Category Archives: True Tension

Big 10 Tennis Player of the Week.

Jack Anthrop has been playing extraordinary tennis for a long time and was recently named Big 10 Tennis Player of the Week after an impressive outing in Dallas!

The link below will take you to the Ohio State post; however, I want to share some of the things Jack has done to secure the game he has.

Jack uses a Head Speed  SMU racquet.  The head size is 96 square inches and has a swing weight of 333 kg/cm^.  This inertia couples with the overall weight of 352 grams  (12.4 oz) to create stability and power.

Jack uses MonoGut ZX Pro natural at a reference tension of 56 pounds and string bed stiffness of 60 pounds.  This creates a dynamic stiffness of  393.6 PPI.

Jack has been using Ashaway MonoGut ZX Pro since the age of 9!  Yep, that’s right, age 9!  MonoGut ZX and ZX Pro material is PEEK, a unique string that offers outstanding comfort, feel, and power with better durability than some other materials.

It is our position that more players of any level should consider MonoGut ZX or ZX Pro (thinner).  It really just makes sense…just ask Jack, Big 10 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week!

Let us know if you have questions about Jack’s racquet or string.  We have been working with Jack since age 9, and we would like to share what we can to help achieve your tennis goal(s).

Thank you, Head and Ashaway, for your continued support!

mens-tennis-anthrop-earns-big-ten-player-of-the-week

Congratulations, Jack, your new Head Speed SMU’s are on the way.

Head Speed SMU

Head Speed SMU

More Face Time?

We have found a good format for our video content creation and presentation.

After trying several highly rated and pricey options, we have settled on QuickTime, iMovie, and YouTube.

  • Quick Time for recording the video
  • iMovie for editing (which we want to keep to a minimum)
  • YouTube for presentation

Now there is an “RQ on YouTube” button on the home page menubar!  Right now, this is at the very right side of the menu, so please use it to get to our YouTube channel easily.

Thank yo for joining us for “more face time”!

 

Pro Stock & Special Make Up (SMU) Racquets

Pro Stock & SMU racquets are a huge part of our business and Pro Stock and SMU’s continue to grow!

Soon, we are going to post the current inventory of Pro Stock and SMU racquets that are at the World Headquarters; however, in the meantime, please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear more about what we do.

Full Custom Head Gravity Tour 98!


We receive the racquets in the uncut, raw state, then make them yours.

The finished Pro Stock(s) are made to your specifications:

  • Length: Up to 28 inches
  • Weight
  • Inertia (swing weight)
  • Grip pallet: Head TK82 (flat) or TK82S (round)
  • Perfect Pallet:  Custom Printed Soft Grip System
  • Grip size: Size 2 to 4
  • Grip Material:  Leather or Synthetic
  • String

Cross String Tension…Yikes!

Cross-string tensions, or actually reference tensions, are the topic of this brief post.

First, every tennis racquet has a “natural” ratio, that is, if the reference tension (and machine setting ) is 50 for both the main string and cross string when the racquet is removed from the stringing machine, the tensions remaining will be in the area of around 50 for the mains and 37 for the cross.

The resultant tension is the natural ratio of that specific racquet.

The issue with changing cross-string tension either higher or lower than the main is that the racquet has changed shape.  That is why we test for In-Plane stiffness for every racquet.  The higher the In-Plane stiffness, the higher the cross-string tension will remain upon removal from the machine.

If the racquet has very low In-Plane stiffness, it has expanded in width with only the main string installed, so the cross strings need to pull the racquet back into a better (hopefully original) shape.

So, when deciding how much variation you want between the main and cross strings, please consider the racquet!  In most cases, we suggest using the same string tension setting for both the main and the cross, since the cross string tension will naturally be lower.

Our True Tension Professional stringing equipment supports the racquet in such a way that we install the main string and cross string at the natural ratio, so the racquet does not change shape and the string bed is consistent.

If you are curious about  In-Plane stiffness for a specific tennis racquet, please leave a comment below.