How To Avoid Tennis String Notching

String notching is the formation of grooves where your main and cross strings rub together during play. It's a primary sign your string bed is aging and losing performance.

In this article, you'll learn what causes notching, how it impacts your game, and practical ways to prevent or delay it. For example, ReString's Signature Snapback coating technology offers a solution so that your strings experience less notching, and play better for longer.

What Causes Tennis String Notching

Every time you hit a ball on the court, friction occurs between your main and cross strings. This happens with every single shot you take.

Repeated contact creates gradual erosion on both strings as they slide against each other. The constant rubbing wears away material bit by bit, similar to how waves gradually erode rock on a coastline.

Over time, your strings develop concave grooves that lock into each other. When strings are fresh and round, they slide easily. But as these grooves form, the strings start getting stuck together instead of moving freely.

Once the protective outer coating wears through, things get worse fast. The exposed abrasive surface underneath speeds up the notching process because rougher material is now rubbing against itself.

As a result, your string bed stiffens and loses its ability to move freely. The strings can't snap back to their original position like they should.

How Notching Affects Your Performance

Reduced string movement means less snapback and spin potential. Your strings can't grip the ball properly when they're locked in grooves.

Your string bed feels dead and unresponsive compared to fresh strings. That lively feel you had on day one just disappears.

You lose consistent ball response as strings get stuck in place, which decreases your control and predictability during rallies.

The most frustrating thing is that your sweet spot experiences the most notching because that's where you hit most of your shots. This makes your tennis hard to control.

Hit the ball dead center where there's the most notching and you get a super stiff, unresponsive, dead feel. Hit just outside the sweet spot and the ball flies out a bit more because those strings still have some life left.

Overall, when your strings notch, they just feel worse and your playing level drops noticeably.

Strategies To Reduce Tennis String Notching

Choose a Round String

Round, smooth strings like Sync allow easier sliding between mains and crosses. The smooth surface reduces friction.

Shaped strings like octagonal, hexagonal, pentagonal, and square profiles have edges that accelerate notching on cross strings. Those sharp edges saw into each other with every hit.

However, if you want to play with shaped strings and still slow down notching, choose strings like Zero that have specialized low-friction coatings that extend playability.

Choose Lower String Tensions

Lower overall tensions can reduce friction but may sacrifice control.

In hybrid setups that use polyester mixed with another string type, string the polyester 2 to 3 lbs lower than the softer string to reduce sawing action between the different materials.

When you’re using a full bed of polyester, try the mains 2 to 3 lbs tighter than crosses to balance string movement.

Choose a Thicker Gauge

Thicker gauges like 16G/1.28mm or 1.30mm last longer than thinner options like 17G/1.23mm or 18G/1.20mm. More material means more time before notching penetrates through the string.

But here's the thing. Yes, you'll get more durability since there's just more string to go through until it snaps. But once the outer layers of coating fade, you're just left with more of the bad stuff.

This means you'll only get marginally less notching since there's only marginally more coating. A better choice is to pick a string that's built to withstand notching, like Sync and Zero.

Choose Tighter String Patterns

Tighter patterns like 18x20 reduce individual string movement and slow notching, while more open patterns like 16x19 allow greater string movement but accelerate wear.

This is because there's less space for strings to move around and create friction.

However, this isn't very practical advice because it's rare that players would go as far as changing their entire racket setup just to avoid notching.

Changing your string is a better solution, or you could just accept restringing more frequently.

How ReString's Coating Technology Prevents Notching

Ultimately, notching is inevitable when two surfaces slide against each other.

However, at ReString, we set out to reduce friction between your strings as much as possible. We did this by creating our Signature Snapback coating that's available on Zero, Sync, and "SLAP".

The lubricant reduces friction at the source, delaying the notching process from the very first ball you hit. The most important thing to know about the coating is that it isn't just on the surface but integrated throughout the string.

Even as outer layers wear, inner layers remain slippery and maintain snapback. You're never left with just rough material rubbing against itself.

So even when notching eventually occurs, it's less detrimental to performance compared to traditional strings. The string bed maintains responsiveness and tension longer than alternatives because those inner layers keep doing their job.

Try the slippery, slick performance of Zero, Sync, or "SLAP" today.

About the Author: Juan is the co-founder of ReString. He was born in Argentina, raised in Japan, and moved to the US to pursue college tennis. He now plays as an ATP & WTA hitting partner.