Rope (tennis)

See also: Rope

The rope is the part of the racket of tennis coming into contact with the ball. It consists of cords laid out vertically and horizontally inside the circle of the racket. It determines, with the framework, which will be control, the power and comfort brought to the player by his racket.

Characteristics

A rope has as principal characteristics:

  • its power : the larger one rope is powerful, will be the speed brought to the ball with equal effort. Very often, more the rope is powerful, less it brings of control.
  • its control : it is its capacity to make it possible to the player to carry out precise blows with quality of equal striking.
  • its comfort : it is its aptitude not to transmit to the arm shocks or vibrations awkward.
  • its tolerance : it is the faculty of the rope to reacting well to the eccentric balls. Thus certain ropes will not be appropriate that for players having excellent a technique.
  • its taken effect: the rope can accentuate appreciably or not the effects which the player prints with the ball, technique of the player remaining the paramount source all the same.
  • its durability : it is characterized by the duration during which the rope remains playable. Indeed, progressively of its use, it loses in tension, becoming less precise. It loses in elasticity, which intensifies the vibrations and returns the contact with the ball more brutal for the arm. Finally its cords move more and more, it wears and ends up breaking.

Nature of the rope

The bowel

The natural bowel was the first material employed like rope of tennis. It is Pierre Babolat who will implement such a process in 1875, whereas this sport is with its stammerings.

The ropes in bowel are manufactured while drying of fibers of part of the Intestin of ox called Séreuse. It contains Collagène which can resist the stretchings and the contractions of the intestine. This elasticity returns these fibers perfectly adapted for rope of tennis. Although the bowels of sheep were also used in the past to manufacture rope, it is a legend which one uses of the catgut.

Qualities in terms of comfort and behavior of tension of the ropes in bowel remain unequalled today.

The synthetic ones

Nowadays, the majority of the players amateurs use synthetic ropes. Although being lower qualitatively than the natural bowel, they improve year by year and their price is definitely lower than that of the natural bowel (from 4 to 8 times).

Structure

The synthetic ropes for the majority are structured in two manners.

  • the ropes multi-filaments are composed of several braided wire. If they slacken and move more easily, their flexibility brings a better comfort to them.
  • the ropes monofilament are composed of only one bit. They are more rigid and less powerful, but preserve their tension better.

Materials

Many materials can be used:

Measure

Very often, the same rope is available in several sizes. In Europe, it is expressed in millimetres. The gauges most standard go from 1.15 and 1.40 millimetre. A thicker gauge will make it possible to gain of durability, but will give a speed of lower ball.

Tension

During the installation of the rope, one can apply a tension (expressed in kilograms or books according to the countries) more or less strong to this one. Contrary to a spread idea, plus a tension of rope will be raised and more one will have of control and less one will have power. The choice of the tension of rope will be done according to the effect expected by the player (control or power), but also according to the nature of the rope, the size and the density of the sieve. The large sieves will have, with equal tension, more power and less control than a small sieve. The average tension is of 25 kg for a racket sieve means, 27 to 29 kg for a large sieve and 23-24 kg for a small sieve.

Principal manufacturing ropes

Pose rope

The installation of the rope is made using a called dedicated machine " machine with corder". These machines vary in complexity, precision and price, energy of 110€ for a simple machine Klippermate counterweight with more 10000€ for a top-of-the-range machine Technifibre. To twist a racket can take up to one hour for a beginner and approximately 20 minutes for an experienced cordor. During a tournament, one asks the cordeurs to carry out an installation in 10-12 minutes.

The majority of the players call upon the proposed service by a sport store or a club, but certain players (in particular those which often break) have their own machine. Whatever the quality of the machine, competences of the cordor remain essential to obtain an installation of quality.

Counterweight machines

These cheap machines use a counterweight to obtain the desired tension. They take more time than the other machines and are not adapted to the professional cordeurs.

Crank machines (valve)

These machines use a crank to obtain the wished tension, then block the cord. These machines make it possible to work quickly, but the rope will lose its tension more quickly than with a machine with counterweight or electronics.

Electronic machines

These machine control the tension throughout the installation thanks to an electrical motor directed by an electronic system, allowing a fast and powerful work.

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