As far as I know, TAD (T.A. Davies) and Mad Raq (https://www.powerangle.net/history) are the pioneers of diagonal stringing for tennis rackets.
The advantages are well documented -- a 40% reduction in vibrations along with enhanced spins. (https://mazziotti.uchicago.edu/journal/MicahJoselow.pdf)
This has been on my to-do list for many years, and when a friend sent me a series of subtle messages egging me to do something, that tipped me to get this moving...
"No more new posts ah?"
"I read all already"
"I'm ok trying anything"
"Yes please do whatever you want for the rackets"
Many have successfully strung their normal rackets diagonally. I examined several posted online and felt that I wanted to do it slightly differently.
My objectives included:
(1) using one piece of string, rather than two or three, to limit the tie-offs to only two knots,
(2) keeping the number of shared holes to a minimum, zero if possible,
(3) maintaining the same number of strings as the racket's original string pattern, so in my case, the K Factor had 34 strings (16x18),
(4) ensuring compliance with the ITF rules (https://www.itftennis.com/media/7221/2023-rules-of-tennis-english.pdf), in particular, "The stringing pattern must be generally uniform and, in particular, not less dense in the centre than in any other area."
(5) analyzing if there is a need or potential to develop version three of my proportional stringing.
Quite a lot of time was spent using fishing line to do "dry weaving" and exploring different options available.
An important learning point was I needed an even number of strings on each side to finish outside the throat area. This allows me to tie-off at the sides. It is impossible to tie-off inside the throat area. In essence, that limited me to 14x14, 16x16, 18x18 or 20x20 string patterns.
Internal hoop dimensions are measured at 32.0cm length and 23.6cm width.
Based on my calculations, I suspected the hoop width would narrow as I apply tension. So I decided to mount the racket at 3 & 9 instead.
Despite the 3 & 9 mounting, the hoop internal measurements lengthened 5mm and narrowed 4mm.
By any standard, this is a failed stringjob. However, due to the vested time, strings and effort, if this was my racket, I would still play with it. Since this is not mine, I'll defer to the owner. Even if I re-do it, I have not thought of any sureproof way to avoid the distortion.
From the initial 37 feet of 1.25mm poly string I alloted, both tails were about 3 feet each after tie-off. Tension was straight-up 55 lbs.
Playtest:
Merely bouncing a ball gave very interesting feedback. The vibrations clearly came from the sides rather than straight down centre after ball impact.
Attempts to "swipe" the ball generated a lot more spin than in traditional string patterns.
I'll let the owner playtest it. Will update here after. (Might take a month or two cos he's overseas now)
