String & Racket Finder by Alexey Semenov von Rosenberg — a tennis racquet finder and tennis string finder in one document, with two departments. Racket department: 155 numbered frames — the full current lines of Head, Wilson, Yonex, Dunlop, Diadem, Tecnifibre, Babolat, Prince, Solinco, Lacoste and Pro Kennex — rated across eleven axes with a difficulty column, an amber search bar that filters the bench or looks specs up online, and a bronze transfer-specs form that scores a researched frame from its specs. String department: 235 string beds — the market sweep of twenty-four string brands, from the majors (Luxilon, Babolat, Wilson, Yonex, Tecnifibre, Völkl, Gamma, Head, Solinco, Toroline, ReString) to the stringing-room specialists (Kirschbaum, MSV, Signum Pro, Weiss Cannon, Isospeed, Gosen, Diadem, Dunlop, Prince, Polyfibre, Tourna, Tier One) — rated across eight axes including arm friendliness, with beds you have court-tested marked cyan and queued beds amber. Both departments have clickable column headers, weight sliders and reset buttons, and every list — the weighted rankings, both hard-spec tables and the string stiffness table — carries a typo-tolerant filter bar and top 5 / show 10 / show all row limits. Both benches rest in recommended order — the gold, silver, bronze and budget picks lead, then everything else by weighted score — until a column is ranked, with grouped-by-shelf one click away. Easy mode ends with a glowing amber invitation to continue to intermediate, and intermediate ends with a magenta one to initiate the nerd protocol and open the pro workshop.

String & Racket Finder

155 frames and 235 string beds — the current market of eleven racket and twenty-four string brands, plus a bench of tennis balls — scored on the same axes and matched to each other by the physics of the pairing. Tell it how you play and it hands you a shortlist — or open the whole workshop and rank everything yourself.

tell it how you play — it answers with your setup
experience
swing
swingstyle
I play
my arm tap if elbow/shoulder comfort should outrank everything else
I am optional — only sets the weight band frames are matched to
a few taps — your answers follow you into every mode
or choose your depth yourself:
Balls Every ball on one bench — the court it suits, how long it lasts, and what it costs you per playing hour. open →
A³ Agentur
Alexey Semenov von Rosenberg
Design and build studio — brand systems, interfaces and tools like this one. This finder is a house project: one self-contained file, no account, no server — your bench, your answers and your sliders stay in your own browser and are never uploaded. Buy buttons marked AD are affiliate links: buying through one pays this site a commission at no extra cost to you, and no commission moves any score or ranking.
www.a3agentur.com ↗
easy mode — just tell me what to buy
A³ Agentur edition by Alexey Semenov von Rosenberg www.a3agentur.com
1 · who plays?
experience
swing
swingstyle
I play
my arm tap if elbow/shoulder comfort should outrank everything else
I am optional — only sets the weight band frames are matched to
2 · what are you after?
looking for
Already know what you're after?
Look up any racket or string by name — the same search the workshop uses. Typos are fine. It shows you the specs, and you can put it on the bench so the picks above count it in.
intermediate — rank it with me
A³ Agentur edition by Alexey Semenov von Rosenberg www.a3agentur.com
about you — seeds the sliders, gates the shortlists
experience
swing
swingstyle
I play
my arm stiff gear loses its medals while this is on
I am optional — only sets the weight band frames are matched to
answers gate the lists — the sliders stay yours to drag · click any slider label for what it means
best setups — the answer first: paired by the calibrator’s physics, live with every answer and slider you change
racket priorities
string priorities
fuzzy match on bench + market first; the research button hands your query to the pro search engine
your rackets
your strings
Live with every drag · one engine everywhere: your answers gate, arm-friendly guards the medals, the calibrator pairs. Nothing is scored twice. · build mid-2
// clearance upgrade available
You just ranked two benches with eleven sliders. That was the shallow end.
The workshop keeps the raw numbers on the table: every axis of all 28 frames and 38 stringbeds, the frame⇆string calibrator that scores pairings by physics — shock compounding, power budget, pattern wear — the lab table with dynamic stiffness in lb/in and tension-loss curves, spider dials, sortable hard specs, and a † on every value nobody has court-tested yet. And the player bench is waiting for you there too — rate your own game on ten axes, one drill apiece, an NTRP bracket and a UTR range at the top, every axis capped at 4.0 until you have actually counted it. Then it writes all nineteen sliders for you. No medals without receipts — yours included.
side effects may include opinions about gauge, string-savers discourse, and reading stiffness charts at 1 a.m.
pro mode — the workshop · friend's edition
A³ Agentur edition by Alexey Semenov von Rosenberg www.a3agentur.com
open in Google Maps ↗ Map not loading? The link always works.

