6 Best Tennis Strings For Tennis Elbow (Arm Friendly Guide)

When your skills get a bit better from the total beginner, you will notice how different racket parts will affect how you play. Strings are perhaps the part of a racket with the biggest difference, so you must select the right strings for your skillset.

Tennis elbow is the biggest injury in tennis, and often a big part of what made it appear is the strings. In this article, I have gathered the best six strings for different situations, price ranges, and skill levels. I’m sure you will find the strings just for you.

Before moving on to the strings, it’s important to know the basics about the strings and their effect on the tennis elbow. Let’s take a quick recap.

Can Tennis Strings Cause Tennis Elbow?

Tennis strings can cause a tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis. If your strings are strung too tight or have a stiff string type, they will transfer more shock to your arm, which can cause pain or even a tennis elbow.

Racquet string tension will affect the strain your arm is exposed to when playing tennis. The tighter the string tension, the more straining your arm will suffer. That’s why strings focused on control can cause tennis elbow more easily than tension geared towards power.

The reason for this is that if you want the best control, the strings shouldn’t have as much of a trampoline effect because, with tighter strings, the ball’s contact will be shorter, so your accuracy will be much better.

String tension geared to power has a bigger trampoline effect so that the ball will transmit more power. The control won’t be as good because the ball’s contact time is longer, but the shock transmitting from the strings and racket to your arm won’t be as severe either.

Of course, the string type will also affect the tennis elbow.

What Type of String Is Best for Tennis Elbow?

There are four types of tennis strings: Natural gut, synthetic gut, nylon (multifilament), and polyester (monofilament). Generally, natural gut and nylon (multifilament) strings are the best for tennis elbow because they are the softest, most comfortable, and won’t transmit as much shock as synthetic gut and polyester strings.

Natural gut strings are the best for tennis elbow, but nylon strings aren’t far behind because they are made to replicate natural gut strings at a more affordable cost.

If you want to learn more about tennis strings, I highly encourage you to check this article to find out everything about them.

What To Look for When Looking At Strings for Tennis Elbow?

You should be mindful of a couple of things before choosing the right strings for tennis elbow. Let’s take a look at them.

• Material is the most important thing you should look for when deciding strings for tennis elbow. As I said, you should always choose Natural Gut or Nylon (Multifilament) strings for tennis elbow because they transmit the least shock to your arm and are of a softer construct.
• Thickness is always an important thing to check before deciding on strings. Thickness, also called gauge, won’t necessarily affect the tennis elbow; it’s still important to know from the playability and durability side. Generally, thinner strings are better, but thicker strings are more durable. I recommend thin strings if you know your playstyle and are skilled. However, if you are a beginner, then thicker strings are better to start with.
• Price can vary between strings quite a bit. Natural gut strings are by far the most expensive, but the price does give many advantages. If you want a more affordable set of strings for a tennis elbow, then multifilament strings are a perfect alternative.
• String tension isn’t something you can look at directly from the strings. You need to specify to the manufacturer or stringer the tension you desire. Or, if you string yourself, you need to adjust the tension by yourself. If you are suffering from tennis elbow, the lower the tension, the better. Below you can see what loose strings will do better than tense and vice versa.

Perk	Low Tension	High Tension
Comfort	Better	Worse
Power	Better	Worse
Control	Worse	Better
Spin	Worse	Better
Durability	Better	Worse

6 Best Strings for Tennis Elbow

Now that you know the basics of choosing tennis strings and the specs strings for tennis elbow should have let’s look at the best strings out there!

Best Overall Arm Friendly Strings for Tennis Elbow: Luxilon 125 Natural Gut

• Material: Natural Gut
• Thickness: 16g, 17g, or 18g
• Color: Natural
• Price: $$$

Luxilon is a high-quality brand that is appreciated widely in the tennis community. These natural gut strings are the best quality strings for tennis elbow because of the soft organic technology.

You can choose from 3 thicknesses that give you a lot of options in playability and durability, and comfort so that these strings will fit anybody suffering from tennis elbow, regardless of skill.

