I just finished playing a frustrating best of five match. I won {4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(9), 6-3}. The first three sets I was using an almost brand new Head Liquidmetal Radical that's only three weeks old. After double faulting away both the first and second set for my opponent, I decided I needed to take some heat off my first serve. It kind of worked as I took the third set, but I swear my first serve probably averaged 50-60 mph! By the fourth set, I really felt like either I forgot how to play tennis, or something was wrong with this racquet. I could hear the strings moving everytime I served.. that had to be the problem. Before the tie-break began in the fourth set, I pulled out my newly strung racquet of the same make and model. I won the fourth and went on the win the fifth thankfully. Now I'm blaming my horrible start on my equipment, particularly the strings. Take a look at the pictures of both the three week old racquet and the newly strung racquet. The only reason I think it may just be psychological is cause the racquet is only three weeks old! Should the strings really be moving around like that?
This is the three week old racquet. Do strings really go bad that quickly? It comes prestrung, so maybe it was just sitting around for too long..?
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...er10/002-1.jpg
Here's the newly strung racquet, I used to close the set out.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...er10/003-1.jpg