Create your member profile

So your bench, your playtests and your string beds travel with you.
Stored on this device only — there is no server behind this, so your profile never leaves your browser. The page itself counts anonymous visits; the Datenschutz link at the bottom says exactly what. Real accounts need a backend; see the note in chat.
welcome — who's playing? a few taps · tunes the sliders on both benches, filters recommendations to your level, and flags what's outside your band
experience
swing
swingstyle
I play
my arm tap if elbow/shoulder comfort should outrank everything else
I am optional — only sets the weight band frames are matched to
your four setups live
The answer first: your gold, silver and bronze frames plus the budget pick, each completed into a full frame + string setup by the calibrator's physics — re-searched on every slider you drag and every answer you change. Everything below is the working-out: open a chapter when you want the receipts.
priorities — drag to re-rank both benches live · click any label for what it means
racket priorities
string priorities
player bench v.01a
self-rating department · NTRP
The other half of the equation: not what the gear can do, but what you can do. Ten axes from the USTA NTRP characteristics, each with a drill that earns the score, resolve into a bracket — and into a target for the nineteen sliders on the racket and string benches. Nothing is applied until you press the button.

Scores map linearly: NTRP = 2.00 + 0.25 × weighted mean, so 4 = 3.0, 6 = 3.5, 8 = 4.0, 10 = 4.5. An axis you have not measured is capped at 8 — a 4.5 has to be earned on court, not felt. Sessions live in this browser; export the log if you want it to outlive a cleared cache.

5.25 / 16.5
UTR-style point estimate
likely band 4.0 – 6.5
3.5
NTRP-style bracket · 4.5 max
weighted 3.50 · 0/10 measured
Orientation only — not official ratings. An official NTRP rating is issued by the USTA from match results; a UTR Rating is computed by Universal Tennis from up to 30 matches in the last twelve months. Neither can be produced by a self-assessment. NTRP is a program of the USTA; UTR® is a registered trademark of Universal Tennis — this tool is affiliated with neither.
ConfidenceLow — nothing measured yet. Estimates are capped at 8 (4.0).
Pressure gateSecond serve and point construction set the ceiling: no more than +0.5 above their mean.
WeightingNTRP calibration
Weighting
Axis Level you are claiming Score Set Weight Evidence

Slider suggestion — what this profile asks of the gear

Ten player axes, each carrying its own weight, resolve into a target for your priority sliders — eleven on the racket side, eight on the string side. The stance decides what the profile does with a score: compensate lets weaknesses pull the gear, amplify lets strengths pull it. Sync my priorities writes these nineteen numbers into your nineteen priority sliders — the same sliders the spin-first and arm-first presets set, and the only thing it touches. Your frames, your customs and “my feel” rows, your shelves and your intro answers all stay exactly as they are; what changes is how they are weighed, so the rankings, medals and setups re-sort at once. It then stays synced: from that moment the stance moves both sets of sliders live, and you can watch the shortlist follow. Click to unlink ends that following and leaves the sliders standing exactly where they are — nothing is restored, nothing is undone; they are simply yours to drag by hand again.

Stance
Rackets at this stance
    Strings at this stance

      Racket priorities — 11 sliders

      String priorities — 8 sliders

      Session log
      No sessions saved yet. Score the axes, then press save session — one row per month is enough to see a trend.
      Log

      The protocol — what earns a score

      Every axis has one drill and five pass marks. Run it, count, set the score, then flip the axis to measured. Until you do, the axis stays an estimate and is capped at 8 in the calculation.

      What the number is worth elsewhere

      NTRP → UTR

      No official conversion exists. These are observed crossover ranges, not a formula. Anything under 3.0 sits below the published data and carries a † in the readout.

      Germany — Leistungsklasse

      NTRP is a US league label; in Munich the currency is the DTB LK, running from LK 1.0 (elite) to LK 25.0.

      Adults start around LK 24.0. Only wins move it — losses cost nothing. You need club membership and a DTB-ID, then it updates weekly.

      One season of Medenspiele or LK tournaments gives you a hard number that everyone you actually meet on court understands.

      The match test

      Ratings are relational. Borrow someone else's calibrated number and play sets against it.

      vs. a known 4.0: 0–2 games per set → 3.0–3.5 · 3–4 games → solid 3.5 · splitting sets or winning breakers → 4.0.

      Practice strokes flatter. The scoreboard doesn't.

