Fishing Line...again...

Over coffee with a friend who reads this blog, he asked when would I be using fishing line again. 

He added lots of very persuasive talk. I knew, of course, that he just wanted to enjoy the incredible feel, bite and spin of fishing line again.

However, some things he said resonated. 

Like, would there have been any improvements in fishing line technology to make it more durable and less likely to snap? 

And, have I tried applying some of my newer stringing techniques to deal with the frequently snapping fishing line?

These questions started me thinking... 

...then my hands and feet just followed...

One major problem I had previously was knot slippage. The fishing line was SO THIN, tying knots became incredibly difficult. 

Pull too tight and it'll snap. Pull with my bare hands and it cut straight into my flesh. Double knots snapped the string too. And those knots that I succeeded, often slipped into the grommet hole and the string lost tension!

So I tried a double knot over the "Dead Man's Knot". It worked beautifully! No slippage. No need to pull too tight. No tension loss. No grommet damage. Perfect!

For prestretch, I used a friend's fishing line reel line winder which he built himself using an electric drill! Something like this. I told him what I was after, left the fishing line with him for a few days and "Voila" it's done! So simple!

I think this was my smoothest and most peaceful fishing line stringjob ever! Success in one attempt! If you do not understand the challenges, just read my past posts on fishing line. To me, this is a big deal!

And the other good news was the thin fishing line did not even notch after the initial 90 minutes!

Yes! It was blissful hitting with it. My partner that day commented not only on the extra spin but accurate placements as well. And I could pull him extra wide on those sidelines serves!

Hmmm... why did I forsake fishing line?!?!




     

Wet Tennis Balls

Someone I string for commented that he could not control the ball in slightly wet weather.

My reply was tennis was meant to be played in dry conditions.

Nevertheless, here's my thoughts on how wet balls affect the strings...

All of the above six balls weighed 59 grams when dry. 

The top three balls were soaked in water for ten minutes before weighing. The bottom three were rolled around on a wet floor.

The average weight of the top three and bottom three was about 73 grams and 68 grams, respectively, with a difference of about 5 grams.

Compared with dry balls, the top and bottom weighed an extra 14 grams and 9 grams respectively.

All these were static measures on a stationary ball. The difference is perceptible but insignificant.

However, once the ball starts moving at high speeds, the additional weight increases its momentum very significantly.

Momentum = Mass x Velocity

Without getting too much into detailed calculations, a simplified version looks like:

Dry Ball Momentum = 59 grams x 50 mph

versus

Wet Ball Momentum = 73 grams x 50 mph

And that's only for the average rally speed in tennis. For serves, the speed often increases to 100 mph, or more. Even for many recreational players.

When tensioning, I often take into account the players' footwork, tempo, racket head speed, string pattern, string gauge, choice of string, etc. And all these are based on DRY conditions.

Can you imagine what would happen, after all the weight measurements were taken, and the appropriate bungee cord attached for that single person, then three jumpers just decided to strap together to jump?

Of course there are other factors, like the wet felt on the ball reducing ball-to-string friction, the wet court affecting bounce, and the fluffed up fur changing trajectory. 

But to me, the huge increase in momentum delivers the biggest impact to the stringbed. Which was why I liked using damp balls to train myself before playing with a heavy hitter last time.

In addition, after the extra stress from playing with wet balls, the stringbed would usually lose too much tension thereafter.