Should Your Mains or Crosses Be Tighter?

For full polyester setups, try stringing your crosses around 2 lbs lower than your mains.

For example, if you string your mains at 50 lbs, try stringing your crosses at 48 lbs.

Lowering your crosses slightly can help your mains move more freely when you hit the ball. That can help with spin and make the strings feel more forgiving at contact.

Using different tensions for your mains and crosses is called a tension differential.

Why Can Lowering Your Crosses Help With Spin?

When you hit with topspin, your main strings can slide sideways and spring back while the ball is still touching them.

That movement is called snapback, and it can add spin to your shot.

Your crosses affect how easily your mains can move. Lowering their tension a little can make it easier for your mains to slide across them and return to position.

This is why we recommend trying a small tension difference with our polyester strings: reString Zero, reString Slap, and reString Sync.

All of these strings feature Signature Snapback, our technology designed to help strings slide freely and return to position as they wear.

Lowering your cross tension is one way to help make the most of that movement.

How Much Lower Should You String Your Crosses?

In a Full Polyester Setup

If you use the same polyester string in both your mains and crosses, start by lowering your crosses by 2 lbs.

For example, if you normally play with reString Zero at 50 lbs throughout, try 50 lbs in your mains and 48 lbs in your crosses.

If you like the change, you can try a 3 lb difference at your next restring. In this example, that would mean keeping your mains at 50 lbs and lowering your crosses to 47 lbs.

Pay attention to how comfortably you hit and whether you can still place the ball where you want. If shots start flying longer than expected, return to the smaller gap.

For a useful comparison, keep your racket, strings, and string thickness the same while you try the different tensions.

In a Hybrid Setup

A hybrid setup uses two different strings. If both are polyester, follow the same advice as above, which is a 2 lb drop in your crosses compared to your mains.

If you are combining polyester with a softer material, such as multifilament, you need to consider a different approach.

We recommend stringing the polyester at a lower tension than the other string regardless of where it is in your racket because of the string stiffness.

For example, if you had reString Sync in your mains at 48 lbs, then we would recommend stringing your multifilament at 50 lbs, even though it is in your crosses.

Here, your crosses are tighter because the two strings feel different to begin with. The lower polyester tension helps balance that difference.

The right numbers depend on the particular strings and the setup you already enjoy. Use the example as a starting point and experiment from there.

When Should Your Crosses Be Tighter?

The clearest reason for your crosses to be tighter than your mains is the hybrid example above: a softer string in your crosses and a firmer polyester in your mains.

If you want to hit a flatter ball without so much spin, you could also consider stringing your crosses tighter than your mains.

However, we would still recommend stringing your crosses lower than your mains for a more forgiving feel.

If the string movement is too much for you, then you can also try stringing your mains and crosses at the same tension.

As with anything in tennis, there is no right or wrong answer, only general guidance.

A tension differential is something we recommend trying, but there is no need to change a setup you already trust.

Which Setup Should You Try First?

For a full polyester setup, keep your mains at your usual tension and start with your crosses 2 lbs lower. Try a 3 lb difference later if you like the result.

For a polyester and softer string hybrid, string your polyester 2 lbs lower than the softer string regardless of whether it is in your mains or crosses.

If you are still choosing your strings, use our String Finder as a starting point.