How Often Should I Restring My Racket?

How Often Should I Restring My Racket?

Racket’s will lose about 30% of their tension within two weeks after a restring. Therefore, you need to get your racket strung far more often than you might think. As a rule, you should restring your racket at least twice a year - this is regardless of whether you’re playing once a week, or once every 3 months. The common misconception is “I’ve only used my racket a couple of times since I had it strung last year, so it can’t need doing!”. However, strings will lose tension and go ‘dead’ regardless of whether you have used them or not, so twice per year is the minimum for absolutely everyone.

If you are playing 2-3 times per week, you should restring your racket every couple of months, and if you play 4+ times per week, you’ll be looking to restring your racket at least every 4-6 weeks. If you’re playing in tournaments or leagues, you may choose to restring your racket more often so that your strings remain consistent each time you play.

Why do I Need To Restring My Racket?

Strings are the engine of the racket. Often people spend a lot of time choosing the right racket for them (which is definitely important!) however people often put little to no focus on what strings they use. It is the strings that hit the ball, not the racket. Both should be looked at in a similar way, as both the racket and the strings will have a huge impact on your game.

The reason why you need to regularly restring your racket is so you can continue to make the most of the benefits that your strings could provide, have your strings working for you rather than against you. After a period of time strings go ‘dead’. This means they stop providing power, control, feel, spin, they just feel dead and will negatively impact your game. Strings are constantly under tension and this tension drops over time whether you use your racket or not. 

If you have multiple rackets and play regularly, you’ll want your racket to feel the same every time you play. More competitive players will have their rackets restrung very often - normally every 1-2 weeks so that their rackets are always consistent. Professional players of course have many rackets strung fresh for each match.

Many people will only restring their rackets if a string breaks. This is not the right way to look at it. You may break strings regularly, and that’s fine - there are ways of prolonging strings or there are more durable strings available. However, if you’re waiting for a string to break before a restring, then you may be well overdue. Your racket could be hindering your game, and it may be time for a restring.