By Vince Chiarelli, PTR, MRT and Owner of String Along With Vince in Largo

Scenario 1: You are playing a furiously competitive match and suddenly you break a string. No problem; you’ve got another stick in your bag. You get your other racquet and complete the match, pack up your gear and go home. You don’t get around to getting the broken string replaced for two weeks.

What’s wrong with this picture? Give up? That racquet with the broken string has changed shape during the period you waited to get it strung. In this case you broke a vertical (main) string. That causes the rest of the main strings to loosen up, but the horizontal (cross) strings are all still just as tight as they were before. This causes the frame to be distorted (elongated). This could do a number of things. It could cause the frame to be deformed permanently; the frame could develop micro fractures affecting the way it plays; or the frame could even crack making it unusable. The frame might not show any signs of a problem but later on it could crack while stringing.

What to do? Simple; don’t put the racquet in your bag. Take it home and cut a cross string in the area where the main string broke. Better yet have a sharp knife or pair of cutters in your bag and cut the string right on the court. Then, when you get a chance you can cut the rest of the strings working from the center, cutting both a main and cross string at the same time. Cut two or three toward the top then two or three toward the bottom on a diagonal. This might save you the cost of a replacement racquet.

Scenario 2: You finished your match. No broken strings this time. You put away your gear and go home.
Nothing is amiss. Au contraire. What you have done is put a germy wet grip into a nice dark bag. Unless you are attempting to create a new form of life, you should leave the handle out of the bag to dry out. Keeping that grip in the light and exposed to the air to dry will inhibit the growth of fungus as well as other nasty stuff; extend the life of the grip; and save us stringers from having to handle it.

Scenario 3: You finished your match; no broken strings and your grip is drying nicely. Now what?
One last tip: let your shoes dry out, too. Rotate a couple of pair and both pairs will last longer.