The Utter Genius of ReString Sync
When it comes to tennis strings, there are thousands of options. So why make a string if you can’t defeat the best? And when I say best, I mean ALU Power.
Why ALU Power is so Important
Luxilon ALU Power might be the greatest polyester string of all time. It is certainly the most decorated, with some version of the string winning 61% of the last 80 men’s singles slams played, going back 20 years to 2004. Sure, most of that is Federer and Djokovic, but still, 3 of the 4 best players of the last 20 years used some form of Luxilon ALU Power.
Despite all these wins, the winds of changes blow, and ALU Power is losing its popularity. Today, during the week of February 26, 2024, only 1 member of the top ten uses some form of ALU, and only 4 members of the top 20. 10 years ago? 6 members of the top 10 used some type of ALU Power.
So what gives?
Well, the playability duration simply sucks. Let’s take a look at Tennis Warehouse’s string performance database. When I sort this by tension loss percentage, from best to worst, you have to scroll almost all the way down the list to find ALU Power. It’s closer to being the worst string for tension loss than the best.
And when you consider that the string costs $20/set, when the 2nd best performing string, Tourna Silver 7 Tour, costs only $10/set, it’s easy to see why ALU Power is losing its popularity. In fact, this value proposition seems so bad, bordering on thievery, that you might be wondering what kind of idiot would actually pay money for ALU Power.
There is one single area when ALU cannot be beat. Feel.
The spin sucks. The tension maintenance sucks. The comfort sucks.
But the feel is so damn good. The ball pocketing sensation begins with this mothering caress, welcoming the ball deep into the stringbed before completely rejecting the ball, like an abusive stepfather with an alcohol problem, throwing the ball out of the stringbed, with vigorous force leaving you with this insane two faced sensation. It feels like you held the ball on the strings for a year, but it also feels like the balls shot out of the stringbed with the velocity of a Rune coaching change.
Never before have I encountered a feel with such an intense dichotomy, the combination of ball-pocketing and crispness is loin watering. This leads to a commanding sense of great power controlled through an equally great sense of responsibility. But sadly, the feel is fleeting.
Over the course of 45 minutes, I could feel the string dying. It lost its zip. It lost its control. It lost the modicum of spin potential it came with. And it left me feeling empty. Spending all that cream for such a short high just isn’t something I’m ok with.
Clearly, a more durable option is needed. Enter ReString Sync
Feel
So before you ask, ReString Sync does not feel quite as good as ALU Power. It still has that combination of ball pocketing and crispness, but it's less exaggerated, less intense. If ALU is a 10/10 for feel, I’d say Sync is like an 8. It gets you 80% of the way there without taking you all the way. And honestly, if you aren’t hitting them back-to-back, the differences are a lot less noticeable and you are still going to feel connected on court.
For example, the feel is still strong enough to wake the muted Pure Aero 98, especially when you drop down to the 18g version. But here’s where Sync starts to destroy ALU Power.
Durability
The tension maintenance is way better. After 9 days in the racquet and roughly 3 hours of hitting, Sync lost less tension than ALU Power (ALU dropped from 31DT to 27DT after 45mins of hitting, and became unplayable, while Sync dropped from 31DT to 28DT after 3 hours of hitting).
You also don’t have this dying sensation that you have with ALU. The weird thing is that it’s not really the tension loss that you feel as ALU loses its playability. It feels more like it’s losing its resilience, its ability to return energy to the ball, which means that the spin takes a huge hit as time goes on.
Sync doesn’t do that. It plays pretty steadily the same throughout its life. A big part of this is due to its chemical makeup. The ReString team tells me the formula isn’t actually that different from Zero. This means we get the same tremendous tension maintenance and slick coating that we had with Zero, but in a round package for significantly improved control.
Compared to uncoated poly’s, like Tourna Silver 7 Tour, another string with S-Tier tension maintenance, the resistance to notching is far superior. Though Zero and Sync share a similar base formula, the strong durability is where the similarities between ReString’s offerings end.
Control
Zero’s greatest weakness, control and feel, are Sync’s greatest strengths. Like any round string, I never felt any inconsistency with the string’s launch angle. Just like any round string, the launch angle is lower than I prefer, with less ball bite than I want, but I understand that’s just a natural limitation of any round string.
The feedback you get from the string is more than enough to help you diagnose mishits on the fly and the directional control gave me all the confidence I needed to go for whatever shot I felt like at any given time. Of course the control isn’t as strong as something like Grapplensnake Paradox Pro, but the more connected feel keeps me more dialed in than strings like Polytour Pro, Hyper-G or RPM Blast.
I also think that we can effectively rate this string’s control as greater than ALU Power. ALU wins by 10-20% for the first 30-45 minutes, but from then onwards, it's all Sync all day by a huge margin.
Spin
Spin is certainly this string's weakest aspect, especially when compares to shaped strings. It’s not like Zero where you get this automatically buff in your RPM’s, but it does seem to offer more than your typically round string. It’s definitely better than ALU Power, but I think it also beats out some other round strings I enjoy like Polytour Pro, Hawk Power and Signum Pro Firestorm. A big part of that is due to the snapback, which again, is from the silicone infusion into the string.
Because of this, I think Sync might be the new Meta for cross strings.
Hybrid Applications
I’ve tried a ludicrous amount of cross strings in my experiments with poly-poly hybrids. As of now, June 2025, I’ve tried these cross strings, with my leading main string at the given time (Tour Sniper, Silver 7 Tour, O-Toro and now, O-Toro Tour):
Yonex Polytour Fire
Head Hawk White
Solinco Hyper-G Round
Toroline Wasabi X
Toroline Enso Pro
Toroline Caviar
Grapplesnake Tour Mako
Grapplesnake Irukandji
Isospeed Rexxxer (yes, 3 x’s)
Tru Pro Ghostwire
Tecnifibre Ice Code
Tecnifibre Razor Code
ReString Zero
And of all these, ReString Sync remains my preferred choice. Why? Because it only ever adds or leaves things neutral.
Spin is either increased or the same
Durability is either increased or remains the same
Feel is either made more connected or made more solid
Power often remains the same
Control often remains the same
I love it because it lets the main strings shine. Only ever adding, never taking away.
So who should try Sync?
I think anyone using any round poly should try Sync unless you know you have comfort issues and are using something super soft like Isospeed Cream.
Otherwise, and know that I understand I have bias when I say this, this is the best round string in the world right now. No, it does not beat the king of feel at its own game, but it’s so much more well rounded as a consumer product because it lasts longer, costs less, and offers more spin.
This is my favourite string release since Grapplesnake Tour M8 and lands in my Top 3 strings of all time. I’ve tried both 17 and 18 gauges with Sync, in a few different racquets, my new CX200’s, my Whiteouts and the Pure Aero 98 and it played great in all of them.
If you like well-rounded, connected strings that prioritize predictability and durability, this is an absolute must try.
ALU Power is dead. Long live ReString Sync.