These strings are also designed to fit well to a hybrid string job, so if that is something you would like, these strings will make a great half of your hybrid strings. Personally, these strings are my favorite whether you are suffering from tennis elbow or not!

Best Affordable Strings for Tennis Elbow: Head Velocity MLT

• Material: Syntethic Multifilament
• Thickness: 16g or 17g
• Color: Black, Blue, Natural, or Yellow
• Price: $

If you suffer from tennis below but don’t want to spend that much money on tennis strings, you should learn more about the HEAD Velocity MLT strings.

These synthetic multifilament strings are specifically designed to be arm friendly which is great. However, how about the playability?

These strings are constructed from over 1000 multifilaments with an outer wrap of 30 filaments, increasing spin. In addition, these strings are great for power and feel. The cherry on top of the cake is, of course, a affordable price.

Best Arm Friendly Strings for Beginners: Wilson Sensation Plus

• Material: Syntethic Multifilament
• Thickness: 16g or 17g
• Color: Black or Red
• Price: $

If you are a beginner but have a sore arm in your elbow, then sensation plus strings are for you. These strings are made for comfort, and it’s one of the first highly popular multifilament strings.

For beginner use, I would recommend getting the 16gauge set because of the increased durability. The price isn’t bad either, and you can choose from red or black strings, which will give you that visual confidence for your racket.

You can’t expect natural gut string at this price, but these will fit perfectly for beginners and even intermediate players because of their great comfort and durability.

Best Arm Friendly String for Intermediate Players: Wilson NXT Soft

• Material: Syntethic Multifilament
• Thickness: 16g
• Color: Silver or Blue
• Price: $$

For intermediate players that suffer from tennis elbow, the Wilson NXT Soft is the perfect choice because of the good mixture of comfort and power. These shock-absorbing strings won’t let too much force for your arm, minimizing the harm that would be targeted on your elbow.

Even tho these strings are so arm-friendly, they are geared for power as well. The NXT Soft string is made from softer fibers than usual, enabling more power to your racket. This is because the softer fibers will give in more, making a bigger trampoline effect which will increase power.

These strings are my favorite multifilament strings for tennis elbow because the construction hasn’t forgotten everything else than comfort, even tho the comfort on these are high-quality.

Best Arm Friendly Strings for Advanced Players: Babolat VS Touch

• Material: Natural Gut
• Thickness: 15g, 16g, 17g
• Color: Black
• Price: $$$

If you have a bit more money to spend and are looking for premium strings, then Babolat Vs Touch is for you!

These strings truly are great because of the many options you have. You can choose from three different gauges, which is quite unusual. It’s no wonder that these strings have been used in more than 100 grand slam victories.

The comfort in these natural gut strings is top-notch, so if you have a tennis elbow, you can be almost certain that these will ease the pain. Also, the overall playing feel is good, and you can generate a great amount of power with these strings. I like how well these hold the tension as well.

Best Hybrid Option for Tennis Elbow: Wilson Duo Feel Hybrid NXT & Luxilon

• Material: Syntethic Mutlifilament & Natural Gut
• Thickness: Both Strings Are 16g
• Color: Bronze
• Price: $$

Wilson Duo Feel Hybrid is a great hybrid mix! Custom-made string job by using half natural gut and half multifilament strings. This will keep costs down and still be gentle and soft for your arm by transmitting less shock to it.

This string set is great because you don’t need to buy the strings in separate packages, but the hybrid string set is included in this one Wilson Duo Feel set. The benefit of doing so is that you will benefit from natural gut strings, yet the cost won’t be nearly as much!

If this is something you would be interested in, I highly recommend you trying it, especially when both strings in this set are meant to be arm-friendly.

Another great way to ease your tennis elbow pain is to get a new racket. Heavier rackets such as Yonex VCORE Pro 97 are more forgiving on your arm because the racket absorbs more shock energy to itself rather than transfer it to your arm as more lightweight rackets do. That’s something you should consider as well.