Mis-hit? What mis-hit?

Has this ever happened to you?  The string just breaks!  For no reason, it just breaks!

Well, a closer look will tell a different story.  The failure is referred to as a “mis-hit”, or “shank”, and is caused by hitting the ball at the junction of the string bed and racquet frame.

If you look closely you will see a little yellow ball fuzz on the first broken string.  So, if you are going to try to “sell” your story that it “just broke” be sure to clean off the ball fuzz before taking it back to the racquet technician.  Keep in mind, however, that most racquet technicians have seen this failure before. Don’t try to fool them!

All string materials are subject to this failure but some stand out as potential easy breakers.  Thin gauge natural gut, probably the best racquet string ever, will fail at a load like this.  Thin gauge PEEK string (think Ashaway MonoGut ZX Pro) is likely to fail, as is some thin polyester-based string.  The point is almost any string will give up when encountered with massive head speed and a “mis-hit”. Another example (left) is when a player mishits a ball in the throat of the racquet and the string snaps cleanly. This is not uncommon and can also occur in the upper portion of the head of the racquet out near the perimeter.

As always be certain the grommets are in good condition, especially around these areas of the racquet.