Nylon

Without a doubt, the most popular member of the synthetic string family is nylon. You’re likely familiar with nylon from its use in clothing. However, it’s a diverse material that comes in various grades and is in use across a wide range of commercial products.

Synthetic gut and multifilament strings are both typically made with nylon, but the quality of nylon and construction are what differentiate one type of string from another.

Synthetic Gut

Don’t let the name fool you. Strings labeled as synthetic gut are low-end tennis strings that provide moderate all-around performance at a great price. For most casual or recreational players, synthetic gut is the string of choice purely based on cost.

Within the realm of synthetic gut, there’s substantial variety. For the most part, you’ll find these strings feature a solid core construction with one or many outer wraps. Typically, the more outer wraps, the higher the durability and cushion or comfort provided by the string.

We’ll cover this with some visuals in the construction section of this guide, but it’s worth noting here to help understand where much of the price variance comes into play with synthetic gut strings.

Synthetic Gut Advantages

Price

Moderate all-around performance

Synthetic Gut Disadvantages

Durability

Spin

Feel

Synthetic Gut Advice

If you’re new to tennis or you play casually and infrequently, then synthetic gut tennis strings are a great option. They’re also ideal for players or parents who are on a budget.

If you’re an intermediate player who has been using inexpensive synthetic gut strings as you’ve been learning the game, then they’ll still serve you well. However, you’re likely approaching the stage where your skill-level will allow you to reap the benefits of the specialized strings we’ll cover in the rest of the guide, and we’d encourage you to begin experimenting with them.

Synthetic Gut Picks

Here’s a selection of our favorite synthetic gut tennis strings.

Multifilament

In many ways, multifilament tennis strings are the big brother to synthetic gut. These strings were born out of the desire to make a better synthetic tennis string that had more of the qualities of natural gut, but with fewer of the drawbacks, i.e., increased durability.

As technology and materials evolved, manufacturers were able to build better synthetic strings by using a new construction method that weaves together thousands of fibers to mimick natural gut. The result is a popular string that offers terrific power, comfort, and greater durability due to the synthetic materials put to use.

As with synthetic gut, there are varying degrees of quality in both material and construction used for multifilament tennis strings, which is why you’ll see much of the price variance from string to string.

Helpful Tip

An area that draws confusion for new players to the game is that multifilament refers to both a type of string and, as you’ll learn later in this guide, a type of construction. I’ve found sharing this seemingly insignificant detail helps clear things up.

Multifilament Advantages

Power

Comfort

Feel

Durability

Multifilament Disadvantages

Spin

Control

Multifilament Advice

As a beginner, multifilament tennis strings are a great option. However, with one exception, my advice is the same as I gave for natural gut, in that it’s most likely not worth spending the extra money when you won’t be able to notice the difference from one string to another.

The one exception would be for adults who are picking up the game later in life and have struggled with any sort of arm injury. Due to their makeup, multifilament strings are high on comfort, so even if you can’t tell the difference between these strings and synthetic gut, your arm will thank you.

Where multifilaments shine is as a step-up for intermediate players that are currently using synthetic gut and looking for more performance out of their tennis strings.

Multifilament Picks

These days, you’ll find more options for multifilament tennis strings than you will for synthetic gut, so it can be tricky to identify quality strings that you can trust. Here are a few of our favorites.