Differences Between Tennis String Notching and Fraying

String wear comes in two forms that look different and affect your game differently.

Notching is the performance killer that locks up your stringbed and eliminates spin. Fraying looks worse than notching but counterintuitively has very little impact on performance.

Understanding the difference helps you make smarter decisions about when to restring. You'll avoid cutting out strings that still play great while recognizing when your stringbed is truly dead.

Notching vs Fraying Comparison

Feature	Notching	Fraying
Visual Signs	Grooves where strings intersect	Outer layers peeling apart
Main Cause	Friction between mains and crosses	Wear of protective outer layers
Most Common In	Polyester	Natural gut, multifilament, synthetic gut
Performance Impact	Eliminates spin, strings feel dead	Minimal impact, mostly cosmetic
When to Restring	Notching appears and performance drops	Not related to fraying, based on feel

What Is Tennis String Notching?

Notching is when grooves start to form where your main and cross strings intersect on your stringbed.

These grooves deepen over time with more play, and gradually interlock your strings together. This interlocking stops your strings from sliding freely against each other, which is what creates snapback and spin.

What Causes String Notching

Friction between your mains and crosses causes notching. Every time you hit the ball, your strings rub against each other as they move and return to position.

Most polyester strings start with a protective coating that allows this sliding to happen smoothly. The coating acts like a lubricant that reduces friction between the strings.

Over time, repeated contact wears through the coating layers. You go from the outer protective layer to the middle layers and eventually down to the bare polyester underneath.

Once you hit that bare material, friction increases dramatically. Rough polyester rubbing against rough polyester creates deep grooves fast. The notching accelerates because there's no coating left to protect the strings.

How Notching Affects String Performance

Notched strings can't move or snap back properly. This eliminates the string movement you need for spin.

When strings snap back to their original position after hitting the ball, they create energy return. That energy gives you the lively, responsive feel of fresh strings. Locked-up strings lose this energy return completely.

Your stringbed feels dead and unresponsive compared to when it was new. You can feel the difference immediately because the strings don't give you any feedback or pop.

The problem also spreads unevenly across your stringbed. Your sweet spot experiences the most notching because that's where you make contact most often.

Hit in the dead center and you get a stiff, unresponsive feel. Hit just outside and the ball flies differently because those strings still have life.

Overall, notching is the number one performance killer in polyester strings. It's what makes your strings feel terrible even if they haven't broken yet.

What Is Tennis String Fraying?

Fraying happens when the outer layers of your string start peeling apart. The string's construction visibly comes undone as individual fibers separate from the main body.

You'll see this more often on softer string types. Natural gut, multifilament, and synthetic gut are made from many small fibers bundled together, so they're more prone to this kind of wear.

Polyester strings can fray too, but they have a more solid construction that resists it better. When polyester does fray, it's usually less dramatic than what you see with multifilaments.

What Causes String Fraying

Fraying starts when the protective outer layers of your string begin to peel away. This happens in the high-wear areas of your stringbed where the ball makes contact most frequently.

Repeated ball impact causes the material to start coming apart. Each hit puts stress on the string's outer layers until they eventually separate.

The wear is gradual and visual. You'll notice fuzzy bits or small strands sticking out from the string before you feel any performance change.

Why Fraying Doesn't Kill Performance

Here's the important part. Fraying is mostly cosmetic rather than functional.

Think of it like peeling bark off a tree. You remove the outer layer, but there's still bark underneath. The tree keeps functioning just fine.

The underlying structure of the string continues to perform even when the outer layers peel. The core remains intact and keeps doing its job.

Many players actually break their strings before they experience any visible fraying. The string snaps from tension loss or a mishit before the outer layers have a chance to come apart.

How ReString Handles Notching and Fraying

Zero and Sync resist notching through reduced friction engineering. We designed these strings specifically to minimize the friction that causes grooves to form.

Our integrated coating technology runs throughout the entire string rather than just sitting on the surface. Most polyester strings have a coating that wears off quickly, leaving rough material exposed. Ours doesn't work that way.

By reducing friction at the source, ReString strings delay the notching process from the first ball you hit. The low-friction coating means your strings slide smoothly against each other for longer.

If ReString strings do show wear, it will be fraying rather than notching. You might see outer layers start to peel, but your stringbed maintains responsiveness because the inner layers have our Signature Snapback coating integrated throughout.

You're never left with just rough material rubbing against itself.

This integrated coating technology is why ReString strings play better for longer. The performance stays consistent deep into the string's life.

When Should You Restring Your Racket?

No matter what strings you play with, we advise restringing when you feel a drop in performance or inconsistent response from your stringbed. Trust your feel over what you see.

Notched strings require fast replacement due to performance loss. Once those grooves lock your strings together, the playability is gone. You can't fix it by adjusting your tension or changing your technique.

Frayed strings can continue playing well until other performance indicators emerge. Don't restring just because you see fuzzy bits on your strings. Wait until you actually feel the difference.

Understanding this difference helps you avoid premature restringing. You save money and get more life out of strings that still perform well.

See our full guide on when to restring your tennis racket for more detailed advice.

Conclusion

Notching locks your strings together and kills performance. Fraying looks bad but doesn't affect how your strings play.

Focus on feel and performance rather than just appearance when deciding to restring. Your stringbed might look rough but still deliver excellent playability.

Friction-resistant strings like Zero and Sync extend playability by minimizing notching. The integrated coating keeps your strings sliding smoothly for longer.

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.