural gut — is available at The Tennis Store with shipping across Australia. If you are ready to explore specific strings, the string gauge guide and individual string reviews are a good next step.