Customizations, Strings and Skill Levels

Whenever someone asked, and I recommended some "exotic" string, like gut/poly, their standard response were always:
- natural gut is too expensive,
- it is too fragile and I am afraid of breaking it, &/or
- I am not good enough to use natural gut yet.

Other times, some readers of this blog would ask what level of tennis I play. To them, the credibility of my claims must be tagged to my ntrp level. The higher the level of tennis I play, the more weightage they would accord my advice. 

I wonder what ntrp is Nate Ferguson and Ron Yu... (link)

As with everything anyone reads from any source, there are always statements of facts and of opinions. It is up to the reader to determine which is which. Fact to me, may be opinion to you.

What I cannot understand is, does it really need a gourmet chef with decades of experience, and a couple Michelin stars, to enjoy and appreciate a perfectly prepared Japanese A5 Wagyu beef steak?

Or must someone attain the driving proficiency of Lewis Hamilton before he knows how to enjoy the handling of a Mercedes AMG?

Some months back, I hit with (actually was clobbered by) a group of ex-college competitive players. They claimed to be ntrp 5.0-5.5 during their active days and could have dropped to 4.5 then. They tested a few of my string setups and we shared the same opinions of how it played.

On another occasion, a beginner with less than a year's playing experience, developed such a massive forehand topspin shot that dwarfed our strokes. But since he had no backhand, could not serve nor volley nor return serve well, he rated himself ntrp 2.5. Nevertheless, he benefited from his gut/poly setup.

Even at the professional level, players' skill levels are not uniform across all their strokes. Federer's backhand is weaker than his forehand. Santiago Giraldo is known for his blazing return-of-serves. Samuel Groth and Milos Raonic made their names mainly from their powerful serves. And Nadal for his spin.

So should these pros' rackets and strings setup be done to optimise their strengths or to cover their weaknesses?

Put simply, I am convinced there is no need to achieve specific levels of play before anyone can utilise a good racket and strings setup. The key is how consistent they are at their individual levels. 

Undoubtedly, the better player will bring out more from the setup than the weekend hacker. But both benefits from it!

As long as one can afford it, and wishes to try any fanciful setup available, go get it done! YOLO!