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Racquet and String Dynamics:
It was thought that if a tennis racquet (or racquetball racquet) was strung at 55 lbs, the tension of the racquet strings would be 55 lbs. This is not the case! In some cases, a racquet strung at 55 pounds can end up with an actual tension at 30 pounds.
Several factors create a difference of tension during the stringing process. Since stringers handle these factors differently, they may arrive at different tensions. All conditions being equal and using the same material, different stringers will often wind up with dissimilar string tensions even though all may believe it to be 55 lbs!
Until recently, testing racquet tension was an entirely subjective process. Players have tried almost everything to determine their string tension such as: plucking strings, tapping them, trusting the manufacturer, bouncing the ball up and down on the strings and countless others. There was no way to actually measure the tension of the racquet right in front of you!
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