      Axis wording follows the USTA NTRP General Characteristics and the published stroke-by-stroke self-rating guidelines.
      NTRP General Characteristics · Stroke-by-stroke guidelines · Leistungsklasse (DTB)
      where these numbers come from — and where they stop

      1 · The specs are published figures. Weight, head size, string pattern, RA stiffness, swingweight, balance and beam come from the manufacturers. They are nominal values with real production spread — strung versus unstrung, and ±7 g is ordinary on a frame. A data sheet is not a scale.

      2 · The 1–10 axis values are a disclosed rule, not measurements. No laboratory outputs “spin 9/10”. Every frame on this bench is scored from its own specs by one published rule, the same for all of them, and you can switch to pure physics in the gear menu to see the stricter version:

      • Recoil weight — how hard the frame is to push back at impact. Two frames can share a swingweight and still differ here by a wide margin, and that difference is what you feel blocking a fast return. It is derived from the frame's own published figures; nobody quotes it on a data sheet.
      • Manoeuvrability — how quickly the frame comes round for the next ball. Stability and return — how well it holds its line against incoming pace.
      • Spin — how open the string bed actually is. The pattern alone does not decide it: the same 16×19 spread over a bigger head lets the mains slide and snap back further.
      • Power — the frame's own energy contribution, read from its stiffness and the shape of its hoop. A beam that is thick only at mid-hoop does not behave like one that is thick everywhere, and the bench treats the two differently. Control is its counterpart, not an independent number.
      • Comfort — how much of the impact the frame keeps instead of handing to your arm. Precision — how forgiving the hitting area is away from the middle.

      3 · Three axes have no formula, and physics mode leaves them blank. Serve and smash trade racket speed against effective mass and cannot be resolved from static specs; slice and touch belong to the player's hand. A number there would be invented, so there is a dash instead.

      4 · No third-party lab database is used. Every figure above is computed from the frame's own published specs. One quantity stays out of reach without measurement: twistweight, the resistance to twisting on an off-centre hit. Manufacturers do not publish it, so this tool does not claim it.

      The Engine Explained The long version: the two modes, the honesty rules, all nineteen axes, and why a shortlist sometimes surprises you. PDF, 4 pages, ~105 KB. download ↓

      Inertial method: Rod Cross, Customising a tennis racket, University of Sydney · Howard Brody, The Physics and Technology of Tennis. Player axes follow the USTA NTRP General Characteristics — the wording, not the rating: a real NTRP is issued by the USTA from match results, and a UTR is computed by Universal Tennis from up to 30 matches in twelve months. Neither can be produced by a self-assessment, and this tool does not produce one.

      Add researched racket to the bench

      Search the frame first — if it is on file, every figure below fills itself. None of these is cosmetic: swingweight sets manoeuvrability, stability and plough, stiffness (RA) sets feel, comfort and power, balance sets handling, and the pattern sets spin and control. Leave one blank and the estimate for those axes is a guess.
      Press space in any empty field to accept the greyed suggestion.
      the bench scores it for you — all 11 axes are derived from the specs (swingweight, RA, beam, balance, head, pattern). More fields = sharper estimate.

      Log a customization

      Tell the bench what you did — lead tape, grip build-up, a different butt cap. Give it the new numbers and the frame is re-scored from them.
      what you can actually do — and what it moves
      Lead at 10 & 2 — swingweight up roughly a point per gram: plow-through, power and stability climb; maneuverability drops and difficulty creeps up.
      Lead at 12 (the tip) — the strongest swingweight gain per gram: depth and stability rise most, fast exchanges get hardest.
      Lead at 3 & 9 — twist resistance: off-center hits calm down and feel steadies, with only a small swingweight rise.
      Silicone or lead in the handle — mass rises but balance pulls toward the hand: feel, comfort and stability climb while the frame stays quick.
      Overgrip build-up — a few grams at the very bottom: headlight, whippier through contact, the scores barely move.
      The estimator reads three numbers — weight, swingweight, balance — but you can simply write what you did in words: “6 g lead at 12”, “silicone in the handle”. The panel reads the grams and the placement, works the numbers out with the standard mass-placement math, fills the fields above, and the preview re-scores instantly. Type your own numbers any time — they always win over the derived ones.
      Customized frames keep their own row and show a customized chip; hover it to read what was done.

      Adjust to my feel

      The bench scores are the house read. If a frame plays differently for you — more powerful, less forgiving, comfier — drag its categories to what your arm says. The stock read stays on the bench untouched; your version joins it as a second row and gets ranked like any other frame.
      stock numbers stay visible next to yours — cell corners and the ranking both keep them
      heatmap · click a column to rank · twice to flip · click any score cell to set your own rating · recommended order
      weighted ranking
      hard specs — the numbers behind every frame on the benchclick a spec header to sort · original order
      stringbed test bench
      string department
      Same bench, the other half of the equation: what you put in the frame. Claim a bed to mark it court-tested or queue it up; † marks a derived value. Every score cell is editable — tap it to overwrite the estimate with your own rating.

