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Pre-lacing

Q: I’m having an argument with another stringer who pre-laces his racquets, and insists I should do so as well. He claims I’ll get a faster, more accurate string job. I disagree. What do the experts say?

A: As with so many issues dealing with technique, pre-lacing is a matter of personal preference. There are some tournament stringers who pre-lace in order to get the string off the floor before someone else comes along and steps on it, and it doesn’t slow them down to do so. For others, however, a pre-laced racquet is a nightmare, as the loose strings are always in the way of the clamps and seem to get snagged on everything, and you have to “shuffle” string back and forth through the grommets to get enough loop to reach the tension head. It wouldn’t hurt to try it, perhaps out of view of your proselytizing friend, but if it doesn’t work for you, you are under no obligation to continue doing it.

From the June 2007 issue
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