One tennis string to rule them all - YTEX ProTour Blue String Review
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
- Timestamps and some notes below 👇🏽
This is my fav. string of all time: the one stRING to rule them all. I tried my best to be unbiased, but I honestly don't think I succeeded. Regardless, I've always felt that more folks should know about this amazing string and I took the time to discuss my views on it at length.
The video ends in a cliffhanger but worry not; I'm working up to a video that needs other to build on it. The cliffhanger should be resolved over the next 2-4 videos.
One thing you'll notice is that ProTour comes in different colors and gauges. Unfortunately, it only comes in those multiple gauges for the blue, black and orange colors. I reached out to YTEX about this and this is what they had to say:
All of our polys & co-polys are manufactured in Germany and its a big financial investment when you order different gauges and colors. Each gauge has a MOQ (minimum order quantity) so we are selective how many gauges and colors we carry and this is based on which sells the best.
While with some strings there is a difference in playability with different colors, it's minor with ProTour. Again, I reached out to YTEX to ask about it and this is what they had to say:
The raw materials which are used to make the different colors does make the strings play slightly different. On our Quadro Twist and Square-X, there is a big noticeable difference between the black and white colors. Our black colors plays much softer than the white which plays crispier and stiffer. On our ProTour series, the colors have a lot less difference in playability but you will feel a slight difference when playtesting.
Kent's (Open Court's) review of YTEX ProTour Blue:
• Ytex Pro Tour String R...
My review of ReString Sync:
• ReString Sync Review -...
My collab with Kent (Open Court) on Solinco Hybrids:
• FUSION! Solinco Hybrid...
My review of Gosen OG Sheep Micro:
• $5!!! 🤯♥️🇯🇵 Gosen OG-S...
Check out YTEX ProTour Blue:
www.ytexstrings.com/collectio...
(Not Sponsored)
00:00 Intro
01:05 Soft, all-round poly with AMAZING tension maintenance
01:52 Easy power and depth with no harshness or mutedness
02:44 What makes this the best feeling string: ball pocketing...FINALLY!
03:54 Responsiveness: ProTour caters to every style of hitting IMO
04:58 Spin is "good enough": the only real con?
05:28 A BALANCED setup is really important
05:59 Spin generation and heavy/thin balls
07:15 Hybrids and why they're so important
09:25 ProTour Blue as the new benchmark for a synthetic gut
09:43 YTEX ProTour Blue X ReString Sync
11:47 YTEX ProTour Blue X Gosen OG Sheep Micro
12:46 Outro - Sport
I just strung up a full bed of Lightning Pro at 53# in Radical MP modded up to 332sw, and it's giving me the best pocketing of any syn gut I've ever tried. U find the same? Am thinking of hybriding it as a main with a Sync cross in a strategy AM Stringer invented; the softer, slicker mains notch into the notchless crosses, creating channels that encourage the mains to snapback more than they would otherwise. Turning SG's biggest weakness (notching) into a strength is an innovative idea
I do find the same, that LP has the best ball pocketing among syn. guts for me, although I can also argue against that.
I have a theory that there's many different 'flavors' of ball pocketing. I personally like the kind where the ball sinks deep into the stringbed and then comes out super quickly too (trampoline-like behaviour). So in short, super responsive, like PTB is.
I have a friend I play with regularly who like the plush kind of pocketing; he doesn't care for the depth of ball pocketing, he just wants the stringbed to feel like a plush memory foam pillow (he always plays with multi hybrids). I personally don't like this, because to me this makes my stringbed feel 'sluggish'.
To me, LP is more like PTB, although not quite as responsive. I still prefer OGSM the most for its versatility and that's why I recommend it the most to others looking for a good syn. gut, but prefer LP for my own personal setups.
It's funny you bring up putting the softer strings in the mains because that's exactly what I'm experimenting with these days. I'm not sure I'm fully convinced yet, but I'm finding more spin than I expected for sure.
Check out my latest hybrid video (Ytex PTB/QT) where I did the same, put PTB in the mains. I got really good spin with it, no different than when I put QT in the mains and PTB in the crosses (although I don't mention this in the video).
And personally, I think slicker strings like Sync work even better for this, so you're probably likely to find even more success here than I did with my PTB/QT setup. Go for it and let me know how it goes!
The only consideration is feel. Again, this is just a theory, but I find less feel with setups that have slicker strings that slide easy. Something about the friction between the strings and the tiny vibrations it produces is what adds to the feel of a string setup (I'm assuming rackets here stay constant).
I've always wondered whether this is one of the reasons why natural gut gives such good feel.
@@11sweetspot11, I saw your PTB/QT vid, liked it and, yes, I think that setup reminded me of AM Stringer's idea. Am interested that you're experimenting with it. BTW, I too love OGSM's stellar responsiveness (and saw your vid on that too). But it takes a while for the stringbed to soften up. PLP, on the other hand, snaps back right off the stringer. I've played 5 hours with it, and still, it has yet to notch. And I personally like the feel of its 'slidiness,' and too, the way the ball catapults out of the pocket.
I don't play poly because it looses tension too fast. But from what you said about PTB, that's not much of a problem. You have me thinking...
I understand what you're trying to say about OGSM. Sounds like LP is definitely the way to go for you.
You should definitely give PTB a go. No guarantees of course that it will work for you, but if you like LP then I find it hard to imagine you not liking PTB either.
Its tension maintenance is awesome, although it does notch quite easily, even on itself because it's so soft. Try it out, we all play and hit differently so experiences can vary. Come back and let me know about it, I'd love to know!
@@11sweetspot11 , thanks for the heads up about PTB notching. I'm considering a poly cross mainly for its notch resistance. So I'll stick with plan A (Sync) and let you know how it goes.
Keep these unique reviews coming! Just bought a set on Amazon to try as a cross to Sync. Any verdict on the best overgrip, yet?
That’s the very next video coming up! In three days time (on Wednesday May 15).
Just beware that PTB as a cross may not last as long because it’s softer than Sync. I didn’t test it in this configuration, only in PTB crossed with Sync.
@@11sweetspot11 but isn’t it the mains that usually get notched from getting sawed into by the crosses?
This is very good question actually. With strings everything comes down to essentially one property: stiffness.
The answer below is a bit detailed but I wanted to do my best to explain my answer.
There's more to come on this in future videos (stay tuned! 🙏) since I’m working on understanding this better.
I've always had it the other way around: it's my crosses that notch, i.e. the mains saw into them (which causes the mains to 'settle into' them and this makes is harder for them to snap out of that position and reduces the spin I get). I’m not a string breaker, so this is all I get to see.
If you have a racket lying around with a poly in it that has been hit with for 8-12 hours you should be able to check to see what has been sawed into.
If it's the other way around (crosses sawing into mains) then your mains are likely the softer material.
This is a good rule of thumb - that the softer material will always be the one that gets sawed into. That’s the best explanation I got at the moment 🤷🏽♂️
@@11sweetspot11's reply is correct. May I add one thing? In a full bed of the same string, @glademaster is also right that the mains tend to notch while the crosses not. Why? Because topspin forces the mains out of place more, friction and heat causing them to notch first.
This guy is just a clown.