News

Ashaway, RI — Ashaway Racket Strings has added a new member to its growing line of Zyex®-based tennis strings. Colored bright red for those who want a bit more flash in their racquet, MonoGut® ZX Red is made from the same non-polyester 100% Zyex material as its sister product, MonoGut ZX, and plays more like natural gut. In recent blind playtests conducted by both the US and European Racquet Stringers Associations (USRSA and ERSA), Ashaway’s MonoGut strings were found to have much reduced stiffness and improved elongation, providing more power and control, and a softer feel, than leading polyester brands.

“Dynamic stiffness is a measure of how much a string stretches when it strikes the ball,” said Steve Crandall, Ashaway Vice President and noted authority on strings and stringing. “The more a string stretches, the more power it returns to the ball and the less impact it has on your arm and elbow. We call that ‘soft power.’”

In a series of independent comparative tests conducted by the world’s leading Stringers’ Associations and published in Racquet Sports Industry (June 2012) and Racquet Tech II (2012), Ashaway’s MonoGut strings were rated as having a stiffness of 151 lbs./in. versus Synthetic Gut at 217. Natural gut, in contrast, has a stiffness of around 102, and soft, multifilament nylon around 200. The MonoGut string also retained tension better than its polyester competitors. In the ERSA tests, MonoGut lost just 5.7% of tension after 72 hours, compared to 16% for Synthetic Gut. Playtesters also reported, “It played the same over 4 weeks with no noticeable tension loss.”

Comments by playtesters in both studies—all seasoned stringers—were almost universally positive. “Almost every one of the testers said they would consider adding the string to their sortiment, which is very unusual for a monofilament. The string has very good Spin Potential, good Power and very low Tension Loss,” concluded the ERSA report. The USRSA report said of MonoGut, “To its credit, Ashaway has created an entirely different type of string… It may look familiar at first glance, but MonoGut ZX is liable to feel unlike any other string you’ve ever used.”

Additional information on stringing and playing with Zyex-based strings, can be found in a new Zyex Information Center on the Ashaway website at ashawayusa.com/PolyketoneInfo.php

MonoGut ZX Red is designed for players seeking both gut-like playability and superior durability in a solid monofilament string, as well as those using monofilament strings in hybrid stringing patterns. 1.27 mm (16 gauge) MonoGut ZX Red is available in 40-ft (12 m) sets and in both 360-ft (110 m) and 720-ft (220 m) reels. Recommended stringing tension is up to 60 lbs. (27 kgs).

Ashaway Racket Strings are made by Ashaway Line & Twine Mfg. Co., the only U.S. manufacturer of string for squash, tennis, racquetball, and badminton. Operated by the Crandall family since 1824, Ashaway has been making racquet strings since 1949, and is responsible for several important technical innovations. Ashaway is the Official String of USA Racquetball and the Women’s International Squash Players Association. Ashaway Line & Twine Mfg. Co. also makes braided products for medical and industrial applications. For more information visit ashawayusa.com