The thickness of tennis strings
- The thicker the tennis string, the longer the lifespan of a tennis string, but with less comfort and power.
- A thinner tennis string provides you with more ball feeling and control.
- Most of the tennis strings have a thickness between 1.20 and 1.40 mm.
The relation between tennis string thickness and power, control, lifespan and comfort is described in the table below:
| Tennis string thickness |
Power |
Control |
Lifespan |
Feeling |
Comfort |
| thinner |
+ |
+ |
- |
+ |
+ |
| thicker |
- |
- |
+ |
- |
- |
|
- The tennis string thickness is often described in the old measurement 'gauge'.
- The lower the gauge, the thicker the tennis string and vice versa. An L (which means 'light') is used to describe half gauges.
- A tennis string with gauge 15L means it is between 15 and 16 gauge. In the table below you can see the corresponding length in millimetres.
| Gauge |
Diameter in mm |
| 15 |
1,43 mm |
| 15L |
1,38 mm |
| 16 |
1,32 mm |
| 16L |
1,28 mm |
| 17 |
1,25 mm |
| 17L |
1,20 mm |
| 18 |
1,10 mm |
Read more :
Why string yourself?
Racket restringing
Stringing machine reviews
Stringing guide
Stringer service
Stringing videos
Why are tennis strings important?
Types of tennis strings
Stringer reductions
The lifespan of a tennis string
The ideal tennis string?
TYGER tennis strings
The correct tennis string tension
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