ERSA Pro Stringer 3 - 2019 prostringer 3-2019 web | Page 18

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INDUSTRY NEWS
PEEK-Based, “Zero Poly” Monofi lament Tennis Strings Gain
Market Share Among Performance Players
-- String manufacturer claims “slip, not shock” generates spin, that players can reduce injuries and
improve performance using non-polyester alternatives.
Likening his ongoing battle against high-impact polyester strings to a “tortoise versus the hare
race,” string manufacturer Ashaway’s Steve Crandall says the company’s non-polyester, PEEK
based monofi lament strings continue to gain market share as more and more performance players
realize that “slip, not shock” generates spin, and that they can reduce injuries and improve
performance using non-polyester alternatives.
Crandall said that since the introduction of Ashaway’s PEEK-based MonoGut® ZX strings several
years ago, not only have sales steadily grown but “not a week goes by without a call or email from
a player or stringer who has just 'discovered' the string and wants to rave about it.”
“These days everybody wants to improve their 'up and down' game,” Crandall said, “and play like
the top pros with heavy top spin that drops their shots like stones just inside the baseline. They
think they need high-performance polyester strings to generate that spin, and pay the price in
impact related injuries. But more and more performance players are fi nding that zero poly PEEK-
based alternatives generate spin just as well, with better power and less related impact shock."
Crandall added that tests done by Tennis Warehouse University have shown that polyester strings
do generate spin: about 25% more than nylon and 7% more than natural gut. They do it because
their low coeffi cient of friction allows the strings to slip across each other laterally, then snap back,
spinning the ball. However, because they are inherently very stiff , they also generate considerable
impact shock that all too frequently causes arm and shoulder injuries.
“But,” Crandall said, “PEEK-based monofi laments like MonoGut ZX also have a low coeffi cient of
friction and can generate spin as well or better than polyester. In addition, PEEK monofi laments
play much softer so they do not generate the same arm jarring, injury causing impact shock as the
polyesters, and even help players recover from their impact related injuries.”
This softer playing characteristic of PEEK monofi laments also provides two other benefi ts players
are beginning to discover: 1) PEEK is very resilient. Its low dynamic stiff ness, or soft power, adds
energy to every shot. 2) the material’s ability to hold tension increases the life span of the strings.
Thus, the strings play longer, reducing
wallet impact as well.
“We continue work with our PEEK
monofi lament supplier to make the
material’s playing characteristics in racquet
string even better,” Crandall said, “and
hope to have additional announcements in
this regard in the coming months.”
For more information visit
www.ashawayusa.com. Also, follow Steve
Crandall on Instagram at
ashawayusastring.
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ERSA PRO STRINGER // ISSUE 3-2019