      Add researched string bed

      mains
      crosses
      the bench scores it — all 8 axes are derived from both strings — mains lead on spin and control, crosses on feel, comfort and life
      heatmap · click any column header to rank by it · click any score cell to set your own rating · recommended order

      Bed settings

      Claim this bed, log the tension you strung it at, and note how it played.
      Your beds are yours — every member keeps their own benchmark, queue and notes.

      Adjust to my feel

      The bench scores are the house read. If a bed plays differently for you — livelier, harsher, comfier — drag its categories to what your arm says. The stock read stays on the bench untouched; your version joins it as a second row and gets ranked like any other bed.
      stock numbers stay visible next to yours — cell corners and the ranking both keep them
      string priorities — the sliders live up top now; these presets still apply
      string priorities sit at the top of the page now, beside the racket priorities — they re-rank this bench live from up there.
      weighted ranking
      Every bed here is derived from its specs — material, profile, gauge and tension — not from anyone else's hitting. Mark a bed court-tested once you have actually played it, and set one as your benchmark: from then on every other bed is read against yours. Until then a † means the figure is calculated rather than measured. Solinco Conf. Soft × Head Lynx Tour is the other court-tested row: liked, but clearly below it, and the field gap matches the index gap. Queued next: the 1.30 Solinco Mach 10 gauge step, then a full bed of ReString Zero, then ReString Zero 1.28 × Sync 1.23. Cells marked † are re-derived for this rebuild rather than carried from the original bench — overwrite them freely. Babolat RPM Blast × Touch VS gut is the only natural-gut bed here — it sets the ceiling on feel and arm friendliness, at the cost of price and a poly-saws-gut lifespan. Note the pull between axes: raising tension toward 25/23 kg lifts control but pushes every row down the arm column.
      NEEERDY STUFF
      The lab side of the stringbed: material class, profile, dynamic stiffness, tension loss, energy return, street price. Stiffness is dynamic stiffness in lb/in — lower = softer, more elastic, kinder to the arm. Figures marked † are typical published values rather than a measurement of your exact set.
      click a header to sort · by stiffness
      hard specs — your tensions and notes travel with each bed click a spec header to sort · original order
      frame ⇆ string calibrator v1
      matchup department
      Which string belongs in which frame. Scored from the physics of the pairing — stiffness compounding, snapback spin, power budget, pattern wear — using each frame's filed specs and each bed's lab data. Your preference sliders don't touch this table: this is what the equipment asks for, not what you like.
      Two separate finders: the left one hunts frames, the right one hunts string beds, and each only narrows its own picker below. Typing also turns the calibrator around — search a frame and it lists the strings for it, search a string and it lists the frames for it. The cyan ring marks the finder currently driving the table.
      The model, and where it comes from — four findings from published racquet science The model, and where it comes from. Four findings from published racquet science drive every score here. 1 · Shock compounds. Frame stiffness (RA) and string-bed dynamic stiffness add up into one system; impact-shock work at Tennis Warehouse University and in Rod Cross & Crawford Lindsey's Technical Tennis / The Physics and Technology of Tennis shows a stiff frame strung with a stiff poly transfers the most shock to the arm — so the calibrator rewards soft-in-stiff and flexible-frame-with-poly pairings and flags stiff-on-stiff. 2 · Spin is snapback. High-speed TWU studies traced most spin to the mains sliding sideways and snapping back; slick co-polys do this best, and a dense 18×20 pattern — which pinches that movement — gains the most from them, while open patterns add bite to almost anything. 3 · The power budget is shared. A launchy frame plus a lively bed overshoots; a muted frame plus a board of a bed plays dead. The calibrator scores the sum of frame power and string power against a middle band, which is why control polys top the list in powerful frames and livelier beds float up in low-powered ones. 4 · Patterns eat strings. Open patterns let strings move more, so thin or heavily shaped beds wear fastest exactly where they bite hardest — the longevity penalty you'll see on some pairings. The classic exceptions are priced in too: natural-gut hybrids as the historic arm-saver in stiff frames, poly mains for spin control in everything modern. Tensions are read as filed per bed; in a stiff-on-stiff system, dropping 1–2 kg buys back comfort before any string change does.
      THE CHATROOM
      Post a picture of your setup and say what you did to it. Tag the frame and your customization shows up on the bench too.
      Can't find your frame or string?optional

      Look them up and put them on your bench without scrolling back up. Same search as the benches above — the filed figures fill themselves, space accepts a greyed suggestion, and anything you override shows against what was filed.

      string
      crosses