Industry News

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RACQUET STRING NEWS

Pro Supex : USRSA independent string test results.

 Pro Supex says the target player for this string is 4.5 players and better, including pros and top junior players. Big Ace string is currently used by ATP tour players Chris Wettengel, Tyler Cleveland, and Chris Lam.

Big Ace is available in 1.17 mm, 1.22 mm, 1.25 mm, and 1.28 mm in red, pearl white, and lime yellow. It is priced from $5.49 for sets of 40 feet, or $55 for 660-foot reels. For more information or to order, contact Pro Supex at 866-787-4644, or visit www.prosupexusa.com. Be sure to read the conclusion for more information about getting a free set to try for yourself.

In the lab

We tested the 1.22 mm Big Ace in lime yellow. The coil measured 43'6". The diameter measured 1.23 mm prior to stringing, and 1.21 mm after stringing. Pro Supex recommends dropping the tension 5 percent compared to normal synthetic string, so that's what we recommended our play testers do as well. We recorded a stringbed stiffness of 74 RDC units immediately after stringing at 60 pounds in a Wilson Pro Staff 6.1 95 (16 × 18 pattern) on a constant-pull machine.

After 24 hours (no playing), stringbed stiffness measured 67 RDC units, representing a 9 percent tension loss. Our control string, Prince Synthetic Gut Original Gold 16, measured 78 RDC units immediately after stringing and 71 RDC units after 24 hours, representing a 9 percent tension loss. Big Ace added 16 grams to the weight of our unstrung frame.

The string was tested for five weeks by 37 USRSA play testers, with NTRP ratings from 3.5 to 6.0. These are blind tests, with play testers receiving unmarked strings in unmarked packages. Average number of hours play tested was 30.2.

 On the court

Our play test team backed up Pro Supex claims about Big Ace. Of the 109 strings we've play tested to date, Big Ace came in at number five in two categories: Durability and Resistance to Movement. For good measure, it came in number seven of all strings tested to date for Holding Tension. Combined with Big Ace's well-above-average score in the Power category, these gave Big Ace a well-above-average overall score.

Conclusion

The comments by our play testers on Pro Supex Big Ace are so uniformly positive that if we didn't know better, we'd suspect that some play testers copied the responses of others. First, it's rare for nearly two-thirds of a play test team to have such nice things to say about a poly, and second, over half of the team members specifically mentioned the control afforded by Big Ace. For what seems to all outward appearances to be a "love it or leave it" string, our play test team members seemed to love it.